McGraw family papers, 1854-1956.
Collection Number: 2355

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library


DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
McGraw family papers, 1854-1956.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Collection Number:
2355
Abstract:
Business and family correspondence, relating to lumbering interests near Canadea, New York; McGraw family genealogy; diaries and accounts of travels in France, Italy, Germany, Russia, and Egypt; Jennie McGraw Fiske diaries refer to travels in England and on the Continent, and to Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and New York. Other subjects include Cornell University faculty members, the settlement of the estate of John McGraw, and a memorial to McGraw by the Cornell University Board of Trustees. Major correspondents and persons figuring prominently in the collection include Douglass Boardman, J. W. Dwight, Willard Fiske, Mary Celestia McGraw, John Ellis Southworth, and Anna Gauntlett Whitcomb.
Creator:
McGraw family.
Quanitities:
4 folders.
Language:
Collection material in English

INFORMATION FOR USERS

Cite As:

McGraw Family Papers, #2355. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

Biographical / Historical

Lumber magnate. John McGraw assisted in the incorporation of Cornell University and donated one of its first buildings, McGraw Hall; his daughter Jennie McGraw married Cornells first university librarian, Willard Fiske.

Scope and content

Business and family correspondence, relating to lumbering interests near Canadea, New York; McGraw family genealogy; diaries and accounts of travels in France, Italy, Germany, Russia, and Egypt; Jennie McGraw Fiske diaries refer to travels in England and on the Continent, and to Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and New York. Other subjects include Cornell University faculty members, the settlement of the estate of John McGraw, and a memorial to McGraw by the Cornell University Board of Trustees. Major correspondents and persons figuring prominently in the collection include Douglass Boardman, J. W. Dwight, Willard Fiske, Mary Celestia McGraw, John Ellis Southworth, and Anna Gauntlett Whitcomb.

Scope and content

Also, a Jennie McGraw letter to her uncle, Thomas McGraw, describing the impact of the Civil War on Detroit, and mentioning mutual acquaintances involved in the struggle. Daguerreotype of Jennie McGraw Fiske. John McGraw papers refer to Cornell University lands, lands held by H. W. Sage and Company, and his own personal matters; includes Henry Williams Sage correspondence. McGraw's involvement in the lumber industry is documented by correspondence with William E. Taylor regarding lumber prices in Ontario, Canada, and by exchanges with mill operators and lumbering concerns in Ontario, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

Scope and content

Also, prenuptial agreement between John McGraw and Phebe Jane Bates, 1861; letter and receipt to John McGraw from Archimedes Russell about stone for McGraw Hall, 1869-1870; letter from George Sidney Camp to Joseph McGraw, 1887; Christmas card with photographs of the Cornell campus and the Fiske-McGraw mansion; 10 stereoscopic views (exterior and interiors) of the McGraw-Fiske mansion; and published brochure for the executor's sale of the McGraw Fiske Estate, 1891.

SUBJECTS

Names:
McGraw, John, 1815-1877.
Fiske, Jennie McGraw, 1840-1881.
Sage, Henry W. (Henry Williams), 1814-1897.
Dwight, J. W.
McGraw, Mary Celestia.
Southworth, John Ellis.
Whitcomb, Anna Gauntlett.
Boardman, Douglass, 1822-1891.
Fiske, Willard, 1831-1904.
Taylor, William E.
Cornell University -- : Faculty.
Cornell University. Board of Trustees
H. W. Sage and Company
Places:
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives.
New York (N.Y.) -- Description and travel.
Philadelphia (Pa.) -- Description and travel.
Detroit (Mich.) -- Description and travel.
Chicago (Ill.) -- Description and travel.
England -- Description and travel.
Egypt -- Description and travel.
Russia -- Description and travel.
Germany -- Description and travel.
Italy -- Description and travel.
France -- Description and travel.
Subjects:
Families -- New York (State) -- Ithaca.
Genealogy -- New York (State) -- Ithaca.
Mills and mill-work -- Minnesota.
Mills and mill-work -- Wisconsin.
Mills and mill-work -- Ontario.
Lumber trade -- New York (State) -- Canadea.
Lumber trade -- Ontario.
Lumber trade -- Minnesota.
Lumber trade -- Wisconsin.
Form and Genre Terms:
Stereoscopic photographs.

