Call Number:

C0537

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 14 boxes
• 5.6 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Osborn and Dodge Family Papers, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1726-1983 (inclusive)

Creator:

Osborn family

Form:

Business correspondence -- New York (State) -- New York., Correspondence, Deeds -- England -- Devonshire -- 18th century., Diaries., Family papers -- New York (State)., and Wills -- New York (State) -- New York.

Abstract:

Consists of correspondence, documents, photographs, printed material, and miscellanea of three generations of the Osborn and Dodge families.

The three generations of the Osborn and Dodge families represented in this collection include a number of distinguished Princeton University graduates. William Henry Osborn was president of the Chicago, St. Louis, and New Orleans Railroad and the Illinois Central Railroad; Frederick Henry Osborn was an avid art collector; and William Church Osborn was active in Democratic politics in New York State.

For the names and relationships of family members, refer to the family tree: Family tree.

The collection consists of Osborn and Dodge family papers representing mainly three generations of family members, including William Henry Osborn (1820-1894), his wife, Virginia Reed Sturges (1831-1902), and several members of the Sturges family; their sons Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857-1935, Princeton Class of 1877) and William Church Osborn (1861-1951, Princeton Class of 1883), William's wife, Alice Clinton Hoadley Dodge (1864-1946), as well as several Dodge family members; the sons of Henry Fairfield Osborn and his wife, Lucretia Perry (1858-1930), Fairfield Osborn (1887-1969, Princeton Class of 1909) and Alexander Perry Osborn (1884-1951, Princeton Class of 1905); and the children of William Church Osborn and Alice Clinton Hoadley Dodge, Frederick Henry Osborn (1889-1984, Princeton Class of 1910), Aileen Osborn (b. 1892), and William Henry Osborn (1895-1971, Princeton Class of 1916).

The collection contains family correspondence of members of the Osborn, Dodge, and Sturges families; business correspondence (New York City) of William Henry Osborn, much of it concerning the Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans Railroad and the Illinois Central Railroad, both of which he served as president; correspondence relating to the art collection of Frederick Henry Osborn; and letters to Mary Hoadley Dodge by Henry James and the painters John Singer Sargent and Edwin A. Abbey. Also included in the correspondence are letters relating to the political life of William Church Osborn, who was active in Democratic politics in New York State; letters written from Europe during World War I by Earl Dodge Osborn and William Henry Osborn to their parents; and letters by the philanthropist Evert Janson Wendell (1860-1917) to his boyhood friend William Church Osborn when they were students at Harvard and Princeton respectively.

In addition, there is a diary (1915) kept by Earl Dodge Osborn during the war; documents; wills (1849, 1934); an English deed (1726); receipts, appraisals, and inventories of the art collections of Frederick Henry Osborn and William Church Osborn; photographs of family members, John Singer Sargent, and Edward Robinson, head of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; genealogies of the Osborn, Dodge, and Sturges families; and printed matter.

The following standard abbreviations, or their variations, are used to identify materials in this collection: ALS = autograph letter signed, TLS = typed letter signed, ACS = autograph card signed, ANS = autograph note signed, AMsS = autograph manuscript signed, and TMsS = typed manuscript signed.