Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

Letters and papers of Olcott. Among the subjects covered are the history of the Bank; banks and politics in New York during the Jacksonian era; the operations of the safety Fund Banking System; land acquisition in the West, particularly Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and western New York; the Boston and Albany Railroad; the Corning Land Company; and the building of the Union Pacific Railroad. The papers are divided into the following groups: letters received, including correspondence with Martin Van Buren, Samuel P. Chase, William Henry Seward, William B. Astor, Silas Wright, William Kent, J. Pierpont Morgan, and Horatio Seymour; documents including land deeds, wills, leases, bonds, sureties, orders to pay, checks, bank ledgers, partnership agreements, earnings reports, tax assessments, and land sales; household bills and receipts; bank notes including excellent examples of early American currency; miscellaneous account books, photographs, and printed material; patents for Michigan and Ohio lands to William Thompson, Thomas W. Olcott, and Garrit Denniston signed by Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren (proxy signatures).

Correspondence, letter books, manuscripts, typescripts, notes, galley proofs, reports, banking records, pamphlets, and other printed materials. The so-called "private" letter books contain copies of outgoing personal and business letters, April 1914-Jan. 1918. The remaining correspondence files relate to the writing of Hepburn's two books HISTORY OF COINAGE AND CURRENCY IN THE UNITED STATES.. (New York, 1903) and A HISTORY OF CURRENCY IN THE UNITED STATES..(New York, 1915); to his activities in the fields of finance and money, such as the Pan-American Finance Commission (1915), the New York State Governor's Securities Commission (1920), and the Federal Milk Commission (1917); and his files regarding the establishment of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, 1918. Also, manuscripts, typescripts, notes, and galley proofs for the two books that he wrote; and six bank examiner's books used by Hepburn while he was U.S. Bank Examiner for New York, 1888-1892.

Letters, documents, and business papers of various members of the Ludlow family, including documents relating to the estate of John Crooke, in account with Gabriel W. Ludlow, 1774-1795; letters and documents relating to the estate of Philip Livingston, including material on the Schoharie lands and letters to Charles Ludlow, executor, 1811-1814; Charles Ludlow papers including family and business letters, 1790-1809, miscellaneous business papers, 1773-1815; miscellaneous business receipts, 1785-1829, and checkbook and checks; documents relating to the estate of William Ludlow, 1785-1793; and documents relating to the estate of David Van Horne, in account with Charles Ludlow, 1765-1811.

Papers on banking and finance, especially relating to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Writers represented in the correspondence files are Margaret Anderson, Sherwood Anderson, George Antheil, Djuna Barnes, Clive Bell, Malcolm Cowley, E.E. Cummings, John Dos Passos, Ford Madox Ford, Ernest Hemingway, Richard Hughes, Eugene Jolas, Archibald MacLeish, H.L. Mencken, Henry Miller, Adrienne Monnier, Man Ray, Elmer Rice, Jules Romains, Gertrude Stein, John Steinbeck, Allen Tate, Carl Van Vechten, Robert Penn Warren, and Edmund Wilson. Galantiere's best known work as a translator was that of the writings of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and the collection contains in addition to correspondence, twelve manuscripts, all bearing the author's and the translator's corrections. He also wrote extensively on economic subjects and current history, and these files and manuscripts are present in the collection. Galantiere wrote plays in his own name and adapted Jean Anouilh's ANTIGONE for Katharine Cornell in 1946, and there are materials relating to these works.

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.