Found 1114 collections.

Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-1892), the American architect, started working as a draftsman for Josiah C. Brady and Ithiel Town in New York City. He became Town's partner in 1829 and they collaborated on public structures, including the New York Customs House (1832) and various state capitols. When Davis went into business on his own, he continued to design public buildings but concentrated on designs for large country and suburban houses. Collection consists of the papers of Alexander Jackson Davis and his son Joseph Beale Davis. A.J. Davis papers contain correspondence, accounts, legal papers, lectures, writings, architectural specifications, drawings and engravings, diary, scrapbooks, catalog of his library, and miscellaneous materials. Bulk of the correspondence consists of letters, 1829-1890, to Davis concerning architectural projects and other business and personal matters. Writings and notes of Davis include diary, 1827-1853, and lectures with related materials. Scrapbooks contain engravings and woodcuts from books, drawings and watercolors of architectural details by Davis, and clippings. Also, architectural specifications, drawings and engravings for his designs. J.B. Davis papers include correspondence, mostly letters, 1895-1937, to Davis; materials related to the Davis and Beale families; biographical notes; and other materials, such as photographs, engravings and clippings. less

Alexander Anderson (1775-1870) was a New York engraver and physician. His papers consist of 38 letters to Anderson from his mother while he was serving as a physician at Bellevue Hospital during the yellow fever epidemic in 1795, a letter from his father to his mother, circa 1775, and two of his notebooks, one containing a chronological list of Roman emperors, the other his notes on botany, nosology, and stenography, 1795. In addition, the collection contains Evert A. Duyckinck's papers on Anderson, including reminiscences, transcripts from Anderson's diaries, and letters from Benson J. Lossing concerning the invitation he received to deliver a memorial of Anderson at the New-York Historical Society. less

Collection consists of negative photostats of manuscript records of the British Army headquarters in America during 1775-1783, representing the official notes of General Thomas Gage, Sir William Howe, Sir Henry Clinton, and Sir Guy Carleton as commanders-in-chief. Also, calendar (four volumes) to the records published by the British Historical Manuscripts Commission in 1904-1909. 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

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

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 James Riker Papers document the literary activity and family background of the New York historian and genealogist. The collection consists of original documents from colonial-era New York in Dutch and English, extracts and transcripts from New York and New Jersey historical records, genealogical notes, correspondence, writings, notebooks, printed matter and photographs. Also included are Civil War correspondence and military records of James Riker's brother, Colonel John Lafayette Riker of the New York 62nd Regiment Volunteer Infantry. less

James Monroe (1758-1831) was a soldier, statesman and the fifth President of the United States. Collection consists of correspondence and Monroe's writings. Correspondence, 1772-1836, is largely political, focusing on constitutional issues, Monroe's diplomatic assignment in France, Virginia politics, treaty negotiations with Great Britain, France and Spain, the slave trade, and Bank of the United States. Also discussed are foreign policy and war issues. Writings, 1785-1831, include manuscripts of Monroe's autobiography, notes, drafts of speeches and articles on foreign and domestic policy, drafts of treaties with Great Britain and Spain, draft of proposed Bill of Rights, and copies of Monroe's cipher and Jefferson/Monroe cipher. less

James F. Maury (1746-1840), merchant at Fredericksburg, Virginia, before and during the American Revolution, engaged in the tobacco trade between Liverpool, England, and the U.S. after the Revolution. He served as the first American consul at Liverpool. The collection consists of letters written by Maury during his consular service in England, mainly to his brothers and sisters in Virginia, regarding family matters, business affairs and his life in England. Other subjects include the economic effects of the Anglo-French wars and the seizure of American vessels. Some of the letters are addressed to various statesmen and business associates. 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

