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John Jay II Papers, 1834-1911

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Summary Information

Abstract

John Jay II was a graduate of Columbia college and an abolitionist. This collection includes letters, legal and financial documents, newspaper clippings, writings, photographs, circulars, and pamphlets.

At a Glance

Call No.: MS#1946
Bib ID 13503834 View CLIO record
Creator(s) Jay, John, 1817-1894
Title John Jay II Papers, 1834-1911
Physical Description 6.3 Linear Feet (15 document boxes)
Language(s) English .
Access You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

Many boxes in the processed portion of the collection contained mold and have been professionally cleaned. All materials in Boxes 1-3, 5, 7-9, 11-15 have been cleaned. Materials in Boxes 4, 6, and 10 did not contain mold. Although all materials can be used in the reading room, patrons that are sensitive to mold may still experience a reaction to materials that have been cleaned in Boxes 1-3, 5, 7-9, 11-15.

There are nine boxes in this collection that have note been processed; these boxes are currently unavailable as the material may contain mold.

This collection has no restrictions.

Arrangement

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in two series.

Description

Scope and Contents

The collection contains mostly John Jay II's letters and other documents related to his anti-slavery activities. Besides letters, the collection also has John Jay II's drafts for lectures, newspaper clippings, pamphlets and circulars on abolition and related subjects. There are also some financial documents and miscellaneous notes and photographs.

A portion of this collection (9 document boxes) remains unprocessed. The majority of this material is from the 1880s and 1890s.

  • Series I: Correspondence, 1829-1889

    This series contains mostly John Jay II's correspondence with family members and friends, including Alexander Crummell, Charles Sumner, Oliver Johnson, Maria Weston Chapman, and Wendell Philips. Most correspondence have to do with issues including international copyright, fugitive slaves, the Civil War, and the role of the Episcopal church.

  • Series II: Documents, 1790-1911

    This series contains legal documents on cases including George Kirk, Lemmon, and Ann McFarland, partition and land sale documents, receipts relating to John Jay II's farms, John Jay II's writings on fugitive slaves, international copyright, and the Civil War, and newspaper clippings on abolition, freeman, the Civil War and John Jay I's political and antislavery activities. The series also includes pamphlets and circulars from anti-slavery societies, temperance petition from the women of Katonah, and some miscellaneous ephemera and photographs.

Using the Collection

Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Conditions Governing Access

You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

Many boxes in the processed portion of the collection contained mold and have been professionally cleaned. All materials in Boxes 1-3, 5, 7-9, 11-15 have been cleaned. Materials in Boxes 4, 6, and 10 did not contain mold. Although all materials can be used in the reading room, patrons that are sensitive to mold may still experience a reaction to materials that have been cleaned in Boxes 1-3, 5, 7-9, 11-15.

There are nine boxes in this collection that have note been processed; these boxes are currently unavailable as the material may contain mold.

This collection has no restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Accruals

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchase, 1992

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

Portions of this collection (Boxes 1-15) were processed by Mary Freeman (GSAS 2018) and Hong Deng Gao (GSAS 2021) in 2017-2018.

Finding Aid written by Mary Freeman (GSAS 2018) and Hong Deng Gao (GSAS 2021) in 2018.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Genre/Form

Heading "CUL Archives:"
"Portal"		 "CUL Collections:"
"CLIO"		 "Nat'l / Int'l Archives:"
"ArchivedGRID"
Clippings (Information Artifacts) Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Financial records Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Pamphlets Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Personal correspondence Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Photographs Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID

Subject

Heading "CUL Archives:"
"Portal"		 "CUL Collections:"
"CLIO"		 "Nat'l / Int'l Archives:"
"ArchivedGRID"
Abolitionists -- United States Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Antislavery movements -- United States Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Chapman, Maria Weston, 1806-1885 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Columbia College (Columbia University) Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Copyright, International Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Crummell, Alexander, 1819-1898 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Episcopal Church Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Fugitive slaves Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Jay, John, 1745-1829 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Jay, John, 1817-1894 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Jay, William, 1841-1915 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Johnson, Oliver, 1809-1889 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Phillips, Wendell, 1811-1884 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID

History / Biographical Note

Biographical / Historical

John Jay II (1817-1894) was the grandson of John Jay and a graduate of Columbia College in 1836. He followed the example of his grandfather and his father, William Jay, becoming an active abolitionist. William Jay was a judge and an abolitionist who became the president of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society in 1835.

