Abbe, Edward H.

Contains papers and items directly related to Edward H. Abbe’s personal and professional life from his childhood to his retirement and beyond. The majority of material from Edward’s younger years is from his schooling at the Rectory School in Pomfret, Connecticut, Kent School in Kent, Connecticut, and Yale University. In addition to his letters home, Edward corresponded with Father Sill of Kent School and kept a great deal of information about his various Yale University class reunions. This series also contains material related to Edward’s 36-year career with General Electric. Edward gave many reports and talks for the company and also received one patent for an automated Article Handling System. Throughout his life, Edward collected material related to his interests in cars, boats, and especially trains such as photos, articles, and brochures. Especially noteworthy are documents and photos about Edward’s personal train set and the model train catalogs he collected as a child, like the original copies of Lionel train catalogs. Edward also collected numerous booklets, articles, and other materials about the history of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts where he vacationed with his family as a child and lived for 10 years as an adult. Other items come from Edward’s many travels, particularly the various cruises that he took with his wife Gladys after his retirement.

The material in this series comes from or contains information about the Abbe family beyond Edward. Especially prominent are Edward’s brother, Bill, and his wife, Gladys. Documents about Bill Abbe’s various art exhibits and photos of his work are included, as well as a unique map of France that Bill drew when he was an artist with the military during World War II. The material about Gladys Howard Abbe reflects her many accomplishments. She was well educated in music and education, but also devoted much time and energy to volunteer social work such as Toys for Tots and establishing the nonprofit charitable organization, Help, Inc. For these efforts the Roanoke Merchants Association awarded Gladys with the Mother of the Year in Arts and Sciences in 1966. This series also shows the many activities that Gladys and Edward Abbe participated in as a couple. After meeting on board the Queen Mary in 1938, Edward and Gladys began exchanging love letters in 1945. They enjoyed working at their church and within the wider communities of Roanoke, Virginia and later Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. In their 80s, Edward and Gladys even played free concerts to help raise money for their church or just to provide entertainment as the “Gracious Jazz Band,” an effort recognized in several newspaper articles. The remainder of this series includes genealogical information about the Abbe family and material about Edward’s children (Carolyn and David), father (Harry Allen Abbe) who died at only 35 years of age, and mother (Elsie Peck Abbe) after her marriage to Harry Abbe.

This series details the lives of members of the Peck family, relations of Edward Abbe on his mother’s side. Information about the genealogy and activities of Peck family members is included, with a significant amount about the famed businessman Edward Folger Peck. Edward Peck led a very active professional life and was involved in groups such as the National Electric Light Association and Citizen’s Electric Illuminating Company. His business connections included C. Loomis Allen until Allen became surrounded by scandal in 1918 and Elihu Thomson, a co-founder of the General Electric Company who married into the Peck family. On a personal level, correspondence between Edward Peck and his various family members, like the love letters he exchanged with Mary Booth who later became his wife, is included in the series. Diaries and account books describe the everyday lives and finances of various Peck family members, such as the Civil-War era diary of Charles Peck and the diaries kept by Mary Booth Peck from the 1920s to the mid-1940s. Some geographically-focused information details the activities of the Peck family in places like Hampton, Virginia, New Britain, Connecticut, Brooklyn, New York, and Schenectady, New York. This series also contains information about the wider genealogy of the Peck family, such as information about the Hart, Booth, Boardman, and Gifford families related to the Peck line. Some photos throughout the series show Peck family members from the 1800s-1900s in family, social, and professional settings.

The final series is made up exclusively of photograph albums. These albums range from the late 1800s to the 1990s and include family photos, photos of trips, and photos of various locations like Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts and Roanoke, Virginia. Most of the albums belonged to Ed and Gladys Abbe, but some earlier albums were created by Ed’s mother Elsie Peck Abbe, by his aunt Katherine Peck Gifford and by his father, Harry Allen Abbe.