Samuel L. M. Barlow papers, 1776-1905, bulk 1860-1889

Summary

Creators:

Barlow, Samuel L. M. (Samuel Latham Mitchill), 1826-1889

Abstract:

Personal and professional papers of lawyer and Democrat Samuel L. M. Barlow.

Extent:

315.99 Linear Feet (276 boxes, 50 reels)

Language:

Materials are in English.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Samuel L. M. Barlow papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains letters, letterbooks, documents, records, and manuscripts that document Barlow's legal, business, and political career, and his cultural and social pursuits. Barlow's legal and business papers constitute the bulk of the collection and cover 1860 to 1889. This portion of the collection deals with financing, building and management of railroads -- both Eastern and Western divisions of the Ohio and Mississippi, the Atlantic & Great Western, the Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio, the Little Miami, the Columbus and Xenia, the Erie, and the New York, Erie & Western; Barlow's lobbying on behalf of Texas and Pacific Railroad Company and the Pacific Mail Steamship Company; his involvement in the affairs of the Tehuantepec railroad route in Mexico, mining promotions and operations, including the notorious Arizona diamond hoax; land speculation (farm lands in Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio and urban properties in St. Louis, Mo.); his patronage of the New York subway and telephone enterprises, and his part ownership of the New York World. Political and military correspondence and manuscripts cover Barlow's involvement in Democratic politics at both national and state levels, that started in 1856 and continued until his death. The papers deal with Barlow's role in the nomination of James Buchanan for President, 1856, and his administration; Democratic National Convention at Charleston, 1860; George McClellan's presidential bid, the National Union Club, congressional elections, Tilden, Hancock, and Cleveland campaigns, 1876 to 1886. This portion of the collection also contains reports from the Eastern theater of the Civil War that Barlow received from his agents in the field. Among the correspondents are William T. Sherman, and T.J. Barnett, a minor official at the Department of the Interior and the Washington correspondent of the New York Journal of Commerce, who provided an insight into Lincoln's White House. Also included are items reflecting Barlow's role in social and cultural life of New York -- his friendship with William Cullen Bryant and Bret Harte, patronage of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Academy of Music, and the New York Historical Society, his collections of colonial Americana and rare books, etc. Correspondents include William Henry Aspinwall, Henry Douglas Bacon, T.J. Barnett, James Asheton Bayard, Jr., August Belmont, Judah Philip Benjamin, Montgomery Blair, William Montague Browne, Benjamin Franklin Butler, Roscoe Conkling, George Ticknor Curtis, John Henry Dillon, William Maxwell Evarts, Henry Harrisse, Ben Holladay, Hugh Judge Jewett, Clarence King, George Brinton McClellan, James McHenry, Manton Malon Marble, Thomas Alexander Scott, Horatio Seymour, William Davis.

Materials created by US presidents in this collection include James Buchanan autograph letters signed to Samuel L.M. Barlow, 1867 May 2 and May 22 (BW Box 63); Grover Cleveland autograph letter signed to Samuel L.M. Barlow, 1884 October 12 (BW Box 164); Millard Fillmore autograph letter signed to Charles Day, 1870 October 12 (BW Box 72); Andrew Jackson autograph letter to Mahlon Dickerson, 1835 June 9 (BW Box 1); also present is a contemporary copy of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee special order to Thomas Mann Randolph Talcott regarding Confederate soldiers paroled at Appomattox, 1865 April 10 (BW Box 58).

Biographical / historical:

Samuel Latham Mitchill Barlow was a prominent corporation lawyer and backstage Democrat. Co-founder of the law firm of Bowdoin, Larocque, and Barlow in 1852, he specialized in corporate law and management, particularly in railroads, mining, land, and utilities, and was a part owner of the New York World. Barlow represented the English Shareholders Association in a successful attack on the corrupt management of the Erie Railroad in 1872 and was directly responsible for the ouster of Jay Gould from the board of directors of that company. A lifelong Democrat despite his increasing disaffection after 1870, Barlow played a pivotal role in the nomination and presidential campaign of James Buchanan, served as advisor to Buchanan's administration, worked unsuccessfully to restore the party unity at the Charleston Convention of 1860, and engineered the 1864 presidential candidacy of General George McClellan, a close friend. A notable collector of early Americana and early printed editions of European Renaissance literature, Barlow also played an active role in the social and cultural life of New York. He entertained lavishly at his Madison Avenue home and his Long Island estate, and was co-founder of the Manhattan Club and patron of museums and historical societies.

Acquisition information:

Purchased from Samuel L. M. Barlow (grandson, 1892-1982) through Maury A. Bromsen Associates, 1960.

