The Perley Family Papers trace the history of the Perley family of Boxford, Massachusetts, and Bridgeton, Maine, and the development of those towns from pre-Revolutionary days through the mid-nineteenth century. The collection is organized into four series.

Series I. Enoch Perley (1749-1869) Papers, 1773-1829, contains letters written by Enoch from Bridgeton, Maine, to his brother Thomas in Boxford, Massachusetts, and the accounts on timberland in Maine owned jointly by the two men. The papers record experiences of early settlers in the Maine wilderness, the founding of Bridgeton, and development of the logging industry.

Series II. Thomas Perley (1746-1831) Papers ranging from 1743-1851 include his legal papers, accounts, personal correspondence and memoranda as well as letters received by his wife Sarah (Wood) Perley from relatives. The bulk of the legal papers contain estates and vendues of clients. Of interest are the letters of Abigail Wheeler (1741-1826) seeking alimony payments from her husband Rufus. Miscellaneous legal papers of the Perley family, for whom Thomas acted as attorney, can be found in Series III.

Thomas' memoranda, 1787-1831, include the 1787 certificate for election of a Massachusetts state representative, an undated copy of President John Adams' deeds to the town of Quincy, an undated catalog of the books in Boxford, a copy of the 1703 mulatto and negro slave law, the 1787 inventory of Massachusetts products and goods, the 1787 list of Massachusetts exports, the 1801 act for regulation of weights and measures, toasts given at a Boxford celebration July 4, 1801, lists of Massachusetts electors, notes on a meeting of the Federal Republicans in Salem in 1806, a description of railroad construction from Boston to Albany, specifications and drawings for construction of a house, and prescriptions to cure disease in man, animals, and plants.

Thomas' correspondence includes copies of his letters to or on behalf of his brothers, 1785-1827, and his diaries, 1799-1803. Letters to Thomas from his brother Enoch and nephew John Perley of Bridgeton, Maine, are located with their papers. Of interest in the letters to Thomas Perley are several from the Massachusetts Congressman Jeremiah Nelson reporting on political activities in Washington D.C., 1806-1820, and a 1823 letter from nephew Edward Ballard describing his journey from Hopkinton, New Hampshire, to New York City, and thence Elizabethtown, New Jersey. A series of letters in 1825 presents doctors' diagnoses and prescriptions for the illness of Sarah (Wood) Perley.

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.

Series IV. Boxford Town Records, 1703-1869, contains military papers, church records, school records, correspondence with selectman, and notes of town meetings. The military papers contain lists of Boxford's Minutemen and foot soldiers in the Continental Army, Thomas Perley's (1746-1831) history of raising a militia in Boxford up to 1788, and several petitions opposing conscription during the Revolutionary War. Church Records, 1703-1823, include membership lists, 1703-1825, notes of minsters' salaries, 1768, notes on a singing school, 1805, and a history of the First Congregational Church, April 30, 1838. The bulk of the church records contains the documents pertaining to the schism under Reverend Briggs, 1818-1825, and of construction of a new meeting house in 1836. School records, 1795-1841, include: letters from prospective teachers; lists of scholars, 1795-1800, 1832, 1836, 1837; rules and regulations of school, 1796; and a list of repairs to the schoolhouse, 1803. Other school issues are located in correspondence with selectmen and notes of town meetings.

Correspondence with selectmen and notes of town meetings, 1780-1863, includes: lists of town officers from the 1700s; petitions against assessments and for warrants; a petition against "lewdness," 1794; drawings of plans for woodlots and roads, 1800-1802; the town treasurer's reports, 1799-1803, deal primarily with costs of buildings and repairing roads, and providing for the poor. Particularly interesting is the life history of the black itinerant Mars, born in Africa, who died in Boxford in 1806, and valuation lists for tax assessments that include individual estates, the town as a whole, and other towns in Essex County.

Miscellaneous correspondence, 1818-1832, includes a treatise by Thomas Peabody on the American Indian, February 14, 1840, and several open letters, undated to the President.