Arthur E. Kenison Papers, 1919-1946

Collection Name:

Arthur E. Kenison Papers, 1919-1946

Title:

Arthur E. Kenison Papers, 1919-1946

Creator:

Kenison, Arthur E., 1880-1946

Accession / Call Number:

1997.049

Object ID:

1997.049

Date:

1919-1946

Physical Description:

17 boxes

Scope and Content:

Attorney Arthur E. Kenison's client records between 1920 and 1946 (bulk 1925-1946) contain correspondence between Kenison and his colleagues and clients. His practice in east central New Hampshire (Conway, Ossipee, and environs) was concerned primarily with real estate and wills and estates. The papers contain many property searches and abstracts. Kenison was a locally important attorney and was retained by his neighbors and fellow citizens as well as by wealthy "summer people," property owners whose primary residences were elsewhere. The records illustrate both good and hard times, as Kenison also later responded to local and summer people in financial trouble during the depression of the 1930s. The papers documenting estate settlements after a testator's death offer rich information about the costs of goods and services at the time they were created because administrators were required to inventory material goods as well as pay for and keep records of services provided by physicians, nurses and other care givers, grave diggers, and many other people involved in winding up the affairs, even of people of modest means. Kenison's files also document occasional human dramas: arguments over inheritances, contested wills, decisions about how to care for incapable people or minors, divorces (rare), and accidental deaths (also rare). \n When the deceased client had owned a retail business, it, too, was inventoried in great and painstaking detail, with value given for each individual item. For these, see: box 3, folder 21: Craig - a general store in 1941-1942; box 5, folder 10: Foster - a dry goods store in 1922-1924; box 6, folder 25: Grundle - a Western Auto Supply Store in 1945-1946; box 13, folder 25: Stanley - a physician's office in 1934-1935; box 15, folder 11: Volk - an artist's paintings by himself and others, 1935; and box 16, folder 34: White Mountain Camps - contents of buildings and outbuildings in 1932. \n Kenison was the attorney for White Mountain Camps, which accounts for the single largest section of the papers (28 folders), 1925-1932. These concern the struggle of the camp to remain solvent and the eventual sale at auction of the property, buildings and contents of the buildings. There is an inventory for the sale. \n Kenison also handled the settling of the New Hampshire estate of the artist Stephen A. Douglas Volk (1859-1935). Volk's papers are held by the Archives of American Art. There are little ephemera in the collection; there are posters advertising estate sales and auctions. These are noted in brackets after the entry. There are a few photographs of properties for sale. They are noted in brackets after the entry. Kenison's business records (Series II) consist entirely of checkbook stubs (1938-1947) and part of a ledger (1925-1936). There is no information about Kenison's personal life or activities in the collection. \n

Subjects:

Lawyers, Artists, Inventories, Probate records, Probate law and practice, Wills

Locations:

Conway, NH
Ossipee, NH

People:

Volk, Stephen A. Douglas, 1856-1935

Credit Line:

Gift of Frank E. Kenison in 1997.

Restrictions:

Available for research.

Level Description:

Collection

Finding Aid Link:

RS24938_Kenison_Arthur_E_Papers_1997.049.pdf