- unitid
-
{"value"=>"21196", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MG 587", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b20839657", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1952-2011", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1952/2011"}
{"value"=>"1980-1992", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1980/1992"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"E.T. Williams papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"93 boxes, 1 tube", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"43.7 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Edgar Thomas Williams Jr. (1937- ) is an art collector, real estate investor, and philanthropist from New York City. The E.T. Williams papers date from 1952 to 2011 (bulk dates 1980-1992), and consist of files chronicling Williams' art collecting, banking career, real estate investments, charitable donations, board memberships, political contributions, service in the Peace Corps, and personal life. The collection includes correspondence, donation records, real estate files, meeting minutes, legal documents, and event invitations regarding Williams' business ventures, philanthropy, and family life."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Williams, Edgar Thomas Jr., 1937-", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Edgar Thomas Williams Jr. was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1937. He attended Eastern District High School, where he was captain of the track team, president of the junior Red Cross, and student body president. Upon graduating high school in 1955, Williams enrolled at Brooklyn College, where he studied economics and was president of the school's NAACP chapter.</p> <p>In 1959, Williams' father, a real estate and insurance broker, fell ill and was unable to work. Williams took a leave from college to earn his real estate license, and managed the business while his father recovered. He returned to Brooklyn College the following year, and graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor's degree in economics.</p> <p>Williams worked briefly as a junior high school teacher in Brooklyn, and then joined the Peace Corps in 1962. He served as part of the Experiment in International Living program, teaching geography and economics in Ethiopia and India. As a member of the Peace Corps, Williams attended the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and stood on the stage behind Martin Luther King Jr. during his \"I have a dream\" speech. Williams served with the Peace Corps until 1966, living in Washington, D.C., and working as an assistant in the office of public affairs, as an operations officer for Tanzania, and as a program officer in the office of programming and planning. During this time he married Auldlyn Augusta Higgins, a school teacher and Bennington College graduate from Baltimore.</p> <p>In 1967, Williams began his career in finance, taking a job at Maryland National Bank, where he was the first African American to complete their management training program. He went on to work as an officer, remaining in the position until taking a job with the American Bankers Association in Washington, D.C. in 1970. Later that year, Williams returned to New York City when he was offered a job at Chase Manhattan Bank as second vice president in the international banking division. Williams stayed at Chase for twelve years, where he was promoted to serve as vice president of the international banking group, and then as head of Chase Private Banking International.</p> <p>In 1981, Williams learned of a potential real estate investment in the Bronx known as Fordham Hill, and took a leave of absence from Chase in order to organize what was to become the largest privately-financed tenant-sponsored cooperative housing development in New York City. In order to oversee the co-op conversion full time, Williams and his family purchased a home in the Fordham Hill complex, where he operated as president and COO of the Fordham Hill Owners Corporation.</p> <p>Williams pursued additional real estate investments, including an apartment and hotel in Massachusetts, Turtle Beach Towers in Jamaica, West Indies; Wings Point Yacht Club on Long Island; and co-op apartments in East Hampton, Long Island. In 1992, Williams took over the family business, Elnora, Inc., an investment company with interests in real estate, gas and oil, stock portfolios, and African American art.</p> <p>Williams was an avid collector of African American art, purchasing works by artists such as Romare Bearden, Joshua Johnson, Edward Bannister, Hughie Lee Smith, Charles Alston, Richmond Barthe, Louis Delsarte, and Lois Mailou Jones. He also owned the estate of Hale Woodruff, much of which Williams donated to the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Brooklyn Museum. Williams served on the boards of a number of arts and cultural heritage institutions and foundations which included, the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Schomburg Society of Black Art and Culture, the Romare Bearden Foundation, the Printmaking Workshop, and the Central Park Conservancy. He was also a board member with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Boys Club of New York, Inc., Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Woodlawn Cemetery, and Boys Harbor Inner-City Youth Project.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>This collection consists of the business and personal files of E.T. Williams, which detail his career in finance and real estate, as well as his art collecting, participation in social clubs, family life, philanthropy, donations to politicians, and early career in the Peace Corps. Included are business files, correspondence, donation records, event invitations, legal documents, meeting minutes, real estate documentation, and travel records, which illustrate Williams' professional life and personal interests.