Skip to main content

Andrew Dickson White papers

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 1-2-2

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

Collection consists of incoming correspondence, manuscripts of lectures, speeches and articles; manuscripts of presidential reports; manuscripts of books; copies of publications; financial records; clippings; photographs, engravings, diplomas and memorabilia; family documents and diaries. Also, some of White's outgoing correspondence including his letters to Charles Kendall Adams, Cornell University's second president, and William Channing Russel, Andrew D. White's vice president; correspondence and dispatches from White during his service as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Germany, and later as Ambassador to Russia; diplomatic instructions from the U.S. Department of State; correspondence from George Frederick William Holls on various topics of state, national and international politics, and correspondence pertaining to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Also, correspondence relating to family affairs and finances, White's college days at Hobart College and Yale University, his professorship at the University of Michigan, his service in the New York State legislature, the founding and administration of Cornell University, educational ideas, civil service reform, the policies and activities of the Republican Party, the proposed annexation of Santo Domingo, and the study and writing of history and the study of art and architecture.

Personal correspondence includes letters from or about many family members, including Andrew White Newberry, Arthur Cleveland Newberry, Clara White Newberry, Spencer B. Newberry, Emily Outwater, Lucia Phillips Outwater, Andrew Danforth White, Andrew Dickson White II, Andrew Strong White, Ann Bruce White (Mrs. Frederick Davies), Frederick Davies White, Hamilton Salisbury White, Helen Magill White, Hilda White, Horace Keep White II and Horace Keep White III, Karin Andreevna White, and Mary Outwater White. Also, drafts of White's will drawn by Mynderse Van Cleef. Other correspondents include people involved with Cornell University such as Liberty Hyde Bailey, George Lincoln Burr, Ezra Cornell, Hiram Corson, Daniel Willard Fiske, Francis Miles Finch, Hiram Sibley, Henry W. Sage, Goldwin Smith, Robert H. Thurston, Moses Coit Tyler and other members of the Board of Trustees and faculty; historical and literary figures such as Lord Acton, Herbert Baxter Adams, Lord Bryce, Andrew Carnegie, Theodore Dreiser, Charles William Eliot, Ulysses S. Grant, Justin Smith Morrill, Theodore Roosevelt, Leo Tolstoy, Hendrik Willem van Loon, Queen Victoria, Booker T. Washington and Woodrow Wilson.

Letter from White to the Cornell University Board of Trustees about the placement of the White Library, 1887.

Also, miscellaneous notes and lists on the French Revolution and Napoleon Collection; list of contemporary imprints; index to autographs; and various prose miscellany. Includes a White family genealogy. Also, a letter from Andrew Dickson White to Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf, March 27, 1911.

Dates

  • 1832-1919.

Creator

Language of Materials

Collection material in English

Extent

105.2 cubic feet. (105.2 cubic feet.)

149 microfilm reels. (149 microfilm reels.)

Abstract

Collection consists of papers relating to White's activities as educator, politician, and diplomat.

RELATED MATERIALS

Includes collection 1-2-531, Albert Hazen Wright's research material on White.

SEPARATED MATERIAL

Books - cataloged individually in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections

  1. A. D. White, The Warfare of Science, 1876. Gifted to W.C. Gannett, with letter from White to Gannett
  2. Henry C. Lea, Superstition and Force, 1866. With notes by White in front and back.
  3. A.D. White, The First Hague Conference, reprinted from White's autobiography, 1912.
  4. The Book of Common Prayer, given to Helen Magill from her mother, 1878.
  5. John Lord, A Modern History, 1849. Used by White as a student at the University of Michigan and later as a professor.
  6. The New Testament, 1881. Signed by White.
  7. Nuovo Testamento, 1875. Signed by White, 1877.
  8. S.C. Hall, ed. The Book of British Ballads, 1847. Presented to White by President Woolsey of Yale College, for winning a competition in composition. Inscription by White on inside cover.
  9. Les Caractere de Theophraste, 1860. Charred book found among the ruins of St. Pierre, Martinique, after the eruption of Mt. Pelee in 1902. Given to the library by White in 1907.
  10. James O. Carr, Esq, The Dickson Letters, 1901.

Physical Description

Correspondence, lectures, speeches, articles, manuscripts, financial records, clippings, photographs, engravings, diplomas, memorabilia, family documents, diaries, and other papers.

General

Contact Information:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections 2B Carl A. Kroch Library Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 (607) 255-3530 Fax: (607) 255-9524 rareref@cornell.edu http://rmc.library.cornell.edu
Compiled by:
B. Huth, M. WarrenTiffani Burgess
Date completed:
March 1987August 2009
EAD encoding:
Martin Heggestad, September 2003Evan Earle, April 2011
Date modified:
Fredrika Loew, October 2018
Status
Completed
Author
Compiled by B. Huth, M. Warren
Date
September 2003
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Part of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Repository

Contact:
2B Carl A. Kroch Library
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853
607-255-3530
607-255-9524 (Fax)