The Pabodie Family Papers consist of four manuscript diaries, a workbook, and hundreds of pages of genealogical information and research notes about the Pabodie family collected by Benjamin Francis Pabodie.

The diaries were written by two sisters, Jane Hale Pabodie and Ednah Hale Baker, originally from Newbury, Massachusetts. All four diaries are in good condition and are clearly legible. They contain a wealth of detailed local and family information. The first two diaries (Box 1, Folder 1) were written by Jane Hale Pabodie from 1815 to 1820. In these diaries (80 pages total) she describes her daily affairs, particularly visits to friends and family, church going, and shopping. She writes primarily during the long absences of her husband Albert, who traveled frequently to Savannah, Georgia, on business.

The other two diaries were written by Ednah Hale Baker, Jane's older sister, between 1818 and 1827 (Box 1, Folders 2 and 3). These diaries comprise 234 pages and are more detailed, with almost daily entries. Ednah lived in Providence, Rhode Island, with her husband George Baker, a jeweler and watchmaker. Her entries are similar to her sister's and recall her daily excursions and visits; they also regularly note the weather. Both sisters traveled frequently to visit friends and relatives in Foxboro, Boston, Salem, Rowley, Ipswich, Newbury, and Newburyport, Massachusetts. The sisters led comfortable lives with household help, and they rarely mention any household chores except for quilting or soap making. Ednah and Jane both attended Sunday meeting regularly, but Ednah was the more devout of the two. She was active in the Tract Society (or Tract and School Society), Education Society (or Female Education Society), Domestic Missionary Society, Samaritan Society, and Female Charitable Society.

The workbook (Box 1, Folder 4) belonged to Ellen Maria Pabodie (1829-1918), the fifth child of Jane and Albert Pabodie. It contains 75 pages and spans the years 1845 to about 1856. The first part contains short essays written while Ellen was in high school. These deal with typical adolescent themes like death and suffering. The second half contains extracts of Sabbath discourses of a Mr. Leavitt, as well as a few poems, authors unknown, and a summary of her religious beliefs.

The remainder of the collection pertains to the history of the Pabodie family, primarily information collected by Benjamin Francis (Frank) Pabodie. The progenitor of the Rhode Island branch of the Peabody family, William Pabody (1619/20-1707), settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and later in Sakonnet or Little Compton, then in Massachusetts and now in Rhode Island. His wife was Elizabeth Alden, daughter of John and Priscilla Alden and said to be the first white girl born in New England. Many of his descendants retained the name Pabodie, while others used Pabody, Paybody, or Peabody like the Massachusetts branch of the same family. Data known to B. Frank Pabodie by 1867 were published in Genealogy of the Peabody Family, with a Partial Record of the Rhode Island Branch by B. Frank Pabodie. Box 1, Folder 5 contains a hard cover copy of this small book (61 pages), and twenty reprints of the chapter about William Pabody's descendants are in Box 1, Folder 6.

B. Frank Pabodie continued to collect genealogical information about the Pabodies for the rest of his life. Box 2, Folder 1 contains revisions to his 1867 chapter and source material. Box 2, Folder 2 contains correspondence from several branches of the family, including letters from Selim Peabody, compiler of the later work about the Peabodys. In Box 2, Folder 3 are a few letters from B. Frank Pabodie pertaining to the family. Additional notes and supporting materials are in Box 2, Folder 4. Box 2, Folder 5 contains printed materials pertaining to the family including Ellen Maria Pabodie's and other obituaries, the Brown Alumni Monthly (1905) honoring William H. Pabodie, Jane and Albert's youngest son, at his 50th reunion, and a long article (1985) about Little Compton, Rhode Island, that includes photographs of William and Elizabeth (Alden) Pabodie's house and a tablet marking her grave. Box 2, Folder 6 contains a largely blank workbook.

Pabodie also made voluminous notes about the history of Little Compton. Box 2, Folder 7 includes notes about William Pabody and Little Compton copied largely from the Plymouth Colony or Bristol County Records, and Box 2, Folder 8 contains notes copied largely from the Massachusetts Historical Collections.

Thus this collection contains a wealth of original source material about the Pabodie family, some of which was published in 1867 or 1909, as well as four diaries describing daily activities and family affairs in New England in the early nineteenth century.