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Call number
MssCol 1037
Physical description
25 linear feet (55 boxes)
Language
Materials in English
Preferred Citation

Ford autograph collection, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.

The Ford Autograph Collection was compiled between 1840 and 1898 by Gordon Lester Ford and his sons, Worthington Chauncey Ford and Paul Leicester Ford. Gordon L. Ford (1823-1891) was the business manager of the New York Tribune newspaper and had substantial banking and railroad interests. His oldest son, Worthington (1858-1941) was chief of the Bureau of Statistics of the State and Treasury Departments in Washington, D.C., from 1885 to 1898, chief of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress from 1903 to 1909, and editor of the Massachusetts Historical Society from 1909 to 1929. The younger brother Paul (1865-1902) was a journalist, author and historical editor. Collection contains autograph letters of American presidents, heads of governmental agencies, congressmen, governors, generals, writers, and artists as well as those of European political, military and literary figures, dating from 1589 to 1898. Collection also includes some correspondence of the Ford family.

Biographical/historical information

Gordon L. Ford, born in Connecticut in 1823, was the longtime business manager of the New York Tribune and had substantial banking and railroad interests. He died in New York City in 1891. His oldest son, Worthington, was born in Brooklyn in 1858 and died in 1941. He was educated at Columbia University and was the chief of the Bureau of Statistics of the State and Treasury Departments in Washington from 1885-1898, the chief of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress from 1903 to 1909, and an editor of the Massachusetts Historical Society from 1909 to 1929. He then retired to France, where he lived throughout the remaining year of his life. Worthington's younger brother, Paul, was born in Brooklyn in 1866 and lived in New York until his death in 1902. He was a journalist, novelist, bibliographer, biographer, and historical editor.

Scope and arrangement

The collection contains the autograph letters of American Presidents, heads of governmental agencies, congressmen, governors, generals, and a great many artists, as well as those of distinguished European politicians, dating from 1589 to 1898. A substantial portion of the 18th century material, including autographs by the signers of the Declaration of Independence and other figures of the American Revolution have been transferred to the Division's Miscellaneous Papers. The Ford Autograph Collection also includes correspondence of the Ford family.

Administrative information

Custodial history

The Ford Autograph Collection was compiled between 1840 and 1896 by Gordon Lester Ford and his son, Worthington Chauncy Ford and Paul Leicester Ford. The collection was purchased in 1898 by J. Pierpont Morgan, who kept a portion of the material for his own collection and denoted the remainder to the New York Public Library that same year.

Source of acquisition

1898, Received from J. Pierpont Morgan.

Processing information

August 18,1982

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328