Helen Hazard, the fourth child of Rowland and Margaret Rood Hazard, was born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, January 15, 1861. She married Nathaniel Bacon on October 6, 1885. The couple had a son, Leonard, born May 26, 1887, and a daughter, Susan, on November 12, 1889. Helen Hazard Bacon devoted much of her time to civic and charitable activities. She made significant contributions to a number of religious organizations, in particular the American-Chinese Educational Commission, which operated a school in Canton, China. She also supported several educational institutions, among them the Watchman Industrial School of North Scituate, Rhode Island. She was a member of several genealogical societies, including the American Historical Society, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors. She held several offices in the Colonial Dames, which included president of the Rhode Island chapter, national registrar, and national vice-president. She died October 26, 1925, at the family home, “The Acorns,” in Peace Dale, Rhode Island.
The collection contains the papers of Helen Hazard Bacon, including incoming and outgoing correspondence; financial papers primarily relating to investments; philanthropic papers with a large portion concerning Bacon’s support of the American-Chinese Educational Commission; Hazard Memorial Hall upkeep records; and a wedding scrapbook.
Researchers are advised to contact Rhode Island College Special Collections for questions regarding permissions to reproduce, distribute, or otherwise publish material from this collection. Although Rhode Island College has physical ownership of the collection, it does not necessarily hold literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
The collection is open for research.
Helen Hazard Bacon papers, MSS-0093, Special Collections, James P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College.
The collection has been arranged into the following series:
The collection was given to Rhode Island College in 1968 by Martha Bacon Ballinger, with the consent of her husband, Ronald B. Ballinger, as well as her sister, Helen Bacon Westlake, and Helen’s husband, J.T. Westlake.
After the collection arrived in 1968, Rhode Island College Professor Norman Smith conducted preliminary sorting of the collection. This collection was part of the Nathaniel Terry Bacon papers. The processing of the papers and the preparation of the original finding aid was funded by a National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant. The initial finding aid was prepared by Norene Rickson, library assistant in RIC Special Collections, with the assistance of Michael Kohl, Assistant Librarian in Special Collections. At this time, photographs were removed from their original locations and added to the other photograph files. In 2023, the finding aid was converted to current archival standards by Melissa Moniz, Special Collections intern, under the supervision of Veronica L. Denison, Digital Archivist and Special Collections Librarian at Rhode Island College. At this time, the papers of Rowland Hazard, Joseph Peace Hazard, Thomas Rutherford Bacon, Caroline Hazard, Helen Hazard Bacon, and Leonard Bacon were removed from the Nathaniel Terry Bacon papers and made into their own separate collections to better reflect the various creators and their materials. Items in this collection were reboxed into archival boxes.
Rhode Island College Special Collections contains additional collections relating to the Bacon and Hazard families:
Additionally, Yale University Manuscripts and Archives holds the
This collection was separated from the Nathaniel Terry Bacon papers (MSS-0005) and made into its own collection in 2023. Contact the Rhode Island College Special Collections for further information.
This collection has not been digitized. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact the Rhode Island College Special Collections.
This series contains outgoing and incoming correspondence. The outgoing correspondence contains letters Helen Hazard Bacon wrote to her family from 1869-1876, as well as other general correspondence. The incoming correspondence, which is arranged alphabetically, consists primarily of letters from family members, including Nathaniel Terry Bacon and letters and drawings from Leonard Bacon. Additional correspondents include: Bacon’s great-aunt Elizabeth Hazard and accounts of Peace family history, Leonard Woolsey Bacon, Caroline Hazard, Rowland Hazard (1829-1898), Rowland G. Hazard (1801-1888), Rowland G. Hazard (1855-1918), writer Charlotte (Perkins) Stetson Gilmam, Rhode Island Representatives Ambrose Kennedy and Walter R. Stiness, and physicist John Trowbridge.
The financial papers in this series are arranged alphabetically and consist of correspondence and business papers relating primary to investments. Included are correspondence documenting the sale of the Peace Dale Manufacturing Company to the M.T. Stevens Company in 1918, as well as material relating to the administration of the Estate of Rowland Hazard, 1899-1914.
The philanthropic papers are arranged alphabetically, with correspondence in the front of each folder and related printed materials in the back. A majority of this series relates to Bacon’s support of the American-Chinese Educational Commission. There are also materials relating to a number of local organizations, including the Watchman Industrial School.
This series consists of Bacon’s school assignments, several poems, and a travel narrative.
This series contains newspaper clippings and other materials relating to Bacon’s membership in various societies, and records relating to the upkeep of Hazard Memorial Hall. Also included is Bacon’s wedding scrapbook, which contains correspondence from Bacon and Hazard family members regarding the wedding, as well as poems by Nathaniel Bacon and Caroline Hazard written to Bacon.