In 1834, while he was still a student at Columbia, John Jay II became a manager of the New-York Young Men's Anti-Slavery Society, which advocated for the immediate abolition of slavery. In the same year, New York was roiled by anti-abolitionist riots. Jay was among those who defended the home of Arthur Tappan, president of the American Anti-Slavery Society, from the mob.

While Jay found few among his fellow Columbians who also supported the antislavery cause, he embarked on a long career of abolitionist activism. As a lawyer, he defended fugitive slaves in New York City in the 1840s and 50s. He also protested racism in the Episcopal Church. Columbia, since its founding, had close ties with that religious denomination, and Jay came into direct conflict with several alumni. Jay also attempted to combat discrimination at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. When James Parker Barnett was summarily expelled from P&S in 1850 after it was discovered that he was of African descent, Jay took on his case. Jay filed a petition in the Supreme Court of New York for a writ of mandamus in an effort to compel P&S to readmit Barnett. This writ was eventually ruled invalid in a later contest.

During the Civil War, John Jay II served as the president of the Union League Club in New York. In this role, Jay strove to cultivate unity and patriotic support of the Union war effort, especially among members of the city's wealthy business community.

Colonel William Jay (1841-1915) was the eldest son of John Jay II and Eleanor Kingsland Field Jay (1819-1909). William Jay served as an aide-de-camp for the Union Army during the American Civil War. After the war, he followed his father into the legal profession. He married Lucy Oelrichs Jay (1854-1931) in 1878.

After clicking 'Submit Request', users will login with their UNI and password (Columbia affiliates) or their special collections account (external users). Appointments are required and will be arranged according to each individual repository's policy.

Series I: Correspondence, 1829-1889

This series contains mostly John Jay II's correspondence with family members and friends, including Alexander Crummell, Charles Sumner, Oliver Johnson, Maria Weston Chapman, and Wendell Philips. Most correspondence have to do with issues including international copyright, fugitive slaves, the Civil War, and the role of the Episcopal church.

Incoming Correspondence, 1829-1889


Box 1 Folder 1 Correspondence--Incoming, 1829-1830

Box 1 Folder 2 Correspondence--Incoming, 1831

Box 1 Folder 3 Correspondence--Incoming, 1832

Box 1 Folder 4 Correspondence--Incoming, 1833

Box 1 Folder 5 Correspondence--Incoming, 1834

Box 1 Folder 6 Correspondence--Incoming, 1835

Box 1 Folder 7 Correspondence--Incoming, 1836 January-September

Box 1 Folder 8 Correspondence--Incoming, 1836 October-November

Box 1 Folder 9 Correspondence--Incoming, 1837 January-February

Box 1 Folder 10 Correspondence--Incoming, 1837 March-June

Box 1 Folder 11 Correspondence--Incoming, 1837 July-December

Box 1 Folder 12 Correspondence--Incoming, 1838

Box 1 Folder 13 Correspondence--Incoming, 1839

Box 1 Folder 14 Correspondence--Incoming, 1830s

Box 1 Folder 15 Correspondence--Incoming, 1840-1841

Box 1 Folder 16 Correspondence--Incoming, 1842


Box 2 Folder 1 Correspondence--Incoming, 1843

Box 2 Folder 2 Correspondence--Incoming, 1844

Box 2 Folder 3 Correspondence--Incoming, 1846-1849

Box 2 Folder 4 Correspondence--Incoming, 1850-1853

Box 2 Folder 5 Correspondence--Incoming, 1854

Box 2 Folder 6 Correspondence--Incoming, 1855-1859

Box 2 Folder 7 Correspondence--Incoming, 1860


Box 3 Folder 1 Correspondence--Incoming, undated

Box 3 Folder 2 Correspondence--Stephen Myers to John Jay II on Underground Railroad, 1861

