The Coffin-Hyde Papers contain: correspondence and sailing instructions of ship's Captain Abel Coffin (1817-1841); and, correspondence and other documents of the Hyde Family (1791-1877). The original materials are held by the Spooner family; this collection is presently available only on microfilm.

Abel Coffin (d. 1837) captained a number of ships for a company based in Boston (Massachusetts) and engaged in trans-Atlantic trade. Dr. John Angier Hyde and Dr. Ephraim A. Hyde were Massachusetts physicians (1790s-1840s). A member of the Hyde family was a prisoner-of-war at Andersonville (Georgia) Prison during the Civil War. In 1858 some members of the Hyde family sailed to California on the "Dakota." They settled in San Francisco and in Marin County. John Pitcher Spooner, prominent 19th c. photographer of Stockton (California), was related to the Coffin and Hyde families.

Collection is open for research.