George Folsom papers
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Correspondence and a few papers, 1821-1866, primarily letters received by George Folsom (1802-1869) from authors, politicians, historians, artists, librarians, booksellers, and ethnologists. Included is material relating to family matters, his service as New York State Senator (Native American Party, or Know Nothings), 1845-1847, and chargé d'affaires to the Netherlands, 1850-1853, as well as his associations with the American Antiquarian Society, New-York Historical Society, and other learned societies.
Biographical Note
In his long career George Folsom (1802-1869) adopted varied, interchangeable, and occasionally overlapping roles, among them attorney, historian, author, librarian, antiquarian, politician, diplomat, and ethnologist. He was a member (and sometime officer) of the American Antiquarian Society, New-York Historical Society, Maine Historical Society, Vermont Historical Society, American Geographical and Statistical Society, Athenaeum Association, Century Association, Union League Club, and American Ethnological Society, of which he was president for the last decade of his life. Most notably, he sat in the New York State Senate (1845-1847), and served as chargé d'affaires (the diplomatic official who heads an embassy in the absence of an ambassador) to the Netherlands (1850-1853).
Chronology
Arrangement
The collection is housed in ten boxes. Boxes 1 through 9 are arranged chronologically by date of letter, or, when that is lacking, by date of postmark. Letters from select correspondents, which span several years, are grouped into distinct folders, and are filed after the general correspondence for their initial year. For example, the letters from Albert Gallatin, which span 1834-1844 (Box 2, Folder 7), follow the general correspondence for 1834 July-December (Box 2, Folder 6).
Box 10 includes correspondence that is undated and grouped by recipient (Folder 1, family), place (Folders 2-4, Maine, Massachusetts, and Europe), or by correspondent (Folders 5-6, arranged alphabetically). Undated letters and loose covers from unidentified correspondents are in Folder 7.
Scope and Contents
The George Folsom Papers consist primarily of letters he received from an expansive network of historians, authors, librarians, scholars, ethnologists, geographers, clergymen, politicians, diplomats, club members, and family. They span from 1821 (the year before he graduated from Harvard) to 1866 (three years before he died at Rome). The chronology above is a guide to determining which of his myriad activities are likely to be referenced by the letters in a given year.
The collection includes extended correspondence from George Bancroft (1800-1891), American historian and statesman (Box 3, Folder 4); August Belmont (1813-1890), German-American politician, financier, and Folsom's successor as chargé d'affaires to the Netherlands (Box 8, Folder 4); John Romeyn Brodhead (1814-1873), American historical scholar (Box 4, Folder 3); Edward Everett (1794-1865), American politician, pastor, educator, diplomat, and orator (Box 2, Folder 4); Albert Gallatin (1761-1849), Swiss-American politician, diplomat, ethnologist and linguist (Box 2, Folder 7); Jared Sparks (1789-1866), American historian, educator, and Unitarian minister (Box 4, Folder 4); and Peter G. Stuyvesant (1778-1847), Folsom's uncle through marriage (Box 4, Folder 5).
Other items of note include an 1838 letter from Harvard librarian and Unitarian minister Thaddeus Mason Harris (1768–1842) regarding the first publication of the New-York Historical Society's manuscript copy of John Winthrop's 1630 sermon "A Modell of Christian Charity" (Box 3, Folder 7); an 1845 letter from geographer Henry R. Schoolcraft (1793-1864) regarding a census of the Native American population (Box 4, Folder 14); and an 1852 letter from artist and co-founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Eastman Johnson (1824-1906), who found the pictures in Florence somewhat disappointing (Box 7, Folder 6).
Invitations, receipts, and the occasional bookseller's prospectus are scattered throughout the collection.
Subjects
Organizations
Genres
People
Topics
Access Restrictions
Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Use Restrictions
Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as George Folsom Papers, MS 222, New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Wesley A. Crozier, 1977.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Archivist Joseph Ditta processed this collection in 2017. Updated 2018.