Guide to the Freedman Family Papers
and Other Documents
1765–1968 (bulk, 1930–1950)
MS 231
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024
(212) 873-3400
New-York Historical Society
Collection processed by Joseph Ditta (October 2021)
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on December 03, 2021
Finding aid written in English using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Descriptive Summary
| Creator: | Freedman (Family) |
|---|---|
| Title: | Freedman family papers and other documents |
| Dates [inclusive]: | 1765–1968 (bulk, 1930–1950) |
| Abstract: | A small collection documenting members of the Freedman family, who lived during the 1940s at the Imperial Court Hotel on Manhattan's Upper West Side: Helen (Fox) Freedman, her son, William, a World War II fighter pilot, and her daughter, Nancy Ruth, who sang professionally under the stage name "Nancy Reed." The collection includes material from other residents of the Imperial Court during the 1930s–1950s: furniture dealer Samuel L. Kuklin, nurse and maid Margaret Matilda Tomlinson, and Broadway musical singer Virginia Vonne. Also present is an unrelated mixture of 18th–20th-century material, notably two large group photographs of attendees to the convention of the Verhovay Aid Society, a Hungarian national fraternal organization, at Passaic, New Jersey, in July 1914. |
| Quantity: | 1.668 Linear feet in 4 document boxes plus 2 oversize folders. |
| Location: | This collection is 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. |
| Language: | The documents in the collection are in English, with some instances of German and Hungarian. |
| Call Phrase: | MS 231 |
Historical note
Constructed in 1906–1907 as the Lasanno Court, the building at 307 West 79th Street on Manhattan's Upper West Side offered residents spacious six- to eight-room apartments. It attracted such tenants as the family of journalist A. J. Liebling and the violinist Jascha Heifetz. By the 1930s the Bi-Bro Realty Corporation purchased the building and renamed it the Imperial Court Hotel, converting its apartments to single room occupancy "studios" with semi-private baths and housekeeping services.
Scope and Contents
Series I and II of this collection focus on onetime residents of the Imperial Court Hotel, at 307 West 79th Street, on Manhattan's Upper West Side, during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s: Helen (Fox) Freedman, her son, William "Bud" Freedman, a fighter pilot during World War II, and her daughter, Nancy Ruth Freedman, who sang professionally under the stage name "Nancy Reed" with a number of musical groups, most notably the Skitch Henderson Orchestra. Other residents of the Imperial Court were wholesale furniture dealer Samuel L. Kuklin, nurse and maid Margaret Matilda Tomlinson, and singer Virginia Vonne, who appeared in at least two Broadway musicals during the late 1930s. See the biographical notes in the container list for additional information.
Series III is a mixture of 18th, 19th, and 20-century documents unrelated to those in Series I and II or to each other. They were likely assembled by the donor from disparate sources. See the Immediate Source of Acquisition note for details.
Arrangement
The collection is organized in three series:
- Series I.
- Freedman family, onetime residents of Imperial Court Hotel (307 West 79th Street, Manhattan), 1912–1948, undated
- Series II.
- Other residents of Imperial Court Hotel (307 West 79th Street, Manhattan), 1917–1956, undated
- Series III.
- Unrelated documents, 1765–1968, undated
Access Points
Subject Names
- Cropper, Roy, approximately 1896-1954.
- Freedman, Helen (Fox), 1895–1969.
- Freedman, Nancy Ruth, 1928– .
- Freedman, William Marvin, 1923–2006.
- Kuklin, Samuel L., 1887–1956.
- Reed, Nancy.
- Tomlinson, Margaret Matilda, 1888–1963?
- Vonne, Virginia, approximately 1917–?
Document Type
- Address books.
- Autograph book.
- Bank statements.
- Bills (financial)
- Business cards.
- Checks (bank checks)
- Correspondence.
- Diaries.
- Ephemera.
- First day covers.
- Naturalization records.
- Newspaper clippings.