CONTAINER LIST
Container
Description
Date
Series I. Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 1
General
1846-1858
Box 1 Folder 2
General
1860-1869
Box 1 Folder 3
Jennie McGraw Letter to Thomas McGraw
October 19, 1866
Box 1 Folder 4
General
1873-June 1878
Box 1 Folder 5
General
July-September 1878
Box 1 Folder 6
General
October 1878
Box 1 Folder 7
General
November-December1878
Box 1 Folder 8
General
1879-1880
Box 1 Folder 9
General
January -July 1881
Box 1 Folder 10
General
1887-1890
Box 1 Folder 11
General
n.d.
Box 1 Folder 12
McGraw Genealogy
1941
Box 1 Folder 13
McGraw Genealogy
1956
Series II. Diaries
Box 1 Folder 14
Jennie McGraw Diary
1875
Box 1 Folder 15
Jennie McGraw Diary
1877
Series III. Financial and Legal Documents
Box 1 Folder 16
Documents
1847-1861
Box 1 Folder 17
Documents
1865-1868
Box 1 Folder 18
Documents
1869-1871
Box 1 Folder 19
Documents
1873
Box 1 Folder 20
Documents
1874-1875
Box 1 Folder 21
Documents
1876-1877
Box 1 Folder 22
Documents
January-June 1878
Box 1 Folder 23
Documents
July-October 1878
Box 1 Folder 24
Documents
November-December 1878
Box 1 Folder 25
Documents
January-March 1879
Box 1 Folder 26
Documents
April 1879
Box 1 Folder 27
Documents
May 1879
Box 1 Folder 28
Documents
June-December 1879
Box 1 Folder 29
Documents
1880-1881
Series IV. W.J. Young and Company
Box 1 Folder 30
Documents
1876-1877
Box 1 Folder 31
Documents
January-April 1878
Box 1 Folder 32
Documents
May-July 1878
Box 1 Folder 33
Documents
August-December 1878
Box 1 Folder 34
Documents
1879
Box 1 Folder 35
Documents
April-August 1880
Box 1 Folder 36
Documents
September-December 1880
Box 1 Folder 37
Documents
January-June 1881
Box 1 Folder 38
Documents
July-December 1881
Box 1 Folder 39
Documents
January-March 1882
Box 1 Folder 40
Documents
April-June 1882
Box 1 Folder 41
Documents
July-November 1882
Series V. Miscellaneous
Box 1 Folder 42
Clippings regarding death of Mary Cornell
n.d.
Box 1 Folder 43
Four land grants from General Land Office of the United States
May 21, 1871
Box 1 Folder 44
Miscellaneous items
1874-1941
Box 1 Folder 45
Miscellaneous items
n.d.
Series VI. Photographs
Manuscript Box Folder 1
Painted portrait of Jennie McGraw Fiske
Scope and Contents
Formerly on display in the A.D. White library
Box 2 Folder 1
Daguerreotype of Jennie McGraw
n.d.
Box 2 Folder 2
John McGraw?
n.d.
Box 2 Folder 3
Ezra Cornell
September 1862
Box 2 Folder 4
Jennie McGraw Fiske about 38 years of age
n.d.
Box 2 Folder 5
McGraw-Fiske Mansion (3 images)
n.d.
Box 2 Folder 6
McGraw-Fiske Mansion (3 images)
n.d.
Box 2 Folder 7
McGraw-Fiske Mansion (3 images)
n.d.
Box 2 Folder 8
McGraw-Fiske Mansion (3 images)
n.d.
Box 2 Folder 9
Jane McGraw, John's second wife
n.d.
Box 2 Folder 10
John McGraw
n.d.
Box 2 Folder 11
Miscellaneous Photographs (4 images)
n.d.
Box 2 Folder 12
Steel Plate: John McGraw
n.d.