Search

The papers consist of correspondence, writings, subject files, memorabilia, photographs, financial records, and other papers detailing the professional career and personal life of Anson Phelps Stokes and family members, including Olivia, Caroline and Helen Stokes. Papers relating to Anson Phelps Stokes document his work with prominent educators, reformers, religious leaders, businessmen, and politicians. Stokes's work on behalf of black education, social issues, and the Phelps-Stokes Fund are detailed. His religious activities, Yale University work, and family interests are also represented, as are Stokes's work on behalf of the Portsmouth Treaty of 1905 and the Yale-China Association. Papers relating to Helen Phelps Stokes include material relating to the Socialist Party and the National Civil Liberties Bureau.

Correspondence, writings, speeches, diaries, clippings, printed matter, sermons, and other papers of two centuries of Beecher family members. The papers relate principally to Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), popular 19th century clergyman and orator, and members of his family. Among those represented are his father, the Reverend Lyman Beecher (1775-1863), clergyman; his brothers, Edward Beecher (1803-1895), educator and antislavery leader, and Thomas Kinnicut Beecher (1824-1900) and Charles Beecher (1815-1900), both clergyman and antislavery activist; and his sisters, Harriett Elizabeth (Beecher) Stowe (1811-1896), author, Catherine Esther Beecher (1800-1878), pioneer educator and writer on 'domestic economy,' and Isabella Homes (Beecher) Hooker (1822-1907), well-known suffragist. Also included are papers relating to the Scoville family (mainly Annie Beecher Scoville, 1866-1953, teacher and lecturer), as well as other related families. The papers cover an extremely wide range of cultural, political, social, and religious issues and topics of 19th and early 20th century America and include correspondence from a large number of well-known men and women. The papers were previously known as the Beecher-Scoville Family Papers.

Correspondence, memoranda, speeches, press releases, clippings, printed matter, photographs, and memorabilia documenting Hilles' activities as secretary to President Taft (1911-1913), as chairman and committeeman to the Republican National Committee (1912-1937) and as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury (1909-1911). His correspondence as Taft's secretary is of special importance as being originally part of the President's office files. His work as administrator of the Ohio Industrial School (1892-1902) and the New York Juvenile Asylum (1902-1909) is also documented in the correspondence. Family correspondence is particularly rich for the fall of 1911 when Hilles was touring the country with President Taft, and for 1912 just before his appointment as chairman of the Republican National Committee. Correspondents of note include Charles Francis Adams, William Jennings Bryan, Nicholas Murray Butler, Andrew Carnegie, Josephus Daniels, Charles G. Dawes, Theodore Dreiser, Henry W. Farnam, Irving Fisher, Arthur T. Hadley, Warren G. Harding, Charles Evans Hughes, Frank B. Kellogg, Henry Cabot Lodge, Gifford Pinchot, Theodore Roosevelt, Elihu Root, Henry L. Stimson, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Booker T. Washington and George Westinghouse.

The Ella Barksdale Brown Papers consist of correspondence, writings, financial papers, newspapers and other materials that document her work as an educator, anti-lynching activist, suffragist, and journalist. The bulk of the papers provide evidence of Brown's activism and involvement with numerous schools, youth groups, war relief, civil rights and community organizations.

Single manuscripts and small groups of manuscripts, including literary manuscripts, letters, and other documents. Materials are grouped under headings by author or corporate name.

The James Weldon Johnson and Grace Nail Johnson Papers provide evidence of the personal and professional lives of James Weldon Johnson, Grace Nail Johnson, and to a lesser degree, the Johnson and Nail families, spanning the years 1850 to 2005, with the bulk of material dating between 1900 and 1976. The papers chronicle Johnson's writing career and involvement in education, politics, and cultural affairs and consist of a variety of documents, including correspondence, writings, personal papers, scrapbooks, photographs, artwork, objects, and audiovisual materials. Johnson was involved in a number of significant movements and organizations during his lifetime, and, as a result, the Papers also provide insight into broader topics in American and African-American history during the twentieth century.

Correspondence, writings, memorabilia by and relating to Romare Bearden; Augusta Bird Courtney; Frederick Douglass; Alexandre Dumas, père and fils; Paul Laurence Dunbar; Rudolph Dunbar; Elsie Taylor DuTrieuille; Jack Flodin; Mifflin Wistar Gibbs; Angelina W. Grimké; Georgia Douglas Johnson; Le Roi Jones; Alain LeRoy Locke; Edgar Mittelholzer; Arthur Alfonso Schomburg; George Samuel Schuyler; Harriet Beecher Stowe; Booker T. Washington; and Frank Yerby.