- Photographs.
- Ration books.
- Receipts (financial records)
- Report cards.
- School yearbooks.
- Sheet music.
- Telephone directories.
Subject Organizations
- St. Ann's Church (Bronx, New York, N.Y.)
- Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association.
Subject Topics
- Hungarian Americans.
- Women singers -- United States.
Subject Places
- Upper West Side (New York, N.Y.)
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers.
This collection is 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
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: Freedman Family Papers and Other Documents, MS 231, New-York Historical Society.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of William Asadorian, 2006.
Mr. Asadorian, onetime assistant curator of manuscripts at the New-York Historical Society and later archivist in the Long Island Division (now called the Archives) at Queens Public Library, has also spent considerable time as an amateur urban archaeologist and rescuer of discarded documents, which he attempts to place in appropriate institutional custody. His activities have been profiled on multiple occasions by the New York Times, for instance: Diana Jean Schemo, "Have Archives, Will Travel," Wednesday, September 16, 1992. The lack of relationship among some of the materials in the present collection suggests Mr. Asadorian assembled them from disparate sources.
Processing Information
Archivist Joseph Ditta arranged and described this collection in October 2021.
Container List
Series I. Freedman family, onetime residents of Imperial Court Hotel (307 West 79th
Street, Manhattan), 1912–1948
Biographical noteHelen (Fox) Freedman (1895–1969), widow of Samuel Stanley Freedman (d. 1936) was the mother of William Marvin "Bud" Freedman (1923–2006) and Nancy Ruth Freedman (1928– ). William was a member of the Black Widow Night Fighter Squadron during World War II. Nancy sang professionally, most notably with the Skitch Henderson Orchestra, under the name "Nancy Reed." The family—which sometimes also used the shortened surname "Reed"—lived at various times in Miami Beach, Florida; Akron, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and New York City. Helen often accompanied Nancy as chaperone to the cities where she was performing. Documents in the collection indicate they were residents of the Imperial Court Hotel (307 West 79th Street) on Manhattan's Upper West Side during the 1940s. |
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Subseries I.A. Helen (Fox) Freedman (1895–1969), 1912–1948
|
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| Container 1 | Container 2 | Title | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offsite-Box: 1 | Folder : 1 | Bills, correspondence, receipts, etc. |
1943–1948 | |
| Offsite-Box: 1 | Folder : 2 | Corn Exchange Bank Trust Company statements and canceled checks
Scope and ContentsStatements and checks for July–August 1945 and September 1947 through January 1948. |
1945–1948 | |
| Offsite-Box: 1 | Folder : 3 | Address book |
[1946–1947?] | |
| Offsite-Box: 1 | Folder : 4 | Photographs
Scope and ContentsMost of these photographs were found scattered throughout the collection. It is unclear if they all stem from the Freedman / Reed family (William "Bud" and Nancy are recognizable in some shots), or if they belong to other residents of 307 West 79th Street, Manhattan (see Series II). |
1912–1940s | |
Subseries I.B. William Marvin "Bud" Freedman (1923–2006), 1940–1947
|
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| Container 1 | Container 2 | Title | Date | |
| Offsite-Box: 1 | Folder : 5 | Correspondence, clippings, college grades |
1940, 1943–1947 | |
| Offsite-Box: 1 | Folder : 6 | "Life in the Service" Record Book [blank] |
1942 | |
Subseries I.C. Nancy Ruth Freedman / Nancy Reed (1928– ), 1930–1948
|
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| Container 1 | Container 2 | Title | Date | |
| Offsite-Box: 1 | Folder : 7 | Sheet music & manuscripts
Scope and Contents• "Always in My Heart" (1942) [incomplete score] |
1930–1947 | |
| Offsite-Box: 2 | Folder : 1 | Bills, correspondence, ephemera, receipts |
1938–1948, undated | |
| Offsite-Box: 2 | Folder : 2 | Diary
Scope and Contents"Nancy Ruth Freedman / 1400 Pennsylvania Ave. / Miami Beach / Florida / Ida M. Fisher Jr. Hi." With list of addresses. |
1940 January 1-August 28 | |
| Offsite-Box: 2 | Folder : 3 | Autograph book
Scope and Contents"This auto-graph book / belongs to / Nancy Freedman / 1400 Pennsylvania Ave. / Miami Beach, Florida / January 6, 1940." Signed by family, friends, and some celebrities, such as singer and actress Dixie Dunbar (1919–1991) and ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (1903–1978). With tipped in photographs and ephemera. |
1940 | |
| Offsite-Box: 2 | Folder : 4 | Yearbook, Miami Beach Senior High School (Miami Beach, Fla.)
