Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
Archives related to: Stillman, James, 1850-1918
| title | James Stillman Papers, 1830-1955 | repository | Columbia University |
| description | Papers of Stillman include over 100 items pertaining to the business enterprises of his father, Charles Stillman of Brownsville, Texas, who was engaged in shipping and trade, real estate, and railroad investment. A large portion of the collection documents of James Stillman's activities in banking, in railroad financing, and in other of his business and industrial interests. The letters, legal documents, and miscellaneous papers are representative of the entire span of his career. Included in the correspondence are letters from many prominent financiers and industrialists of his day, including many from William Rockefeller; letters from President Grover Cleveland, some personal in nature and some concerned with business transactions; nine letter books of James Stillman, covering the years 1886-1897, 1906-1918; letter books of his secretary Miss K. Bredin, 1908-1916; journals for the years 1889, 1891, 1898, 1899; bank book recording Stillman's drafts, 1911-1914, on the London firm of Baring Brothers; four diaries, 1881-1884; six notebooks; one cash and journal and one ledger, 1868-1871. 1991 Addition: 2 vols. of typescript copies of business letters, 1867-1879; 1 vol. of photostats of obituary clippings, 1918; & 1 vol. scrapbook of book reviews & letters re. A.R. Burr's biography of James Stillman, 1927-1928 & misc. family items, 1923-1955. History/Biographical Note American Financier Preferred Citation Identification of specific item; Date (if known); James Stillman papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library. |
| extent | 5.5 linear ft. |
| formats | Correspondence Financial Records Diaries Letterbook Scrapbooks |
| access | This collection has no restrictions and is located on-site. |
| record link | http://findingaids.cul.columbia.edu/ead//nnc-rb/ldpd_4079369 |
| record source | http://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/4079369 |
| finding aid | Finding aid available in repository (Columbia University) and online. |
| acquisition information | Gift of Calvin Stillman, 1957. Gift of John S. Stillman, 1991. |
| updated | 03/16/2023 10:30:03 |
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| title | Charles Stillman business papers, 1847-1884 | repository | Houghton Library |
| description | Collection consists of the financial and legal papers and records of Charles Stillman's companies [Charles Stillman & Bro. and other Stillman companies] including: letter books of outgoing letters and some incoming transcripts, 1852-1860; letters and telegrams to Charles and James Stillman, 1850-1877; financial records from 1854-1877 comprised of orders and drafts, bills and receipts, account sales, invoices, bills of lading, and statements and accounts; legal documents, 1847-1879; and other miscellaneous papers. The papers relate to the distribution of hides, lead, copper, and cotton from Brownsville, Texas and New York City, and other legal and financial matters concerning Stillman and his various businesses. Some letters include content relating to the Stillman family. The later papers are principally those of James Stillman (1850-1918), Charles Stillman's son. History notes: Charles Stillman (1810-1875) was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, the son of Capt. Francis Stillman and Harriet Robbins Stillman. In February 1828 he traveled to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico and developed a network of enterprises (Charles Stillman & Bro.) including cotton brokerage and real estate firms, silver mines, merchandise outlets, a shipping company carrying passengers and goods, and an off-loading, warehousing, and transportation company. Stillman was most notable for founding Brownsville, Texas in 1849 and for establishing a successful river boat company on the Rio Grande River (King, Kenedy and Co.) with partners Richard King and Mifflin Kenedy. He married Elizabeth Pamela Goodrich of Wethersfield, Connecticut in 1849. In 1851 Stillman helped bankroll the attempted invasion of Mexico by José Maria Carbajal to set up the Republic of the Sierra Madre. Between 1862 and 1865 his company moved Confederate cotton to Matamoros under contract for payment in gold, sending some of the cotton to his textile complex at Monterrey, and much sold in New York through his mercantile firm, Smith and Dunning. By