Collection Overview
Title: Delano House Collection
Dates: 1930s
Creator: Carrolla Bryant
Repository: Drew Archival Library
Call Number: DAL.MSS.125
Accession Number: DAL.2013.35
Location: Fogg Archives Room
Quantity: 2 box
Language: English

Administrative Information
Access Restriction: Collection is open to researchers
Acquisition Information: Donated 2019, Tony Kelso, Town Historian
Preferred Citation: DAL.MSS.125, Delano House Collection, Duxbury Rural & Historical Society
Finding Aid Prepared by Isabel Newman, Jan. 2023

Scope and Content:
The collection contains 51 items and approximately 150 photographs connected to the Delano House at 251 High Street, Duxbury, MA. The material relates to the renovations done by Carolla A. Bryant and her partner, Gleason L. Archer, in the 1930s and includes the research she did to publish her Pilgrim Homes and How They Were Built. Most of the photographs illustrate the house before, during, and after the renovations. Some material relates to later owners.

A larger album is boxed separately, located in Bay 4 of the Fogg Archives Room

Biographical Sketch:
According to Carrolla A. Bryant, the Delano house at 251 High Street was built by Dr. Thomas Delano and his wife, Rebecca Alden, in the 1600s. Her book, Pilgrim Homes and How They Were Built, erroneously makes this claim and attributes the house to “first-period” colonial construction. Because of Bryant’s research, the house received an early dateboard from the DRHS and was long considered one of the oldest structures in Duxbury.

Recent research has shown the house was not built by Thomas and Rebecca Delano but by their descendant, John Delano, and dates to 1736.

Carolla A. Bryant was a descendant of Stephen Bryant of Duxbury. She devoted a large portion of her life to restoring the Delano House or, as she called it, the Cape Cod Cottage. Her partner, Gleason L. Archer, purchased the home in 1933. The house was neglected and was in need of great repair. Over the course of her residency in the house, Carrolla Bryant restored the cottage and did extensive research into the history of the house. She documented her findings and restoration process.

Gleason Leonard Archer (1880-1966) was a founder of Suffolk University and remained there until his retirement in 1948. He was a historical expert for the Duxbury Realty Company of West Duxbury and specialized in authentic colonial homes.