Series V. Personal Papers contains Peabody’s family and personal correspondence, speeches, social, and philanthropic letters, financial, legal, and miscellaneous papers. Family correspondence includes letters from Peabody’s siblings, Achsah, Thomas, and Jeremiah Peabody, Judith (Peabody) and J. Russell, Sophronia (Peabody) and Elbridge Little, and Mary (Peabody) and Caleb Marsh. Also included is correspondence with Peabody’s nephews, O.C. Marsh and George Peabody Russell, who received financial assistance from their uncle for their education. Personal correspondence covers a wide variety of Peabody’s personal, civic, and social activities. Among the more personal letters are those from the Tiffany family, including correspondence from Elise Tiffany, and correspondence from William Bend regarding Peabody’s engagement to Esther Hoppin in 1838-1839. Letters from business associates and friends often describe political events as well as personal news (also see the business correspondence for occasional references to personal matters). Due to his prominent position in international trade, Peabody was also acquainted with many consuls, ministers, and political figures, such as James Buchanan, George Mifflin Dallas, Edward Everett, Milliard Fillmore, Horace Greeley, Joseph Reed Ingersoll, Abbott Lawrence, Martin Van Buren, and Daniel Webster (see the Appendix III for dates of correspondence from these individuals). Personal correspondence also reflects Peabody’s interest in and financial support of various individuals and causes, including sculptor Hiram Powers, portraitist George Healy (who painted Peabody’s portrait for the opening of the Peabody Institute in Danvers), the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851, planned construction of the Panama Canal in 1852, Grinnell’s search for explorer Sir John Franklin, educational and historical societies such as the Peabody Institutes in Baltimore and Danvers, and the Peabody Donation Fund established in 1862 (see Peabody’s instructions to the fund trustees in box 197, folder 2, and a facsimile letter of appreciation from Queen Victoria March 28, 1866). Of special interest are letters from Delia S. Bacon, who sought Peabody’s financial aid during her research on the “true” authorship of Shakespeare’s works (see also a letter of introduction for Bacon from Ralph Waldo Emerson March 26, 1853). Also of note is correspondence regarding Peabody’s 4th of July Anglo-American dinners, and the political furor which Daniel E. Sickles caused following the toasts made at the 1854 dinner. Social correspondence includes such general correspondence as letters of introduction, thank you notes, invitations, acceptances and regrets, and requests for aid to individuals and institutions. Financial and legal papers include household and land investment accounts, philanthropic subscriptions, notes of cash paid to Peabody’s nephews and other relatives, and a copy of Stephen Peabody’s 1849 will. Of interest is an 1866 account book, possibly for the erection of the Memorial Church in Georgetown, Massachusetts.