A Tale of the Coolidges, The Algonquin Club of Boston, and American Memory

-- Historian Ann Lucas discusses the history of the Coolidge family's connection to the Algonquin Club and Jefferson family and how Thomas Jefferson and the Algonquin Club's papers came to the MHS. --

Recorded 6 October 2022 at Massachusetts Historical Society.

A distinguished portrait of Louis Arthur Coolidge hangs in the Founder’s Room at the Algonquin Club–now known as “The ‘Quin House”–commemorating his term as club president from 1923-1925. Arthur and his cousins T. Jefferson Coolidge and Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, Jr. were part of a dynasty committed to maintaining their family’s legacy. The architecture firm of McKim, Mead and White provided the backdrop which was the papers and drawings of the inspiration, Thomas Jefferson, and the Massachusetts Historical Society provided the repository for both the family’s and recently, the Algonquin Club’s histories