Van Cleef family papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 3088

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The papers of the Van Cleef family of Ithaca, New York, include a history of Jan Van Cleef and his descendents (1909). Financial records and contracts of Alexander Van Cleef the father of Mynderse Van Cleef are contained within this collection. Most of the Van Cleef family papers contain Mynderse?s correspondence, briefs, Supreme Court documents, court case materials, agreements, accounts, memorandas, printed items, and other materials concerning estate settlements of Joseph Esty, Leonard Treman, Frederick Lovejoy and others, property transferals, and various business concerns, including the Lyceum Theatre Company, the Ithaca Independent Telephone Company, the Ulysses Light Company of Trumansburg, New York, the Ovid Light Company, the Associated Glass and Electric Company, the Cayuga Power Corporation; the Ithaca Street Railway Company, and the Ithaca Water Works, Cayuga Lake Cement Corporation as well as Van Cleef's relations with Eastern investors and Western land agents, his election to and service on the Cornell University Board of Trustees, and his donation of a bandstand to the village of Seneca Falls (1924) as a memorial to Lawrence Van Cleef; Mynderse Van Cleef's notes on Andrew Dickson White's modern history lectures (1872-73) and photograph albums of Cornell students and faculty (1870s); five scrapbooks (1900-1913) of Eugenia and Jeannette Van Cleef containing personal mementos reflecting social life at Ithaca High School and Cornell, and other memorabilia; personal and family papers, including the estate papers of Elizabeth Van Cleef; correspondence, letter book, receipts, and estate papers of Frederick Lovejoy; drawings of Kappa Alpha fraternity; and blueprints. Also, vouchers for construction of the Mynderse Van Cleef family residence on University Avenue, in Ithaca, NY.

Correspondence can be found from Mynderse Van Cleef to Charles Blood, Leonard Treman, C.E. Treman and other important Ithaca businessmen. Letters from Cornell Presidents, Andrew Dickson White, J.G. Schurman and Livingston Farrand are also included in this collection. Correspondence includes letters from M. Van Cleef from Albert Mann, Dean of Cornell University?s College of Agriculture concerning Cornell University court cases. A 1919 letter between Dean Mann, President J. G. Schurman and Mynderse Van Cleef discusses the proposed separation of the College of Home Economics as a separate school within Cornell. A few letters from Martha Van Rensselaer, the Dean of the College of Home Economics can also be found within this collection. Correspondence from Andrew Carnegie, Supreme Court representatives and other government officials are also within this collection.

Dates

1841-1935.

Creator

Van Cleef family. (Family)

Language of Materials

Collection material in English

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Mynderse Van Cleef was born in Seneca Falls, NY on August 29, 1853. His father and mother were Alexander and Jane E. Van Cleef. Mynderse's great-grandfather was Lawrence Van Cleef, the first white child born in Seneca Falls. As a young man, Mynderse Van Cleef studied at the Ithaca Academy and was a proud 1874, graduate of Cornell University. He went on to study law at Columbia University from 1875-1876 and was admitted to the bar in 1876. On Dec. 21, 1882 he married Elizabeth Lovejoy Treman. Arthur B. Treman, Charles E. Treman, Robert E. Treman and Allan H. Treman were all Elizabeth?s nephews. Elizabeth and Mynderse had two daughter?s Jeannette Van Cleef Booth who married Arthur W. Booth and Eugenia Van Cleef. Both daughters graduated from Ithaca High School. Eugenia went on to attend Vassar College after graduating in 1904. For many years M. Van Cleef and his family lived on University Avenue, in Ithaca, NY. A prominent lawyer, Mr. Van Cleef served as commissioner of the U.S. Circuit Court, 1880-1900. In 1881 Mynderse was named an alumni Cornell Trustee. Among his other achievements he was president of the Ithaca Trust Company as well as chairman of the board. He was director of Tompkins County National Bank and Trustee of the Ithaca Savings Bank. For many years he was the Cornell University attorney. He was also president of the Corporate Association of Kappa Alpha fraternity. Mynderse and his family were members of the First Presbyterian Church, of Ithaca, NY. Mynderse was a member of the Ithaca Fire Department or Protective Police. He was also an officer of the Lyceum Theater Company that was erected in 1893, in Ithaca, NY.

Extent

40 cubic feet. (40 cubic feet.)

Additional Description

Abstract

Business and personal correspondence, briefs, legal materials, photographs, scrapbooks, newspaper articles, daybooks and a variety of documentation

SERIES LIST

<emph render="bold"><ref target="s1">Series I. M. Van Cleef's Business and Professional Correspondence</ref></emph>: Boxes 1-3, Box 6, Boxes 9-10, Boxes 13-17, Boxes 21-22
<emph render="bold"><ref target="s2">Series II. Ithaca Water Works Co.</ref></emph>: Box 7
<emph render="bold"><ref target="s3">Series III.People of the State of New York vs. Brooklyn Cooperage Co. and Cornell University</ref></emph>: Box 7
<emph render="bold"><ref target="s4">Series IV. The Estate of Joseph Esty</ref></emph>: Boxes 8-9, Box 19 and Box 28
<emph render="bold"><ref target="s5">Series V. Ithaca Security Co.</ref></emph>: Box 9 and Box 11
<emph render="bold"><ref target="s6">Series VI. Mynderse Van Cleef's Court Decisions and Legal Documents</ref></emph>: Boxes 11-13, Box 19, Box 23 and Box 35
<emph render="bold"><ref target="s7">Series VII. The Estate of Frederick Lovejoy</ref></emph>: Box 18 and Box 20
<emph render="bold"><ref target="s8">Series VIII.Mynderse Van Cleef and Cornell University</ref></emph>: Box 11, Boxes 18-19, Boxes 32-34
<emph render="bold"><ref target="s9">Series IX. The Estate of Elizabeth Van Cleef</ref></emph>: Box 21
<emph render="bold"><ref target="s10">Series X. Mynderse Van Cleef's Personal and Family Materials</ref></emph>: Box 11, Boxes 24-27 and Box 29
<emph render="bold"><ref target="s11">Series XI. Scrapbooks</ref></emph>: Boxes 30-31
<emph render="bold"><ref target="s12">Series XII. Alexander Van Cleef's Business and Professional Correspondence</ref></emph>: Boxes 4-5 and Box 32

Physical Description

Correspondence, documents, photographs, scrapbooks

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:: D.A. Bakken Nancy Dean Bill Brown Sarah Keating
Date Completed:: July 2002
EAD encoding:: Sarah E. Keating, July 2002
Date modified:: Kristen Reichenbach, April 2018