BUSINESS, LITERARY, AND MISCELLANY COLLECTION

Illustrations from the Marcia Brown Papers

Chiefly 19th-century New York and New England local history manuscripts and business records, primarily for craftsmen and railroads; papers of children's book writer and illustrator Marcia J. Brown and two original manuscripts by Maud and Miska Petersham; papers of Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Kennedy; papers of Anthony Ashley Cooper, the 19th century social reformer; and papers of Benito Perez Galdos, Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, Evengi Zamyatin, and other writers.

Collections are searchable through the University Libraries' online catalog, Minerva. Manuscript Collections can also be browsed in the alphabetical listing below or through subject listings which include all manuscript collections and record groups available in the Department of Special Collections and Archives.

Alphabetical List of Manuscript Collections

Subject Guide to Collections in the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives

For reference queries contact Grenander Department Reference staff or (518)-437-3935.

ABBE FAMILY
Papers, 1773–1896, .5 ft. (MSS-034)
 Deeds and other legal documents, 1773–87; correspondence, 1857–78; business records, 1854–92; and other papers of the Abbe (or Abbey) family--primarily Richard T. Abbe, his wife Helen Woods Abbe and daughter Olive Abbe Jones--of Hartford, Connecticut. Also papers of relatives, including letters between the Lomis family in Connecticut and the Roberts family in Cazenovia, New York, 1808–18, and letters of the Higby family, 1827–48. Richard T. Abbe corresponded with his agent, William A. Jones, in Pike County, Ohio, about the Civil War, land speculation, and family matters.

ALBANY, NEW YORK, GENERAL STORE
Account Book, 1784–86, 1 vol. (MSS-036)
 Business records kept by the unidentified proprietor of a general store, probably located in Albany, which sold dry goods, rum, and other merchandise to customers from Albany to Schaghticoke (north of the Troy, New York), and westward to Stone Arabia and other Mohawk Valley settlements. The volume also includes day book entries from Oneida, New York, 1877–78, and notes on English grammar and physical geography taken by a student at the Oswego Normal School, 1878.

ALBANY, NEW YORK, JEWISH COMMUNITY
Collection, 1905–62, 1 ft. (MSS-037)
 Includes minutes of Congregation Beth El Jacob, 1956–61; records of the United Brethren Society, 1939–60; and miscellaneous documents, printed materials, and photographs, 1930–60.

AMOSKEAG MANUFACTURING COMPANY
Reports, 1934–1937, 10 ft. (MSS-038).
 Reports on the finances and employment at the Amoskeag textile mills in New Hampshire during the 1930s. Files retained by A. F. Hinrichs of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

ANCIENT AND HONOURABLE COMPANY OF FELLMONGERS
Records Book, 1820–59, 1 vol. (MSS-001)
 Includes minutes of annual meetings, membership lists, and financial accounts of a trade guild located in Richmond, Yorkshire, England. Fellmongers remove wool from hides in preparation for leather making.

ANONYMOUS
Manuscript, 1779, 1 vol. (MSS-002)
 "Description d'un Instrument de nouvelle invention, aussi varié dans ses effets, que necessaire pour déterminer les parfaits rapports entre les différens mobiles, agissans par Leviers & par Engrenages; construit d'après la nouvelle régle de proportion dont ce Mémoire fait le principal objet." In a note on page 18 of this 23–page French scientific manuscript, "Ph. Robin, Secretaire" indicates that it was presented to the "Comité des Arts."

AUBURN WOOLEN COMPANY
Stock Certificate Book, 1847–51, 1 vol. (MSS-039)
 Records 120 certificates of capital stock in this company located in Auburn, New York.

BANNON, WILLIAM G., diplomat
Papers, 1920–66, .25 ft. (MSS-003)
 Includes letters written in Siberia and China as a representative of the U.S. Department of War discussing regional political affairs, 1920–22; letters to Winifred Freely and others on foreign service experience and Catholic Church. Bannon was a resident of Hoosick Falls, New York.

BELL, ABRAHAM, AND SON
Records, 1809–1917, 22 ft. (MSS-035)
 Includes thirty-one letter press copybooks kept daily by Abraham Bell and Son, a New York City merchant shipping firm specializing in the export of Southern cotton to the British Isles, 1837–54; thirty-nine volumes of account books, journals, correspondence, and other business records, 1809–88; a record book of Irish immigrants and other passengers to the United States from Derry and Belfast, 1832–57. There are also correspondence, diaries, and financial records of other members of this Quaker family, James W. Bell and James C. Bell, 1832–1917; record books of Elizabeth Bell, 1858; and records of Bell Brothers, a money-lending business in Yonkers, New York, 1889–95.

BENEDICT, EDWARD H., artisan
Account Book, 1832–53 (MSS-040)
 Kept by a textile dyer in Woodbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut. The volume include a copy of Constance Fenimore Woolson's poem "Kentucky Belle."

BERLIN AND EAST SUDBURY STAGE COMPANY
Account Book, 1828–32, 1 vol. (MSS-041)
 Records income and expenses for a Vermont stage company. Also includes "an account of articles sold or carried from Northboro pauper establishment," 1841.

BLAKESLEE, D. AYERS, student
Commonplace Book, 1861–67, 1 vol. (MSS-042)
 Kept by a native of Wellsville, New York, as a student at Alfred Academy and University and as a member of its Orophilian Lyceum. Includes poetry, lists of students, and programs.

BOSTON AND MAINE RAILROAD COMPANY
Accident Reports, 1889–99, 1903–4, 4 vols. (MSS-043)
 Reports of injuries to passengers and employees, which were submitted to the superintendent of the Concord Division, Concord, New Hampshire.

BOSTWICK, GILBERT, farmer
Account Book, 1834–48, 1 vol. (MSS-044)
 Kept by a farmer from the vicinity of Port Henry (on Lake Champlain), New York, who operated a sawmill producing pine boards and mined ore for the local iron industry.

BOYNTON, JONAH C., bookbinder
Day Book, 1828–36, 1 vol. (MSS-045)
 Kept by a bookbinder in Albany, New York; includes a list of moveable property, 1832.

