Found 286 collections.

Adolph Philipse (1665-1750) was a wealthy New York City merchant and politician with extensive landholdings in the lower Hudson River Valley. Baptised Adolphus, he was the second son of New York City merchant Frederick Philipse, first Lord of the Manor of Philipsborough in Westchester County, known as Philipsburg Manor. Adolph Philipse held important positions in the provincial government, serving as a member of the Governor's Council and as Speaker of the General Assembly. He died intestate on January 20, 1749 (1750 New Style). Joseph Reade (1694-1771), the estate's administrator, was a merchant, a member of the Governor's Council, and the husband of Adolph Philipse's niece Anna French. The Adolph Philipse estate records, dated 1749 to 1767, consist of a bound notebook maintained by Joseph Reade as administrator of the estate of Adolph Philipse, from January 24, 1749 (1750 New Style) to August 19, 1763, comprising a detailed inventory of the estate at properties in Manhattan and at Philipsburg Manor, with related accounts. The inventory lists cash and other valuables, outstanding debts, household belongings, and other property. Individual slaves at both locations are identified. Reade attested the records in 1767. less

George Chalmers (1742-1825) was a British historian, civil servant, and author. Born in Scotland, he emigrated to Maryland in 1763. He was a lawyer in Baltimore until the American Revolutionary War broke out, when he left for England. Chalmers held the positions of chief clerk for the Committee of the Privy Council for Trade and Foreign Plantations, and colonial agent for the Bahamas. He wrote on historical, political and economic topics, many concerning the American colonies, and collected a large library of books and manuscripts. The George Chalmers collection, dated 1606-1817, consists of materials relating to the North American British colonies of Canada, the Carolinas, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and West Florida, including letters, documents and maps. Also present are papers relating to the Indians in North America, and two variant manuscripts of Chalmers' history of the revolt of the American colonies. less

The South Sea Company was formed circa 1711 by the British government with a monopoly on trade in South America in exchange for liquidating the British national debt by selling shares in its trading enterprises and funding payment of the debt from a part of the company's capital stock. In 1721 the inflated value of the company's shares collapsed which brought on the fall of the British government and widespread financial and political ruin. The Mississippi Scheme was a rival project in France devised by the Scottish economist John Law. Collection consists of correspondence and papers concerning the South Sea Company and the Mississippi Scheme. Materials include letters and documents, 1669-1747, of notable English persons who were involved in the South Sea Company affair; letters and papers, 1712-1771, relating to the company, its directors and shareholders; and letters and papers, 1690-1774, of persons in Great Britain and France who participated in the Mississippi Scheme or who were friends or benefactors of John Law. less

The Ford Autograph Collection was compiled between 1840 and 1898 by Gordon Lester Ford and his sons, Worthington Chauncey Ford and Paul Leicester Ford. Gordon L. Ford (1823-1891) was the business manager of the New York Tribune newspaper and had substantial banking and railroad interests. His oldest son, Worthington (1858-1941) was chief of the Bureau of Statistics of the State and Treasury Departments in Washington, D.C., from 1885 to 1898, chief of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress from 1903 to 1909, and editor of the Massachusetts Historical Society from 1909 to 1929. The younger brother Paul (1865-1902) was a journalist, author and historical editor. Collection contains autograph letters of American presidents, heads of governmental agencies, congressmen, governors, generals, writers, and artists as well as those of European political, military and literary figures, dating from 1589 to 1898. Collection also includes some correspondence of the Ford family. less

The collection consists chiefly of papers of members of the Gansevoort, Lansing and Melville families and reflects the social, business, and political interests of the families, their friends and associates. Also included are some papers of members of the Sanford, Van Schaick and other prominent families of the Hudson and Mohawk Valley areas of New York State. The papers include accounts, correspondence, maps, and land, court, and military records, as well as personal collections of photographs and artifacts documenting the families' history. Notable individuals represented int the collection are Revolutionary War officer Peter Gansevoort, Jr. (1749-1812), his son Peter Gansevoort (1788-1876), a New York State Assemblyman, Senator, and Judge Advocate General, Henry Sanford Gansevoort (1835-1871), Union officer in the Civil War, and author Herman Melville. less