Moses Taylor (1806-1882) was a little-known but representative figure in the history of the mercantile and industrial development of the United States and Cuba in the nineteenth century. Taylor was a New York City merchant in the West Indies trade (chiefly Cuba), a long-time president of City Bank of New York, an entrepreneur and manager in the railroad and mining industries, a life-long Tammany supporter, an ambivalent War Democrat with personal and business ties to the South, and an important member of August Belmont's clique of Democratic businessmen. Bulk of the papers reflects Taylor's business career over five decades and is composed of correspondence and records, 1834-1889, of the trading house of Moses Taylor and the reorganized trading and investments firm of Moses Taylor & Company; personal papers, 1837-1880; papers of Taylor's estate, 1881-1900; papers, 1852-1882, relating to the estate of Taylor's father, Jacob Bloom Taylor; letters and papers, 1860s and 1870s, of Taylor's son, Henry A.C. Taylor, and other members of his family; correspondence and papers, 1830-1893, of Taylor's business partners, Percy Pyne (who was also his lieutenant and son-in-law) and Lawrence Turnure, and his closest associates in trade and industry, Henry Augustus Coit, Charles Heckscher and Philo Shelton; correspondence and records, 1830-1899, of the many industrial companies and public utilities in which Taylor and/or his family and estate had a financial interest; letters and papers, 1863-1888, relating to the Ten Years War of 1868-1878 in Cuba, during which Taylor's firm acted as agents for the independence movement; and records, 1793-1906, of other merchants. less

Gilbert Holland Montague (1880-1961) was an American lawyer and autograph collector. Collection consists of letters and documents with the autographs of American, British and other European figures including statesmen, politicians, artists, scientists, and legal, literary and royal figures. Also, some carte-de-visite photographs of prominent individuals. less

Philip John Schuyler (1733-1804), a Revolutionary War general and statesman, was a prominent member of the landed aristocracy of New York State. The collection consists of correspondence, accounts, military records, land records, and other papers documenting Schuyler's military, political and business activities and, to a lesser extent, his family affairs. Correspondence, 1761-1804, is with military officers, members of the Continental Congress, committees of safety, and family, and concerns the conduct of the Revolutionary War in the Northern Department, 1775-1777, and political and personal matters. Indian papers, 1710-1797, contain Schuyler's papers as Commissioner of Indian Affairs in the Northern Department during the war and as agent of New York State. Canal papers, 1792-1803, include correspondence, diaries, reports, surveys, accounts, and other papers relating to the construction of canals in New York. His papers as Surveyor General of New York State, 1773-1788, and other public papers, circa 1775-1796, consist of correspondence, receipts, drafts of legislation and proposals, building plans, and other papers. Financial papers, 1711-1805, estate papers, 1752-1828, and land papers, 1705-1864, pertain to business activities and land holdings of Schuyler and family. Family papers, 1772-1851, contain correspondence and other papers of Schuyler family members. Military papers, 1775-1779, comprise Revolutionary War materials that were neither generated nor received directly by Schuyler. less

Collected by Pierre F. Simon beginning in the 1960s, the letters in this collection represent approximately sixty artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, spanning many of the major artistic movements and schools of the era. Primarily the creation of French painters--but also including other Europeans whose careers encompassed various media--the letters are often surprisingly personal, offering small glimpses into the humanity of each artist. Several of the letters include illustrations. Most letters are in French, with a small number of letters in German or English. less

Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853?) was born a slave in Haiti (then Saint Domingue) and came to New York City in 1787 with the family of Pierre Berard. After becoming a successful hairdresser, Toussaint supported the Berard family and bought the freedom of many slaves. A devout Roman Catholic, Toussaint contributed to Catholic schools and orphanages, was a founding member of the first French Catholic Church in New York City, and helped poor black youths and the victims of yellow fever. In 1951 a petition was begun for his canonization. Collection consists of Toussaint's correspondence and other papers. Correspondence, 1793-1853, is with friends and relatives in the U.S., France and the Caribbean. Also included are letters and poems, 1822-1829, from his niece and ward, Euphemie, and manumission papers of several slaves whose freedom Toussaint had arranged. less

Robert Troup (1757-1832) was a lawyer and land agent from New York State. He served as an officer with the American army during the Revolution, practiced law in Albany and New York City, was elected to the State Assembly, and in 1796 was appointed judge of the United States district court of New York. From 1801 to 1832 he was land agent of the Pulteney Estate of England for properties in western New York. Collection consists of the papers of Robert Troup as well as those of his sons, Charles G. Troup and Robert R. Troup. Robert Troup's papers mainly concern his career as a lawyer and administrator of estates and include correspondence, registers of cases, legal documents, and account books for the Pulteney Estate. Charles G. Troup was associated with his father in the practice of law and his papers contain correspondence, notebooks of law lectures, commonplace books, account books, financial papers, and household accounts. Robert R. Troup's papers reflect his business interests and include ledgers and other account books. less