BRADEN, FORREST D., police chief
Scrapbook, 1922–25, 1944, 1 vol. (MSS-046)
 Kept as police chief in Louisville, Kentucky, and Terre Haute, Indiana. Contains letters from Robert Baden Powell and J. Edgar Hoover; and newspaper clippings and photographs about the enforcement of prohibition in Louisville.

BRIDGE LINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Records, 1870-ongoing, 3.5 cubic ft. + maps and blueprints (MSS–129)
The Bridge Line Historical Society was founded in 1990 to document the history of the Delaware & Hudson Railway. The collection includes the BLHS's newsletter, The Bulletin, as well as maps, drawings, and related material.

BROWN, FRED R. (1888–1966), missionary
Papers, 1910–74, 4 ft. (MSS-004)
 Includes correspondence with family, friends, and fellow missionaries in China, 1910–31; diaries, 1916–27; papers on religious activities and war in China, 1920–25; and some clippings, photographs, and printing materials concerning China, 1920–27. There are also some papers of his wife, Clella McDonnell Brown, including a paper on the nationalist Chinese in Nanchang, 1926–27, and a diary about a trip to China. Fred R. Brown was a Methodist missionary and science teacher in the Kiansi Province of China from 1910 to 1931, when he and his wife, a fellow missionary, settled in DeWitt, New York.

BROWN, MARCIA JOAN (1918– ), writer, illustrator
Papers, 1940–97, 82.55 linear feet; 426 (final art) items (MSS-005)
 Includes autobiographical and biographical materials, such as interviews, articles, photographs, 1946–96; awards, certificates, citations, 1962–84; editorial and business correspondence, 1947–92; writings, lectures, speeches, notes for speeches, and "chalk talks," 1940–94; speeches, writings, and lectures by others, 1949–78; subject files on other writers and illustrators, technical information on printing, materials from conferences and workshops,  illustrated manuscripts of most of Brown's work, especially "A Child's Christmas," 1942, and "Poems of Childhood," 1946; manuscripts, rough sketches, dummies, and revisions for Stone Soup, Dick Whittington and His Cat, Puss in Boots; many children's books written and/or illustrated by Brown, 1942–95;  and copies of all her books and presentation copies of books by other children's writers. A native of upstate New York and a 1940 graduate of the New York State College for Teachers, Brown is a respected children's book writer and illustrator, and a three-time Caldecott Medal winner. Also included are papers of Helen A. Masten, head of the Children's Room at the New York Public Library, where Brown once worked as a librarian. These papers include letters received from Anne Carroll Moore, Pamela Bianco, and others interested in children's literature, 1942–56.

BRUYN, SEVERYN, attorney
Notebook, ca. 1800, 1 vol. (MSS-047)
 Notes and citations on legal principles, kept as a student reading law in New York City.

CARRARA, DOLORES L.
Papers, 1946 .17 cubic ft. (MSS-134)
Scripts from programs broadcast on radio station WGY and television station WRGB based in Schenectady, NY.

CHADWICK, C. W., ship captain
Papers, 1873–88, .10 ft. (MSS-048)
 Business records and correspondence kept by C. W. Chadwick of Cushing, Maine, as captain of the schooners Jennie F. Willey and Carrie Walker.

CHAPIN, DAY, AND ELY
Record Book, 1774–89, 1 vol. (MSS-049)
 Includes financial accounts, 1774–89; and a work register, 1775–89. Kept for the lumber mill of Phineas Chapin, Joel Day, and John Ely in Springfield, Massachusetts.

CHARLES I, KING OF ENGLAND
Warrant, 1642, 1 vol. (MSS-006)
 Signed royal warrant to Lt. John Hasell giving him permission to raise a company of dragoons, given at Reading on November 7, 1642. The volume also contains a copy of a letter from Dr. Robert Hooke dated June 4, 1678, and copper engravings of King Charles I and Oliver Cromwell in Parliament, 1640s.

CHASE, HENRY M. and WILLIAM L., businessmen
Records, 1877–1901, 4 vols. (MSS-050)
 Includes two letterpress copybooks, 1877–97; ledger, 1880–81; and a cash book, 1901–3. Kept by Henry M. and William L. Chase for a company in Pascoag and Woonsocket, Rhode Island, which specialized in the manufacture of windows, doors, blinds, and mouldings. In one of the copybooks is an 1891 report of a committee charged with determining the cost of installing electric street lights in Pascoag.

CLARK, DAVID M., artisan
Account Book, 1804–12, 1 vol. (MSS-051)
 Kept by a saddle- and harness-maker in the vicinity of Temple and Lyndeborough, Hillsboro County, New Hampshire.

CLEAVLAND, L. E., merchant
Day Books, 1844–49, 3 vols. (MSS-052)
 Kept by the proprietor of a general store in Oak Hill, Greene County, New York.

CLOVE BRANCH RAILROAD COMPANY
Records, 1869–93, .25 ft. (MSS-053)
 Includes correspondence, balance sheets, and other records of a railroad company based in Dutchess County, New York.

COGSWELL, JOHN H., businessman
Day Books, 1866–73, 14 vols. (MSS-054)
 Kept by a lumber dealer in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

COLFAX, JAMES, wharfmaster
Record Book, 1808–13, 1 vol. (MSS-055)
 Daily record of vessels using a New York City dock operated by Colfax. Includes tonnage, place of origin, and wharf fees and arrears for sloops, schooners, and other merchant vessels shipping between New York City and places in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

COLONEY, THOMAS D., farmer
Account Book, 1827–52, 1 vol. (MSS-056)
 Kept by a farmer in Farmington, Connecticut.

COOPER, ANTHONY ASHLEY (1801–85), social reformer
Letters, 1877–84, .5 ft. (MSS-007)
 A series of 125 letters written to a Miss Marsh between January 3, 1877, and December 16, 1884, by Anthony Ashley Cooper, seventh earl of Shaftesbury, in which he discusses his religious and social-reform interests, as well as his health and travels. Cooper was a British social reformer and philanthropist. Miss Marsh may have been Catherine M. Marsh, a contemporary British writer on religious and social-welfare themes.

COOPER, GEORGE, artisan
Account Book, 1876–80, 1 vol. (MSS-057)
 Kept by a saddle- and harness-maker in Burrillville, Rhode Island.