Box 3 Folder 3-5 Correspondence--Incoming, 1861, 3 folders

Box 3 Folder 6 Correspondence--Incoming, 1862

Box 3 Folder 7-8 Correspondence--Incoming, 1863, 2 folders


Box 5 Folder 1 Correspondence--Incoming, 1864

Box 5 Folder 2 Correspondence--Incoming, 1865-1866

Box 5 Folder 3 Correspondence--Incoming, 1867

Box 5 Folder 4 Correspondence--Incoming, 1869


Box 4 Folder 1 Correspondence--Incoming, 1870-1879

Box 4 Folder 2 Correspondence--Incoming, 1880-1889, 1893

Box 4 Folder 3-4 Correspondence--Incoming, 1880-1889, 2 folders

Outgoing and Third-Party Correspondence, 1835-1889


Box 5 Folder 5 Correspondence--Outgoing, 1835-1839

Box 5 Folder 6 Correspondence--Third Party, 1830-1839, undated

Box 5 Folder 7 Correspondence--Outgoing, 1840-1849

Box 5 Folder 8 Correspondence--Third Party, 1840-1848

Box 5 Folder 9 Correspondence--Outgoing, 1855-1859

Box 5 Folder 10 Correspondence--Third Party, 1851, 1855

Box 5 Folder 11 Correspondence--Outgoing, 1860-1861


Box 7 Folder 1 Correspondence--Outgoing, 1862-1869

Box 7 Folder 2 Correspondence--Outgoing-John Jay II to Reverend Edward Boggs, 1862-1863

Box 7 Folder 3 Correspondence--Third Party, 1863


Box 6 Folder 1 Correspondence--Outgoing, 1870-1879

Box 6 Folder 2 Correspondence--Third Party, 1870-1879

Box 6 Folder 3 Correspondence--Outgoing, 1880-1889

Box 6 Folder 4 Correspondence--Third Party, 1885

Series II: Documents, 1790-1911

This series contains legal documents on cases including George Kirk, Lemmon, and Ann McFarland, partition and land sale documents, receipts relating to John Jay II's farms, John Jay II's writings on fugitive slaves, international copyright, and the Civil War, and newspaper clippings on abolition, freeman, the Civil War and John Jay I's political and antislavery activities. The series also includes pamphlets and circulars from anti-slavery societies, temperance petition from the women of Katonah, and some miscellaneous ephemera and photographs.

Legal and Financial Files, 1837-1850


Box 15 Folder 6 Legal Notes, 1837-1838

Box 15 Folder 7 Receipt and Financial Documents, 1835-1838

Box 15 Folder 8 Legal Files-Real Estate, Water Commissioners, 1790-1839


Box 8 Folder 1 Legal Files, 1840-1849

Box 8 Folder 2 Legal Files-Blackwood and International Copyright, 1849

Box 8 Folder 3 Legal Files--Petitions Re: Copyright, 1848

Box 8 Folder 4 Legal Files--Blackwood and International Copyright, 1848-1850

Box 8 Folder 5 Legal Files--Field Family, 1845-1849

Box 8 Folder 6 Legal Files--George Kirk, 1846

Box 8 Folder 7 Legal Files--Samuel Burhans, 1849-1850

Box 8 Folder 8 Receipts and Financial Document, 1840-1848

Legal and Financial Files, 1850-1859


Box 9 Folder 5 Receipts and Accounts, 1850-1859

Box 9 Folder 6 Legal Files-Real Estate and Financial-Jay/Field Family, 1850


Box 11 Folder 1 Legal Files--Real Estate and Financial-Jay/Field Family, 1851-1853