George Bancroft (1800-1891) was an American historian, diplomat and public official who wrote the ten-volume History of the United States. Bancroft's positions included Collector of the Port of Boston, Secretary of the Navy under Polk, Minister to Great Britain from 1846 to 1849, and Minister to Germany from 1867 to 1874. In addition to History of the United States, Bancroft wrote other historical studies and biographies. Collection consists of transcripts (and some originals) of letters, dispatches, statistical data, journals, minutes of proceedings, and other papers culled from American, British and European sources by George Bancroft in the course of research for his historical works. Bulk of the collection reflects the economic, political, military, and diplomatic relations between Great Britain and its North American colonies during the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly the period leading up to the American Revolution of 1775-1783, the war itself, and the immediate aftermath of the war culminating in the writing and adoption of the U.S. Constitution. There are materials on the presidencies of George Washington and James K. Polk, and the 1872 dispute between Great Britain and U.S. over the water boundary between the U.S. and British Columbia. Also, records dealing with relations in the 18th century between the U.S. and continental European countries, and various European countries with each other (especially Prussia, Austria, France, Spain, and Great Britain). less

Edmond Charles Genet (1763-1834), known as "Citizen Genet," was the first Minister of the French Republic to the United States. He later became a United States citizen and settled in New York State. Collection consists of land papers, correspondence, family records, photographs, and printed matter. Deeds, leases and other documents relate to the Genet family property in New York City and in Rensselaer and Chenango Counties, N.Y., ca. 1719-1851. Correspondence among Genet family members concerns primarily family matters, including genealogy and land owned by family members, early 19th century to ca. 1925. Miscellaneous Genet family accounts, receipts, stock certificates, clippings, broadsides, photographs, and legal documents date from the 19th to the early 20th century. Also, account book, 1827-1831; school book containing notes on geometry; miscellaneous fragments of essays; drafts of two letters, 1847, addressed to "Dear Brother" from John Jackson; drawings; early 19th century letters; bills, accounts, land papers, and miscellaneous documents of Edmond Charles Genet; and letters to his wife Cornelia Clinton Genet from her father George Clinton. less

The Hudson collection consists of mid-17th through early 19th-century correspondence, accounts, legal documents, land papers, business records, and shipping papers of families living in the Essex County, Massachusetts, towns of Newburyport, Salisbury and Amesbury; also in Boston, New York City and Rumford (now Concord), New Hampshire. Papers document family matters; seafaring; land transactions; and trade between New England and New York, and the West Indies, Great Britain, Russia (Archangel), and other New World and European ports. Bulk of papers documents the intermarried Hudson and Rogers families who lived in Newburyport, with branches in New York and Boston, mid-18th through early-19th centuries. Also included are papers of members of the related Balch family of Newburyport, 1766-1837; the True family of Salisbury, 1659-1835; and the Rolfe family of Rumford, New Hampshire. Some additional personal, town, church, school, business, and ship papers are in the collection. less

John Milton (1608-1674) was an English poet. He composed sonnets and epic poetry including Paradise Lost, and also wrote tracts concerning political and social issues. Collection consists of one letter from Milton to Carlo Dati (1647 April), Dati's draft reply to Milton (1647 November), papers relating to Milton and his family, correspondence of Charles Symons concerning his biography of Milton, facsimiles of Milton documents, and related correspondence and printed material. Milton family records include papers of his wife, Elizabeth, and her family, and his daughters, Anne and Mary. less

Alfred J. Liebmann (b. 1885) was a research chemist. Born in Switzerland, he emigrated to the U.S. in 1910 and became technical director of Schenley Industries and president of the Schenley Research Institute. His studies included the utilization of cereal crops and of distillery by-products. Collection consists of correspondence, broadsides, official forms, and other documents concerning the distribution and use of liquor in the U.S. Topics include trade in rum and molasses in colonial America, Whiskey Rebellion in 1794, military use of liquor, taverns, and importation and sale of liquor. Some of the items are signed by notable political and military figures. less

