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Letters, documents, accounts, papers, broadsides, pamphlets, and other printed and manuscript materials assembled by Seymour Adelman and presented to the Libraries in a series of gifts. The material ranges in date from 1724-1945 and is largely American, having to do with banking business, the arts and sciences, agriculture, the free press and commerce in the 18th and 19th centuries. Included are a number of autograph letters by Joseph J. Henry, William Henry, Jr., and Joel Roberts Poinsett. There are a number of letters addressed to Joseph Story and John B. Jervis. There is a group of letters from the immediate family of John Jay concerning references to him and another group of documents and letters by and concerning Matthew Clarkson

Mostly testimonial letters from satisfied clients of A.P. Watt, praising his services. Many of the letters were published in promotional brochures. Two of these books, COLLECTION OF LETTERS ADDRESSED TO A.P. WATT BY VARIOUS WRITERS (London, 1893) & LETTERS ADDRESSED TO A.P. WATT (London, 1894), are included in the collection. There were other editions published in 1889, 1898, 1899, 1924, 1929, etc.

Correspondence, manuscripts of poems, and manuscripts of lectures by Benjamin. The correspondence consists of original letters of Benjamin, typescript and photostatic copies of Benjamin letters in other libraries, and letters to Benjamin from some of his literary contemporaries including Paul Hamilton Hayne, Willis Gaylord Clark, John Lothrop Motley, and Fitz-Greene Halleck. Many of the letters relate to Park Benjamin's lecture tours. There are other family letters and many documents relating to the Benjamin family,and two letterbooks of John Lothrop Motley. Also, a large amount of genealogical material of the Benjamin family, and its related families from the 16th century to the present day. There are also financial records, monographs, clippings, and photographs.

Files dealing with publishers, the editing of manuscripts, serial rights, copyright, translation rights, financial accounts, and the like. Among the correspondents are A.P. Graves, Thomas Hardy, Frederick T. Jane, W.E. Norris, Alfred Ollivant, John Pendleton, William H. Rideing, Hall Caine, Prince Peter Kropotkin, Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes, Douglas Sladden, and Mary Augusta Ward (Mrs. Humphry Ward).

Cotton's 15 nonconsecutive manuscript pocket diaries for the period from 1850 to 1877. The diaries outline his life and travels. The entries for the Civil War years are especially interesting. He often describes the capital's fear of enemy invasion, recent nearby incursions, troop movements, and the general preoccupation with all aspects of the war. He called on President Lincoln, attended his second inauguration, and notes the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation. He describes the capital's joyous mood at the fall of Richmond and the gloom over the assassination of Lincoln. He attended the military court to see the conspirators. Later volumes talk about Pension Bureau affairs and his health and that of his family.

The papers relate chiefly to the business, financial, real estate, military, civic and personal activities of Nicholas Fish. There are letters from various military figures concerning army provisions during the Revolution, letters relating to lands given to Fish for his services during the war, twenty letters from various individuals to George Clinton (1739-1812), and ten letters to DeWitt Clinton. The Hamilton Fish letters deal with business matters of his father, Nicholas, after his death. There are a few personal letters from several family members and a diary of Nicholas Fish from 1784. The documents consist of real estate and financial matters of the family as well as various petitions on matters of a civic nature

Letters written to Gay from political and literary contemporaries such as Horace Greeley, Charles Sumner, and William Bryant; reports in letter form from his reporters at the front during the Civil War; and personal correspondence including many letters from his wife, Elizabeth Neall Gay. Letters written to Mrs. Gay from family friends and business associates including many from her husband. Correspondence of other members of the Gay family including Walter Gay, Sarah Gay, and Allan Gay. Diaries, notebooks, and journals of Sydney Howard Gay.