Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

The collection consists of the editorial and production archives of Random House, Inc. from its founding in 1925 to the 1990s. The correspondence and editorial files include many of the prominent novelists and short story writers from 20th-century American and European literature: Saul Bellow; Erskine Caldwell; Truman Capote; William Faulkner; Sinclair Lewis; André Malraux; Gertrude Stein and Thornton Wilder. Among the poets there are files for W. H. Auden; Allen Ginsberg; Robinson Jeffers; Robert Lowell; and Stephen Spender. In the area of theater there are files for Maxwell Anderson; Moss Hart; Lillian Hellman; Eugene O'Neill; and Tennessee Williams. Random House transacted business with many fine presses and noted typographers and the archives contain files for Nonesuch Press, Grabhorn Press and Golden Cockerel Press, as wll as for Bruce Rogers, Valenti Angelo, and Edwin, Jane, and Robert Grabhorn.

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.

Correspondence, manuscripts, and notes. This collection contains the manuscripts for most of his books and articles. There are also copies of his many book reviews and articles by other authors analyzing the impact of his interpretations of American history. The correspondents include: H.S. Commager, C. Vann Woodward, Stuart Bruchey, S.E. Morison, Clarence Ver Steeg, Alfred A. Knopf, Helen Frankenthaler, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and others. There are also 70 books from his library

Correspondence, memoranda, photographs, manuscripts, lists, legal and financial documents, and printed materials of Simon. The personal and business papers include correspondence with authors, inscribed photographs of authors, editorial files, files for his special art, photography, and music projects, correspondence files relating to Simon and Schuster, Inc., personal and family correspondence, documents, and photographs. Correspondents include Irving Berlin, Margaret Bourke-White, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Joseph E. Davies, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Philippe Halsman, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Kenneth Roberts, Arthur Schnitzler, Jerome Weidman, and Sloan Wilson.

Letters, manuscripts, notes, proofs, course materials, and printed matter. The letters are chiefly from his colleagues at Columbia University, other literary critics, a few publishers and, single letters from several American authors. There is a series of lengthy letters from Chase to his wife, Frances Marie Walker Chase, dated 1938 and 1949-1961; letters from his colleagues and friends to Mrs Chase, 1962-1967, mostly letters of condolence on Chase's death, and a few related to his publications. The manuscripts and proofs of his writings include typescripts on Herman Melville and Walt Whitman. Also included are notes on American and Englisgh literature, course materials for his Columbia courses, articles and reviews by him, articles, reprints and reviews by others, most of which are inscribed to Chase, and three dozen volumes of his own works, including foreign translations. In addition, there are 250 volumes from Chase's library, many with his annotations and marginalia. 1984 ADDITION: Letters from friends dealing with the contemporary literary world between 1948-1955. The main body of material is from Robert Willard Flint, a sometime poet and critic, who was a graduate student at Columbia in 1946 and later worked at the Harvard Library. 1986 ADDITION: Letters to Richard Chase from colleagues in the literary world, 1948-1971, with 2 letters to his wife after his death. 114 of these letters are from Robert Flint, 25 from Lionel Trilling, and 3 letters from Robert Penn Warren

Correspondence, subject files, corporate committee files, corporate reports, yearly appointment calendars, biographical materials, photographs, books from his personal library, memorabilia and works of art. Correspondence includes 3 bound slipcased volumes containing 471 letters, notes and congratulatory telegrams on the occasion of R.D. Lilley being named President of AT&T, April 1, 1972. Correspondents include David Rockefeller and Peter W. Rodino, Jr. Subject files contain Columbia University activities. Manuscript files include his student notebooks from the School of Engineering (1931) and the School of Mines (1934-1935). Corporate committee files include the New Jersey Commission on Civil Disorders, 1967-1968. Memorabilia consists of seven Columbia University related plaques, awards, citations, and varsity letters and fifteen Columbia related commemorative gifts and tokens, as well as thirty-five non-Columbia related diplomas, plaques, awards, citations and certificates and fifty-five non Columbia related trophies, commemorative gifts, and presentation pen & pencil sets. The works of art include two views of the Park Place building "Columbia College New-York" (NEW YORK MIRROR, 1828) and "Columbia College and College Green" (New York, 1830) facsimile reprint of the "Palm tree print"; a print of a drawing of "Columbia University circa 1903" from the Avery Library; two signed prints of Ernest D. Roth "Hamilton Hall" and the "School of Mines"; and a relief print of "John Jay" by Stanley Wyatt.

Personal and professional papers including correspondence, manuscripts, documents, diaries, journals, photographs, and printed materials relating to his teaching at various universities, his literary studies and writings, and his professional activities in such organizations as the Moder Language Association and P.E.N. His correspondents include contemporary authors such as Edmund Blunden, Christopher Hassall, Louis Kronenberger; scholars such as James P. Clifford, Leon Edel, and A.L. Rowse. There are also some letters collected by Halsband, including those by Mrs Piozzi, John Wilkes (1727-1797) and John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (1713-1792). Among the manuscripts are notes, drafts, typescripts, and proofs of his LIFE OF LADY WORTLEY MONTAGU (Oxford, 1956) and COMPLETE LETTERS OF LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU (Oxford, 1965-1967). Also, manuscripts and typescripts of Halsband's diaries, journals, lectures, articles, book reviews, and essays. The printed materials include ephemera, books, and offprints by Halsband and books by other authors inscribed to him. There is a watercolor portrait of Halsband by Stephen Andrews, London, ca. 1966.

Correspondence, manuscripts, drawings, photographs, and printed material of Lax. Included are letters of Mark and Dorothy Van Doren and Thomas Merton. The bulk of the collection is comprised of Lax's poetry and journal manuscripts, many written in Patmos and Kalymnos, Greece, and originally sent to Emil Antonucci of the Journeyman Press in New York for publication. Also, printed photographs and unprinted negatives of pictures taken by Lax, primarily in Greece.