the end of the Civil War, Stillman was one of the richest men in the United States. After the Civil War, Stillman lived in Brownsville and New York City, but moved to New York permanently in 1866, and died in New York in 1875. Charles Stillman's son, James Jewett Stillman (1850-1918) was an American businessman who invested in land, banking, and railroads in New York, Texas, and Mexico. He ran his father's business interests beginning in the early 1870s and expanded them to control 16 Texas banks and significant land holdings in the Rio Grande Valley and other areas of Texas. He was chairman of the board of directors of the First National City Bank and when he died in 1918, he was considered to have been one of the 100 wealthiest Americans. James' daughters, Sarah Elizabeth and Isabel Goodrich, married two of William Rockefeller's sons, William Goodsell and Percy Avery Rockefeller. Source: John Mason Hart, "STILLMAN, CHARLES," Handbook of Texas Online. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. Cite as : Charles Stillman Business Papers, 1847-1884 (MS Am 800.27). Houghton Library, Harvard University. |
| extent | 4 linear ft. |
| access | There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research. |
| record link | http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/deepLink?_collection=oasis&uniqueId=hou02358 |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/?itemid=|library/m/aleph|000602252 |
| acquisition information | A note was found in the original Stillman boxes: "The Stillman papers have been placed in Harvard College Library for the use of Mr. Leroy P. Graf in preparing an historical account of the family's early activities in Texas. While Mr. Graf is at work on this project the papers should be considered private, to be consulted by no one except with his permission. T. Franklin Currier. November, 1939." [LeRoy P. Graf, The Economic History of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, 1820–1875 (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1942)]. |
| updated | 09/22/2014 15:28:50 |
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| title | James Stillman letters relating to Homer Dodge Martin, 1882-1898 | repository | Archives of American Art |
| description | he James Stillman letters relating to Homer Dodge Martin comprise 28 letters from Martin and his wife Elizabeth to banker and art patron James Stillman documenting Stillman's financial and practical assistance to the Martin's through consignment, exhibition and sale of Martin's artwork. The letters provide insight into Martin's experiences painting while living in Honfleur and Villerville, France, his financial struggles, and his physical and mental condition. They also reveal Elizabeth Martin's efforts as advocate for her husband's work and reputation, and her dismay at his physical and mental decline due in part to lack of financial success. Also found are 2 1884 pencil sketches by Martin, of a view in Honfleur; 2 letters from Martin to Mr. Van Loon discussing payment for paintings; and 2 letters to Stillman from Bancel La Farge concerning Stillman's purchase of a La Farge watercolor. The collection contains no letters from Stillman. Biographical/Historical Note: Banker and art patron James Stillman, was committed to promoting the artwork of landscape artist Homer Dodge Martin and providing financial investment in and practical assistance with the logistics of handling Martin's artwork over a period of at least 16 years. Homer Dodge Martin (1836-1897) was born in Albany, New York. He studied briefly with James Hart and spent his summers during the 1860s in the Adirondacks, the Catskills and the White Mountains, and painted landscapes from the sketches he made there in the style of the Hudson River school at his studio in New York City's Tenth Street Studio Building. In 1876 he took his first trip to Europe and from 1882-1886 lived in Normandy, France in Honfleur and Villerville. There he was influenced both by the Barbizon school of painting and the Impressionists and his painting took on darker, more melancholy tones. By 1897 Martin had returned to New York City and in 1893 Martin moved to St. Paul, Minnesota where, nearly blind, he painted one of his best-known works, Adirondack Scenery (1895) from memory. Although never successful within his lifetime, within 2 years of his death Adirondack Scenery sold for $5500 and Harp of the Winds (1895) was aquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Martin's paintings can be found in the collections of other important American museums including the Addison Gallery of American Art, the Albany Institute of History and Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Martin became a member of the National Academy of Design in 1874 and in 1877 was one of the founders of the Society of American Artists. |