Scope and Contents1942 edition of the Typhoon, with many autographs to Nancy Freedman. |
1942 | |
| Offsite-Box: 2 | Folder : 5 | Report cards, Taylor Allderdice High School (Pittsburgh, Pa.) |
1943–1944 | |
| Offsite-Box: 2 | Folder : 6 | Newspaper, Taylor Allderdice High School (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Scope and ContentsThree issues of The Foreword: |
1943–1945 | |
| Offsite-Box: 2 | Folder : 7 | Newspaper & periodical clippings |
1943–1948, undated | |
| Offsite-Box: 2 | Folder : 8 | Yearbook, Taylor Allderdice High School (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Scope and ContentsWith many autographs to Nancy Freedman, and tipped in photographs, notes, and ephemera. |
1944 | |
| Offsite-Box: 2 | Folder : 9 | Classmate photographs (5), Taylor Allderdice High School (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Scope and ContentsEach inscribed to Nancy Freedman. |
1945 February-March | |
| Offsite-Box: 3 | Folder : 1 | Diploma and commencement ephemera, Taylor Allderdice High School (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Scope and ContentsContains program for "Thirty-First Commencement, Taylor Allderdice High School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) (June 13-14, 1945), admission ticket (June 14, 1945), and Nancy Freedman's diploma (June 22, 1945). |
1945 June | |
| Offsite-Box: 3 | Folder : 2 | Julliard School of Music Summer School
Scope and ContentsIncludes course catalog, Nancy Freedman's class schedule and music theory exercise book. |
1945 | |
| Offsite-Box: 3 | Folder : 3 | Trade publications
Scope and Contents• Song Parade, vol. 4, no. 5 (April 1945) |
1945, 1947 | |
| Offsite-Box: 3 | Folder : 4 | Dorothy Shay photographs (2)
Scope and ContentsTwo photographs of American comedic recording artist Dorothy Shay (1921–1978), inscribed to Nancy. Shay appeared on the same bill with Nancy Reed (singing with the Skitch Henderson Orchestra) in the Boulevard Room, Stevens Hotel, Chicago. See the clipping from Variety, January 14, 1948, in Box 2, Folder 7. |
[1948] | |
| Offsite-Box: 3 | Folder : 5 | "Pryde and Day" photograph
Scope and ContentsPhotograph of juggling team Pryde and Day inscribed to Helen and Nancy. They appeared on the same bill with Nancy Reed (singing with the Skitch Henderson Orchestra) in the Boulevard Room, Stevens Hotel, Chicago. See the clipping from Variety, January 14, 1948, in Box 2, Folder 7. |
[1948] | |
| Offsite-Box: 3 | Folder : 6 | Nancy Reed publicity photographs |
undated | |
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Series II. Other residents of Imperial Court Hotel (307 West 79th Street, Manhattan)
Biographical noteSamuel Kuklin, Margaret Tomlinson, and Virginia Vonne were residents of the Imperial
Court Hotel (307 West 79th Street), on Manhattan's Upper West Side, during the 1930s,
1940s, and 1950s. |
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Subseries II.A. Samuel L. Kuklin (1887–1956), 1939–1941
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| Container 1 | Container 2 | Title | Date | |
| Offsite-Box: 3 | Folder : 7 | Bills, correspondence, receipts, etc. |
1939–1941 | |
| Offsite-Box: 3 | Folder : 8 | Business cards |
[circa 1940?] | |
Subseries II.B. Margaret Matilda Tomlinson (1888–1963?), 1917–1956, undated
|
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| Container 1 | Container 2 | Title | Date | |