Robert Morris (1734-1806) was a Founding Father of the United States, a businessman, and statesman. As a Philadelphia merchant, Morris helped to finance the American Revolution with the wealth he acquired through his real estate and shipping business. He was one of the rare Founding Fathers to have signed all three of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution. The Robert Morris papers, dated 1751-1802, consist of correspondence, financial and legal papers. The correspondence pertains mostly to Morris's business affairs. Other letters concern his Revolutionary War activities, his service as Superintendent of Finance of the United States and as Chairman of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, and some personal matters. The financial and legal papers include receipts, accounts, stock certificates, and land records. less

Henry Knox (1750-1806), United States Army general, was chief artillery officer of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, and first United States Secretary of War from 1789 to 1794. The Henry Knox papers consist of letters sent by Knox to military officers and government officials on various matters, as well as a few personal letters and miscellaneous military documents. The bulk of the letters are written in his capacity as Secretary of War, mainly to state governors and U.S. Commissioners of Loans in several states. These concern strengthening frontier defense, pension payments to invalid soldiers, and instructions on naval matters such as the repatriation of prizes seized by proscribed privateers and maintaining the embargo of 1794. Letters written during the Revolutionary War, chiefly to Army Quartermaster General Timothy Pickering, concern requests for ordnance, horses and drivers, and payroll matters. Personal letters to General Henry Jackson and M.M. Hays pertain to Knox's land purchases and related debt. A letter to U.S. Vice President Thomas Jefferson dated March 9, 1800 introduces Mr. Pope, inventor of improvements to a horizontal wind mill, and expresses disappointment with the path of his son Henry's naval career. Documents signed by Knox consist of a certificate of debt settlement and military discharge, and a warrant to survey land for a soldier's military bounty. 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 Board of Treasury, established by the Continental Congress in 1776, was a standing committee of five members responsible for superintending the Treasury and finances of the United States. In 1781, its duties were assumed by Robert Morris as Superintendent of Finance. Congress re-established the Board of Treasury as a committee of three members in 1784 to replace the position of Superintendent. The new Board existed until the creation of the Department of the Treasury in September, 1789. Board commissioners during the period represented in this volume were Arthur Lee (1740-1792), Walter Livingston (1740-1797), and Samuel Osgood (1748-1813). The Reports of the Board of Treasury are the Board's copies of reports and advisements submitted to Congress, dated 1785 April 25 to 1787 September 28, as maintained in one bound volume (488 pages) labelled "A." Many reports are in the handwriting of Commissioner Walter Livingston. The reports advise Congress on financial matters at the national level, and on monetary claims against the United States, sent to the Board for review. Claims were petitioned by military personnel, government employees, diplomatic agents and civilians, seeking payment of salaries or debt, compensation for losses, or other reimbursements. Most claims originated from the Revolutionary War. less

The Chelsea Fire Club of Norwich, Connecticut was a voluntary association instituted on December 11, 1788 to protect the waterfront district of Chelsea, or Norwich Landing, from fire. The Club's first elected officers were Ebenezer Whiting, chairman, and Ebenezer Huntington, secretary. Participants included Jabez Huntington, Levi Huntington, and members of the Coit, Howland and Perkins families, among others. The Chelsea Fire Club record book, dated 1788 to 1796, contains the Club's by-laws, meeting minutes, and an account of fines paid by members. Minutes dated 1788 December 11 to 1796 May 6 concern attendance, membership, and the election of officers; Club regulations; maintenance of fire-fighting equipment; procedures for fire alarms; and petitioning local government for support. The possible dissolution of the Club was raised at the annual meeting of December 22, 1795, and on May 6, 1796 the Club voted to transfer the care of its fire engine, engine house and apparatus to Norwich's Second Ward fire company. less

