Primarily oil portraits of 18th century literary figures. There are also engravings, and pen and ink and pencil sketches. Among the literary figures are portraits of Samuel Butler, Lord Byron, Thomas Carlyle; Colley Cibber; Charles Dickens; John Evelyn; John Foxe; David Garrick; Thomas Gray; Charles Lamb; Sir Thomas More; Sir Walter Raleigh; Samuel Richardson; Richard B. Sheridan; Alfred, Lord Tennyson; William M. Thackeray; and others. There is also a portrait by Blanche Ames of George A. Plimpton. Among the artists represented in the collection are James Maubert, Frederick Sandys, and William Hogarth (attrib.)

Correspondence, manuscripts of poems, and manuscripts of lectures by Benjamin. The correspondence consists of original letters of Benjamin, typescript and photostatic copies of Benjamin letters in other libraries, and letters to Benjamin from some of his literary contemporaries including Paul Hamilton Hayne, Willis Gaylord Clark, John Lothrop Motley, and Fitz-Greene Halleck. Many of the letters relate to Park Benjamin's lecture tours. There are other family letters and many documents relating to the Benjamin family,and two letterbooks of John Lothrop Motley. Also, a large amount of genealogical material of the Benjamin family, and its related families from the 16th century to the present day. There are also financial records, monographs, clippings, and photographs.

This collection is primarily concerned with Prof. James Renwick and his professional correspondence and papers, both as Professor of Natural Philosophy (Physics) at Columbia College and as a leading engineer. Many certificates of membership in honorary societies are included. There are letters from Washington Irving (1783-1859) to Prof. Renwick and to his mother, Jane Jeffrey Renwick, pertaining to contemporary events and Irving's own activities. The letters to Mrs. Renwick are about the travels and experiences of Irving and Renwick abroad. The collection also covers the affairs of the Prof. Renwick's grandfather, including documents concerning his land grants in New York State, and those of James Armstrong Renwick, including his valedictory address at Columbia College in 1876 and his class reunion in 1916. There are many legal documents, letters, and manuscripts of various members of the Renwick and Brevoort families; among these are Prof. Renwick's notes on his family genealogy and a memoir of Jane Jeffrey Renwick. Correspondents include Clement Clarke Moore, John A. Dix, Martin Van Buren, Secretary of State John Forsyth, and Secretary of the Navy James K. Paulding. There is one letter from Sir Edward Sabine (1788-1883), President of the Royal Society, giving his views on the American Civil War.

Personal and professional correspondence, a geological notebook, and miscellany pertaining to Amos Eaton and members of his family.

Lists, subject files, photographs, etchings and printed materials relating to the Pazheskii Korpus (imperial Corps of Pages), a school for the sons of the Russian nobility founded in 1802, and the Soiuz Pazhei (Union of Pages), the emigré alumni organization founded in 1920. The materials were collected by representatives of the Union of Pages. The collection consists chiefly of mimeographed newsletters, books, printed mementoes, such as programs, menus, tickets, and school forms, and of pictorial materials, especially photographs and etchings. The great majority of the materials pertain to the Imperial Corps of Pages and to Russia's imperial family, and include many unusual photographs portraying school life and the life of the family of Nicholas II. There are also old photographs of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Tsarskoe Selo, printed reports of the State Council for 1894-99, newsletters published by the Union of Pages and miscellaneous Russian and foreign publications, originally part of the library of the museum of the Union of Pages in Paris.

Correspondence, manuscript, and drawings relating to English and American literature of the 19th and early 20th centuries collected by Solton (1896-1961) and Julia (-1984) Engel. Ten letters and four manuscripts of poems by Rudyard Kipling form the largest unit within the collection. Prominent among the other items are the manuscript of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Mock Trial" and two Walt Whitman letters, a copy of R. W. Emerson's famous "Leaves of Grass" letter in Whitman's hand and Whitman's letter to Conway regarding the Emerson letter. Also included is a letter from James Fenimore Cooper to Mary Rutherfurd Clarkson Jay, wife of Peter Augustus Jay. Thirty-one of the drawings in the collection are by William Wallace Denslow and John Rae Neill and represent illustrations done for various works by L. Frank Baum. There are also two drawings of Gelett Burgess, one ot "The Goop" and the other of "The Purple Cow." Castings of the obverse and reverse of the bronze Kipling medallion commissioned by Engel in 1953 from Julio Kilenyi are stored in 2 oversize boxes. Most of the items in this collection relate to a collection of first editions which was also presented to the Libraries by Mr. and Mrs. Engel.

61 original drawings in various media on paper.

Contemporary engravings, lithographs, carte-de-visite photographs, and memorabilia; 20th century drawings and reproductions of portraits of Lincoln, his family, and his contemporaries. Among the portraits of Lincoln are a charcoal sketch by the sculptor Gutzon Borglum, lithographs by Currier and Ives, photographs by Mathew Brady and his studio. Memorabilia in the collection include bookends and sculptures, a dinner plate, a carved plaque, a reproduction of a death mask, a mourning ribbon, silk commemorative badges, and a hair ornament worn by Mrs Lincoln, in a leather-covered trinket box with the President's initials on it.

Correspondence, manuscripts, documents, photographs, artwork, objects, and printed material. Included among the list of 37 cataloged correspondents are: Vera Brittain, Edward Gordon Craig, Clarence Darrow, Havelock Ellis, Augustus John, Emmeline Pankhurst, Edward Steichen, Gertrude Stein, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Sybil Thorndike, Alec Waugh, and H. G. Wells. The cataloged manuscripts include a poem by Witter Bynner entitled "Hay Wagon." There is a large selection of Stephen's writings (poetry, novels, plays, articles, biographies, memoirs) including drafts of a proposed biography of his father, a bound volume of his own memoirs, numerous notebooks, and "Mount Joy," a description of life on Dominica. His photographs and paintings are well represented, with 6 albums of photographs and 2 boxes & 1 folder of approximately 200 paintings and sketches. The printed material includes works by Stephen, his father and his mother.

This collection is made up of architectural drawings, correspondence, specifications, contracts, invoices, minutes, financial statements, patents, advertisements, photographs, photograph album, test results and reports, memoranda, tile samples, factory order cards, and other materials pertaining to The Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company's projects. The dates of the materials span 1866-1985, with bulk dates 1890-1942. The architectural records include structural, decorative, and acoustical sample products and fragments. Also included are materials added to the files by George Collins (1917-1993), Professor of Art History at Columbia University. Prof. Collins secured the donation of this archive in 1963, and remained its custodian until it was transferred to the Drawings and Archives Collection at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library in 1988. The records document Prof. Collins' research efforts, as well as the Company's projects in forty states (including District of Columbia), four Canadian provinces, and eleven other foreign countries.