| extent | 0.2 linear feet |
| access | There are no restrictions. The papers have have been scanned in their entirety and total 85 images. |
| record source | http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/james-stillman-letters-relating-to-homer-dodge-martin-5748/more |
| finding aid | Available online and in the repository. |
| acquisition information | Six letters from Homer Dodge Martin were donated to AAA by Chauncey Stillman, grandson of James Stillman, in 1955 and 1959. Additional letters to Stillman from Martin, Elizabeth Martin, and Bancel La Farge, and from Martin to Mr. Van Loon, were donated by Mrs. P. S. Paine, grandaughter of James Stillman, in 1978. |
| updated | 09/22/2014 15:37:13 |
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| title | William Edmund Curtis papers, 1885-1923 | repository | Library of Congress |
| description | The papers of William Edmund Curtis (1855-1923) span the years 1885-1923, with the bulk of the material dated 1893-1896. The papers include family and general correspondence, financial papers, memoranda, notes, reports, code books, invitations, a biographical sketch, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, and printed matter. The collection relates chiefly to Curtis's service as assistant secretary of the United States Treasury and covers financial topics relating to silver certificates, gold reserves, deficit spending, loans, custom receipts, and inflation. The papers also include letters from Curtis to his mother chronicling his day-to-day activities. Correspondents include Alvey A. Adee, John Griffin Carlisle, F. Marion Crawford, Charles S. Fairchild, Hickson W. Field, Richard Watson Gilder, Sir Edward Goschen, Sir Hugh Henry Gough, Sir Alan Johnstone, C. N. Jordan, Joseph S. McCoy, Maurice L. Muhleman, William Alfred Peffer, J. G. Rosengarten, James Speyer, and James Stillman. Preferred Citation Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, William Edmund Curtis Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. |
| extent | 2.2 linear feet |
| access | The papers of William Edmund Curtis are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use. |
| record link | http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/2009/ms009057.pdf |
| record source | http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms009057 |
| finding aid | Online and in the repository. |
| acquisition information | The papers of William Edmund Curtis, assistant secretary of the treasury, were given to the Library of Congress by Curtis in 1902. Additional papers were given by his sister, Elizabeth Curtis, in 1929. |
| updated | 09/22/2014 15:42:38 |
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| title | Records of wholesale merchants, 1761-1906 (inclusive). | repository | Historical Collections, Baker Library |
| description | Various types of records, including account books, ledgers, and letter books, of merchants engaged in domestic wholesale marketing: Ebenezer Storer, Jr. of Boston, Mass., 1761-1788; Alexander Hill of Boston, 1769-1775; Robert Grant and Company of Boston, 1775-1776; Daniel Parker of Watertown, Mass., 1781-1783; an unidentified merchant of Philadelphia, Pa., 1785-1786; Goodman Morris of Halifax, N.S., 1786-1795; Appleton Prentiss of Boston, 1786-1797; Prince Gardner of Nantucket, Mass., 1788-1798; John Gregory of Boston, 1789-1795; an unidentified merchant, probably of Boston, 1793-1797; Edward and Michael Toppan of Boston, 1817-1824; John Fairfield of Boston, 1822-1826; John P. Lathrop and Company of Demerara, British Guiana, 1823-1824; Joshua C. Oliver and Company of Philadelphia, 1823-1831; an unidentified leather dealer of New York, 1828-1835; Abraham Bell and Company of New York, 1831-1844; Waterson, Pray and Company of Boston, 1832-1833; Benjamin Winslow of Boston, 1832-1834; French and Greeley of Bangor, Me., 1834-1838; Griggs and Weld of Boston, 1835-1848; Samuel Bigelow of Boston, 1836-1837; John K. Pickering of Portsmouth, N.H., 1837-1841; Hatch and Fearing of Boston, 1838-1839; N. F. Cunningham and Company of Boston, 1841-1851; James Morris Whiton of Boston, 1843-1906; Ghriskey and Caldwell of Philadelphia, 