| Offsite-Box: 3 | Folder : 9 | Correspondence, ephemera, etc. |
1917–1956, undated | |
| Offsite-Box: 3 | Folder : 10 | Certificate of citizenship |
1939 September 21 | |
| Offsite-Box: 3 | Folder : 11 | Ration books |
1942 | |
Subseries II.C. Virginia Vonne (circa 1917–?), 1938–1940
|
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| Container 1 | Container 2 | Title | Date | |
| Offsite-Box: 3 | Folder : 12 | "Firefly"
Scope and ContentsTwo newspapers reviews (July 12, 1938) of the Rudolph Friml operetta "Firefly," in which Vonne performed at Jones Beach, Long Island. With cover letter from a Dr. Robert M. Colbert. |
1938 | |
| Offsite-Box: 3 | Folder : 13 | "Blossom Time"
Scope and ContentsMaterial from Vonne's involvement with this Broadway musical, which ran for 19 performances on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre, December 26, 1938-January 7, 1939. Includes her contract with the Select Operating Company; vocal scores ("Chorus" and "Three Waltzes Chorus"); dialogue part of "Greta"; printed program for previews at the Nixon Theatre, Pittsburgh, beginning October 10, 1938 (the program lists her name as both "Vonne" and "Vahn" and her character as "Rosi" instead of "Rose"); a review by Dick Fortune from The Pittsburgh Press (October 11, 1938); and a signed photographic portrait inscribed "To dainty Virginia" from Mary McCoy, who played "Mitzi" in the show. |
1938–1939 | |
| Offsite-Box: 3 | Folder : 14 | Correspondence, ephemera, etc.
Scope and ContentsIncludes Vonne's New York State Department of Labor Unemployment Insurance Identification Card; her contract with Operatic Festival Inc., a stock company at Louisville, Kentucky; and correspondence and brochures from the Insulite Company of Minneapolis, manufacturers of wall and ceiling materials. |
1939 | |
| Offsite-Box: 4 | Folder : 1 | Letters from Roy Cropper aboard the R.M.S. Nieuw Amsterdam
Scope and ContentsRoy Cropper (1894–1954), a tenor, was performing in the "Seabreeze Revue" aboard the R.M.S. Nieuw Amsterdam, a cruise ship of the Holland-America Line, when he wrote to Vonne. A year prior the two appeared in the same Broadway production of "Blossom Time," at the 46th Street Theatre (December 26, 1938-January 7, 1939). Cropper played "Baron Franz Schober." Vonne played "Rose." This folder includes an invitation to a dinner and musicale in honor of Giovanni Martinelli, sponsor of the New York Light Opera Guild, January 21, 1940, at which Roy Cropper sang the role of Orlando in Florence Wickham's "Rosalind." With newspaper clippings announcing the performance as well as one giving details of the Nieuw Amsterdam's West Indies cruise. |
1940 January-March | |
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Series III. Unrelated documents, 1765–1968, undated
Scope and ContentsThe items in this series are unrelated to those in Series I and II, and are unrelated, for the most part, to each other. They include a mix of 18th, 19th, and 20th-century documents in a variety of formats: contracts, deeds, ephemera, photographs, and a few objects. Of chief interest are the two large, mounted photographs of attendees to the convention of the Verhovay Aid Society, a Hungarian national fraternal organization, at Passaic, New Jersey, in July 1914. |
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| Container 1 | Container 2 | Title | Date | |
| Offsite-Box: 4 | Folder : 2 | Abstract from a [land] patent . . .
