Collections

The collection contains three parts: autograph documents and letters, Bowling Green Press records, and contemporary American newspapers. The most significant part of the collection are the ca. 45 autograph items relating to French military history from the Middle Ages through the 19th century. There are also 12 carbon copies (signed) of letters from Theodore Roosevelt to various recipients (1911-1913) together with notes, extracts, and full copies of Roosevelt speeches (1912-1913). Series II of the collection is made up of the records of the Bowling Green Press of New York City, of which Arthur Pforzheimer was treasurer. Included are correspondence, ledgers, account books and incorporation papers. Contemporary memorabilia collected by Walter Pforzheimer is comprised of the initial issues of the Washington Times and U.S.A. Today and the final issue of the Washington Star.

The papers consist of correspondence with an international array of scholars, journalists, heads of state, government officials, and friends. Also included are manuscripts and drafts of his books, columns, and speeches. In addition there are diaries and engagement books, photographs of Walter Lippmann with family and friends, requests to speak or write, honors, and film and audio tapes.

The Walter Lowenfels Papers document the life and work of the writer, journalist, editor, activist, and member of the Communist Party USA, Walter Lowenfels. The papers consist of correspondence, writings, writings of others, photographs, personal papers, printed material, and other papers spanning the years 1897-1979, with the bulk of the material dating from 1930-1976. Correspondence, writings, and writings of others comprise the bulk of the papers. The correspondence records his personal and professional relationships and chronicles his 1953 and 1954 trials for sedition and conspiracy and his publication process. Writings document Lowenfels's work as a writer, editor and anthologist, including drafts of his prose, poetry, drama, essays, and articles. The writings also document his work for the Pennsylvania edition of the Daily Worker. The writings of others reveal Lowenfels's work editing anthologies and collections of works by other writers. Photographs include snapshots of Lowenfels, his family and friends, his home and other subjects. Printed material contains clippings, tearsheets, ephemera, and other printed material concerning Lowenfels and other subjects of his interest. A small amount of personal papers includes biographical information and files on his finances and estate.

The collection consists of 142 drawings and watercolors by twenty-seven artists who were commissioned by the Century Company to create illustrations for their popular periodicals The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine and St. Nicholas Magazine, in particular to illustrate stories for children. Most of the drawings have paper labels or production marks in crayon on their versos indicating the magazine, volume number, and projected page number where the images were to appear, the section of the magazine (such as "Open Letters" to the editor or the "In Lighter Vein" departments), prices paid to the artists, and notes such as "Plate wanted," "Blueprint at once," and "Great Haste!" While many prominent illustrators from the era are included in the collection, those represented by the largest number of drawings are Reginald B. Birch (10), Harrison Cady (9), Oliver Herford (22), Charles M. Relyea (47), and I. W. Taber (8).

The Walter L. Pforzheimer Collection of Frank Richard Stockton contains correspondence, writings, photographs, artifacts, and other personal papers of Stockton and his family; drawings by illustrators of Stockton's works; writings about Stockton and adaptations of his works by others; and correspondence, notes, and related materials created by Pforzheimer in the course of his research and collecting. Correspondence includes autograph letters, signed, to and from Stockton, many with literary correspondents. Writings by Stockton include autograph manuscript and typescript drafts and fair copies, tear sheets from magazines, publisher contracts, advertisements, and scrapbooks of reviews. Also present are autograph manuscript diaries, accounts, notes, and juvenile writings by Stockton. Pen-and-ink and watercolor drawings, many with publisher's markings, include works by A. B. Frost, Charles Dana Gibson, Frederick Richardson, Frederic Dorr Steele, and other artists. Materials relating to the Stockton family include correspondence, scrapbooks, and photographs. Materials relating to Pforzheimer's research and collecting include vendor correspondence and receipts, notes, and card catalogs.

The Walter L. Pforzheimer Collection of Historical Manuscripts contains approximately 500 manuscript documents, circa 1370s-1870s, consisting of letters, legal documents, and other manuscripts written or signed by European heads of state, government, diplomatic, military or church officials, or literary authors. Most materials are French, including documents signed by French royalty and nobility, 14th-18th centuries. Many French manuscripts date from the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, including printed Revolutionary government documents completed in manuscript. A small amount of similar documents from other European countries and the United States are present. Some documents contain evidence of previous ownership, such as annotations, collectors' bindings, or bookplates. Also present are materials relating to Pforzheimer's research and collecting, 1920s-circa 1960s, consisting of card files, biographical notes, engraved portraits, and vendor descriptions.

The Walter L. Pforzheimer Papers contain personal correspondence, diaries, writings, notes, and family papers; correspondence, reports, and other documents relating to the United States Army during World War II, the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA's Historical Intelligence Collection, and the United States Defense Intelligence College; historical manuscripts and related materials collected by Pforzheimer concerning the history of military intelligence, including autograph documents, signed, by European heads of state and American presidents, seventeenth-twentieth centuries; prints, posters, and newspapers, including rare seventeenth-twentieth century items relating to Molie?re and other subjects; framed oil paintings and prints; book collecting notes, lists, vendor receipts, and card catalogs; rare postage stamps, including propaganda and forgeries; photographs, glass and film negatives, glass stereographs, and photograph albums; video and audio recordings, including interviews with Pforzheimer and presentations by him; microfilms; computer disks; and objects collected by Pforzheimer, including Molie?re medals, military decorations, and memorabilia relating to his intelligence career.

The papers consist largely of short stories, reviews, criticism, notes, and a small quantity of correspondence.