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Summary
- Abstract:
- The records in this collection document Frank Moore's career as a New York State public servant. They consist primarily of the records of Moore's service in various elected and appointed positions.
- Extent:
- 55 cubic ft.
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Identification of specific item, series, box, folder, Frank C. Moore Papers 1881-1978 (APAP-223). M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University at Albany, State University of New York (hereafter referred to as the Moore Papers).
Background
- Scope and Content:
The records in this collection document Frank Moore's five-decade career as a New York State public servant. They have been arranged into ten series, plus several subseries, according to the original order of the papers and the various positions which Moore held.
The collection consists primarily of the records of Moore's service in various elected and appointed positions. Materials include correspondence, memoranda, draft and final reports, research material, periodicals, photographs, meeting minutes and news clippings. Many series contain extensive files of internal research and reports that document the statistical information which guided the decision-making of Moore and his colleagues. The records of the Committee on Constitutional Tax and Debt Limitations and City-School Fiscal Relations (CTDL-CSFR), for example, contain numerous annually issued binders of statistical information on relevant subjects, while the records of the Special Legislative Committee on the Revision and Simplification of the Constitution contain extensive internal reports on the municipal government of several New York State cities. Most series also contain subject files which document the general activities of the various offices.
The collection contains extensive files of material on each of the major positions which Moore held during his career: Executive Secretary of the State Association of Towns (1933-1940), New York State Comptroller (1942-1950), New York State Lieutenant Governor (1951-1953), and Chairman of the Government Affairs Foundation (1953-1968). In addition, it contains the records of numerous conferences, commissions and committees on which Moore served, as well as records documenting his service as member and eventual Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York (1948-1965) and his participation in the 1938, 1959 and 1967 efforts to revise the New York State Constitution. Moore's activities as a prolific public speaker are documented by a large file of speeches.
Although this collection documents the majority of Moore's professional activities, some of his accomplishments are underrepresented. In particular, this collection does not document the activities of the 1959-1960 Moore Commission, which addressed New York City's fiscal problems.
- Biographical / Historical:
Frank Moore, a New York State politician and civil servant, held a wide range of elected and appointed positions during his fifty-year career. He served as State Comptroller from 1942 to 1950 and as Lieutenant Governor from 1951 to 1953. An expert on municipal law and finance, Moore was described by Governor Nelson Rockefeller as "the leading authority in this state, and throughout the country, on the subject of local government" [Nelson A. Rockefeller to Frank Moore, 18 July 1968, Box 20, Folder 12].
Moore was born in Toronto in 1896. Later that year his family moved to Kenmore, N.Y., a suburb of Buffalo, where he graduated from high school in 1914. When the United States entered World War I Moore volunteered for the U.S. Army but was discharged from the officers' training program for being underweight. He then volunteered for the Royal Canadian Air Force, from which he later transferred to the British Royal Air Force.
Moore attended Hobart College and the University of Buffalo Law School. While studying law at Buffalo he served as clerk of the Village of Kenmore. After his admission to the bar in 1924 he established a practice in Kenmore and became counsel to the town, village and school district of that name, beginning his lifelong engagement with the problems of municipal organization in New York State. From 1927 to 1932 he served as counsel to the New York State Joint Legislative Committee on the Revision of the Town Law and was one of the principal authors of the final revision enacted in 1932.
In 1933, Moore helped establish the New York State Association of Towns and became its executive secretary. That year he also became a partner of the New York City-based firm of Dillon, Vandewater and Moore. For the rest of the decade Moore continued to practice law and to direct the Association of Towns, which issued a number of reports and sponsored a well-attended training program for town and county officers. In 1938 he served as a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention.
In 1941 Moore ran for State Comptroller in a special election following the death of the incumbent, Democrat Morris S. Tremaine, but was defeated by Tremaine's interim replacement, Joseph V. O'Leary of the American Labor Party. The following year Moore ran again for State Comptroller and was elected. He served as Comptroller from 1943 to 1950. During his time as Comptroller Moore was responsible for a number of major projects, including the equalization of state assessment rates and the Moore Commission plan to share state revenues with localities on a per capita basis.
