Stearns Family Papers

Frank W. Stearns, a native of Boston MA, was an American businessman, whose father founded the R. H. Stearns department store in Boston. Stearns graduated from Amherst College 1878 and joined his father’s dry goods firm in Boston. He became a partner of the firm in 1881 and was appointed chairman of its Board of Directors in 1919. Stearns is known for being an early supporter and close friend of his fellow Amherst College alumnus, Calvin Coolidge. He married Emily Williston Clark in 1880, and died in Boston in 1939. Foster W. Stearns, a librarian, diplomat, Congressman, and benefactor was born in 1881 to Emily and Frank Stearns in Hull, Massachusetts. He graduated from Amherst College in 1903, Harvard University in 1906, and Boston College in 1915. He began his career as a librarian at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, working there from 1913 to 1917. Then, he was the State Librarian of Massachusetts but his tenure was brief because he enlisted in the military after the United States entered World War I. Stearns served as a first lieutenant and was wounded during the St. Mihiel Offensive on September 12, 1918. Afterwards, he was an assistant military attaché at the General Headquarters of the Amen Expeditionary Forces in France.

After the war, Stearns served in the State Department in Washington, D.C. from 1920 to 1921. Stearns was the third secretary of the American Embassy in Constantinople (now Istanbul) from 1921 to 1923, and was the second secretary of the American Embassy at Paris from 1923 to 1924. While in Turkey, Stearns and his wife were very active in trying to assist Russian refugees, who were fleeing from the communist regime. Increasing deafness from his war injury compelled him to end his diplomatic career and return to librarianship. Stearns was the Librarian of the College of the Holy Cross from 1925 to 1930. The first librarian to oversee the then newly constructed Dinand Library. From 1937 to 1938, Stearns was a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Later, he was a United States Representative (NH) from 1939 to 1945. He died on June 4, 1956.

Stearns married Martha Genung on June 22, 1905. Martha was the daughter of John F. Genung, a professor at Amherst College. She wrote several books on needlepoint and edited The Transplanting, a Narrative from the Letters of Marie Balascheff, A Russian Refugee in France. She also was a student of New Hampshire history and worked with two historical societies. She died in 1972.

John Franklin Genung, born in 1850, was a professor at Amherst College from 1882 until 1917. He taught English, biblical literature and rhetoric. He published several books concerning biblical literature and rhetorical guidelines during his career. Additionally, he was an ordained Baptist minister. He had three children with his wife and his oldest was Martha Genung Stearns.