CROUNSE, JOHANNES, farmer
Manuscript, 1796, 1 vol. (MSS-058)
 "Pferdts Arzney Buchlein," a manuscript including 78 treatments for ailments of horses, written in German by Johannes Crounse, a farmer living west of Albany, New York.

DAVID, MEGINNEI, religious writer
Manuscript, undated, 1 vol. (MSS-008)
 Late-nineteenth-century Hebrew manuscript commentary on the Book of Psalms, including an explanation of the Mogen David symbol. From the Mordecai Kosover Collection.

DE GREY, THOMAS (1748–1818), British landowner
Record Book, 1809–13, 1 vol. (MSS-009)
 "Expenses of Workmen Employed on the Merton Estate," a weekly record of day laborers' compensation and services (chiefly, carpentry, gardening, bricklaying, and blacksmithing) on the Merton estate of Thomas de Grey, Baron Walsingham, in Norfolk, England, kept from July 9, 1809, to June 27, 1813.

DE GRESS, FRANCIS, businessman
Letterpress Copybook, 1874, 1 vol. (MSS-060)
 Contains copies of correspondence of Francis De Gress on a business trip through Chile, Peru, and Mexico, where he was selling weapons and other goods, May 11–October 3, 1874. He was a member of the import-export firm of Wexel and De Gress, with offices in New York City and Mexico City. There is a letter to Gen. William T. Sherman in Washington, D.C., discussing which countries control shipping in South America and how a canal would benefit American interests.

DeWITT, RICHARD VARICK (b. 1832), businessman
Journal, 1862, 1 vol. (MSS-128)
 Kept on a journey across England and western Europe, May 15–June 26, 1862, by a resident of Albany, New York.

DEY, PIERSON, farmer
Record Book, 1810–16, 1 vol. (MSS-061)
 Includes a diary kept by Pierson Dey, a farmer and rural laborer in Passaic County, New Jersey, 1810–16; day book entries, 1812–16; an account of money expended on building, 1816. Later entries in the volume record purchases by H. K. Dey, 1864.

DICKINSON, JOHN DEAN (1767–1841), U.S. Congressman, attorney
Papers, 1796–1834, 1 ft. (MSS-062)
 Letters, deeds, and retained copies of legal documents kept as an attorney and landowner. Dickinson practiced law in Lansingburg and Troy, New York, from the 1790s; was president of the Farmers Bank of Troy, 1801–41; served in the NYS Assembly, 1816–17; and was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives as a Federalist, 1819–23, and a Whig, 1827–31.

DIETZE, MAX, writer
Manuscripts, 1907, .10 ft. (MSS-010)
 Includes manuscript writings on the life and works of Johann W. von Goethe (1749–1832) by Max Dietze of Bitterfeld.

DUXBURY AND COHASSET RAILROAD COMPANY
Freight Receipts, 1871–72, .25 ft. (MSS-063)
 Includes ticket reports and freight receipts for this southeastern Massachusetts railroad company.

EAST FREETOWN, NEW YORK
Railroad Freight Records, 1891–1901, 1 vol. (MSS-133)
 Includes date of shipment, destination (place and individual), description of articles, weight, rate, and cost from the East Freetown, New York station.

EASTMAN, CORA
Scrapbook, 1877–86, 1 vol. (MSS-064)
 Includes clippings, letters received by Cora Eastman, and printed materials documenting the life of her father Harvey G. Eastman (1833–78), the mayor of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York, and founder of Eastman Business College (1859).

EDDY, JESSE, artisan
Account Book, 1834–59, 1 vol. (MSS-066)
 Kept by a wagon maker, probably from the vicinity of Adamsville (now in Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island).

EDEN, WILLIAM, traveler
Journal, 1828, 1 vol. (MSS-065)
 Kept on a North American journey, May 16–July 11, 1828. The binding title is: "1828. Canada and the United States. Sir William Eden, Bt."

EDWIN ADAMS et al. v. WILLIAM ROCKEFELLER et al.
Records, 1889–1921, 2.75 ft. (MSS-067)
 Includes trial evidence, topical indexes to testimony, transcriptions of business records, legal briefs, and other materials compiled by V. N. Roadstrum of New York City, attorney for the J. P. Morgan Estate, in a 1915–18 lawsuit brought in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against William Rockefeller, the Executors of the J. P. Morgan Estate, and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company for "conspiracy to monopolize" railroad, streetcar, and water transportation of the "common-carrier business of transporting passengers and property" in New York, New Jersey, and New England.

FANE, JOHN (1759–1841), Lord Privy Seal
Patents, 1801–08, 1826, 9 items. (MSS-011)
 "Docquets" for inventions, submitted to John Fane, tenth earl of Westmorland, as lord privy seal of Great Britain.

FARRAR AND BOARDMAN, merchants
Account Book, 1862–70, 1 vol. (MSS-068)
 Kept by the proprietors of a general store in Manchester, New Hampshire.

FISHER, CHARLES, blacksmith
Account Book, 1831–41, 1 vol. (MSS-069)
 Kept by a blacksmith in Cumberland, Rhode Island. Found in the volume are tax assessments and petitions pertaining to School District No. 6 of Cumberland, 1842–63.

FITCH, EBENEZER R., public servant
Record Book, 1812–46, 1 vol. (MSS-070)
 Includes a docket of cases handled as a justice of the peace in Oneida County, New York, 1812–13; a copy of a letter to his sister, Elizabeth Warner, 1819; accounts for the town of Westmoreland, 1828–46; personal accounts, undated; "A Dialogue between Inquisitive & Spectator," undated; "A Dialogue between a Christian and a Trinitarian," undated

FRELIGH FAMILY
Papers, 1770–1959, 1 ft. (MSS-071)
 Includes correspondence of Dr. Michael Freligh (1770–1853) about family matters, agriculture, the War of 1812 in Plattsburgh, New York, and the Watervliet Lyceum, 1799–1853; land transactions and legal documents, 1773–1959; and rent receipts signed by Stephen Van Rensselaer, 1804–30. The Freligh family resided in Niskayuna, Watervliet, and Cohoes, New York.

