The Frost Family Papers consist of twenty-five letters to William and Esther Sherwood from their daughter Marietta Sherwood Frost, son-in-law Reverend Daniel D. Frost, and grandson Edward D. Frost written between August 13, 1849 and circa February 1860. The letters discuss family activities, domestic chores, the education of the children and the health of the family members. Also included are descriptions and comparisons of daily life in Redding, Connecticut and West Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Particularly noteworthy are a letters written in 1853 and 1858 discussing William Sherwood's experiences in the California gold rush and his plans to depart for the gold mines of Australia. A letter from April 29, 1858 describes a temperance lecture in West Stockbridge and the formation of a "Band of Hope" whose members "promise to abstain from all intoxicating drinks, from use of tobacco in any form and from profane swearing." That letter also mentions a speech by a Mr. Colt, who remarked that "a good war was just what our country needed to bring people to their sences [sic] to promote right feeling--that we had become too wicked and too wealthy." Of further interest is a letter written on February 18 in about 1860 describing the death of the Frosts' son Aaron.