Found 74 collections related to New York (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs

Paul Kester (1870-1933) was an American dramatist and author. He wrote popular novels and also plays which were produced on Broadway with well-known American and British actors. His older brother, Vaughan Kester (1869-1911) was a journalist and novelist who wrote short stories and assisted Paul with his plays. Harriet Watkins Kester was their mother and Jessie Jennings Kester was married to Vaughan Kester. Collection consists of correspondence, literary manuscripts and personal papers of Paul Kester and his brother Vaughan covering their work as dramatists and their correspondence with people in the performing arts. Harriet Watkins Kester's and Jessie Jennings Kester's personal papers are included in the collection. The bulk of Paul Kester's papers is correspondence with actors, actresses, playwrights, producers, publishers, and script writers. His personal letters, 1888-1924, are mainly to his mother, brother and sister-in-law and many of the letters refer to his daily activities as a playwright. Writings contain his working notes and drafts of some of his plays and novels. Miscellaneous papers include photographs of the Kester family and small collections of other individuals' papers. Vaughan Kester's papers contain incoming letters from colleagues; outgoing letters, 1891-1907, to his mother and to Paul Wilstach; writings; and miscellaneous papers. Papers of Harriet Watkins Kester consist of correspondence, 1874-1926, with her sons Paul and Vaughan about their careers and with her daughter-in-law Jessie; and writings, diaries and other materials. Jessie Jennings Kester's correspondence, 1899-1914, is with friends, her brother-in-law and mother-in-law, and with various members of the Kester and Watkins families. Also includes scrapbooks with press notices of Paul Kester's novels and plays. less

Samuel Ward (1814-1884) was an American lobbyist, financier, author, and adventurer. He was the son of the banker Samuel Ward (1786-1839) and the grandson of Samuel Ward (1756-1832) soldier and merchant. His sister was Julia Ward Howe, author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic". After leaving his father's banking house, Prime, Ward & King, he visited Latin America on behalf of U.S. corporate and government interests. By the end of the U.S. Civil War he was settled in Washington, D.C. where he lobbied the government on behalf of financiers. Collection contains the papers of Ward, his father, his grandfather, and other family members, as well as his collection of autograph letters of mathematicians and scientists. Papers include handwritten and typescript letters, notebooks, transcripts, photographs, and printed matter. Samuel Ward correspondence, 1825-1882, concerns his activities, intellectual and literary matters, and family concerns. Many letters were written by friends who were historical figures. Autograph collection, 1647-1856, comprises letters by famous mathematicians and scientists acquired by Ward with his purchase of the library of mathematician A.N. Legendre. Also, Ward's travel notebooks, and letters, photographs and other papers of various members of the Ward family. 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

Eugenia Hughes (1909-1964) was an artist who lived in Greenwich Village, New York City. She was born in Pennsylvania and moved to New York in the mid-1930s. Collection contains correspondence, diaries, art work, writings, family papers, photographs, memorabilia of Hughes and her family, and printed matter. Family correspondence, 1861-1963, consists of letters among family members. General correspondence, 1902-1936, contains letters to Hughes and to her father, Roy V. Hughes (also an artist), from friends and includes many love letters. Complementing the correspondence are Eugenia Hughes's diaries, 1921-1964; a 1900 diary of her mother, Josephine Gosline; a 1950 diary of Roy Hughes; sketches and watercolor studies by Roy and Eugenia Hughes; exhibition catalogs; Eugenia Hughes's notes and writings; family papers; photographs of family and friends; personal memorabilia; ephemera; and clippings. less

Elizabeth Oakes Prince Smith (1806-1893) was an author, lyceum lecturer and early activist on behalf of women's rights. Her writings included novels, poetry, children's books, plays, essays, stories, and articles for newspapers and magazines. She was active in the women's rights movement and in 1848 attended the Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y. She was one of the first female lecturers on the lyceum circuit. Her husband, Seba Smith, was a newspaper editor and writer. Collection consists of Smith's writings, correspondence, drawings, and printed matter providing information on her literary career and her activities as a lyceum lecturer and early women's rights advocate. Writings include manuscripts of Smith's autobiography; manuscripts and clippings of her articles, lectures, poems, stories, plays, dime novels, and other writings. Among her writings are reminiscences of Ralph Waldo Emerson and several chapters of an unfinished biography of George Washington. Also, a small quantity of correspondence of Smith and her children, materials concerning spiritualism and psychometry, and several drawings and a photograph. less

Richard Watson Gilder (1844-1909), American poet and editor, served as editor-in-chief of Scribner's Monthly and its successor The Century Illustrated Monthly. He was active in many civic improvement and public service organizations. Collection consists of correspondence, 1861-1909; poetry and prose writings, 1856-1909; diaries, 1855-1909; contracts and royalty statements, 1896-1909; scrapbooks of clippings and ephemera, 1871-1913; and obituaries and other commemorative material. Correspondence includes 21 letter books, a small number of outgoing letters, and extensive incoming correspondence relating to Gilder's editorial work at Scribner's Monthly and Century and to his many public service and professional activities. Individual letter books contain Gilder's letters written for the New York Tenement House Commission, New York Kindergarten Association, the Washington Centennial Celebration, and the Committee for the Erection of the Washington Memorial Arch. Gilder's correspondents include his fellow editors as well as many of the most prominent figures in American literature, the arts, politics, and society. Writings include manuscripts, typescripts and published copies of his addresses, essays, poetry, editorials in the Century, and manuscripts and proofs of his biographies of Grover Cleveland and Abraham Lincoln. Scrapbooks contain articles about Gilder and clippings of his published poetry. Posthumous materials include letters of condolence and resolutions, 1909-1910, sent to his wife; items concerning memorial services and charitable funds established in Gilder's honor; poetic tributes; and scrapbooks of obituaries. Also, materials regarding efforts to publish his letters. less

Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) was a writer, promoter of African-American artists during the Harlem Renaissance, patron of the arts, and photographer. After he graduated from the University of Chicago in 1930, he entered upon a career as a reporter for newspapers that included The American in Chicago and within a few years The New York Times. At the latter he served as an overseas correspondent in Paris and subsequently as an assistant to the music critic Richard Aldrich in New York City. Van Vechten moved to New York City in 1906 with his first wife Anna Elizabeth Snyder, a teacher. After his divorce in 1912, Van Vechten met and married the stage actress Fania Marinoff. Marinoff made her stage debut at the age of eight in a stock company, and eventually developed a successful stage career. Van Vechten's novels include The Blind-Bow Boy, Interpreters and Interpretations, Nigger Heaven, Peter Whiffle, Tiger By the Tail, and The Tattooed Countess. Van Vechten promoted the careers of many authors' works by writing introductions to their monographs. In his second successful career as a photographer, he had the opportunity to photograph, and to have himself photographed, with many literary figures, stage and screen stars and others. Papers reflect Van Vechten's social life and professional career as a writer, photographer and patron of the arts; they also document Van Vechten's literary and artistic circle of friends and colleagues. An avid collector, Van Vechten retained the letters of prominent individuals who corresponded with him including Ralph Barton, James Branch Cabell, Arthur Davidson Ficke, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Donald Gallup, Langston Hughes, Edward Jablonski, Klaus Jonas, James Weldon Johnson, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Bruce Kellner, Saul Mauriber, H. L. Mencken, Georgia O'Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz, Florine Stettheimer, and Henrietta Stettheimer. Papers are also rich in Van Vechten's photographs of prominent individuals, and in 19th century photographs of his family in Iowa. Multiple editions of Van Vechten's monographs and the monographs of others add to the diversity of the papers. Many of the monographs have been autographed by the author. less