Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

A collection of letters, manuscripts, and documents of prominent actors, actresses, and theatrical managers. Many of these are single, unrelated items. The largest body of correspondence is from the American actress, Charlotte Cushman (14 letters). Another figure of major interest is William Charles Macready, partly because of Miss Cushman's relationship to him (she toured with him for several years) and also as there are several of his letters. Sir Henry Irving, Edwin Forrest and James Mowatt are each represented by a few letters. A group of 8 unsigned letters may have been written by the famous singer, actress, and manager, Eliza Vestris. One box contains manuscripts of Samuel Coit, Charlotte Cushman, Clyde Fitch, Wallace Gould, Henry von Heiseler, E.H. Sothern, and Lester Wallack. Six boxes contain Augustin Daly's check stubs and bank books for Daly's Theatre, New York, for 1872-1899. (For additional Augustin Daly business records, see description sheets for Daly's Theatre Collection, X810.128/D15& the Dramatic Library Collection shelf list).

Collection includes correspondence of family and personal letters from 1902-1973, including typed excerpts of letters written by Daragan to his wife from the Murmansk-Arkhangelśk region during 1919-20. The remainder of the correspondence deals with Daragan's business and naval and religious topics. Manuscripts consist primarily of Daragan's memoirs of his youth, family and naval experiences in northern Russia. There are family documents, the earliest of which dates from 1762, and family financial records. Other printed materials include two pre-World War I theater programs from St. Petersburg and Moscow. There are also photographs of the Daragan family, dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Correspondence, manuscripts, memoranda, receipts, certificates, financial and legal documents, envelopes, clippings, pamphlets, and other printed materials dealing with social and family relationships, the sons' education, professions, and military careers, the Mexican-American War and the Civil War, real estate and financial matters, and with the deaths and bequests of various family members. Among the cataloged correspondents are: Alexander Hamilton, John Church Hamilton, Gen. Schuyler Hamilton, Ralph Isaacs Ingersoll, Charles Augustus Peabody, Gen. J. Fred Pierson, Gen. Winfield Scott, Martin Van Buren, and a manuscript by George Washington.

This collection is primarily concerned with Prof. James Renwick and his professional correspondence and papers, both as Professor of Natural Philosophy (Physics) at Columbia College and as a leading engineer. Many certificates of membership in honorary societies are included. There are letters from Washington Irving (1783-1859) to Prof. Renwick and to his mother, Jane Jeffrey Renwick, pertaining to contemporary events and Irving's own activities. The letters to Mrs. Renwick are about the travels and experiences of Irving and Renwick abroad. The collection also covers the affairs of the Prof. Renwick's grandfather, including documents concerning his land grants in New York State, and those of James Armstrong Renwick, including his valedictory address at Columbia College in 1876 and his class reunion in 1916. There are many legal documents, letters, and manuscripts of various members of the Renwick and Brevoort families; among these are Prof. Renwick's notes on his family genealogy and a memoir of Jane Jeffrey Renwick. Correspondents include Clement Clarke Moore, John A. Dix, Martin Van Buren, Secretary of State John Forsyth, and Secretary of the Navy James K. Paulding. There is one letter from Sir Edward Sabine (1788-1883), President of the Royal Society, giving his views on the American Civil War.

A collection concerned with the various phases of black life in America, containing clippings, pamphlets, photographs, pictures, extracts from periodicals, and a representative group of approximately 350 letters, signatures, manuscripts, and documents. Among the letters are several each from Countee Cullen, Frederick Douglass, Alexander Dumas, fils, William Lloyd Garrison, Claude McKay, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Mencken, William Pickens, Albert A. Smith, and Booker T. Washington. Also, eighteen slavery documents.

Personal and professional correspondence, including 25 long letters from Professor Henry F. Herbig; manuscripts (mainly speeches); specifications for patents in electrical fields; technical and personal photographs; and memorabilia. Included is a copy of the famous "shot in hand" x-ray photograph, ca. 1896, one of the first ever to be taken. This collection also contains the correspondence, manuscripts, documents, and memorabilia of Professor Pupin's daughter, Varvara Smith, and his son-in-law, Louis Graham Smith. His daughter's letters and documents deal with her financial difficulties, her administration of Pupin's estate and her claims against Columbia University. Louis G. Smith's letters deal with his anti-Communist sentiments and his manuscripts are mainly ideas for popular songs and plays. There are three letters (photostatic copies) to Smith from Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Letters, manuscripts, documents, and printed materials by and relating to explorers of both poles. Many of the letters are addressed to Vilhjalmur Stefansson or Bassett Jones. The letters for the most part discuss subjects of professional interest. Thre are printed materials, photographs and memorabilia of many expeditions and explorers.

Correspondence, manuscripts, papers, essays, etc. relating to Berlioz, and 19th century arts and literature. The correspondence includes original Berlioz letters and over 200 copies of letters relating to Berlioz and the romantic era, written by musicians, critics, historians, and literateurs of the past century. There are many photostats of letters and manuscripts obtained from the principal libraries of the world which hold original Berlioz material. The collection includes much printed material in the form of music scores, published letters, essays, clippings, biographies, music and book catalogues, program notes, and playbills.

Lists, subject files, photographs, etchings and printed materials relating to the Pazheskii Korpus (imperial Corps of Pages), a school for the sons of the Russian nobility founded in 1802, and the Soiuz Pazhei (Union of Pages), the emigré alumni organization founded in 1920. The materials were collected by representatives of the Union of Pages. The collection consists chiefly of mimeographed newsletters, books, printed mementoes, such as programs, menus, tickets, and school forms, and of pictorial materials, especially photographs and etchings. The great majority of the materials pertain to the Imperial Corps of Pages and to Russia's imperial family, and include many unusual photographs portraying school life and the life of the family of Nicholas II. There are also old photographs of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Tsarskoe Selo, printed reports of the State Council for 1894-99, newsletters published by the Union of Pages and miscellaneous Russian and foreign publications, originally part of the library of the museum of the Union of Pages in Paris.