Search

The General Manuscript Collection is an artificial collection of correspondence, diaries, lecture notes, class work, essays, administrative documents, minutes, and other documents collected by the Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Single items or very small collections are generally classified as part of the general manuscript collection rather than assigned an individual manuscript number. Additionally, small additions to existing RBML manuscript collections may be classified as part of the General Manuscript Collection.

Papers of the Jay family and of those families related to the Jay family, including Bruen, Butterworth, Chapman, Clarkson, Dawson, Du Bois, Field, Iselin, McVickar, Mortimer, O'Kill, Pellew, Pierrepont, Prime, Robinson, Schieffelin, Von Schweinitz, Sedgwick, and Wurts. In addition to family and personal matters, the correspondence deals with anti-slavery, New York State civil service, repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the Civil War, the Blair Bill, international affairs, and New York City and State politics and government. There are letters from numerous prominent persons including George Bancroft, F.A.P. Barnard, Bismarck, William Cullen Bryant, Aaron Burr, James Fenimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Hamilton Fish, Albert Gallatin, Horace Greeley, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Washington Irving, Frances Anne Kemble, Jenny Lind, Henry W. Longfellow, Seth Low, James Russell Lowell, John Stuart Mill, Alice Duer Miller, Clement Clarke Moore, J.P. Morgan, Thomas Nast, Commodore Matthew Perry, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Elihu Root, Carl Schurz, William H. Seward, William T. Sherman, Charles Sumner, and John Greenleaf Whittier.

Manuscripts by Payne, including plays, poems, journals, essays, account books, correspondence, letter books (to and from) including a large group of letters from Washington Irving. Also, pictorial material, scrapbooks, biographies, portraits, passports, and other documents; and materials on the Cherokee incident, 1835-1838, and Payne's arrest in Georgia. Other material include letters of various members of the Payne family and of related families. Of greatest interest is a group of fine letters and manuscripts of Eloise Richards Payne (1787-1819), a sister of the playwright. These present a sensitive and revealing portrait of the social, cultural, and political life of the time. Among the manuscripts and documents are many items of genealogical interest on the Paine, Shippen, Lynch, Luquer, and Lea families. Two boxes of the papers of Col. Thatcher Taylor Payne Luquer contain correspondence on various aspects of John Howard Payne's career, and on "An Unconscious Autobiography" the letters and diaries of William Osborn Payne (1783-1804), a brother of the playwright, edited by Col. Luquer.

A collection of letters to and from John Treat Irving Jr. While there are 63 letters from Irving, the majority of the correspondence is that of his father and mother, John Treat Irving, Sr. and Abby Furman Irving, other members of the Irving family, and friends. There are no letters of Washington Irving in the collection, though there are many interesting reference to him. There are nineteen letters to John Treat Irving from his uncle, the writer Peter Irving (1771-1838), dated 1835-1837. The collection also contains 51 pages of extracts from letters dating from the period of his European travels of 1836-1837. Included are two notebooks. The earlier of the two, dating from 1828 when John Irving was a senior at Columbia College, records class notes, problems, and exercises. The second contains poems, sketches, and essays, most of which are dated 1831-1833, the period preceding his travels to the West and the writing of INDIAN SKETCHES.

A collection of letters of Judge John Treat Irving Sr. and Abigail Spicer Furman Irving, his wife, to various members of the Irving and Furman families. Most of the letters are personal and relate to family affairs.

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.