Processing information:

Processed by Huntington Library staff. In 2022, Brooke M. Black created a finding aid. In 2022, Melissa Haley enhanced description of the presidential material present in the collection as part of the American Presidential Papers Project. In 2023, Gayle M. Richardson processed the material that had been previously separated and restricted due to the fragile condition of the material.

Arrangement:

Organized in the following series: 1. Correspondence; 2. Family estate papers and vouchers, ephemera, unidentified and oversize material, Connecticut Land Co. and photographs; 3. Material previously restricted; 4. Letterbooks and microfilm.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related resources

Other descriptive data:

Former call number: mssBW Boxes 1-202.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Americana -- Collectors and collecting -- United States
Coal mines and mining -- Colorado
Corporate lawyers -- United States -- Archives
Corporation law -- United States -- History -- Sources
Elections -- United States -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Land speculation -- Illinois
Land speculation -- Iowa
Land speculation -- Ohio
Lawyers -- United States -- Archives
Lobbyists -- United States -- Archives
Lobbying -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Presidents -- United States -- Election -- 1856
Presidents -- United States -- Election -- 1864
Presidents -- United States -- Election -- 1880
Presidents -- United States -- Election -- 1884
Railroads -- United States -- History -- Sources
Rare books -- Collectors and collecting -- United States
Real property -- Missouri -- Saint Louis
Business records -- United States -- 19th century
Corporation records -- United States -- 19th century
Ephemera -- United States -- 19th century
Legal correspondence -- United States -- 19th century
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 19th century
Personal papers -- United States -- 19th century
Professional papers -- United States -- 19th century

Names:

Atlantic and Great Western Railway Company
Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio Railroad Company
Colorado Coal and Iron Company
Columbus and Xenia Railroad Company
Democratic Party (U.S.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Bowdoin, Larocque & Barlow (Law Firm) -- Archives
Democratic Party (N.Y) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Erie Railroad Company
Little Miami Railroad Company
New York, Lake Erie, and Western Railroad Company
Pacific Mail Steamship Company
Tehuantepec Railway Company
Texas & Pacific Railway
Nation Union Club (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) -- History -- Sources
Academy of Music (New York, N.Y.) -- History -- Sources
Democratic National Convention. (1860 :. Charleston, S.C.; Baltimore, Md.)
World (New York, N.Y. : 1860-1931)
Aspinwall, William Henry, 1807-1875
Bacon, Henry Douglas, 1817-1893
Barnett, T.J.
Bayard, James A. (James Asheton), 1799-1880
Belmont, August, 1813-1890
Benjamin, J.P. (Judah Philip), 1811-1884
Blair, Montgomery, 1813-1883
Browne, William M. (William Montague), 1823-1883
Bryant, W.C. (William Cullen), 1794-1878
Buchanan, James, 1791-1868
Butler, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1818-1893
Cleveland, Grover, 1837-1908
Conkling, Roscoe, 1829-1888
Curtis, George Ticknor, 1812-1894
Dillon, John Henry, 1819-1877
Evarts, William Maxwell, 1818-1901
Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874
Gould, Jay, 1836-1892
Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885
Harte, Bret, 1836-1902
Hancock, Winfield Scott, 1824-1886
Harrisse, Henry, 1829-1910
Holladay, Ben, 1819-1887
Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845
Jewett, Hugh J. (Hugh Judge), 1817-1898
King, Clarence, 1842-1901
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
McClellan, George B. (George Brinton), 1826-1885
McHenry, James, 1817-1891
Marble, Manton, 1834-1917
Scott, Thomas Alexander, 1823-1881
Seymour, Horatio, 1810-1886
Shipman, William D. (William Davis), 1818-1898
Slidell, John, 1793-1871
Taylor, Richard, 1826-1879
Tilden, Samuel J. (Samuel Jones), 1814-1886
Trescot, William Henry, 1822-1898
Waite, Morrison R. (Morrison Remick), 1816-1888
Ward, Samuel, 1814-1884

Places:

New York (N.Y.) -- History -- 1775-1865 -- Sources
New York (N.Y.) -- History -- 1865-1898 -- Sources
New York (N.Y.) -- Politics and Government -- To 1898 -- Sources
New York (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Sources
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources
United States -- History -- 1817-1861 -- Sources
United States -- History -- 1865-1898 -- Sources
United States -- Politics and Government -- 1849-1861 -- Sources
United States -- Politics and Government -- 1861-1865 -- Sources
United States -- Politics and Government -- 1865-1900 -- Sources

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services. RESTRICTED: Letterbook indexes (boxes 213-215), correspondence and documents (boxes 251-253), 51 volumes of letterbooks (boxes 259-275); this material is extremely fragile and cannot be paged until conserved.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Samuel L. M. Barlow papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:

Huntington Library, Manuscript Collections

1151 Oxford Road

San Marino, CA 91108, US

Contact:

(626) 405-2191

reference@huntington.org

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