</p> <p>Williams spent considerable time negotiating the purchase and sale of his family's art collection, and retained records of the galleries, museums, and institutions to which he donated, loaned, or sold this art. The art collecting files consist of appraisals, correspondence with art museums, gallery consignment forms, inventories, loan forms, and sales agreements. The artists most frequently discussed are Romare Bearden, Joshua Johnson, Hale Woodruff, and Lois Mailou Jones. Some of the museums with which Williams conducted business include the Carnegie Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Minnesota Museum of Art, the Mint Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Parrish Art Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Studio Museum in Harlem, and Whitney Museum of American Art. These files are notable for revealing the manner in which works of art exchange hands among collectors, investors, galleries, and institutions.</p> <p>The banking records are comprised of pocket day-timers, yearly pocket planners, and banker's diaries from Williams' tenure at Chase Manhattan Bank. These items provide a glimpse into the nature of the day-to-day work during Williams' banking career, and the individual business interactions that occurred. Also among the banking records are files from Williams' time as a trustee at the Fiduciary Trust Company.</p> <p>Williams kept up an active social life and maintained membership with a number of exclusive social clubs, these include The Church Club of New York, Comus Club, Knickerbocker Club, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Reveille Club, Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, and the University Club of New York City. Williams' involvement is documented though correspondence and event invitations, offering insight into the nature of these clubs and their participants. Of note is a Reveille Club scrapbook that compiles biographies of the club's members.</p> <p>Contained within the Peace Corps files is a 1962 certificate of service, a photograph of Williams in Ethiopia, and papers relating to his international travel. The most information regarding his Peace Corps service is found in a file of personal correspondence, which holds letters Williams wrote while living abroad. Of special interest is a small collection of photographs of family and friends that Williams' labeled, \"pictures of home.\"</p> <p>The personal files are comprised of biographical information and materials related to Williams' family. Williams saved much of his personal correspondence, some of which covers his time with the Peace Corps and living in Washington, D.C. The personal files also convey details of the lives of Williams' daughters, Brooke and Eden, and their correspondence with family while away at college. Williams retained wedding invitations, funeral announcements and obituaries, records of vacations and travel, and several versions of his biography and resume. Among the personal artifacts are Williams' scrapbook, his high school diploma, his wife's Westover diploma, and their expired passports. The scrapbook contains items chronicling Williams' activities as a high school student, volunteer work with the Junior Red Cross, and service with the Peace Corps. Included are clippings regarding Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 \"I have a dream\" speech and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Williams can be seen in the background of some of the images he collected of these events.</p> <p>The philanthropy files detail Williams' monetary donations and service on the boards of numerous foundations, museums, and non-profit institutions. His family's philanthropic activities are acknowledged through thank you letters, commemorative brochures, and invitations to charitable events. Among the organizations represented are Brooklyn College, the Brooklyn Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Romare Bearden Foundation, the Schomburg Society of Black Art and Culture, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and Woodlawn Cemetery.</p> <p>Williams was also a frequent donor to political campaigns, exclusively within the Democratic Party. The politicians files contain letters of appreciation from politicians such as Al Gore, Andrew Cuomo, Barack Obama, Bill Bradley, Bill Clinton, Carl McCall, Charles Rangel, Chuck Schumer, Chris Owens, Cory Booker, Geraldine Ferraro, Howard Dean, Larry Graham, and Paul Tsongas. Also of note are materials from Williams and his wife's attendance at the 1992 Democratic National convention and Barack Obama's inauguration in 2008.</p> <p>The Real Estate and Investment files are strongest in portraying Williams' work as a real estate investor, particularly the co-op conversion of the Fordham Hill apartments in the Bronx. Williams kept meticulous records of his business transactions, which characterize all aspects of his real estate investments and operations management. Included are the plans for the Fordham Hill co-op conversion, board meeting minutes, correspondence, financial records, legal papers, memoranda, property appraisals, and shareholders files. These files represent all aspects of Williams' real estate investing, and reveal the details of the co-op conversion process as well as his work as president of the Fordham Hill Owners Corporation. Williams also kept records on his family's homes in New York City; Sag Harbor, Long Island; Naples, Florida; and Dark Harbor, Maine.</p>"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>Files are arranged alphabetically by category, and chronologically within each category. The categories are Art Collecting, Banking and Finance, Clubs and Societies, Peace Corps, Personal Files, Philanthropy, Politicians, and Real Estate and Investment.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of E.T. Williams.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Compiled by <span class=\"name\">Heather Lember</span>, <span class=\"date\">2015</span>.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>All reproduction requests subject to limitations noted in divisional policies on reproduction.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Information on copyright available from repository.</p>"}
- date_start
-
1952
- keydate
-
1952
- date_end
-
2011
- date_inclusive_start
-
1952
- date_inclusive_end
-
2011
- date_bulk_start
-
1980
- date_bulk_end
-
1992
- extent_statement
-
43.7 linear feet (93 boxes, 1 tube)
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"[Item], E.T. Williams papers, Sc MG 587, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library"}