Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

43 documents on vellum.

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.

Two account books for merchandise received, ca. 1721-33; Two 18th century copybooks of land surveys and deeds for lands held in Ulster Co.; a manuscript book with some poems written in Flemish; and Catharine Bevier Stillwell's manuscript book of recipes, ca. 1845. In addition there are books formerly owned by Bevier family members. These are chiefly Bibles, psalters and other protestant religious works in Flemish and French. Most of the books are in poor condition, having many torn and missing pages and almost all lacking title-pages. Their chief interest is the family autographs and other manuscript notes they contain. Included with the collection is a copy of Katherine Bevier's "The Bevier family : a history of the descendants of Louis Bevier." -- New York, Tobias A. Wright, 1916.

The documents seem to be copied in full with dates. Each entry has a page reference which is preceded by the abbreviation "Dod. no." and followed by the name "David Hughes." These appear to be references to some collection, possibly of the original documents. David Hughes may have been the copyist responsible for this volume, but there is no conclusive evidence as to this. The material is in Latin and the script is clear and legible.

The letters and documents in this collection relate to the Campbell family and the allied Foss and Moody families of Deer Island, Maine. There are 55 autograph letters exchanged between members of the family, dealing with personal affairs, travel, contemporary events, etc. and falling within the years 1817 to 1865. There are about twenty documents including deeds, wills, and bank checks.

Letters, manuscripts, and documents collected by Crary primarily for use in the writing of her book on American Tories, THE PRICE OF LOYALTY (1973). Many of the items relate to the Continental Army, and especially to the Company of Captain Nathan Peirce in the Green Mountain Boys Regiment of Seth Warner (1743-1784). Also included are letters from John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), Indian agent Israel Chapin, William Harris Crawford (1772-1834), Charleston merchant and loyalist John Cruden, Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834), Woodbury Langdon (1738/9-1805); and others. Also, documents relating to the commands of Benedict Arnold, John Burgoyne, Lord Cornwallis, David Wooster, and many others; deeds to land in Montgomery County, N.Y. signed by Jeremiah Van Rensselaer (1738-1810), and others; an orderly book belonging to Ichabod Norton; and a journal kept on Gibralter, apparently by the governor, George Augustus Eliott (1717-1790). A volume of muster rolls and troop encampment data of the Army of Great Britain contains copies of letters intercepted from Alexander Hamilton and Gouverneur Morris.

Correspondence and letter books, 1845-1889, of Charlemagne Tower, as well as legal and business papers related to real estate transactions, coal and iron lands in Pennsylvania, and the family affairs of the Tower family.