GANSEVOORT, LEONARD, attorney
Register, 1780–1801, 1 vol. (MSS-072)
 Kept by an Albany attorney for cases handled by him in the NYS Supreme Court, Albany Mayor's Court, and various county courts.

GARDNER, CHARLES K., public servant
Correspondence, 1835–60, 35 items (MSS-073)
 Correspondence of Charles K. Gardner, a U.S. Post Office Department auditor in Washington, D.C.; Absalom Bull, Black Rock, New York; and John T. Butterworth, New York City. Concerns a dispute over land, taxes, and railroad damages in Black Rock, Erie County, New York.

GAY, G. F. and A. E., businessmen
Account Book, 1883–96, 1 vol. (MSS-074)
 Business records kept by building contractors in Killingly, Connecticut.

GREAT BRITAIN. COMMISSIONERS OF EXCISE
Abstract, 1684–1764, 1 vol. (MSS-013)
 "An abstract of the Gross and Net-produce of the several Branches of his Majesty's Revenues under the Receipt & Management of the Commissioners of Excise from the respective Times of the Commencement thereof together with Their respective Appropriations." The volume covers tax revenues through November 6, 1762, and bears the bookplate of William Dowdeswell (1721–75), of Pull Court in Bushley, Worcestershire, who served in the ministry of Lord Rockingham as chancellor of the Exchequer from July 1765 to July 1766. Dowdeswell was a Whig leader in the House of Commons with a special interest in taxation and trade.

GREAT BRITAIN. COMMON LAW
Case Book, 1701–06, 1 vol. (MSS-014)
 "Several Cases concerning the Publick revenues Referred by the Treasury to the Attorney General & His opinion & orders thereon." Chiefly revenues cases from the reign of Queen Anne (1665–1714), with legal opinions rendered in reports by Sir Edward Northey (1652–1723), attorney general, to Lord High Treasurer Sidney Godolphin (1645–1712). Includes "a state of proceedings against the Goods Seized upon Capt. Kidd the Pirate in the High Court of Admiralty of England," 1705.

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY
Registers, undated, 6 vols. (MSS-075)
 Records railroad locomotive engines built in the 1861–1921 period and used in Great Britain by the Great Western Railway.  Owned or compiled in part by William L. Kenning, Lodge Hill, Sussex, Great Britain.

HALLOWELL, CALEB S.
Journal, 1843, 1 vol. (MSS-076)
 Kept on a journey from Washington, D.C., to Niagara Falls, New York, with an itinerary and summary of expenses. Includes a description of traveling on the Erie Canal. Hallowell was an educator from Alexandria, Virginia.

HARLOW ESTATE
Record Book, 1685–94, 1 vol. (MSS-015)
 Includes proceedings of manorial courts and records of quit rents, tithes, and other income received by estate managers William Janes and James Taylor for Harlow Estate (including Lindsell and Beamond), Essex, England.

HATHAWAY, ABRAHAM, artisan
Account Book, 1825–70, 1 vol. (MSS-077)
 Kept by a shoemaker and leather dealer in business near Taunton, Massachusetts.

HAWKS, DANIEL, attorney
Papers, 1831–50, 1 ft. (MSS-078)
 Letters, financial accounts, deeds, and other legal documents of an attorney from Cortland Village, Cortland County, New York. Includes copies of minutes, calendars, and other court records of the Cortland County Court.

HAWLEY SADDLE AND HARNESS SHOP
Account Books, 1803–46, 2 vols. (MSS-079)
 Kept by Stephen Conant and Ezekiel Hawley, 1803–06, and by the latter, 1830–46, as proprietors of a saddle- and harness-making shop in Paris, New York.

HENDRIKS, FREDERICK, statistician
Collection, 1709–1891, .25 ft. (MSS-016)
 Includes letters, manuscripts, printed materials, and portraits pertaining primarily to eighteen British insurance companies and to the Institute of Actuaries. The 164 items were either collected or received in the period 1848–90 by Frederick Hendriks, of the Globe Insurance Company of London. Hendriks collected autograph letters and holographic manuscripts of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British actuaries, some of whom were also astronomers and mathematicians: Francis Baily, David Erskine Baker, William Chappell, Francis A. Engelbach, William Farr, William Frend, Thomas Galloway, Benjamin Gompertz, Charles Jellicoe, William Morgan, John Playfair, John F. Twisden, and S. B. Woolhouse. Also includes a 1653 engraving of a mathematician, and letters of French writer Antoine J. B. Robert Auget, Baron de Montyon, 1815; Dutch mathematician Jan Hendrik van Swinden, 1816; German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, 1832, 1834; Italian mathematician Count Guglielmo Libri Carrucci dalla Sommaia, 1858; and British historian/archivist William Hardy, 1879.

HIGBIE, WILLIAM, businessman
Letter-copy Book, 1854–58, 1 vol. (MSS-080)
 Kept concerning local land transactions by a resident of Little Falls, Herkimer County, New York.

HURTIN, JOHN G., public servant
Record Books, 1806–21, 4 vols. (MSS-081)
 Two docket books for cases handled by Hurtin as an Orange County sheriff, including lists of jurors and witnesses in cases heard before the Orange County Court of Common Pleas in Goshen, New York, 1811–21; register of insolvency cases, 1811–12; and an account book, 1806–16.

HUTH, GEOF
Papers, 1960-2006, 60.7 cubic ft. + Undetermined GB of Electronic Records (MSS-137)
 The collection includes artworks produced by Geof Huth (including poetry, fiction, essays, aphorisms, visual poems, dramatic works, and comics), biographical records, extensive correspondence, records of his various micropresses, weblogs, audiovisual recordings of sound poems and presentations given at professional conferences, and a large collection of small and micropress publications focused on visual and experimental poetry.

INTERNATIONAL OIL-GAS CORPORATION
Records, 1930–51, 1.5 ft. (MSS-082)
 Minutes of Board of Directors, 1930–51, with bylaws and articles of incorporation; correspondence, memoranda, patents, contracts, tax records, survey maps, and geological reports on properties in Venezuela, Mexico, and Colombia. Includes correspondence of Peyton B. Locker concerning Mexican iron ore, 1946–51. The company was incorporated in Delaware but located in New York City.

