Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

Letters written to Edward L. Parris from various people including Charles Thompson and Peter B. Olney, regarding Florida political campaign of 1876, legal affairs, and land deals. Letters, documents and pamphlets relating to the national political campaign of 1876. The letters are addressed to Edward L. Parris from various people. Newspaper clippings relating to Samuel J. Tilden and divided into three groups: Tilden 1874, Congressional investigation of 1876 election, and Tilden after 1878.

These records were used in the investigation of waterfront crime, 1952-1953, including research, drafts and published reports of the recommendations of the Crime Commission, correspondence and memorandums, charts and financial statements, newspaper clippings, Acts pertaining to and resulting from the work of the Crime Commission; notes and transcripts of public hearing testimony, including three volumes of Ogdensburg Public Hearings held at Canton, N.Y., July 18-20, 1951.

Personal, administrative, political, and investigative files of Nickerson. The papers deal almost entirely with his eight years as County Executive, and consist of correspondence, memoranda, manuscripts of speeches, notes, press releases, photographs, and clippings. Among the major correspondents are James A. Farley, Hubert H. Humphrey, Robert F. Kennedy, Edward I. Koch, and Percy E. Sutton. The Investigation Files, which amount to nearly half the collection, document investigation into corruption and mismanagement in numerous Long Island businesses and governmental departments. These investigations, instigated and overseen by Nickerson, were carried out largely by the Commissioner of Accounts, Milton Lipson, and later by Samuel Greason, the first governmental ombudsman in the United States. These files consist primarily of memoranda, transcripts of hearings, payroll and financial accounts, notes, and tape recordings.