Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

Professional and personal correspondence, manuscripts and notes for his many publications in the social sciences and Renaissance studies, drafts and notes for his THE IDEA OF USURY and writings about Max Weber, other papers collected during his teaching career, and materials for the many professional conferences which he attended and for the academic associations and societies in which he was active.

Correspondence, notes, manuscripts, documents, photographs, audio tapes, and printed material of Louis G. Cowan. The files document Cowan's activites at CBS and Brandeis University, and in many other capacities. Approximately one-third of the collection consists of records and studies of the Broadcast Institute of North America. The papers also reflect a number of Cowan's various interests such as posters; the earliest item in the collection, a letter from General Charles P. Stone, 1885, is indicative of Cowan's active interest in the history of the Statue of Liberty. Among the prominent correspondents are Jacob Bronowski, Hubert H. Humphrey, William Phillips, and Jonas Salk.

Correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, memorabilia, business records, book catalogs and other printed materials of Louis and Marguerite Cohn and their customers, associates and friends. Correspondents include Stephen Vincent Benʹet, Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, and Marianne Moore, all among the authors represented in the Crown Octavos series published by the House of Books; there are also manuscripts, proofs and correspondence with printers for this series. Other correspondents include Cyril Connolly, W. Somerset Maugham and Tom Stoppard. Also in the collection are letters and manuscripts from the stock of the shop; notable among these are a series of Graham Greene letters and pages from an autograph book which contains entries from many turn of the century American Literary figures. The collection also include the personal memorabilia of the Cohn and Arnold families. Louis Cohn's participation in World War I as an officer in the French Army is recorded in photographs, documents and memorabilia. Marguerite's childhood collections, among them many early greeting cards, are also included.

The collection consiste of correspondence, memoranda, reports, bulletins, clippings, photographs, awards, and printed material. The files, arranged by genre and topic and reflect her philanthropic and legislative work in the areas of health, specifically cancer, heart disease, and mental health. Her civic and legislative work is covered in detail, as well as her private interests and activities.

Correspondence, book orders, invoices, bills, and receipts dealing with the purchase of books by American, Canadian, British, Australian, and a few Western European institutions and individuals. There are approximately 100 letters from writers and critics such as John Ciardi, Leon Edel, Wallace Fowlie, Robert McAlmon, Alfred E. Smith, William Carlos Williams, and Edmund Wilson. Financial records for the years, 1960-1975, document the operating costs of the shop. Included among these records are many bills from booksellers and auction houses for Gramercy's purchases.