Collections in Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy

Philip Schuyler de Luze (d. 1909) was a genealogical and heraldic researcher of New York City and New Rochelle, New York, apparently active ca. 1880-ca. 1909. Handwritten genealogical research notes in notebooks on some 65 families, with a few pieces of correspondence, clippings and genealogical tables inside, compiled by Philip Schuyler de Luze. The families lived in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia, and elsewhere. less

Genealogist, historian, inventor, and radio broadcasting pioneer, Lloyd Espenschied (1889-1986) lived in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York and was co-inventor of the coaxial cable. Genealogical notes, charts, maps, and transcripts of land, financial and church records, and of ship lists from Espenschied's research into the history of the Espenschied family and the related Crecelius, Dorscheimer, Fraenger, Von Gerichten, Overstolz, Spies, Wagner, Walhizer, and Young families. Also, photographs and papers resulting from Espenschied's studies in the early wagon making and hat industries, and notes from his research on German immigration, particularly to Pennsylvania, Wayne County, New York, St. Clair, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri; and personal correspondence and journals containing narratives about Espenschied's travels, and his attendance at international communications conferences. less

Franklin Marion Gentry, scientist and author of Manhasset, Long Island, New York, was born on March 10, 1898 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He married Violet Dewey Young on August 6, 1925 in Lexington, Kentucky. She was born on June 24, 1900 in Lexington. They had one daughter, Courtenay Dewey Gentry, born on January 18, 1931 in New York City. Franklin M. Gentry was the son of Franklin Marion Gentry I (1853-1904) of Kentucky and Helen Norton Harrison (1864-1933) of Georgia. Gentry I and Harrison were married on June 30, 1897 in New Orleans. The Gentry family in America began with Nicholas Gentry I and his brother Samuel who came to Virginia as British soldiers around 1677. The Gentry Collection is primarily research correspondence and notes of Franklin Marion Gentry who was compiling genealogical information on all lines of his and his wife, Violet Dewey Young's, families in order to secure memberships in the Society of Mayflower Descendants and the Daughters of the American Revolution for his wife and daughter. Some of the research was conducted by Lillie Baker Young (Mrs. Samuel Arthur), mother of Violet. The bulk of this material is from the early 1950s. The collection also includes photocopied documents such as wills, military payment records, indenture records and land claims from the 18th and 19th century and even as early as 1675. These are all photocopies or transcriptions made in the 1950s for research purposes. Other papers include photocopied articles from reference books on the genealogy of specific families, lineage charts, and photocopies of coats of arms for various families. There are also a few clippings, photos, and maps, and a small amount of printed material. Other family names with more than one folder of material besides Gentry, Young, Dewey and Harrison are Adams, Allan, Brooks, Foster, Harris, Norton, Smith, Terrell and Thruston. There are also many family names with just a small amount of material. less

The Barber Family Research Files of Katharine Bagg Hastings consist of correspondence, notebooks, notes, worksheets, and ephemera tracing the genealogy of the Barber family. Also included are a partial manuscript, as well as several illustrations, and galleys, probably for an article published in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record in 1931. less

Genealogist and advertising writer, Harold Hazelton (1904-1991), was library director of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society from 1965 to 1976, as well as associate editor of The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Record, from 1963 to 1965; he was a genealogist for many patriotic societies. Handwritten genealogical research notes in notebooks and on index cards, principally on the Hazelton family, but also on the Frothingham and Roe families, compiled by Harold Hazelton; there are also notes relating to the English ancestry of the Hazelton family, as well as census data by location, mostly United States, especially New York State. less

Marshall Hugh Montgomery was born May 16, 1909 in New York. He received a B.A. from Middlebury College, Vermont and married Prudence Ingham in 1933. Montgomery worked in the finance industry and was Senior Vice-president of Aubrey G. Langston Co. from 1951-1974. He began collecting postcards when he retired in 1974. Montgomery was also an amateur genealogist and local historian and lived in Connecticut and Delray Beach, Florida. He died in Delray Beach on Oct. 11, 2000 at age 91. Over 100,000 mostly color postcards compiled by Marshall Hugh Montgomery. Topics include geographic places, both United States and foreign, greeting cards, boats, bridges, children, costumes, humor, lighthouses, military and naval, roads, roadside America, and World War I. There is a secondary set of topics and several small collections within the larger: the Wieland Collection (compiled by George Reber Wieland), the Flora Downing Collection and "Detroits" (Detroit Publishing Co.). There are also a few notes, clippings, pricelists, newsletters, catalogs, and other publications, as well as a number of books relating to postcards and postcard collecting. less

John Dorrance Morrell (1921-1987), librarian and scholar of genealogy and history, lived in New York City and Brooklyn, New York. Genealogical research papers of John Dorrance Morrell, including medieval to 20th century information in the form of typed and handwritten research notes, correspondence, charts, copies of legal documents, certificates, wills, deeds, vital records, church records, military records, and photographs. The principal families researched are Bailey, Beebe, Bickford, Brownell, Burgess, Burns, Denison, Dorrance, Gallup, Goodrich, Groesbeck, Hess, Holmes, Leavitt, McDougall, Moard, Morrell, Moulthrop, Nichols, Proctor, Rossiter, Schramling, Scramlin, Silver, Slade, Somers, Sommer, Thompson, Van Alstyne, Wilbor, Williams, and Young; the families originated mostly in England, Ireland and Scotland and settled principally in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Canada. Of note is a copy of a letter from President Dwight D. Eisenhower thanking George F. Dorrance for material sent to him and a photostat of a letter dated April 15, 1865, by George E. Dorrance describing the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. less

