Collections

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, notes, documents, photographs, audio tapes, and printed materials of Rochelle Owens. Included are: correspondence with other writers, publishers, and friends; scripts and production files of her plays; and, manuscripts and drafts of her books and other poems, along with other related materials. Boxes 1-3: Cataloged correspondence; Boxes 4-12: Owens' writings by title (Manuscripts, notes, photographs& printed materials); Box 13-14: General file (Audio tape cassettes, Biographical materials, Misc., Photographs& Misc. printed materials); Oversize folder: Record album & Photographs.

Correspondence, by-laws, memoranda, contracts, permission forms, reports, bank statements and other legal papers, advertising, and printed materials.

Files dealing with publishers, the editing of manuscripts, serial rights, copyright, translation rights, financial accounts, and the like. Among the correspondents are A.P. Graves, Thomas Hardy, Frederick T. Jane, W.E. Norris, Alfred Ollivant, John Pendleton, William H. Rideing, Hall Caine, Prince Peter Kropotkin, Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes, Douglas Sladden, and Mary Augusta Ward (Mrs. Humphry Ward).

A collection of selected German, Dutch and English periodicals, newspapers and pamphlets published during and relating to World War I. Also included are approximately 150 picture postcards depicting the life of German soldiers during the War and the life of prisoners of war captured by the Germans. The majority of these cards were issued by the International Red Cross. Handwritten captions for the postcards and for other materials were written by Jeannette Unger, the donor. Also includes a selection of American, Canadian and English popular songs of the period with war or patriotic themes