Box 11 Folder 2 Legal Files--Real Estate and Financial--Jay/Field Family, 1853-1856

Box 11 Folder 3 Legal Files--Real Estate and Financial-Jay/Field Family, 1857-1859

Box 11 Folder 4 Legal Files--Jay Family Partition Deeds, 1857-1858

Box 11 Folder 5 Legal Files--Lemmon Case, 1852-1860

Box 11 Folder 6 Legal Files--Elizabeth McFarland vs. George Fogel, 1850-1855

Box 11 Folder 7 Legal Files--Miscellaneous, 1850-1859

Legal and Financial Files, 1860-1889


Box 9 Folder 8 Receipts and Financial Documents, 1860-1869


Box 13 Folder 1-4 Receipts and Financial Documents, 1860-1869, 4 folders

Box 13 Folder 5-6 Legal Files, 1860-1869, 2 folders

Box 13 Folder 7 Receipts and Financial Documents, 1870-1879

Box 13 Folder 8 Legal Files, 1870-1879

Box 13 Folder 9 Receipts and Financial, 1880-1189

Box 13 Folder 10 Receipts and Financial--"Hotel Accounts", 1876-1887

Box 13 Folder 11 Legal Files, 1880-1889

Notes, Photos and Clippings, 1830-1849


Box 9 Folder 1 Miscellaneous Notes, Photos of Horace Mann Seating Chart, circa 1830s

Box 9 Folder 2 Clippings, circa 1840-1849

Box 9 Folder 3 Scrapbook, 1836-1842

Box 9 Folder 4 Miscellaneous-Georgia Historical Society Membership, St. Matthews Church, 1840-1841

Clippings, Photos, and Circulars/Pamphlets, 1850-1869

Box 9 Folder 7 Clippings--Lemmon Case, 1852-1860


Box 12 Folder 1 Clippings, 1850-1859

Box 12 Folder 2 Clippings--"Slave Cases" Notebook, 1847-1852

Box 12 Folder 3 Pamphlets and Circulars, 1850-1859

Box 12 Folder 4-6 Newspaper Clippings, 1860-1869, 3 folders

Box 12 Folder 7 Printed Materials, 1860-1869

Box 12 Folder 8 Photographs, 1860-1869

Box 12 Folder 9 Petition of the Women of Katonah, 1862

Newspaper Clippings, Printed Materials, and Will of Agnes Ward, 1870-1911


Box 14 Folder 1 Printed Materials and Invitations, 1870-1879

Box 14 Folder 2-3 Newspaper Clippings, 1870-1879, 2 folders

Box 14 Folder 4 Printed Materials and Invitations, 1880-1889

Box 14 Folder 5 Will of Agnes Ward, 1911

Writings, 1833-1859


Box 7 Folder 4 Columbia College Compositions, 1833-1836

Box 7 Folder 5 Compositions Written by Others, 1834-1835

Box 7 Folder 6 Notes--Columbia College, 1833-1836

Box 7 Folder 7 Writings, 1841-1842

Box 7 Folder 8 Writings, 1843


Box 15 Folder 1 Writings, 1844-1848

Box 15 Folder 2-3 Writings, circa 1840-1949, 2 folders

Box 15 Folder 4 Writings, 1854-1859

Box 15 Folder 5 Writings--Lecture on New York Manumission Society, 1852

Writings, 1860-1889


Box 6 Folder 5-6 Writings-Notes and Drafts, 1860-1869, 2 folders


Box 10 Folder 1-3 Writings, 1860-1869, 3 folders

Box 10 Folder 4 Writings--Address to the Colored Troops, 1864

Box 10 Folder 5 Writings--Draft of Address on Civil War, 1861-1865

Box 10 Folder 6 Writings--Address on Common Schools, 1860s

Box 10 Folder 7 Writings, 1870-1879

Box 10 Folder 8 Writings, 1880-1889