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Robert M. Morgenthau (1919-2019) served as the District Attorney for New York County (the borough of Manhattan) for 35 years (1974-2009) and made a reputation for prosecuting white-collar crime. In this regard, the Papers hold many research files covering such aspects of white-collar crime as money laundering, offshore banking and tax havens. Morgenthau rarely handled a case himself. He delegated prosecutions to key aides in his office of 500 lawyers. Although not comprehensive, the Papers do contain a few files of assignment sheets covering the period (1938-2008). These sheets indicate which bureau each Assistant District Attorney was assigned to each month. The Papers, in turn, do not have any employment information about individual lawyers or the specific cases they worked on while employed in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office under Morgenthau. However, researchers should review "Series VI: Press Releases" and "Series VIII: Statements and Testimonies before Local, State and National Governmental Bodies," in order to gain an understanding of the issues handled by the Manhattan DA office during Robert Morgenthau's tenure.

This collection consists of letters, manuscripts, documents, clipings, photographs, and printed items. The most significant part of this collection is the letters to Cecile Rose Lehman (Seligman) from her mother, as well as the letters from Harold Lehman to his grandfather. There are interesting items regarding Cecile's education and a variety of items having to do with the extended family. There is a album, compiled by Cecile of celebrated actors and musicials, and a odd volume titled "Thru the Rye with the Harold Lehmans" chronicling the before and after effects of alcohol (humorous).

About half of the collection is material related to Harriet Korn Lehman. This small amount of material relates to her time at the Lincoln School, an experimental school founded in the early 20th century by Progressive education theorists at Columbia University's Teacher's College. These include her graduation excercises as she finished Elementary school, as well as a collection of writings by Lincoln School elementary students. Also with the material in the year book is a high school literary journal, and the high school year book from the 1926 Lincoln School class. Also included in the collection is a scrap book and a common-place book from the 1870s belonging to Isidore S. Korn, presumably the father of Harriet Korn Lehman. The scrap book consists mostly of cartoons, poems, and advice columns (such as he daily or weekly written by Henry Ward Beecher) clipped from newspapers and pasted into an old account book. The Common Place book is a collection of noteworthy quotes or selections from plays, poems, novels, and non-fiction works, hand-copied by the young Isidore. At the end of the common place book are two award winning essays Isidore wrote during his years at Columbia, one on the origins of the Roman Republic and another on the Philosophy of History.