Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

Papers of Stillman include over 100 items pertaining to the business enterprises of his father, Charles Stillman of Brownsville, Texas, who was engaged in shipping and trade, real estate, and railroad investment. A large portion of the collection documents of James Stillman's activities in banking, in railroad financing, and in other of his business and industrial interests. The letters, legal documents, and miscellaneous papers are representative of the entire span of his career. Included in the correspondence are letters from many prominent financiers and industrialists of his day, including many from William Rockefeller; letters from President Grover Cleveland, some personal in nature and some concerned with business transactions; nine letter books of James Stillman, covering the years 1886-1897, 1906-1918; letter books of his secretary Miss K. Bredin, 1908-1916; journals for the years 1889, 1891, 1898, 1899; bank book recording Stillman's drafts, 1911-1914, on the London firm of Baring Brothers; four diaries, 1881-1884; six notebooks; one cash and journal and one ledger, 1868-1871.

Material gathered by Oswald Garrison Villard in the researches for his biography JOHN BROWN, 1800-1859: A BIOGRAPHY FIFTY YEARS AFTER. A large part of the materials is copies of correspondence both contemporary and of a later period, concerning John Brown and his associates, especially in the Kansas Territory and at the Harper's Ferry raid. Of the original letters in the collection, many are from descendants and family of John Brown and the men who accompanied him on his raid. There are clippings, pamphlets, proof sheets, and other printed matter. Photographs number 181 items.

Correspondence, account books, invoices, insurance policies, ledgers, payroll and wage records, receipts, and galley proofs. The records concern his cotton spinning mills in Stockport and Mellor. There are letters from merchants, tradesmen, manufacturers, and others relating to textile manufacturing and its mechanization in England during the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Included among the correspondents are: Sir Richard Arkwright, inventor of the spinning jenny; his son, Richard Arkwright; Henry Norris; Samuel Oldknow; Thomas Oldknow; Richard and Susannah Pennant (Baron and Baroness Penrhyn); Samuel Salte; and William Salte. Also included are the galley proofs for those letters published in George Unwin: SAMUEL OLDKNOW AND THE ARKWRIGHTS (London, 1924)

The papers include correspondence, subject files, photographs, and printed materials. The majority of the collection concerns the mission of the American Red Cross to Russia in 1917-1918; Thacher served as a secretary of the mission. There are letters and telegrams by W.B. Thompson and Raymond Robins, records of supplies, shipments, and distribution reports and over 600 photographs from Russia, China, and Romania. There is substantial correspondence from 1918-1919 concerning Russia, including letters by Louis Brandeis, Felix Frankfurter, and Lillian Wald. A substantial part of the collection concerns Russian war relief in 1941-1942, an area in which Thacher was active. Printed materials include a pamphlet and an article on Russia prepared by Thacher after his return from that country in early 1918.

A collection of letters, manuscripts, and documents relating to the history of printing and the graphic arts. The collection is in six parts. Cataloged Correspondence and manuscripts, including cataloged letters to and from Henry Lewis Bullen, the librarian of American Typefounders Company Library. Uncataloged letters of the Typographic Library, including routine correspondence, letters of inquiry to Bullen, the Library's order file, and library correspondence of Columbia University, 1941-1946, pertaining to the collection. Correspondence, manuscripts, documents and printed material by and relating to Henry L. Bullen. Letter books, ledgers, daybooks, and journals of the early American typefounders, Binney and Ronaldson. A collection of over 200 typographical patents for the design of printing types (19th and 20th centuries). Archives of the Companía Real de Impresores, Madrid, relating to its operations and business.

Correspondence, manuscripts, documents, financial records, photographs, memorabilia, and printed materials. The Foundation's correspondence files consist of letters from different organizations and foundations, including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Social Change, The NAACP, the United Negro College Fund, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the YWCA. Also included in this collection are community dialogues on race relations (1974-1975); proposed dialogues (1979) on such subjects as the Boy Scouts of America, Columbia University, and the National Council of Christians and Jews; and files on the Whitney M. Young Fellows Retreat Conferences (1980-1984). The collection contains many files on Ed Wilson's bust of Young (1991), including contracts and agreements, records of payments to Wilson, documents concerning the bust's placement in various locations, correspondence with Wilson (1983-1991), and miscellaneous photographs and pictures. The contributions files contain annual listings of contributions and records of contributions from the National Urban League, assorted organizations, corporations, individuals, foundations, and Philip Morris.

Correspondence, reports, memoranda, photographs and printed material.

The records of W.R. Grace & Co. cover the rise of the Grace shipping business from 1864 until World War II. The early correspondence concerns all aspects of the shipping business in New York and South America, mining interests in Peru and Chile, the railroad in Costa Rica, the inter-ocean canal planned for Nicaragua, and political interests throughout Central and South America. There are letter books, correspondence, and scrapbooks of clippings for all aspects of W.R. Grace's career. There are minute books and other documents for more than 50 subsidiary companies owned by W.R. Grace & Co. or by family members. The papers of Joseph Peter Grace (1872-1950) continue the business, family, and philanthropic activities until 1942. There are also 20 reels of motion picture film about the Grace Co. South American interests in the 1950s.