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Barlow (Samuel L. M.) Papers
mssBW
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Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Samuel L. M. Barlow papers
Creator:
Barlow, Samuel L. M.
(Samuel Latham Mitchill), 1826-1889
Identifier/Call Number: mssBW
Physical Description:
315.99 Linear Feet
(276 boxes, 50 reels)
Date (inclusive): 1776-1905
Date (bulk): 1860-1889
Abstract: Personal and professional papers of
lawyer and Democrat Samuel L. M. Barlow.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
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.
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.
[Identification of item]. Samuel L. M. Barlow papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Samuel L. M. Barlow (grandson, 1892-1982) through Maury A. Bromsen
Associates, 1960.
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.
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).
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.
Former call number: mssBW Boxes 1-202.
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.
Albert V. House, "The Samuel Latham Mitchill Barlow papers in the Huntington Library,"
Huntington Library quarterly, 28, no. 4 (August 1965): 341-352.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
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
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
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
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
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)