Includes mostly photocopies and reproductions (but also some originals) of printed matter, clippings, charts, genealogical research notes, coats of arms, pamphlets, newspapers, photographs, cemetery, church, and vital records relating to various topics, organizations, churches, patriotic societies, religious groups, events, and individuals of genealogical or historical interest. Much of the material relates to New York City and New York State history and related subjects, but there are also materials on United States history, and on other states, such as Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. less

Harold Minot Pitman (1888-1970) was an attorney who became a full-time genealogist, and headed several genealogical societies. Correspondence, genealogical research notes, genealogical tables, Bible and family records, coats of arms, as well as a few photographs and maps relating to families researched by H. Minot Pitman as a professional genealogist. There are also some items relating to the Minot and Pitman families. less

Lila James Roney was a professional genealogist and died in 1944. Handwritten and typed genealogical research notes, correspondence, genealogical tables, clippings, copies of wills, military records, and other documents relating to families and locations, compiled by Lila James Roney (and others), mostly in her work as a professional genealogist. The families settled in New York State, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere; some materials were compiled by May H. Smith and Dr. William B. Van Alstyne. less

Howard A. Thomas (ca. 1899-1998) was a genealogist who received a B.F.A. degree from Cornell University in 1934; he and his wife, Ida Mae Sincerbeaux Thomas, lived in Long Island City, New York. Genealogical research papers of Howard A. Thomas, mostly relating to his and his wife's family histories, in the form of typed and handwritten research notes, correspondence (much of it with family members), charts, copies of legal documents, certificates, wills, deeds, and vital records. The principal famlies researched are Ambler, Berry, Doyle, Draper, Dungan, Odell, Peet, Sincerbeaux (Sinsabaugh), Thomas, Timpson (Timson), and Vanderburgh, who settled in Connecticut, Maryland, New York, Nova Scotia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and elsewhere. There is also some 19th century correspondence between Berry family members; also included are notes from the actresses Glenn Close and Julie Harris, and cartoonist Dick Moores, as well as material on the ancestry of model and actress Brooke Shields. less

Between 1837 and 1844, inventor Alfred Lewis Vail worked together with Samuel F.B. Morse in the development and spread of the telegraph. In 1848, Vail moved to his home town, Morristown, New Jersey, and spent the last ten years of his life conducting genealogical research. Correspondence, research notes and notebooks, and family charts on the Vail family, compiled by Alfred Vail, including questionnaires completed by family members. Includes inventory in Box 1. Index cards refer to the 20 bound volumes of correspondence and research notes, compiled by Henry Vail, ca. 1902. less

Notebooks and loose genealogical research notes, correspondence, family charts, photocopies of 18th-19th century family records (documents), maps, photographs, and negatives on the Woody and allied families, including Calmes, Dalrymple, and Dowd, as well as Betts, Blackwell, Burt, Fowlkes, Harrington, McIver, Nelson, Neville, Oliver, Parrot, and Waller families. Inventory included in Box 1. less

Harriet (d. 1996) and Kenn Stryker-Rodda (d. 1990) were professional genealogists, lecturers, teachers, and authors of numerous publications in the field. Typed and handwritten genealogical research notes, charts, Bible and church records, family documents, and cemetery inscriptions from ca. 17th to 20th century, compiled by Harriet and Kenn Stryker-Rodda and others, relating to several hundred families, primarily from New York State, with a number from Long Island; location files include Brooklyn, New Utrecht and Newtown, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. less

Photocopies and transcripts of Bible records relating mostly to New York families of the 16th to 19th centuries, including the Allen, Davis, Hall, Johnson, Lewis, Mott, Rikert, Smith, and Thompson families; some family Bible transcripts are in Dutch and some files contain additional materials. less

Includes mostly brochures advertising the lease or sale of properties and spaces within those properties in larger buildings in New York City (Manhattan and Brooklyn), including banks, hotels, offices, and other places of business. Included in the collection are brochures, photographs, renderings, and numerous floor plans. Well known buildings represented include the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the United Nations Headquarters, the Rockefeller Center, and the Forbes Building. less

Black and white and some color photographs, posters and prints mostly of New York City buildings and streets, including Battery Swimming Baths (Battery Park Baths), photograph by E.J. Lecocq (ca. 1900), 2 photographs of renderings of the New York Biscuit Company (ca. 1890 and 1898), 6 prints of the new Tribune Building (1873); streets depicted include Broadway, Fifth Avenue and Wall Street. Among the subjects are the New York harbor, several ships, the William Cullen Bryant memorial, and Trinity Church memorial to unknown Revolutionary War heroes, photograph by Frank E. Parshley (ca. 1900). There are also 2 prints of the Brooklyn Sanitary Fair (1864) and a house in New Utrecht, Long Island (ca. 1866), as well as a few images from other U.S. cities such as Denver and St. Paul. Portrait prints include those of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, William Nelson Cromwell, Francis L. Hawks, Robert E. Lee, and George Washington; posters include a series of newspaper advertisements one year after Pres. John F. Kennedy's assassination. less