Chiefly an autograph collection of manuscript letters, documents, musical scores, photographs, and other papers of European, British, and American composers, musicians, authors, novelists, poets, playwrights, historians, philosophers, painters, sculptors, scientists, physician, politicians, statesmen, royalty, and others spanning the period from the 17th to the 20th centuries. There is also Vollmer family correspondence (1892-1959), primarily correspondence of Ruth Vollmer (in German) with family and friends in Europe just prior to the outbreak of Work War II. less

Samuel Adams (1722-1803) was an American revolutionary and post-revolutionary era political leader. Adams served as lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts from 1789 to 1793, and was governor from 1794 to 1797. The Adams papers contain letters to Adams and drafts of letters by him, chiefly on public affairs; as well as manuscripts of addresses, petitions, committee minutes, resolutions, and other documents. Much of Adams’ correspondence is with notable figures of the period in America and Europe including John Adams, Samuel Cooper, Christopher Gadsden, Horatio Gates, Elbridge Gerry, Joseph Hawley, Thomas Jefferson, Arthur Lee, Richard Henry Lee, James Lovell, Thomas Paine, and James Warren. There are also letters (1778-1781) to Adams’ wife, Elizabeth Wells Adams, on family matters, as well as letters neither to nor from Adams. less

William Smith Jr. (1728-1793), an American Loyalist of New York and Quebec, was a prominent jurist, statesman, journalist and historian. The William Smith Jr. papers comprise the papers of William Smith Jr., 1683-1793; those of his son William Smith III (1769-1847), a Canadian government official, historian and militia officer, 1797-1848; and Smith family land and estate papers, 1665-1912. The bulk of the collection consists of William Smith Jr.'s papers pertaining to his activities as a lawyer, journalist and historian, and as a Councillor and Chief Justice in the British provinces of New York and Quebec (later Lower Canada). Papers include his correspondence and documents, writings for publication, and the diaries he kept from 1753 to 1783, known as his Historical Memoirs. Volumes documenting his law practice in New York are also present. less

William Law, Jr. was a merchant of New York City and Connecticut. Papers consist of correspondence and financial accounts, 1807-1817, generated while Law acted as agent and supercargo for the merchant firm of Minturn & Champlin of New York City. Bulk of the papers consists of letters, accounts, and notebooks relating to the cargo and voyage of the ship Lion from New York to Canton, China, December 1815 to June 1816, and its return, December 1816 to April 1817. Included is Law's correspondence with Minturn & Champlin and the ship's owner, Thomas C. Butler; list of the crew; extracts from the ship's log; and notebooks, manifests, account books, sales receipts, and invoices recording goods shipped to and purchased in China, such as tea, textiles, chinaware, opium, and furs. Other papers include Law's accounts with Minturn & Champlin, 1807-1814; claims against Denmark for the ships Resolution, Nimrod, and Swift which were captured by privateers, 1810-1811; affadavits relating to a mutiny aboard the Lion, 1816; and some correspondence and accounts regarding the sale of the Lion's cargo in New York City. less

Philip John Schuyler (1733-1804), a Revolutionary War general and statesman, was a prominent member of the landed aristocracy of New York State. The collection consists of various autograph letters and documents of Philip Schuyler, including letters and orders written to Peter Curtenius, Richard Varick, Jeremiah Wadsworth, James Duane, and James Clinton during the American Revolution, and letters to his daughters Eliza and Catherine and other family members. Correspondence with Simeon De Witt, a letter to Barent Bleecker, and related documents concern their efforts to build canals in upstate New York during the 1790s. Also present are two documents signed in his role as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, a letter to Richard Davis giving instructions on management of his property, a land indenture, and some receipts. less

Archibald Robertson (ca.1745-1813) served in the British Army during the American Revolution as an officer in the Royal Engineers. Collection consists of six maps attributed to Archibald Robertson. Maps are chart of the approaches to Boston Bay in Mass., 1776; Copy of Miller's "Plan of the roads between Boston and Albany" N.Y., 1765; British military map of New York City from Kips Bay to McGowan's Pass, 1782; Battle of White Plains, N.Y., 1776; Paoli, Chester County, Penn., 1777; and British troops near Charleston, South Carolina, and vicinity, 1780. less