Scope and Contents"Abstract from a Patent Dated the 6th day of June 1765 and granted to John Montressor, Francis Mee and Robert Wallace" for "All that certain Tract or parcel of Land situate lying and being in the County of Albany on the west side of Lake Champlain within Our province of New York as also four small Islands called Les Isles des quatres Vents lying in the said Lake . . . ." |
1765 June 6 | |
| Offsite-Box: 4 | Folder : 3 | Contract to establish smelting works
Scope and Contents"In consequence of our being about to establish Works in this or any other Colony of North America for the smelting, refining, and manufacturing of Ores produced from Mines belonging in partnership to John Sebastian Stephanÿ, John Kohl, and Gosninus Erkelens, all of the City, County, and Province of New York . . . ." |
1775 July 25 | |
| Offsite-Box: 4 | Folder : 4 | Gates's Troy Almanac, for the Year of Our Lord 1837 (Troy, N.Y.: Elias Gates) |
[1836] | |
| Offsite-Box: 4 | Folder : 5 | St. Ann's Church, Morrisania [The Bronx]. Deed and assignment
Scope and Contents• St. Ann's Church, Morrisania. Deed, to The Corporation of St. Paul's Church, Morrisania,
January 2, 1854. |
1854, 1855 | |
| Offsite-Box: 4 | Folder : 6 | Levi R. Leeds letter to Captain Jacob Johnson
Scope and ContentsLevi R. Leeds, a patient in Brooklyn City Hospital suffering from "that awful scourge consumption," writes to Captain Jacob Johnson, who was possibly his brother-in-law, husband of "Sister Jane" [Margaret Jane (Leeds) Johnson?]. |
1861 May 16 | |
| Offsite-Box: 4 | Folder : 7 | The Troy Daily Whig [newspaper], Troy, N.Y. |
1861 November 14 | |
| Oversize: (small) | Folder : 1 of 2 | Verhovay Aid Society photographs (2)
Scope and ContentsTwo large mounted photographs (mounts measure 22 x 14 inches) of attendees to the
convention of the Verhovay Aid Society, a Hungarian national fraternal organization,
Passaic, New Jersey, July 1914. The second of the two listed below shows the group
at flag raising ceremonies on Long Island on Sunday, July 26, 1914 (see Passaic Daily News, Monday, July 27, 1914, p. 13). |
1914 July | |
| Offsite-Box: 4 | Folder : 8 | Palmström von Christian Morgenstern [German poetry] |
1920 | |
| Offsite-Box: 4 | Folder : 9 | First Day Covers [postal history] (19)
Scope and ContentsPostage stamps and cancelations commemorating |
1937–1968 | |
| Offsite-Box: 4 | Folder : 10 | Staten Island telephone directory |
1941 | |
| Offsite-Box: 4 | Folder : 11 | Jokes / ancecdotes
Scope and ContentsJokes and humorous ancedotes typed on 33 strips of paper, one of which is dated October 10, 1952. |
[1952] | |
| Offsite-Box: 4 | Folder : 12 | [Christening bonnet?] |
undated | |
| Offsite-Box: 4 | Folder : 13-17 | Loose ephemera (5 folders)
Scope and ContentsIncludes greeting cards, pre-printed return mailing envelopes, brochures for Morningside Country Club (Greenwood Lake, N.Y.), Bantam automobile advertisements, etc. |
undated | |
| Offsite-Box: 4 | Folder : 18 | Manuscript English-German dictionary / phrase book |
undated | |
| Oversize: (small) | Folder : 2 of 2 | [Purse?] |
undated | |
| Offsite-Box: 4 | Folder : 19 | Wallet
Scope and ContentsHolds a card with the word "REPUBLICAN" typed above the numbers "0987654321" followed by the same written in reverse: "NACILBUPER" above "1234567890." |
undated | |
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