Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

The collection consists of addresses, press releases, memoranda proclamations, and other papers by and in regard to Charles Seymour Whitman (1868-1347) who was the District Attorney of New York County from 1910 to 1914 and Governor of New York State from 1915 to 1918. The material ranges in date from 1910 to 1937. The material is confined for the most part to drafts of the Governor's speeches to various groups on such subjects as the NEW YORK STATE PENAL CODE, unification of state laws, public health, education, and agriculture. Also, a typed memorandum on Whitman's ancestry and a few miscellaneous items. There are not papers or correspondence of a personal nature in the collection. The material is mostly in typescript. There is also a microfilm of Lt. Charles F. Becker's testimony in the Rosenthal murder case.

Letters to and copies of letters, letter books, and miscellaneous papers of (George) Frederick William Holls. There is also an amount of clippings and other miscellanea. The correspondence is with many persons important in the areas of politics and education. The subject content of the letters is international in scope, including such matters as the Suez Canal, the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, the Dreyfus affair, the Hague Peace Conference, Rhodes Scholarships, unification of education in New York State, the St. Louis Exposition, and tenement reform. Among the principal correspondents represented by groups of letters are John Barrett, Nicholas Murray Butler, Henry W. Diederick, Theodor Lange, Hugo Munsterburg, F.J. Odendahl, Theodore Roosevelt, and Carl Schurz.

Legal briefs, opinions, depositions, notes, memoranda, correspondence, and miscellaneous printed material of Polier. The materials are primarily photocopies of court documents which Polier assembled in the course of monitoring legal precedents for the Children's Defense Fund and the Field Foundation. Among the topics covered in the files are abortion, discrimination, education, foster care, juvenile justice, mental health, and parental rights.

Correspondence, minutes, reports, documents, scrapbooks, publications, memorabilia, and photographs. The general files, minutes, and reports reflect the varied activities and interests of the League, including apportionment, court reform, education, and voting rights. The historical files contain photographs, printed materials, and memorabilia, filed chronologically. Also included are the periodicals and publications of the League, scrapbooks arranged chronologically, and "Mailbooks", or volumes of mimeographed reports and announcements which were sent to branches and board members. Among the major correspondentrs are: Thomas E. Dewey, Herbert H. Hehman, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Alfred Smith

Correspondence, memoranda, minutes, and research materials relating to the problem of state aid to children in private schools. The collection centers on the historic fight over the "Blaine Amendment" in the proposed New York State Constitution which was defeated in 1967.