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Personal letters written by Phoenix to friends and associates, and letters which Phoenix collected as autograph specimens, ranging in date from 1554 (Melanchthon) to 1933 (Franklin D. Roosevelt). Over half of Phoenix's own letters are addressed to Josiah Collins Pumpelly (1839-1920), many others are to Henry Thayer Drowne (1822-1897). The material is dated from various places in the United States and Europe and contains accounts of Phoenix's travels and comments on yachting, books, the theater, and friends. There is a series of Presidential letters ranging from Washington to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Also, an engraved portrait of Phoenix.

Materials related to the Maine-Canada boundary controvery: over 400 letters, documents, reports, map, manuscript corrected proof of the Secretary of State's printed report to Congress, manuscript history of the controversy (published), lengthy analysis of the King of the Netherland's Decision as arbiter, as well as supporting material showing the life of a diplomat of the period in Europe.

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, copies of letters, documents, manuscripts, invitations, menus, clippings, school papers, leases, agreements, deeds, financial accounts, photographs, and printed miscellany. The papers deal with many aspects of the Belmont family interests from 1799 until 1930, including: finance, banking and the Rothschilds; the United States Navy, Commodore Matthew C. Perry (1794-1858) and the Perry expeditions to Mexico and Japan; Belmont's embassy to The Netherlands from 1853 to 1857; the Democratic Party, New York City politics, presidential and Civil War politics; social life in New York and Newport and European travel; horses, horse breeding, The Jockey Club, polo, the Remount Association (for cavalry horses in World War I), fox hunting, dog breeding, and yachting; New York subway construction, railroads, the Cape Cod Canal and aviation; the Democratic Convention of 1912; and genealogical notes on the Belmont, Perry, and other families. In addition to the correspondence, there are 117 letter books, tissue-paper copies of outgoing letters.

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.

This group of approximately 1,000 letters from the papers of Hamilton Fish, Sr. relates to the business, functioning, and activities of Columbia College in the 19th century. The letters include those addressed to Fish and those written by him. The earliest material bears on Fish's activities and interests at about the time he graduated from Columbia, but the majority of the letters fall into the latter part of his life, many being written by and to Fish as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Columbia College. The collection includes correspondence with presidents Charles King, F.A.P. Barnard, and Seth Low of Columbia College, also with Edmund Bailey, Charles Davies, Charles W. Harper, William M. Sloan, William C. Schermerhorn, and others. The majority of the letters are original manuscripts and typescripts, but many of the letters from Fish are photostatic and typed copies. Most of the letters are tipped onto manila sheets. Included are two diaries of Mr. Fish's European travels, 1856-1857. There is also a box of printed materials relating primarily to the settlement of the Alabama Claims.

Correspondence of members of the King family including Rufus, John, and Nehemiah F. King, containing chiefly discussions of family matters and questions of the day. Many of the letters were written from Europe.

Autograph letters with some typed copies, manuscripts and documents of the Goldmark family in Europe and America. These are primarily family letters, often descriptive of places visited and of current events. The bulk of the material concerns Joseph Goldmark. Also included are a few letters from his brother Carl, manuscripts of some of Pauline's horticultural works, and genealogical material about the Goldmark family.