JACKSON, F. D., merchant
Day Book, 1881–82, 1 vol. (MSS-083)
 Kept by the proprietor of a general store in Derby, Connecticut. Bears the stationer's label "A. E. Gould, Traveling Stationery Dealer, New Haven, Connecticut."

KENDALL AND HAMLIN SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 8
Record Book, 1838–1920, 1 vol. (MSS-084)
 Includes board minutes and reports for the Kendall and Hamlin School District No. 8, which was formerly the Clarkson (or Union) and Kendall School District No. 12, in the area of Morton, Monroe County, New York.

KENNEDY, WILLIAM, author
Papers, 1926-2003, 41.2 cubi ft. (MSS-132)
Includes correspondence, drafts, typescripts, worksheets, manuscripts, autograph notes, galleys and page proofs, photographs, and printed ephemera from throughout Kennedy's career as a writer. Kennedy is executive director of the UAlbany-based New York State Writers Institute, which he founded, and joined the University at Albany English Department in 1974. He is the author of nine novels to date, The Ink Truck his first. Seven subsequent works form his ongoing Albany Cycle of novels -- all centered on his native Albany during the 19th and 20th centuries. The most recent, Chango’s Beads and Two-Tone Shoes, was published in 2011. Kennedy's Ironweed won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 and was chosen by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of the 20th century. Other Kennedy works include Legs, Billy Phelan's Greatest Game, Quinn's Book, Very Old Bones, and The Flaming Corsage, as well as two children's books co-authored with his son Brendan, Charlie Malarkey and the Belly Button Machine and Charlie Malarkey and the Singing Moose. He has also published two books of nonfiction, O Albany!, an impressionistic history of his city, and Riding the Yellow Trolley Car, a collection of literary and critical essays. Ironweed was made into a film by Hector Babenco. Kennedy also co-wrote the screenplay of The Cotton Club with director Francis Ford Coppola.

KESSLER, HERBERT (1918– ), writer
Manuscript, undated, 1 vol. (MSS-017)
 Hand-corrected typescript of a novel later published, Tödische Anstösse (Mannheim: Socrates Press, 1983). Kessler is an attorney and writer who lives in Mannheim, West Germany.

LANE, EDWARD E., businessman
Record Book, 1889–90, 1 vol. (MSS-085)
 Kept in Concord, New Hampshire, to record the technical specifications and dimensions of wagons, carriages, fire engines, and other horse-drawn vehicles from places in New England and New York. Bears the stationer's label of Temple and Farrington Company, Manchester, New Hampshire.

LANG, ANDREW (1844–1912), writer
Scrapbook, 1898–1912, 1 vol. (MSS-018)
 Assembled by an unknown compiler, the scrapbook includes printed materials and clippings pertaining to the life and work of Andrew Lang, the English writer and folklorist.

LEBANON SPRINGS, NEW YORK, POST OFFICE
Account Book, 1893–95, 1 vol. (MSS-086)
 Kept by C. T. Hemenway, U.S. postmaster at Lebanon Springs, in Columbia County.

LINDQUIST, JENNIE D. (1899–1977), editor, librarian.
Papers, 1944–55, 2 ft. (MSS-019)
 Chiefly personal correspondence with Helen T. Fay, Eleanor M. Foote, printed materials, transcripts of her 1940s New Hampshire radio program "Good Books for Boys and Girls," and a publisher's advanced copy of her book The Crystal Tree (New York: Harper and Row, 1966).  Lindquist was a staff member of the Horn Book (the Boston publisher) from 1948 to 1958 and was editor of its Horn Book Magazine; she was also head of the Children's Department at the Albany Public Library, a lecturer and librarian at the University of New Hampshire, and an employee of The John Mistletoe Bookshop.

LITURGICAL MUSIC
Manuscript, undated, 1 vol. (MSS-020)
 Anonymous manuscript masses and other liturgical music dating from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. A manuscript note in the volume records that Cardinal Philip Thomas Howard (1629–94) "took formal possession of Bornhem, & the Province was re-founded from Holland in 1685. This book is a relic of Bornhem days." In the late seventeenth century, Cardinal Howard was prior of the nunnery at Tempsche, located near Bornem (formerly Bornhem), a town twelve miles southwest of Antwerp, Belgium.

LOVELL AND NICHOLS LUMBER MILL
Records, 1869–82, 7 vols. (MSS-087)
 Ledgers and day books kept by George W. Lovell and William H. Nichols for a lumber mill in Pascoag, Rhode Island.

LYON FAMILY
Record Book, 1872–86, 1 vol. (MSS-088)
 Includes register of deeds granted by the executors of L. R. Lyon, 1870–84; register of bark peeled by H. J. Botchford and Company and C. J. Lyon and Company, 1871–83; register of Lyon Estate lands, 1873; register of lumber shipments, 1883–86; and personnel records, 1874–75. The Lyon family wood lots were located near Port Lynden, Lewis County, New York.

MERIAM, GEORGE and CHARLES, booksellers
Papers, 1833–63, 68 items (MSS-089)
 Letters, publisher's catalogs, and stationer's circulars received by George and Charles Merriam, booksellers in Springfield, Massachusetts.

MESNIL, FRANÇOISE MADELAINE
Inventory and Bequest, 1756, 1 vol. (MSS-021)
 A notarial document done for Thomas Maurice Bronod, an attorney in Paris.

MILLER, E. MELTON, writer
Journal, 1904, 1910, 1 vol. (MSS-090)
 Journal kept in 1904 describing a trip in 1901 to Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru by E. Merton Miller of Plymouth, Massachusetts. The volume also includes an essay, "The Socialist Party in the U.S. of America in 10 articles," written by Miller around 1910.

MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS
Collection, 1 ft. (MSS-022)
 Includes autograph letters and signed documents of John Jacob Astor, Erskine Caldwell, Richard Cobden, Charles Cornwallis, DeWitt Clinton, Jefferson Davis, Albert Einstein, Richard J. Gatling, Horace Greeley, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Eugène Ionesco, Andrew Jackson, Ferdinand de Lesseps, Amy Lowell, Arthur Pinero, Ezra Pound, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Sir Walter Scott, George Bernard Shaw, Charles Sumner, Horatio Seymour, Edwin M. Stanton, William Howard Taft, Daniel D. Tompkins, William B. Yeats, and others.