1849-1859; George Hussey of New Bedford, Mass., 1850-1871; and John B. Peirce of Lynn, Mass. and Boston, 1852-1854. Also records of: Williams and Rodgers of Boston, 1852-1854; Gilbert, Palmer and Company of Boston, 1854-1855; H. W. Bates and Son of Boston, 1857; J. and D. Miller of Portland, Me., 1857-1864; W. and J. G. Flint of Milwaukee, Wis., 1858-1862; John S. Fleek of Newark, Ohio, 1862-1895; L. C. Chase and Company of Boston, 1865-1879; an unidentified merchant of Richmond, Va., 1866-1867; Joseph Pope of Spencer, Mass., 1867-1871; and James Stillman of New York, 1867-1871. Notes: There are 48 volumes of diaries and personal account books of James Stillman in Houghton Library, Harvard University. The letterbook of Daniel Parker (1781-1783) is available on microfilm (1 reel, 35mm.) for use in the Historical Collections Reading Room, Baker Library. Order no. 69-5992. The records of an unidentified merchant of Richmond, Va. (1866-1867) is available on microfilm (1 reel, 35mm.) for use in the Historical Collections Reading Room Baker Library. Order no. 77-0926 . The journal of George Hussey (1850-1871) is available on microfilm (1 reel, 35mm.) for use in the Historical Collections Reading Room, Baker Library. Order no. 79-5544, reel 3. The diary of James Morris Whiton of Boston (1843-1906) is available on microfilm (1 reel, 35mm.) for use in the Historical Collections Reading Room, Baker Library. Order no. 02-1225, reel 1. |
| extent | 9 linear ft. |
| access | Appointment necessary to consult collection. |
| record source | http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/000602788/catalog |
| finding aid | Unpublished finding aid in repository. |
| updated | 09/23/2014 11:36:38 |
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| title | James Stillman Collection, (1849-1935). | repository | Briscoe Center for American History |
| description | The James Stillman Collection includes two bound volumes of transcriptions of correspondence between Charles and Elizabeth Stillman (1849-1854). This correspondence describes events in the Rio Grande Valley and relates to the Chapman family papers, which are housed at the BCAH. The collection also includes 57 original letters (1876-1917), most written to James Stillman from business associates including Edward H. Harriman, Jacob Henry Schiff, William Rockefeller, and Samuel Sloan. Also included are letters from sculptor Auguste Rodin, a letter to James Stillman’s son Ernest Goodrich Stillman from aviator Charles Lindbergh, and a letter from naturalist John Burroughs to one of James Stillman’s daughters. The collection also includes transcriptions of these original letters to James Stillman, as well as notes regarding the letters’ creators. Two bound volumes of black and white photographs document a 1904 guided camping trip to Canada and Western states by Ernest Goodrich Stillman. The collection is arranged chronologically into two series: I. Correspondence, 1849-1935 II. Photograph Albums, 1904 Biographical Note: Financier James Jewett Stillman (1850-1918) was born to Charles and Elizabeth Pamela Goodrich Stillman in Brownsville, Texas. Charles Stillman, who established Brownsville in 1848, supplied United States troops during the Mexican War (1846-1848) and developed business interests in South Texas and Mexico including real estate, silver mines, a cotton brokerage, textile factories, and a transportation company that conveyed goods from the Mexican interior to Rio Grande City. James Stillman inherited his father’s South Texas property, and he greatly expanded these Texas interests in banking and real estate. With partners W.H. Harriman, Jacob Henry Schiff, and William Rockefeller, Stillman owned a controlling interest in Texas railroads including the Texas and Pacific, the Southern Pacific, the International-Great Northern, the Union Pacific Southern, the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico, and the Mexican National. Stillman served as president of National City Bank in New York City; upon retirement, he served as the bank’s Chairman of the Board of Directors. At the time of his death in New York City, Stillman was considered to have been one of the 100 wealthiest Americans, with an estimated fortune of $100 million. |
| extent | 1 ft. |
| access | This collection is open for research use. |
| record source | https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/03695/cah-03695.html |
| updated | 06/27/2019 15:10:50 |
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