In 1950 Moore ran for Lieutenant Governor as part of incumbent Governor Thomas Dewey's slate of Republican candidates. He was elected to the position and served until 1953. In 1953 he resigned from the position to take up the chairmanship of the Government Affairs Foundation, a foundation established by Nelson Rockefeller. He would hold this position for the next fifteen years until the dissolution of the Foundation in 1968. Concurrently with his service at the Foundation Moore served as Chairman of the Local Government Advisory Board of the Office for Local Government, an executive branch agency of New York State.
Moore holds the distinction of being one of two people to serve as a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Conventions of both 1938 and 1967 [News clipping, Box 11, Folder 12]. At the 1938 convention he served as Chairman of the Villages Committee. During the late 1950s Moore served on the Temporary State Commission on the 1959 Constitutional Convention, which was established by Governor Harriman to prepare for a possible 1959 convention. When the voters rejected the call for a convention, the commission was transformed into the Special Legislative Committee on the Revision and Simplification of the Constitution, which continued to meet and issue reports.
During his career Moore chaired or served on a wide range of commissions, conferences and committees in New York State and in the United States. Moore served as chairman of the State Board of Equalization and Assessment, the Committee on Constitutional Tax and Debt Limitations and City-School Fiscal Relations (CTDL-CSFR), the New York State Advisory Committee on Teachers' Salaries, the Committee on Special Local Non-Property Taxes, the New York State Temporary Commission on School Buildings, the Commission on Municipal Revenues and the Reduction of Real Estate Taxes, the State-Local Advisory Committee on Public Works, the Temporary State Commission on Per Capita Aid, and the State Commission on Governmental Operations of the City of New York (the Moore Commission) on New York City finances. In 1955 he chaired the Finance Committee of President Eisenhower's White House Conference on Education, and in 1956 he chaired the National Conference on Metropolitan Problems. Moore was also a member of the American Council to Improve Our Neighborhoods (A.C.T.I.O.N.) and a member of the Board of Overseers of the Alfred Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University.
Moore gradually retired from public service in the late 1960s for reasons of health. The Government Affairs Foundation was disbanded in 1968. Moore died in 1978 in Crystal River, Florida.
Timeline:
Date Event 1896 Frank Charles Moore born in Toronto. Family moves to Kenmore, N.Y. shortly thereafter. 1914 Enrolls in Hobart College, Geneva, N.Y. 1916 Enrolls in University of Buffalo Law School. 1917-1919 World War I. Enrolls in American officer candidate school, volunteers for Royal Canadian Air Force, transfers to British Royal Air Force. Honorable discharges from all three services. 1920 Marries Velma E. Kennedy. 1921 Receives law degree from University of Buffalo Law School. 1924 Admitted to New York State Bar. Becomes counsel to village, town and school district of Kenmore. 1925-1942 Establishes law practice in Kenmore. 1927-1932 Counsel to New York State Joint Legislative Committee on the Re-Codification of Town Law. Author of new Town Law enacted in 1932. 1933-1942 Executive Secretary, State Association of Towns. 1933-1942 Member of the firm of Dillon, Vandewater & Moore, Approving Attorneys of New York City. 1936 State Association of Towns initiates a successful program of Training Schools for Town and County Officers. 1938 Elected delegate, New York State Constitutional Convention. 1941 Runs unsuccessfully for New York State Comptroller in a special election following the death of the incumbent. 1942 Runs successfully for New York State Comptroller. 1943-1950 New York State Comptroller. 1947-1953 Chairman, Committee on Constitutional Tax and Debt Limitations and City-School Fiscal Relations (CTDL-CSFR). 1948 Appointed Trustee of the State University of New York. 1949-1968 Chairman, State Board of Equalization and Assessment. 1949-1952 Chairman, Committee on Special Local Non-Property Taxes. 1950 Chairman, New York State Temporary Commission on School Buildings. 1951 Chairman, New York State Advisory Committee on Teachers' Salaries. 