- unitid
-
{"value"=>"22284", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"b20293795", "type"=>"local_b"}
{"value"=>"MssCol 22284", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1825-2012", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1825/2012"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1825
- date_inclusive_end
-
2012
- keydate
-
1825
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Geoffrey Ward collection on Ferdinand Ward and the Ward family"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"8.4 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"21 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- repository
-
{"id"=>"MSS", "value"=>"Manuscripts and Archives Division"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Geoffrey Ward is the author of A Disposition to Be Rich, a biography of his great-grandfather, Ferdinand Ward, who ran a fraudulent Wall Street investment firm from 1880 to 1884. The Geoffrey Ward collection on Ferdinand Ward and the Ward family (1825-2012) consists of material collected and created by Geoffrey Ward in preparation of the book. The collection documents the activities of Ferdinand Ward and his extended family from the 1810s to 1949 through original family correspondence, legal documents, newspaper articles, and Geoffrey Ward's research notes, among other materials."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>Geoffrey Ward collection on Ferdinand Ward and the Ward family, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Ward, Geoffrey C.", "type"=>"persname", "role"=>"collector"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Geoffrey Ward is an American author and historian. His books include A Disposition to Be Rich (2012), a biography of his great-grandfather, Ferdinand De Wilton Ward, Jr., who was notorious for running a fraudulent investment firm from 1880 to 1884.</p> <p>Ferdinand Ward was born in 1851 to Jane Shaw Ward and Ferdinand De Wilton Ward, a Presbyterian minister. His parents had served as missionaries in India from 1837 to 1846. Ward spent his childhood in Geneseo, New York. He married Ella Green of Brooklyn Heights, with whom he had one son, Clarence Ward. Ella died in 1890.</p> <p>Ward's investment firm, Grant & Ward, was run as a Ponzi scheme. The firm's collapse precipitated the Wall Street panic of 1884. It also bankrupted former president Ulysses S. Grant, who was a partner in the firm. Ferdinand Ward was convicted of grand larceny and served seven years in Sing Sing Prison. After his release in 1892, Ward was involved in further scandal when he kidnapped his son Clarence to gain access to the income Clarence received from his mother's estate.</p> <p>Ferdinand Ward died in White Plains, New York in 1925.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Geoffrey Ward collection on Ferdinand Ward and the Ward family (1825-2012) consists of research materials collected and created by Geoffrey Ward in the preparation of his biography of Ferdinand Ward. The materials document the activities of Ferdinand Ward and his extended family from the 1810s to 1949.</p> <p>The collection contains original Ward family correspondence dating from 1842 to 1949, addressing subjects such as family members' health, finances, and legal matters. Much of the correspondence is that of Ferdinand Ward, Jr., dating from the 1860s to 1924, including letters sent to and from Sing Sing Prison, which discuss Ward's requests for money and goods, his life in Sing Sing, and the state of his family in his absence. Ward's primary correspondents are his wife, Ella Green Ward; his son, Clarence Ward; his sister, Sarah Ward Brinton; his parents, Jane Shaw Ward and Ferdinand Ward, Sr.; and his sister-in-law, Ellen (Nellie) Chaffee Green, who was Clarence's guardian with her husband, Fred Green. The collection contains legal correspondence regarding Clarence's guardianship and his mother's estate, including letters from attorney James McKeen to Fred Green, which also contain information about Green's finances, and letters from McKeen to Clarence Ward. Other correspondence includes letters to Ferdinand Ward, Sr. from his colleagues regarding his church work, lectures, and publications. One file of letters from James D. Fish, president of the Marine National Bank, to Ferdinand Ward, Sr., is present. The collection also contains copies and transcripts of Ward family correspondence dating as early as the 1830s, for which no originals are present; among these are a large number of letters from Ferdinand Ward, Sr., written after his return from India, regarding his life and work with the church. The earliest item in the collection is an invitation to a ball, dated 1825.</p> <p>The collection also contains original legal documents such as the wills of Ella Ward, Ferdinand Ward, Sr., and Jane Shaw Ward, and the 1885 document sentencing Ferdinand Ward to hard labor in Sing Sing Prison. Family memorabilia includes items such as booklets printed for Ward family reunions from 1886 to 1909 and memorial pamphlets for Jane Shaw Ward. Some of Geoffrey Ward's notes from family correspondence and family papers are also present. Ward's notes and photocopies of family documents generally date to the 2000s.</p> <p>Subject files contain biographical and genealogical information about the Ward family and background information on places, people, and organizations associated with them. The bulk of the material in the subject files is Geoffrey Ward's research notes and copies of contemporary print material, such as newspaper and journal articles. Most of the materials in the subject files date from the 1960s to 2012; a small amount of 19th century and early 20th century clippings is also present. Subjects include the Ward family; the Green family; the Brinton family; the Wards' mission to India; the 1837 schism in the Presbyterian Church; Rochester, New York; and Geneseo, New York. The Ward family files also hold detailed chronologies of the Ward family's activities from 1811 (the birth of Jane Shaw) to 1925 (Ferdinand Ward's death). Ferdinand Ward files include research on his associates (notably James D. Fish) and on Grant & Ward investors. Some biographical notes on Clarence Ward are also present in the Ferdinand Ward files.</p> <p>Geoffrey Ward conducted correspondence and interviews with family members, historians, and others during the course of his research. The collection contains files of this correspondence and a folder of notes and transcripts from interviews. His correspondence can also be found throughout the subject files.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Purchased from Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, Inc., 2013.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"type"=>"processing", "value"=>"<p>Compiled by <span class=\"name\">Kit Fluker</span>, <span class=\"date\">2014</span></p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>Some files were sorted by subject.</p>"}
- dsc_type
-
combined
- extent_statement
-
8.4 linear feet (21 boxes)
- date_start
-
1825
- date_end
-
2012