MUZZEY GENERAL STORE
Records, 1833–1903, 3 ft. (MSS-091)
 Includes 32 volumes of day books and ledgers kept by J. A. Muzzey for his general store in Jamaica, Vermont.

NEW HAVEN AND WEST HAVEN HORSE RAILROAD COMPANY
Minute Book, 1865–94, 1 vol. (MSS-092)
 Records minutes of stockholders meetings of a railroad company based in West Haven, Connecticut.

NEW YORK CANALS
Collection, 1828–83 (MSS-093)
 Includes a stock certificate from the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, 1828; receipts and checks for the Erie and Chenango canals from William C. Bouck, commissioner of the Canal Fund, 1835–38; letters and petitions received by William W. Wight, clerk of the Canal Contracting Board, Albany, 1854–58; letters received by Nathaniel S. Benton, auditor of the NYS Canal Department, Albany, 1858–65; and a NYS Canal Department stock certificate, October 6, 1881.

NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN AND HARTFORD RAILROAD COMPANY
Inventory, 1849-1926, .25 ft. (MSS-094)
 Records names, builders, repairs, renumbering, and dates of service of New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company locomotive engines since 1845.

NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN AND HARTFORD RAILROAD. OLD COLONY SYSTEM
Records, 1882–90, 1 ft. (MSS-095)
 Includes a register for the South Duxbury Station, 1882–83; four freight registers, 1883–90; and a record book with description of locomotive engines and a register of employees, undated, for this Massachusetts railroad company.

NEW YORK, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LONDON TELEGRAPH COMPANY
Minute Book, 1854–67, 1 vol. (MSS-096)
 Minutes of meetings of this New York City company's "corporators," including Peter Cooper, Cyrus W. Field, Frederick N. Gisborne, Moses Taylor, and others.

NEWBURGH, DUTCHESS AND CONNECTICUT RAILROAD
Records, 1887–90, 32 items (MSS-097)
 Monthly statements of passengers and tons of freight carried over the railroad by the New York and New England Railroad. Kept by W. H. Moore, the railroad's general passenger agent, in Matteawan, New York.

NICHOLS, HUMPHRY, farmer
Account Book, 1834–47, 1 vol. (MSS-098)
 Kept by a farmer from the vicinity of Waterbury, Connecticut.

NINE PARTNERS GENERAL STORE
Day Books, 1767–68, 1774–76. 2 vols. (MSS-099)
 Kept by the proprietor(s) of a general store selling dry goods (including European imports) and products from the West Indies (sugar, molasses, and rum) in the Hudson Valley and Connecticut. The first volume includes page headings labeled "Nine Partners," and the second volume includes the name Neeson on the spine and front cover. The store may have been located in the Nine Partners Tract, in the vicinity of what is now Hyde Park, New York.

NORWOOD, J. H. and J. B., physicians
Day Books, 1866–80, 2 vols. (MSS-100)
 Kept by physicians in Preston Hollow, New York.

OSEOLA (SHIP)
Log Book, 1842–43, 1 vol. (MSS-101)
 Kept by Arthur Child, master of this merchant ship, on voyages between New Orleans, Liverpool, and Le Havre.

PÉREZ GALDÓS, BENITO (1843–1920), writer
Papers, 1887–98, .25 ft. (MSS-023)
 Includes a series of fifty letters written by the Spanish writer Benito Pérez Galdós to Manuel Tolosa Latour (1857–1919), a physician and writer; also a photograph of the exterior and a pencil sketch of the interior of Pérez Galdós's Villa San Quintin at Santander.  The letters were published in Ruth Schmidt, ed. Cartas entre dos amigos del teatro: Manuel Tolosa Latour y Benito Pérez Galdós (Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria, 1969).

PETERSHAM, MAUD SYLVIA FULLER, and PETERSHAM, MISKA, writers
Manuscripts, 1932, 1945, 1 vol. (MSS-024)
 Manuscripts of two children's books by New York State writers and illustrators: (1) Partial manuscript of "Auntie and Celia Jane and Miki," published by Doubleday, Doran and Company in 1932; handwritten on blank pages in the back of a copy of Maud and Miska Petersham, The Ark of Father Noah and Mother Noah (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1930); and (2) "The Rooster Crows." Dummy paste-up with original color illustrations of "American Rhymes and Jingles," published in 1945 as The Rooster Crows.

PHOENIX INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK
Record Book, 1807–38, 1 vol. (MSS-102)
 Includes minutes of board meetings, lists of stockholders, inventory of property, and other records of a New York City company specializing in maritime insurance.

PROSPECT HILL CEMETERY
Record Book, 1854, 1 vol. (MSS-103)
 Records burial plots in a cemetery located in Guilderland, New York.

RAND, E.C.M., railroad writer
Report, 1909, 1 vol. (MSS-104)
 "Report on Investigation of Books and Records of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company from 1870 to 1899 inclusive Showing Value to it of the Leases of the Albany & Susquehanna and Rensselaer & Saratoga Railroads," a 510–page typescript report, including a 22–page subject index and numerous manuscript corrections and emendations. The author was a New York City authority on the railroad business.

REYNOLDS, THOMAS, businessman
Manuscript, 1858, 1 vol. (MSS-105)
 An account addressed to Robert Gill, president of the Great Western Railway Company of Canada (London, Ontario), dated September 20, 1858, from Hamilton, Ontario. A PDF file of a transcript of the hand-written manuscript is available for viewing online using Adobe Reader. It is unclear who created the transcript.

RIENOW, LEONA TRAIN
Papers, 1856–1988, 2.78 cubic ft. (MSS-025)
This collection documents Leona Train Rienow’s professional career as a writer. The papers contain a significant number of drafts of Leona Train Rienow’s manuscripts, papers concerning her research for her books and articles, and correspondence files. Much of the correspondence concerns publishers and editors of various magazines and publishing houses. Strengths of this collection include the many drafts of manuscripts that document the changes that Leona Train Rienow made to her works over a span of several years.

