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Papers of Stillman include over 100 items pertaining to the business enterprises of his father, Charles Stillman of Brownsville, Texas, who was engaged in shipping and trade, real estate, and railroad investment. A large portion of the collection documents of James Stillman's activities in banking, in railroad financing, and in other of his business and industrial interests. The letters, legal documents, and miscellaneous papers are representative of the entire span of his career. Included in the correspondence are letters from many prominent financiers and industrialists of his day, including many from William Rockefeller; letters from President Grover Cleveland, some personal in nature and some concerned with business transactions; nine letter books of James Stillman, covering the years 1886-1897, 1906-1918; letter books of his secretary Miss K. Bredin, 1908-1916; journals for the years 1889, 1891, 1898, 1899; bank book recording Stillman's drafts, 1911-1914, on the London firm of Baring Brothers; four diaries, 1881-1884; six notebooks; one cash and journal and one ledger, 1868-1871.

The records of W.R. Grace & Co. cover the rise of the Grace shipping business from 1864 until World War II. The early correspondence concerns all aspects of the shipping business in New York and South America, mining interests in Peru and Chile, the railroad in Costa Rica, the inter-ocean canal planned for Nicaragua, and political interests throughout Central and South America. There are letter books, correspondence, and scrapbooks of clippings for all aspects of W.R. Grace's career. There are minute books and other documents for more than 50 subsidiary companies owned by W.R. Grace & Co. or by family members. The papers of Joseph Peter Grace (1872-1950) continue the business, family, and philanthropic activities until 1942. There are also 20 reels of motion picture film about the Grace Co. South American interests in the 1950s.