Guide to the Raymond V. Ingersoll Collection, BCMS.0061 Finding aid prepared by Sarah Quick, Reference Archivist
This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit February 04, 2019
Brooklyn Public Library - Brooklyn Collection , 2018 10 Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn, NY, 11238 718.230.2762 [email protected] Guide to the Raymond V. Ingersoll Collection, BCMS.0061
Table of Contents
Summary Information ...... 3 Biographical Note...... 4 Scope and Contents...... 5 Arrangement...... 6 Administrative Information ...... 6 Related Materials ...... 7 Controlled Access Headings...... 7 Collection Inventory...... 9 Series I: Correspondence...... 9 Series II: Speeches, Press Releases and Writing...... 10 Series III: Campaign Materials...... 12 Series IV: Borough President Annual Reports...... 13 Series V: Certificates, Orders and Programs...... 13 Series VI: Tributes and Memorials...... 13 Series VII: Biographical Materials...... 13 Series VIII: Clippings and Photographs...... 14
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Summary Information
Repository Brooklyn Public Library - Brooklyn Collection
Creator Ingersoll , Raymond V. (Raymond Vail), 1875-1940
Title Raymond V. Ingersoll Collection
Date 1897-1965, bulk 1910-1940
Extent 15.9 Linear feet , 4 document boxes, 4 oversize boxs, 8 clamshell boxes
Location Brooklyn Collection Morgue, shelves 12.1-12.2
Language English
Preferred Citation This collection should be cited as the Raymond V. Ingersoll Collection, Brooklyn Public Library – Brooklyn Collection.
Abstract Materials concerning Raymond V. Ingersoll, former Brooklyn Magistrate, Parks Commissioner and Borough President. Materials include speeches, photographs, clippings and correspondence documenting his career.
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Biographical Note
Raymond Vail Ingersoll was born in Corning, New York on April 3, 1875 to Andrew Jackson Ingersoll and Ellen Vail. He attended the local public school followed by Amherst College, where he graduated with honors in 1897. After graduation he moved briefly to Duluth, Minnesota where he taught English and History at Duluth Central High School for the 1897-1898 school year. He enrolled in New York Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1901. While in law school Ingersoll lived for one year at the University Settlement House on the Lower East Side, where he oversaw the boys’ clubs and observed the conditions of tenement housing. His observations assisted in the passage of the Tenement House Act of 1901, which ensured fire safety and sanitation standards for all new construction. From 1900-1902 he lived at the Maxwell House Settlement in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, serving as Headworker and assisting in the unification of five Settlement Houses into the United Neighborhood Guild. In 1901 Ingersoll began working with the political group Citizens Union on a Fusion campaign against Tammany Hall. Ingersoll appeared on the 1901 Fusion ticket headed by Seth Low and was elected Magistrate at Large for Brooklyn. He served only six months before the position was declared unconstitutional by the State’s Supreme Court and Ingersoll was forced to step down. He left Maxwell House in 1902 to open his own law practice, which remained in operation until 1914. In addition to his work as an attorney he remained engaged in politics, serving as the 1909 Campaign Manager for the Fusion ticket and assisting in the Presidential campaign of Woodrow Wilson. He married Marion Crary in 1908. From 1914-1918 Ingersoll served as the Parks Commissioner for Brooklyn under Mayor John Puroy Mitchel. His administration brought new playgrounds and recreational areas to the borough, with special attention paid to smaller, often overlooked neighborhoods. In February of 1917 he joined the Foyer du Soldat, an official welfare organization charged with providing food, shelter and entertainment for soldiers fighting at the French front in World War I. Ingersoll returned to New York in 1918 and found work as the Secretary and Council for the City Club of New York, an anti-Tammany social club that advocated for higher standards in urban planning. Ingersoll often worked on behalf of the club in Albany, where he developed a working relationship with New York Governor Alfred E. Smith. Ingersoll left the club in 1924 to serve as the Chairman of Smith’s successful re-election campaign. After his re-election, Governor Smith appointed Ingersoll Impartial Chairman to the cloak and suit industry, where he acted as a mediator in industry disputes at the request of Governor Smith and later Governor Roosevelt. He held the position from 1924-1931, during which time he was also appointed to several additional committees which succeeded in further reforming tenement housing laws, securing better pay for teachers and establishing minimum wage laws for women and children in the laundry industry. He also worked on the election campaigns of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Herbert H. Lehman. In 1934 he was appointed President of the Department of Political Science of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.