ROBINSON, JOHN H., public servant
Papers, 1912–19, .25 ft. (MSS-106)
 Includes correspondence with Sen. Jonathan Bourne, Jr. (chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads) and A. S. Burleson (U.S. Postmaster General), maps, and other materials pertaining to the establishment of the U.S. Postal Service parcel post zoning areas.

ROCHESTER CENTRAL POWER CORPORATION
Record Book, 1928, 1 vol. (MSS-107)
 Includes bylaws, stock certificates, and other documents pertaining to the Rochester Central Power Corporation. The New York Central Railroad is described in the volume as the principal owner of the Mohawk Valley Company, which in turn owned all "outstanding common stock" of the Rochester Gas and Electric Company.

S. J. SALISBURY AND COMPANY
Day Book, 1861–63, 1 vol. (MSS-108)
 Kept by S. A. Kelsey as agent for a dry-goods firm in the vicinity of Hartford, Connecticut.

SALTUS AND COMPANY
Day Book, 1825–35, 2 vols. (MSS-109)
 Kept by a New York City firm selling varieties of iron and steel bars; nails, hoops, and other iron products; and coal and salt to customers around New York State. Includes many entries for Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, the Troy Iron and Nail Factory, and companies in Albany and Syracuse.

SANGERFIELD AND MARSHALL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
Record Book, 1857–83, 1 vol. (MSS-110)
 Includes board minutes and bylaws of the agricultural society of the Central New York towns of Sangerfield and Marshall; the group usually met in the neighboring town of Waterville.

SARTORI, HERBERT, writer
Papers, 1915–69, 2 ft. (MSS-026)
 Manuscript and typescript volumes of poetry and several letters written in German by a writer in New York State.

SCHANZ, LUDWIG, economist
Dissertation, undated, 1 vol. (MSS-027)
 "Die wirtschaftlichen Anschauungen des nationalen Sozialismus: Ein Beitrag zur Darstellung und Kritik der wirtschaftlichen und sozialpolitischen Ideen der Gegenwart." Hand-corrected carbon copy of a dissertation the economic philosophy of National Socialism, which was written, probably in the late 1920s, for a doctorate at the Law and Economics Faculty of Eberhard-Karl University at Tübingen.

SCHEIDER, GEORGE (1904–1988), translator
Collection, 1940–1947, .10 ft. (MSS–059)
Copies of Nazi documents with translations, 1940–1947, and photographs (with personal information) of 63 inmates at the Dachau and Ravensbruck concentration camps.  Retained by George Scheider, a refugee from Czechoslovakia who served as a translator at the Nuremberg tribunals.

SCHULTZE, JOHN S. (b. 1837), businessman
Papers, 1872–1901, .5 ft. items (MSS-111)
 Business correspondence, 1875–1901; financial accounts of the Sylvan Lake Ore and Iron Company, 1881–84; and printed materials, 1872–73. Schultze had a New York City office and was secretary of the New York, Boston, and Montreal Railway Company and president of the Sylvan Lake Ore and Iron Company, the Freehold and New York Railway Company, and the Clove Branch Railroad Company.

SEMMLER, ALEXANDER
Papers, 1914-1968 (MSS–131)
Alexander Semmler was born and educated in Germany before emigrating to the United States in 1923. He was a composer, conductor, and pianist. He was active in radio and film, serving as staff conductor and pianist fo rthe CBS Orchestra and as composer and conductor for films released by RKO Pathe. He later worked with Norman Corwin and was active in television. He was music consultant to Radio in the American Sector in Berlin in the early 1950s, organized the Centro Compositores Mexicanos in Mexico City in 1953-1954, and served as music director of the Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, New York from 1955-1969. Semmler's compositions include opus numbers as well as numberous songs and other short works. These include works for orchestra, string and chamber orchestra, chamber groups of all sorts, piano, organ, and voice. There are also a number of works Semmler wrote under the name of "Ralph Sandor" the most notable of which are two volumes of "Incidental Music for Piano" published by Alpha Music.

SHARON SPRINGS, NEW YORK.  UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1
Record Book, 1884–99, 1 vol. (MSS-112)
 Includes minutes and other records of the trustees of the Board of Education of the Union Free School No. 1, town of Sharon Springs, New York.

SMITH, THOMAS (1513–77), statesman, writer
Manuscript, undated, 1 vol. (MSS-028)
 "A Discourse of the Common welthe of England." One of five known early manuscripts of a political treatise completed in 1549 in response to socio-economic problems in Tudor England at the time and first published in 1581. Sir Thomas Smith served in official positions during the reigns of Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth. On the first page is a note written ca. 1607: "I think it not fit that this Treatize be printed, except it be authorized by some of the Lordes of the Consayle. Tho: London." For an analysis of this manuscript see A Discourse of the Commonweal of This Realm of England, attributed to Sir Thomas Smith, ed. Mary Dewar (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1969), 157–62.

SOCIALIST PARTY OF THE USA.  DOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, LOCAL
Records, 1894–1923, .25 ft. (MSS-113)
 Correspondence of Benjamin T. Whitehouse, "organizer" of the Socialist Labor Party of Dover, 1894–99; socialist broadsides and other political ephemera, 1897–1902; and a record book of minutes, committee reports, and membership lists of the Dover Local of the Socialist Party of the USA, 1916–22.

STEVENS, ALFRED C.

STUART, HENRI L.
Scrapbook, 1869, 1 vol. (MSS-114)
 Contains clippings documenting the Thirty-eighth National Industrial Exhibition of the American Institute, which took place in New York City from August to October 1869. The volume bears the stationer's label of W. Reid Gould, New York City.

SULLIVAN, JAMES (1873–1931), educator, librarian
Photograph Album, undated, 1 vol. (MSS-115)
 Contains photographs compiled by Sullivan of the interiors of high school libraries in Albany, Buffalo, and New York City, 1916–29. In 1940 the Department of Librarianship at the New York State College for Teachers (a predecessor of School of Information Science and Policy, University at Albany, SUNY) added photographs of high school libraries in Albany, Elmira, Glens Falls, and Malverne, as well as several school libraries in Detroit, Michigan. Sullivan was the principal of the Boy's High School, Brooklyn, New York, 1907–16.