1951-1953 New York State Lieutenant Governor. 1953-1968 Chairman, Government Affairs Foundation; Chairman, Local Government Advisory Board of the Office for Local Government. 1953-1965 Chairman, Board of Trustees of the State University of New York. 1954-1955 Chairman, Finance Subcommittee, White House Conference on Education. 1956-1958 Chairman, National Conference on Metropolitan Problems. 1956-1958 Member, State-Local Advisory Committee on Public Works Planning. 1956-1960 Member, American Council to Improve Our Neighborhoods (A.C.T.I.O.N.) 1959-1960 Vice Chairman, State Commission on Governmental Operations of the City of New York; became Acting Chairman in February 1960. 1963-1965 Chairman, Commission on State-Local Fiscal Relations. 1964 Marries Rosalind Baldwin. 1967 Elected delegate, New York State Constitutional Convention. 1968 Of counsel, Moore, Berson, Hamburg & Bernstein. 1978 Moore dies April 23 in Crystal River, Florida.- Acquisition information:
- All items in this manuscript group were donated to the University Libraries, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives by Frank C. Moore's children Arthur B. Moore, Patricia M. Patterson, and Joan M. von Mehren in 2007.
- Processing information:
Processed in 2009 by Nicholas Webb.
- Arrangement:
The collection is organized as follows:
- Subseries 1: Committee on Constitutional Tax and Debt Limitations and City-School Fiscal Relations (CTDL-CSFR), 1947-1953
- Subseries 2: State Board of Equalization and Assessment, 1947-1971
- Subseries 3: White House Conference on Education, 1954-1957
- Subseries 4: Commission on State - Local Fiscal Relations, 1963-1965
- Subseries 5: Miscellaneous Conferences, Commissions and Committees, 1945-1963
- Physical location:
- The materials are located onsite in the department.
Subjects
- Subjects:
- State University of New York SUNY, Central Administration
Public Servants
Education
Economics
Political campaigns--New York (State).
Municipal government--New York (State).
Minutes (administrative records)
Periodicals
Clippings
Files by subject
Correspondence
Newsletters
Photographs
Research Notes
Official reports
Memorandums
Pamphlets - Names:
- Association of Towns of the State of New York
New York (State)--Comptroller's Office
New York (State)--Office of the Lieutenant Governor
New York (State)--Temporary Commission on the Constitutional Convention
New York (State)--Office for Local Government
Government Affairs Foundation (New York)
State University of New York--Board of Trustees
New York (State)--State Comptroller's Committee on Constitutional Tax and Debt Limitations and City-School Fiscal Relations
New York (State)--State Board of Equalization and Assessment
White House Conference on Education--(1955: Washington, D.C.)
New York (State)--Commission on State-Local Fiscal Relations
Action, Inc.
New York (State)--State-Local Advisory Committee on Public Works
New York (State)--Advisory Committee on Teachers' Salaries
New York (State)--Commission on Municipal Revenues and Reduction of Real Estate Taxes
New York (State)--Temporary State Commission on School Buildings
New York (State)--Committee on Special Local Non-Property Taxes
National Conference on Metropolitan Problems
New York (State)--Dept. of Audit and Control
New York (State)--Constitutional Convention--(1938)
New York (State)--Constitutional Convention--(1959 (Proposed))
New York (State)--Constitutional Convention--(1967)
Moore, Frank C., 1896-1978 - Places:
- New York (State)--Politics and government
Contents
Access
Using These Materials
- ACCESS:
- The archives are open to the public and anyone is welcome to visit and view the collections.
- RESTRICTIONS:
-
Access to this record group is unrestricted.
- TERMS OF ACCESS:
-
The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of copyright. Whenever possible, the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives will provide information about copyright owners and other restrictions, but the legal determination ultimately rests with the researcher. Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
- PREFERRED CITATION:
-
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Identification of specific item, series, box, folder, Frank C. Moore Papers 1881-1978 (APAP-223). M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University at Albany, State University of New York (hereafter referred to as the Moore Papers).