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Osborn Family Papers

Call Number

MS 474

Date

1832-1936, inclusive

Creator

Extent

12.7 Linear feet (31 boxes)

Language of Materials

The documents in the collection are in English.

Abstract

The Osborn Family Papers consist of personal correspondence between members of the family (including forebears) of Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857-1935), paleontologist and for many years the head of the Museum of Natural History, as well as some of his professional correspondence and papers. Family correspondence spans the period from 1832 to 1936, and reflects the everyday affairs of several generations and branches of a prosperous New York family. The collection also includes journals and datebooks of Henry Fairfield Osborn and other family members.

Biographical/Historical Note

This collection includes personal papers and journals from Henry Fairfield Osborn ("HFO") and his family, forebears and descendants, encompassing several generations of the Sturges, Osborn and Perry families.

HFO's maternal grandfather, Jonathan Sturges (1802-1874), was born in Southport, Connecticut, and in 1821 joined the grocery business of Lumen Reed (1787-1836). Lumen Reed was a highly successful merchant who also assembled one of the earliest and most significant collections of American art. Sturges shared Reed's interest in the arts and became an important patron and collector of American artists in his own right. After Reed's death, Sturges led a group who bought his art collection, which was eventually donated to the New-York Historical Society.

In 1828, Sturges married Mary Pemberton Cady (1806-1894), also born in Connecticut. The Cady family moved to Fredericksburg when Mary was 12 years old, but returned to New York City in 1826. After their marriage, the couple lived in New York City, and had six children. In 1840, they built a country retreat in Fairfield, Connecticut, known as "The Cottage." Still standing, the house is one of the earliest example of American Gothic Revival architecture, and in 1994 was designated a National Historic Landmark.

Well-educated, cultured, and wealthy, the Sturges were connected with the artistic and commercial elite of New York, as described in Mary Sturges' memoir Reminiscences of a Long Life (also held in the N-YHS library). One daughter, Amelia, married Pierpont Morgan in 1861, but died of tuberculosis four months after their wedding. Their oldest daughter, Virginia Reed Sturges (1830-1902), married William Henry Osborn in 1858.

William Henry Osborn (1820-1894) was a railroad executive, becoming President of the Illinois Central Railroad in 1853, and later heading the Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans Railroad. William and Virginia Osborn lived in a sumptuous mansion at 32 Park Avenue, and later also built a mansion known as Castle Rock in Garrison, New York, which served as the family's summer home. The Osborn's had four children, two of whom (Virginia and Frederick) died as young adults.

Their eldest surviving son, Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857-1935), became a famous paleontologist and served as director of the Museum of Natural History from 1908 to 1935, building the foundation for its outstanding fossil and dinosaur collection. Deeply religious, Osborn was a proponent of the now-discredited theory of orthogenesis to explain evolution, holding that an ill-defined guiding force shaped life from lesser to greater forms, and was also a firm believer in eugenics. These ideas, reflected in the collection, have tarnished Osborn's scientific and moral reputation with later generations.

Henry Fairfield Osborn married Lucretia Thatcher Perry ("Lulu," 1858-1930) in 1881. Lulu was the daughter of Brigadier General Alexander James Perry and Josephine Adams Perry; her sister, Josephine, married Junius Morgan in 1891. Henry and Lulu had five children, the youngest of whom died in infancy.

Arrangement Note

This collection is arranged in two series. Series I, Family Papers, includes correspondence and papers by and between family members, and includes Henry Fairfield Osborn's correspondence with his family and in-laws. Series II, Henry Fairfield Osborn Papers, consists of his non-family correspondence, primarily with professional colleagues and friends, and other professional and research papers.

Scope and Contents Note

The Osborn Family Papers includes correspondence and journals from members of the Sturges, Osborn and Perry families, spanning the century from 1832 to 1936. The collection is primarily focused on Henry Fairfield Osborn, famed paleontologist and long-time director of the Museum of Natural History, but also includes correspondence of his grandparents (Jonathan Sturges and Mary Cady Sturges), parents (William Osborn and Virginia Sturges Osborn), wife (Lucretia Perry Osborn), children (Virginia, Perry, Fairfield Junior, and Josephine), and various other relatives and family friends. These well-pedigreed families moved in New York's elite circles and the papers reflect the daily life and concerns of privileged members of New York's society in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The collection is organized into the following three series:

Series I, Family papers, consists primarily of correspondence between several generations of family members. Letters relate news of family members and friends, discuss current events, and describe modes and incidents of travel, both domestic and abroad. Health and religion are also frequent topics.

Series I also includes Henry Fairfield Osborn's family correspondence with his parents and siblings, and with his wife Lucretia Perry Osborn, as well as their correspondence with their four surviving children. There are also several boxes of correspondence and clippings relating to Lulu Osborn's 1927 monograph Washington in His Own Words.

In addition to correspondence, Series I includes deeds and leases for family property, genealogical and biographical information, several folders of family ephemera and photographs (including visas and passports), and a few journals or diaries.

Series II, Henry Fairfield Osborn papers, includes his non-family correspondence with professional associates and organizations. Frequent correspondents include fellow paleontologist and friend William Berryman Scott, and British evolutionary biologist Edward Bagnell Poulton. Series II also includes Henry Fairfield Osborn's journals/datebooks from 1899 to 1921, as well as a few earlier journals. These consist primarily of calendar-type entries detailing Osborn's professional activities as well as events in his personal life; there are also a few journals containing more extensive accounts of his travels and expeditions.

Series III, Transcriptions and oversize material, includes typed transcriptions of hand-written letters of Henry Fairfield Osborn to his father and brother, and to William Berryman Scott, along with transcriptions of a few diary excerpts. This series also includes some oversize ephemera and biographical notes.

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.

Items that include presidential signatures will be presented to researchers in duplicate form.

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

Location of Materials

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Provenance

Purchase, 1972.

Collection processed by

Susan Kriete

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:49:33 -0400.
Language: Description is written in: English, Latin script.

Repository

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