- Page 4 - Guide to the Raymond V. Ingersoll Collection, BCMS.0061 In 1934 Ingersoll was elected Brooklyn Borough President on a Fusion ticket led by Fiorello La Guardia, making him responsible for the construction of Brooklyn’s sewers, highways and public buildings. In his first year in office he completed the Interborough Parkway, secured land for Brooklyn College’s campus, opened the Prospect Park Zoo and added an additional water delivery tunnel. He also made a bid to secure funding from the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) to complete the construction of the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Branch, which had been sitting partially built for over 20 years. The W.P.A. approved the plan but didn’t provide the funds until 1937. His second year in office brought significant upgrades to the borough’s healthcare facilities. New health centers were opened in Bushwick, Red Hook and Williamsburg and ten baby health stations moved to new locations. Ingersoll oversaw the opening of a nurses’ home, a new addition and equipment upgrades for Kings County Hospital, as well as the opening of The Brooklyn Cancer Institute. He secured W.P.A. funds for upgrades to the Coney Island, Cumberland Street, Greenpoint and Kingston Avenue Hospitals. 1936 was also a year for improved access to public transportation, with the opening of the Fulton Street subway and Rutgers Street Tunnel, which provided an additional 5.75 track miles in Brooklyn. In 1937 Ingersoll ran a successful re-election on another Fusion ticket, nominated by the Republican, American Labor, and Progressive Parties. That year he brought six new public schools to Brooklyn, while beginning construction on an additional twelve. He also worked with Parks Commissioner Robert Moses to open fourteen new playgrounds and renovate Prospect and Fort Greene Parks. Ingersoll made improvements to borough sanitation by putting over 300 new garbage trucks on Brooklyn streets and adding over twenty-two miles of sewer lines between 1936 and 1937. Ingersoll’s last two years in office saw the authorization of the Belt Parkway, improvements to borough hospitals, development of the Red Hook Houses and construction of the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central branch. He also dedicated a large amount of time working with Fiorello La Guardia and Robert Moses to fight for a Brooklyn-Battery bridge, which he saw as a quicker, cheaper option to a tunnel. Despite the approval of local lawmakers the bridge proposal was struck down by the United States Department of War and President Roosevelt. Ingersoll died before the completion of his second term, on February 4, 1940 following abdominal surgery. He was buried in the Friends Quaker Cemetery in Prospect Park. Although not a member, the Quakers made an exception for his “great contributions to the welfare of the community.” Originally called the Raymond V. Ingersoll Memorial Library, The Brooklyn Public Library’s Central branch was dedicated in March 1941. A granite capstone memorial was placed at the library’s entrance to commemorate his effort to secure funds for the library’s redesign and construction. Ingersoll’s widow gifted the remainder of his salary and amount due to his retirement fund, a total of $20,000, to the library.
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of items documenting the career of Raymond Vail Ingersoll (1875-1940). Correspondence is personal and professional, covering his work for the City Club, Parks Department,
- Page 5 - Guide to the Raymond V. Ingersoll Collection, BCMS.0061 various committees and as Brooklyn Borough President. The series includes notes from well-known political figures such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Alfred E. Smith. Correspondence from Ingersoll to his family during his service with the Foyer du Soldat is also inlcuded. Scrapbooks and several boxes of mounted and loose newspaper clippings detail Ingersoll’s career in local and state papers. Photographs include portraits, group shots and Ingersoll at various events. A photo album made by employees of the Parks Department and presented to Ingersoll show images detailing his accomplishments as Parks Commissioner. Ingersoll’s early writing focuses on labor and housing, as well as speeches written for the campaign of J.P. Mitchel. Speeches delivered as Parks Commissioner are included, as well as his writing on the League of Nations, which he became involved with following his service in the Foyer du Soldat. Later speeches and press releases made during his time as Borough President cover a variety of topics concerning Brooklyn, including employment, transportation and construction. Annual reports from the Borough President’s office list detailed accomplishments and budget information for Ingersoll’s years in office. Biographical materials and posthumous memorials from various individuals and organizations are also included.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in eight series: Series I: Correspondence foldered by subject, items are arranged chronologically. Series II: Speeches, Press Releases and Writing arranged chronologically. Series III: Campaign Materials arranged chronologically. Series IV: Borough President Annual Reports arranged chronologically. Series V: Certificates, Orders and Programs arranged chronologically. Series VI: Tributes and Memorials arranged chronologically. Series VII: Biographical Materials arranged chronologically. Series VIII: Clippings and Photographs arranged by subject.
Administrative Information
Publication Information
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Access Collection is located in the Brooklyn Collection at the Central Branch at Grand Army Plaza. The collection may only be used in the library and is not available through interlibrary loan. Requests to view the collection must be made at least 48 hours in advance of visit.
Use While many items in the Brooklyn Collection are unrestricted, we do not own reproduction rights to all materials. Be aware of the several kinds of rights that might apply: copyright, licensing and trademarks. The researcher assumes all responsibility for copyright questions.