SWEENEY, DOROTHY
Papers, .5 cubic ft. (MSS-135)
Dorothy (nee Langley) Sweeney graduated from St. Mary's Institute in Amsterdam, New York in 1941. After graduation Sweeney accepted an office position at General Electric in Schenectady. In her off hours she spent time at WGY, GE's AM radio station, where her brother Edward Langley acted and wrote for the station's dramatic productions. Sweeney provided sound effects for several programs and her scripts from this work form the bulk of this collection.

TASH, THOMAS J., businessman
Ledgers, 1857–62, 1877–86, 2 vols. (MSS-116)
 Kept by a real-estate investor in Pittsburgh.

THAYER, LITTLEJOHN AND COMPANY
Shipping Register, 1827, 1 vol. (MSS-117)
 Records goods received from the firm of Thayer, Littlejohn and Company in Albany, New York, for shipping aboard Erie Canal boats. The volume bears the stationer's label "Packard & Van Benthuysen, Printers and Blank Book-Binders."

THOMAS, EVAN, JR., traveler
Journal, undated, 1 vol. (MSS-118)
 Kept in Scotland by a traveler from Maryland.

THOMPSON, ISRAEL, merchant
Day Book, 1800–1810, 1 vol. (MSS-119)
 Kept by the proprietor of a general store in Stonington, Vermont.

TITUS, WILLIAM, prison warden
Papers, 1832–88, .5 ft. (MSS-120)
 Includes land transactions of Titus as a resident of Locke, Cayuga County, New York, 1832–50; correspondence kept as warden of Auburn State Prison, including letters from the office of Gov. Horatio Seymour and an undated list of officers and guards at the prison, 1852–54; and personal and business papers, 1854–88.

TOMLINSON, DANIEL, merchant
Day Book, 1842, 1 vol. (MSS-121)
 Kept by the proprietor of a general store.

TORRENTE BALLESTER, GONZALO (1910–1999), writer
Papers, 1954–1964, .4 cubic ft. (MSS-029)
 Includes two manuscripts written by the Spanish novelist and journalist Gonzalo Torrente Ballester while living in Madrid during the period 1947–64: (1) "Mi fuero interno" (or "My Inmost Conscience"), a three-volume journal kept from December 26, 1954, to June 7, 1964, in Franco's Spain; and (2) "Don Juan," two typescripts with manuscript changes and corrections, one of which was reviewed and cut by Spanish official censors but was nevertheless published without deletions in Barcelona in 1963. Under terms of an agreement with Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, "My Inmost Conscience", cannot be examined until ten years after the author's death. The author died on January 27, 1999. The author of twenty-seven novels, Torrente Ballester was a Distinguished Professor of Spanish Literature at the University at Albany from 1966 to 1970.

TROY AND RUTLAND RAILROAD COMPANY
Records, 1849–60, 1 ft. (MSS-122)
 Letters, financial statements, proxies, and other business records retained by William Law of Troy, New York, as secretary of the Troy and Rutland Railroad Company, 1849–60; and engineering drawings for four Troy and Rutland Railroad bridges in northeastern New York State, 1850–51.

VAN KLEECK, EDWIN ROBERT (1906–65), genealogist
Papers, 1946–65, 3 ft. (MSS-123)
 Correspondence concerning the Van Kleeck genealogy, 1946–65; correspondence with Kenneth Hasbrouck on history and education, 1951–56; and printed materials on New York State and Albany history, 1950–65.

VOUGHT, SABRA W., librarian, writer
Papers, 1924, undated .25 ft. (MSS-124)
 Manuscripts of "The Story of the Mohawk Valley" (1924); addresses on history, undated; and two articles on school libraries, undated Vought was supervisor of school libraries in Albany, New York.

WALDERS, JOSEPH
Collection, 1952–77, 5 ft. (MSS-030)
 Includes 151 television and film scripts, many with shooting schedules, and hand-written revisions, deletions, and annotations, 1952–77; and 46 movie posters, 78 still photographs, 39 lobby cards, and 4 pressbooks for 68 films, many of them produced by George Pal or directed by Alfred Hitchcock, 1952–77. Emphasis is on science fiction, fantasy, adventure, light comedy, mystery, and intrigue. Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Fugitive, I Spy, The Invaders, and Science Fiction Theatre comprise two-thirds of the scripts collected by Walders.

WEBB, SIDNEY (1859–1947), economist, writer
Letters, 1890–1929, 1 folder (MSS-031)
 Includes sixteen letters from Sidney Webb, Baron Passfield, about the publication of his work, economic measures being considered for enactment in Parliament, and the Fabian Society's support of political candidates; one letter from his wife, Beatrice Webb, dated January 12, 1913. Sidney and Beatrice Webb were leading British economists.

WILLIAMS, EZRA, seaman
Record Book, 1798–1804, 1 vol. (MSS-125)
 Financial records kept by a merchant seaman from East Hartford, Connecticut, who served on schooners trading with the West Indies and Spain.

WOODBURY, MARK, businessman
Account Book, 1818–43, 1 vol. (MSS-126)
 Kept by the proprietor of a general store in Antrim, New Hampshire.

WOODHULL, RICHARD, ESTATE OF
Account Book, 1806–19, 1 vol. (MSS-127)
 Kept by Nathan H. White in the vicinity of Newburgh, New York.

ZAMYATIN, EVGENI (1884–1937), writer
Papers, 1923–37, .25 ft. (MSS-032)
 Includes a corrected Russian typescript of his novel "We," published in 1924 and considered by some to be the inspiration for George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four; letters, and postcards in Russian to Irina Kounina-Aleksander of Zagreb, Yugoslavia, 1928–37; and typescripts of his stories, plays, film outlines, notes, and essays, undated. Zamyatin left Russia to live and write in exile in France. Annotated books from his library are in the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives.

ZENNER, WALTER, FAMILY
Papers, circa 1938-1990, .33 cubic ft. (MSS-033)
 Consists of correspondence and transcripts of interviews which Walter Zenner conducted with his family concerning their life in Germany and the United States and other materials pertaining to the life and work of the Zenner Family.