| Creator | Simmons, John, 1796-1870 |
| Title | John Simmons papers |
| Dates | 1813-2005 |
| Identification | MS 29 |
| Quantity | 2 linear feet (4 manuscript containers) |
| Collection Abstract | Collection consists chiefly of eleven copies of John Simmons' will, several of which have annotations in the margins. Additional materials include ancestral and general biographical information about the Simmons family; John Simmons' property holdings in Boston; copies of John Simmons’ probate accounts; the Simmons' family bible; reprints of Simmons' obituaries; correspondence regarding Simmons family portraits; and miscellaneous correspondence. Other materials concern legal records pertaining to a 1913 lawsuit between John Simmons' trustees and Simmons Female College. |
| Historical Abstract | John Simmons was a businessman and founder of Simmons College (originally Simmons Female College). Simmons is credited with being one of the earliest large scale manufacturers of men's ready-made suits, and one of the first New England clothing merchants to use the sewing machine and traveling salesmen. After his retirement from the clothing business in approximately 1858, Simmons devoted his time to real estate investments, the profits of which were to be used, as specified in Simmons' will, to establish Simmons Female College for the purpose of enabling women to obtain an independent livelihood. Simmons died in 1870; Simmons Female College opened in 1902. |
| Language | Material in English. |
| Location | Collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Archives staff for more information. |
Collection is open.
Copyright for materials resides with the creators of the items in question, unless otherwise designated.
Please contact the College Archivist with requests to publish any material from the collection.
[Identification of item: description and date], John Simmons Papers, MS 29, Simmons College Archives, Boston, MA, USA.
The first three accessions of the collection are from material donated by Hemenway and Barnes, Counselors at Law, and material that was found in the Simmons College Archives, collected presumably by the library before the Archives was established. The fourth accession of this collection consists of material purchased by the Archives in 2008 from the Swann Auction Galleries. Other material came from RG 4 Records of the President and from the Archives vertical file "The Ancestry of John Simmons."
Accession numbers: 79.026; 79.170; 85.032; 2010.42
Processed by Amy Leimkuhler, 1994
Supervised by Peter Carini and Megan Sniffin-Marinoff, 1994
This collection guide was encoded as part of the LEADS project by Maria Gould, May 2014
John Simmons, businessman and founder of Simmons College (originally Simmons Female College), was born October 30, 1796 in Little Compton, Rhode Island to Benoni and Nancy Bailey Simmons. When Simmons was approximately 18 years old he moved to Boston to work in his older brother Cornelius' tailor shop. By 1818, Simmons learned enough from Cornelius to open his own clothing store. In this same year he married Ann Small of Provincetown, Massachusetts and together they had six children, only two of whom lived past the age of 30. The success of Simmons' business is evident from his frequent moves to larger stores, common in the early nineteenth century. In 1826 he moved his business across the street from the new Quincy Market. Simmons is credited with being one of the earliest large scale manufacturers of men's ready-made suits. By the age of 48, Simmons owned the largest wholesale clothing business in New England. His success has been attributed to two main factors: Simmons was one of the first New England clothing merchants to increase productivity through the use of the new sewing machine and he sent traveling salesmen out into the country on the growing railroad system to open the markets in the South and West. Simmons invested his business profits in real estate mainly in the growing business district of Boston. After his retirement from the clothing business in approximately 1858, Simmons devoted his time to managing his properties and investing in new properties. Profits from his real estate investments were to be used to establish Simmons Female College. Simmons specified in his will that the College was to be founded for the purpose of enabling women to obtain an independent livelihood. The Great Boston Fire of November 10, 1872 destroyed much of the Simmons estate and delayed the opening of the College until 1902. Simmons was a long-standing, active member of the Brattle Street Church in Boston. He died in Little Compton on August 29, 1870.
Information drawn from Simmons College Archives biographical files on the Simmons family.
The John Simmons papers contain little personal information about John Simmons himself. Mentioned in the collection are various Simmons family members and the trustees of Simmons' will including: Benjamin F. Brooks, Joshua Stetson, and Edward A. White. The bulk of the material consists of eleven copies of Simmons' will, several of which have annotations in the margins. There is ancestral and general biographical information about Simmons with a family tree tracing his direct descent from Moyses Symonson or Symons, who arrived in America in the ship "Fortune" in 1621. There is also material regarding property holdings in Boston, including an original land deed; copies of John Simmons’ probate accounts; the Simmons' family bible; reprints of Simmons' obituaries; correspondence regarding Simmons family portraits; material about Little Compton, Rhode Island, the location of Simmons' birth and death; and a letter from Daniel Gilbert, D.D., of the Providence (Row) Night Refuge and Home, London, which may not have been addressed to the same John Simmons who founded the College.
The collection also includes a copy of the lawsuit filed by Simmons' trustees John D. Long and Henry S. Rowe against Simmons Female College, as well as Rowe’s master list of copies sent of his book The Ancestry of John Simmons and original copyright certificate.
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
Collection is arranged into 9 series:
The following material is housed separately: An unidentified, undated photograph of either the Simmons or Rowe family is located in drawer number 12 of the map case.
Multiple copies of the will of John Simmons, and a copy of his obituary.
Box 1
Copies of John Simmons' probate accounts.
Box 2
Materials related to the Simmons family history.
Documents pertaining to Little Compton, RI, the birthplace of John Simmons.
Bible belonging to the Simmons family.
Box 3
Deeds and other printed materials related to the real estate holdings of John Simmons in the Boston area.
Materials concerning the 1913 lawsuit filed by John Simmons' trustees against Simmons Female College to settle payments received from earlier college trustees.
Miscellaneous correspondence, including correspondence addressed to John Simmons.
Box 4
Miscellaneous printed materials.