Provenance This collection was donated by Marion Ingersoll in 1961.
Related Materials
Brooklyn Daily Eagle Photographs A life well lived; Raymond Vail Ingersoll, April 3, 1875-February 24, 1940. Brooklyn Eagle Press. 1940 Annual reports of the Brooklyn Park Commissioners. University Microfilms International. 1986. Golway, Terry. Machine made : Tammany Hall and the creation of modern American politics. Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company. 2014. Microfilm copies of collection items.
Controlled Access Headings
Subject(s)
• Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)--Politics and government
- Page 7 - Guide to the Raymond V. Ingersoll Collection, BCMS.0061 • Clothing trade--New York (State)--New York • Housing--Law and legislation--United States • Parks -- New York (State) -- New York • Political campaigns -- New York (State) -- New York
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Collection Inventory
Series I: Correspondence
Box 1
Subjects
Folder 1: General , 1897-1977
Folder 2: World War I , 1918-1919
Folder 3: Cotton Textile Industry Board of Inquiry , 1934
Folder 4: Building Maintenance Employees Strike and Arbitration , 1934-1935
Folder 5: Bakery and Confection Workers Union vs. George F. Stuhmer & Co. , 1938
People
Folder 6: Einstein, Albert , 1947
Folder 7: Keller, Helen , 1943
Folder 8: LaGuardia, Fiorello , 1933-1947
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Folder 9: Lehman, Herbert , 1929-1935
Folder 10: Moses, Robert , 1930-1944
Folder 11: Roosevelt, Eleanor , 1923
Folder 12: Roosevelt, Franklin D. , 1913-1937
Folder 13: Roosevelt, Theodore , 1917
Folder 14: Sanger, Margaret , 1956
Folder 15: Smith, Alfred E. , 1920-1934
Folder 16: Wagner, Robert , 1944
Series II: Speeches, Press Releases and Writing
Box 1
Folder 17: The Amherst Student , 1897
Folder 18: Labor Law , 1902
Folder 19: Housing , 1911-1912
Box 2
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Folder 1: J.P. Mitchel’s Campaign , 1913
Folder 2: As Parks Commissioner , 1914-1917
Folder 3: World War I , circa 1918-1920
Folder 4: Governor Smith, Maternity, Recreation, State Issues , 1916, 1928-1929
Folder 5: Cloak and Suit Industry , 1924-1931
Folder 6: Laundry Minimum Wage Board , 1933
Folder 7: Borough President Candidacy , 1933
Folder 8: Speech and Press Release Index , 1934
Folder 9-10: Speeches and Press Releases , 1934
Folder 11: Speech and Press Release Index , 1935
Folder 12: Speeches and Press Releases , 1935
Box 3
Folder 1: Speeches and Press Releases , 1935
Folder 2: Speech and Press Release Index , 1936
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Folder 3: Speeches and Press Releases , 1936
Folder 4: Speech and Press Release Index , 1937
Folder 5-6: Speeches and Press Releases , 1937
Folder 7: Speech and Press Release Index , 1938
Folder 8: Speeches and Press Releases , 1938
Box 4
Folder 1: Speeches and Press Releases , 1938
Folder 2: Speech and Press Release Index , 1939
Folder 3: Speeches and Press Releases , 1939
Folder 4: Speech and Press Release Index , 1934-1939
Series III: Campaign Materials
Box 4
Folder 5: Ingersoll's Campaign Materials , 1902, 1934
Box 5
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Folder 1: Ingersoll's Campaign Materials , 1934-1937
Series IV: Borough President Annual Reports
Box 4
Folder 6: Borough President Annual Reports , 1934-1938
Series V: Certificates, Orders and Programs
Box 4
Folder 7: Certificates, Orders and Programs , 1901-1939
Box 5
Folder 2: Certificates, Orders and Programs
Series VI: Tributes and Memorials
Box 4
Folder 8: Tributes and Memorials , 1940-1965
Series VII: Biographical Materials
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Box 4
Folder 9: Biographical Materials , circa 1933-1945
Series VIII: Clippings and Photographs
Box 6
Scrapbook , 1917, 1938-1941
Box 7
Scrapbook , 1937
Box 8
Scrapbook , 1923-1939
Volumes are housed in red clamshell boxes.
Vol I: Miscellaneous, Cloak and Suit Industry , 1897-1931
Vol II: Parks Commissioner , 1914-1918
Vol II A: Park Commissioner Photographs , 1914-1918
Vol III: Campaign, Borough President , 1933-1936
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Vol IV: Borough President , 1937
Vol V: Borough President , 1938-1940
Vol VI: Photographs
Vol VII: Brooklyn Daily Eagle Clippings , 1914-1939
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