Joseph Hawley (1723-1788) of Northampton, Massachusetts, a lawyer, legislator and militia officer, was one of the foremost political leaders of the American revolutionary movement in Massachusetts. The Joseph Hawley papers, dating 1653 to 1804, consist of letters and documents relating to him or members of his family dealing with public and private affairs, especially during the colonial wars and the Revolutionary era. Among these are letters to and from Joseph Hawley and his brother Elisha Hawley; Elisha Hawley’s brief journal of the Crown Point expedition, 1755; items pertaining to the ministry of Jonathan Edwards in Northampton; and papers of the Northampton Committee of Correspondence, of which Hawley was chairman. The collection also includes Joseph Hawley's writings on religious, legal and political topics, circa 1740s-1783, notably concerning the Stamp Act and the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention; sermon notes, 1724-1750, taken by Joseph Hawley with his own Bible commentaries, the early notes probably taken by Joseph Hawley's father; Hawley's legal notes on a dispute between a Mr. French and Joseph Allen of Deerfield, [1750]; and two undated texts in Latin, possibly from Hawley’s student days. less

Charles Currier Beale (1864-1909), a collector of shorthand manuscripts and printed materials, founded and operated the Beale Shorthand Bureau and School of Phonography in Boston between 1884 and 1908. Collection consists of materials concerning American and English shorthand systems and also manuscripts written in shorthand which were acquired by Beale. Types of manuscripts include Bibles from the 18th and 19th centuries, sermons and prayer books; works by various authors; accounts of court trials; and other works transcribed in shorthand. Also, some correspondence, 1899-1907, and bibliographies of books about shorthand and books written in shorthand. less

The Bayards, Campbells and Pearsalls were leading merchant and business families of New York who where related by marriage. Several members were Loyalists during the American Revolution. Family members had business interests in England, the Caribbean and South America. The firm of LeRoy, Bayard & McEvers sold medicine, silk goods, liquor, earthenware, and tobacco to Peru; and bought and sold timber, spices, food, apparel, and hardware in addition to buying and selling land, managing farms, and performing banking functions. Leading members of the families represented are William Bayard, Duncan P. Campbell, Thomas Pearsall, Samuel Cornell, Herman LeRoy, and Jerome Sillem. Collection contains business and family correspondence; accounts and business papers; and land papers consisting of deeds and maps primarily related to New York City, New York State, and other east coast states. less

Edward Stephen Harkness (1874-1940) was a trustee of the New York Public Library. His wife and co-collector, Mary Stillman Harkness, died in 1950. Collection consists of holograph manuscripts, autograph letters, documents, and signatures representing artists and literary and historical figures. Includes 15th-century illuminated Book of Hours and letters and documents of all American presidents from Washington to Franklin D. Roosevelt, except for Herbert Hoover. Items are accompanied by typed transcripts, portrait photographs and illustrations, and related letters, clippings and other materials. Persons represented include Shirley Brooks, Frances H. Burnett, Thomas Carlyle, Walter Crane, George Cruikshank, General Henry Dearborn, Charles Dickens, Benjamin Franklin, Marie Louise, Empress of France, Mary, Queen of Scots, Edgar Allan Poe, Joseph Conrad, John Ruskin, William M. Thackery, Henry D. Thoreau, Samuel Clemens, George Washington, John G. Whittier, and Captain Isaac Woods. less

Emily Ellsworth (Fowler) Ford was an educated nineteenth-century women who wrote prolifically from adolescence until her death in 1893. Her work was published in a variety of contemporary literary journals, magazines, and newspapers. She was the granddaughter of Noah Webster and wife of Gordon Lester Ford, a prominent businessman and lawyer, with whom she raised their seven children. Ford was involved in many charitable organizations around her home in Brooklyn and was well-known within social and literary circles. The collection consists of family and general correspondence, Ford's published and unpublished writing, notes and keepsakes, and a small number of photographs. The material spans parts of her childhood in Amherst through her death in 1893. less

Gilbert Livingston (1742-1806) was a lawyer and legislator in New York State. He was a member of New York's Provincial Convention, 1775-1777; a delegate to the state's convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution, 1788; and a member of the New York Assembly, representing Dutchess County, 1777-1778 and 1788-1789. Collection consists of correspondence, accounts, legal documents, and land papers of Livingston, members of his family and his law clients; notes; and county records. Correspondence, 1760-1836, concerns legal, real estate, financial, and personal matters. Accounts, 1730-1840; legal documents, 1717-1862; and land papers, 1738-1813, similarly document the affairs of Livingston, his family and clients. Also included are notes on the debates held at the New York Constitutional Convention in 1788; and Dutchess County church, school and public records. less