Series III. Perley Family Papers, 1766-1881, contains mostly personal correspondence of family members. John Perley's (1779-1841) papers include information on real estate and financial matters in Bridgeton, Maine, and notes on the legislature in Portland. The papers of John Perley (1788-1874) of Salem, Massachusetts, concern domestic matters. Thomas Perley (1788-1874) papers include letters from his cousin Thomas Perley (b. 1783) regarding Maine State politics and elections, land and timber sales, and a detailed description of logging with six ox teams, December 20, 1839. Also included here are Augustus Perley's comments on the Tyler-Van Buren presidential campaign and election. Asa Perley's (1793-1845) papers relate the experiences of a mentally-ill man, 1819-1845, and his time as a patient at McLean Asylum, with descriptions of the environment, activities, care, and staff. The poetry collection of Huldah Perley (1805-1843) indicates the romantic sentiment of her time with pieces on '"woman," "home," nature, friendship, and death.

Miscellaneous family papers include correspondence among the Perley and Ballard (Hopkinton, New Hampshire) cousins, Aaron Perley's undated treatise on "horsemanship," and his description, 1818, of planting an orchard in 1803. Relatives' papers include the letters of William Neale Cleaveland (1799-1872) to his son James Putnam Cleaveland (1838-1892), a student in New York City circa 1851, and letters from James' young friends in Topsfield, Massachusetts. Of interest is a document exempting James from military service in 1864. A title abstract traces the Perley-Cleaveland farm in Boxford from 1666 to 1882. The Palmer papers, 1861-1874, include bills from Amherst and Harvard Colleges, and copies of undergraduate examination.