- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"4 linear feet linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"9 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1823-1936", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1823/1936"}
{"value"=>"1840-1880", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1840/1880"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1823
- date_inclusive_end
-
1936
- keydate
-
1823
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"James Lenox papers"}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library. <span class=\"subarea\">Manuscripts and Archives Division</span></span> <div class=\"address\"> <span class=\"addressline\">New York, New York</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Papers document the life of the New York bibliophile James Lenox, with an emphasis on his book collecting and philanthropic activities."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>James Lenox Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Lenox, James, 1800-1880", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>James Lenox was born on August 19, 1800 at 59 Broadway in New York City. His father was Robert Lenox, who was born in 1759 in Kirkcubright, Scotland. Robert Lenox had migrated to New York City in the 1770s, and married Rachel Carmer in 1783. Robert Lenox was a merchant who was heavily invested in New York City real estate.</p> <p>James Lenox received an A.B. from Columbia College in 1818, and later received Masters degrees from Columbia and the College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton University). He studied law and was admitted to the New York bar on January 18, 1822. After spending time in Europe, he returned to New York City and joined his father's business as an importing merchant. From 1829 until 1840, he worked at the firm known as Robert Lenox and Son, located at 59 Broadway.</p> <p>Upon the 1839 death of his father, who was by then one of the wealthiest men in New York City, Lenox inherited property that included a large farm of 300 acres in the upper part of the city. Lenox carried on the family business until 1845, when he retired to concentrate on book collecting and supporting charitable organizations. Lenox gave land to the Presbyterian Hospital and Presbyterian Home for Aged Women. He was active in the Presbyterian Church on Fifth Avenue. Lenox was a trustee of the College of New Jersey from 1833-1857, and served the Princeton Seminary as trustee (1831-1879) and director (1835-1847). During the last twelve years of his life, he gave away three million dollars to charities.</p> <p>In 1845, Lenox began to collaborate with Henry Stevens, an American book purchasing agent who lived in London. Stevens assisted Lenox in the development of a fine collection of rare books, especially Americana and early Bibles. Letters, notes, lists, and invoices passed between the two by almost every steamer for fifteen years. The first copy of a Gutenberg Bible to come to the United States was a James Lenox acquisition of 1847. Lenox also bought manuscripts, engravings, maps, and paintings.</p> <p>Lenox eventually decided to make his collections accessible to scholars and the public by establishing an independent library to manage them. In 1870 the Lenox Library was incorporated with a nine-member board of trustees, and plans were made for a new library building to house the materials, then in Lenox's home. The architect selected was Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895) and the site (owned and donated to the new institution by Lenox) was Fifth Avenue between 70th and 71st streets in Manhattan.</p> <p>James Lenox died at the age of 53 on February 17, 1880 at his residence at 53 Fifth Avenue. He is buried in New York City at the Marble Cemetery on Second Street. In 1895, the Lenox Library joined with the Astor Library and Tilden Trust to form The New York Public Library.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>Papers document the life of James Lenox with a focus on his book collecting and philanthropic activities.The papers consist of letters, invoices, notebooks, passports, drawings, photographs, and ephemera. The date span is 1818-1878. The bulk of the collection consists of general correspondence from the years1844-1878, and concerns book collecting. The records of his personal life highlight his involvement with charitable organizations as well as his family affairs.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The James Lenox papers are arranged in four series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1732#c177467'>I. Correspondence</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1837-1878</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1732#c177555'>II. Book Dealer's and Publisher's Invoices</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1847-1878</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Sixteen folders, arranged alphabetically. The majority of the book dealer's and publisher's invoices are from Henry Stevens, F.W. Christern, and John Wiley.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1732#c177572'>III. Subject Files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1841-1886</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Subject files, arranged alphabetically, reflect Lenox's involvement with charitable organizations. Eleven of the folders deal with the Presbyterian church, hospital, or historical society. Four folders contain notebooks of the Presbyterian Church's acknowledgements of special donations from 1853 through 1860. Other organizations represented include the American Bible Society, Inebriate Asylum, the Redwood Library and the Princeton Theological Seminary. Three folders document the Stuart Collection, and contain miscellaneous lists, dealers' statements and memorandums related to books formerly owned by Robert Stuart, and acquired by Lenox. There is one folder which contains an incomplete draft and part of the galley proofs of \"Recollections of James Lenox\" by Henry Stevens.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/1732#c177593'>IV. Personal Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1818-1941</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Personal items such as Lenox's passport, photographs, canceled checks, and letters and invoices for clothing. Two folders contain information about the ancestral home of the Lenox family in Scotland.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>The James Lenox Papers are organized in the following series:</p> <p>I. Correspondence, 1837-1878; II. Book Dealer's and Publisher's Invoices, 1847-1878; III. Subject Files, 1841-1886; IV. Personal Papers, 1818-1941.</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Received from E. G. Allen, G. A. Baker, H. T. Friedman, University of Michigan, Presbyterian Church, l. & P. Robinson, W. T. Sabin, Jerome I. Smith, Henry Stevens Son & Stiles.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"archref\"> Lenox Library Records. New York Public Library Archives.</span>"}
- unitid
-
{"value"=>"MssCol 1732", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"1732", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- altformavail
-
{"value"=>"<p>Notebooks of desiderata (2 v.) available on microfilm; New York Public Library</p>"}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Compiled by Cheryl Bliss; machine readable finding aid created by Jim Moske.</p>"}
- extent_statement
-
4 linear feet linear feet (9 boxes)
- date_start
-
1823
- date_end
-
1936
- date_bulk_start
-
1840
- date_bulk_end
-
1880