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Jacob Harvey family papers

Call Number

MS 306

Date

1811-1994, inclusive

Creator

Harvey, Jacob, 1797-1848

Extent

8.75 Linear feet in five record cartons, nine document boxes, and one oversized folder.

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

The collection contains just under four linear feet of 19th century material, including correspondence, journals, and miscellaneous ephemera belonging to New York merchant and Quaker Jacob Harvey (1797-1848), his wife Mary Hosack Harvey (1800-1872), and their daughters Mary Harvey (1831-1900) and Rebecca Harvey (1840-1912). The bulk of the 19th century material consists of journals and correspondence belonging to Jacob Harvey, and is concerned with politics in the United States and Great Britain, the Society of Friends, Harvey's business affairs, and his humanitarian efforts. Correspondence and other materials belonging to Mary H., Mary, and Rebecca Harvey are primarily concerned with life and society in New York City and its environs. Also included in the collection are typescripts, an index, and research notes prepared and compiled by historians Claire and Daniel Feins through the middle of the 20th century. Much of the 20th century material relates to the Harvey family, though a significant portion of the Feinses research notes are concerned with the life and work of prominent New York physician, and father to Mary H. Harvey, David Hosack.

Biographical/Historical Note

In 1939, Claire Feins, a graduate student in history at Columbia University, took an interest in prominent New York physician, botanist, and founding member of New-York Historical Society, David Hosack (1769-1835). Feins began to research his life and work while writing a history of Columbia University's Rockefeller Center property to satisfy her master's thesis. Following the completion of her degree, Feins continued to build upon her research, with the intent of using it as the subject for a doctoral thesis. In 1948 she applied for a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship to write a biography of David Hosack, but did not receive funding for her project, and never completed her dissertation.

Over the course of her research, Feins made contact with sisters Alice, Constance, and Georgina Biddle, descendants of David Hosack, who provided her with access to their family papers. At the time, these papers were thought to contain primary source material pertaining to the life of David Hosack, but Feins found little that was of any use to her. There was, however, a substantial amount of correspondence belonging to Hosack's immediate family, specifically his daughter, Mary Hosack Harvey (1800-1872), and her husband, Jacob Harvey (1797-1848). While Feins continued her Hosack research, her husband, Daniel Feins, who was inspired by the quality and extent the Harvey manuscripts, began to push for a publication based upon the Harvey material.

Although Claire Feins did not write her book on David Hosack, one was eventually written by Christine Chapman Robbins, and published by the American Philosophical Society [APS]. Feins appears to have lent some assistance to this work, and an inscribed copy, from Robbins to Feins, is in the collection. Preceding the publication of this volume, in 1962, the Feinses lent a portion of the Jacob Harvey correspondence and other materials to APS, which were microfilmed and returned to the Feinses.

Jacob Harvey was an Irish merchant, and Quaker, who emigrated to the United States in 1816, where he began his career as an apprentice to Abraham Bell, of A. Bell & Co. in New York. In 1822, Bell took Harvey as partner in his firm, and Harvey became deeply involved in the commercial life of the city. 1827 saw his break with the Society of Friends, owing primarily to a controversy between the Orthodox in England and the New Lights in New York, as well as his romantic interest in women not of the same religious persuasion. In 1828 he married Mary Hosack who was the daughter of prominent New York physician David Hosack, and together they had two daughters, Mary Harvey (1831-1900) and Rebecca Harvey (1840-1912).

Throughout his life, Jacob Harvey was distinctly politically engaged, writing letters to such prominent figures as Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, John Randolph of Roanoke, William H. Seward, Martin van Buren, and Daniel Webster, among others. Harvey was acutely aware of the problems of his homeland and its people, and, with the aid of A. Bell & Co., raised money and food for Irish relief during the famine, and assisted Irish immigrants in locating lost relatives and remitting hard earned money to Ireland. Harvey was also deeply concerned by the institution of slavery in the United States, and frequently advocated for the rights of enslaved persons.

Arrangement Note

The collection is arranged first by format, opening with the typescripts and an index prepared by the Feinses circa 1950. This is followed by the 19th century Harvey family papers, and finally by research notes compiled by the Feinses between 1930 and 1960.

Scope and Contents Note

The collection includes just under four linear feet of 19th century material, including correspondence, journals, and miscellaneous ephemera belonging to the Harvey family. The Harvey family papers are primarily concerned with life, society, and politics in the United States and Great Britain, the Society of Friends, and Jacob Harvey's business affairs and humanitarian efforts, as well as his political views and extensive travels.

Jacob Harvey engaged in brief correspondence with such prominent American politicians as Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, and Martin van Buren, among others, but he maintained a robust correspondence with several influential figures in Great Britain. Of particular interest are his ample correspondence with George William Frederick Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle, T. Spring Rice, Baron Monteagle of Brandon, the Marquess of Lansdowne, and the Marquess of Sligo.

A significant portion of the collection consists of 20th century materials, including typescripts, an index, and research notes which were prepared and compiled by historians Claire and Daniel Feins. Although much of this material relates to the Harvey family papers, a significant portion of the Feinses research notes are concerned with the life and work of prominent 19th century physician, David Hosack.

Access Restrictions

Open to qualified researchers.

Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to twenty exposures of stable, unbound material per day. (Researchers may not accrue unused copy amounts from previous days.)

See guidelines in Reading Room for details.

Materials are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please contact manuscripts@nyhistory.org prior to your research visit to coordinate access. Keep in mind that it will take between two (2) and five (5) business days for collections to arrive, and you should plan your research accordingly.

Use Restrictions

This collection is owned by the New-York Historical Society. The copyright law of the United States governs the making of photocopies and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials. Unpublished materials created before January 1, 1978 cannot be quoted in publication without permission of the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation Note

This collection should be cited as the Jacob Harvey Family Papers, MS 306, New-York Historical Society.

Location of Materials

Materials are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please contact manuscripts@nyhistory.org prior to your research visit to coordinate access. Keep in mind that it will take between two (2) and five (5) business days for collections to arrive, and you should plan your research accordingly.

Immediate Source of Acquisition Note

Gift of Roberta Feins, daughter of Claire and Daniel Feins, 2000.

Related Archival Materials Note

Related materials at New-York Historical Society include:

Abraham Bell & Son.: Call Number: Abraham Bell & Son records
Abraham Bell & Son records supplement,1833-1853.
Hosack, David, 1769-1835.: Call Number: AHMC - Hosack, David
Rodgers, Emily Hosack, (Mrs. John Kearny), 1810-1893.: Call Number: AHMC - Rodgers, Emily Hosack

Related materials at American Philosophical Society include:

Jacob Harvey papers,1808-1847
William H. (William Henry) Harvey papers, 1848-1865

Collection processed by

Anne Boissonnault

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:51:22 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Finding aid written in English

Processing Information Note

Processed by archives intern Anne Boissonnault during the summer of 2017.

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024