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Letters to Flagg from political figures of the Jackson-Van Buren era. The correspondence is particularly useful in shedding light on the conduct of the national campaign of 1848, when Van Buren ran as an independent candidate for the presidency. There are 90 letters written to Flagg, among which are 41 from Martin Van Buren, 34 from Preston King, and nine from John A. Dix.

Correspondence, manuscripts, memoranda, receipts, certificates, financial and legal documents, envelopes, clippings, pamphlets, and other printed materials dealing with social and family relationships, the sons' education, professions, and military careers, the Mexican-American War and the Civil War, real estate and financial matters, and with the deaths and bequests of various family members. Among the cataloged correspondents are: Alexander Hamilton, John Church Hamilton, Gen. Schuyler Hamilton, Ralph Isaacs Ingersoll, Charles Augustus Peabody, Gen. J. Fred Pierson, Gen. Winfield Scott, Martin Van Buren, and a manuscript by George Washington.

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.

Letters and papers of Olcott. Among the subjects covered are the history of the Bank; banks and politics in New York during the Jacksonian era; the operations of the safety Fund Banking System; land acquisition in the West, particularly Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and western New York; the Boston and Albany Railroad; the Corning Land Company; and the building of the Union Pacific Railroad. The papers are divided into the following groups: letters received, including correspondence with Martin Van Buren, Samuel P. Chase, William Henry Seward, William B. Astor, Silas Wright, William Kent, J. Pierpont Morgan, and Horatio Seymour; documents including land deeds, wills, leases, bonds, sureties, orders to pay, checks, bank ledgers, partnership agreements, earnings reports, tax assessments, and land sales; household bills and receipts; bank notes including excellent examples of early American currency; miscellaneous account books, photographs, and printed material; patents for Michigan and Ohio lands to William Thompson, Thomas W. Olcott, and Garrit Denniston signed by Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren (proxy signatures).