National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Finding Aid General Grant National Memorial Cataloged Resolutions and Memorial Items, 1885 Multiple Catalog Numbers National Park Service Manhattan Sites General Grant National Memorial Rachel M. Oleaga March 2012 This finding aid may be accessed electronically from the National Park Service Manhattan Historic Sites Archive http://www.mhsarchive.org Processing was funded by a generous donation from the Leon Levy Foundation to the National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy. Finding Aid General Grant National Memorial Cataloged Resolutions and Memorial Items – Multiple Catalog #’s Page 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................................................... 2 COPYRIGHT AND RESTRICTIONS ......................................................................................................................... 4 PROVENANCE NOTE ........................................................................................................................................... 5 HISTORICAL NOTE ............................................................................................................................................... 6 SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE ............................................................................................................................... 7 ARRANGEMENT NOTE ........................................................................................................................................ 8 SERIES OUTLINE .................................................................................................................................................. 8 SERIES NOTES AND CONTENTS LIST ................................................................................................................... 9 RELATED MATERIALS NOTE .............................................................................................................................. 18 SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................ 18 ADDED ENTRIES/ACCESS POINTS ..................................................................................................................... 19 National Park Service: Manhattan Sites Finding Aid General Grant National Memorial Cataloged Resolutions and Memorial Items – Multiple Catalog #’s Page 2 SUMMARY Creator: United States. National Park Service Title: General Grant National Memorial Cataloged Resolutions and Memorial Items Dates: 1885 Extent: 16.9 linear feet (1 half document box, 8 large flat boxes, 1 custom box, 4 record cartons, 2 map drawers) National Park Service Accession Number: GEGR-00001, GEGR-00039 National Park Service Catalog Number: Multiple catalog numbers Biographical Statement: As President and Commanding General of the Union Army, Ulysses S. Grant was a key figure in the history of the United States in the late 19th Century. Grant was greatly revered by the American public for his service to the nation during the American Civil War, as well as for his leadership in office -- including his promotion of the passage of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, which granted all citizens the right to vote regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude” -- during the turbulent post-war Reconstruction period. After he succumbed to throat cancer on July 23, 1885, the public reaction of mourning was immense. Public reverence was immediately evident throughout the streets of New York as well as across the nation. Scope and Content Statement: Cataloged memorial items in this collection consist of resolutions, testimonies, memorial books, banners, sympathy letters, and poems sent to the Grant family in response to the failing health and death of Ulysses S. Grant on July 23, 1885. Materials in this collection provide insight into the impact Ulysses S. Grant had on the American public, as well as abroad, and shed light on the strong support for the creation of a grand memorial in his honor. These items also document the nature of public sympathy and mourning in the late 19th century. Processing Information: This collection was processed as part of the Manhattan Sites Archives Project in 2012 by Assistant Archivist Rachel M. Oleaga with the assistance of Project Archivist Tobi Adler and Lead Archivist Mimi Bowling. Funding Source: Processing of this collection was made possible by a generous donation from the Leon Levy Foundation to the National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy. National Park Service: Manhattan Sites Finding Aid General Grant National Memorial Cataloged Resolutions and Memorial Items – Multiple Catalog #’s Page 3 Contact Information: Chief of Cultural Resources, National Park Service, Manhattan Sites Federal Hall National Memorial 26 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005 (212) 825-6883 National Park Service: Manhattan Sites Finding Aid General Grant National Memorial Cataloged Resolutions and Memorial Items – Multiple Catalog #’s Page 4 COPYRIGHT AND RESTRICTIONS The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. The various state privacy acts govern the use of materials that document private individuals, groups, and corporations. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a reproduction if the document does not infringe the privacy rights of an individual, group, or corporation. These specified conditions of authorized use include: • non-commercial and non-profit study, scholarship, or research, or teaching • criticism, commentary, or news reporting • as a NPS preservation or security copy • as a research copy for deposit in another institution If a user later uses a copy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," the user may be personally liable for copyright, privacy, or publicity infringement. This institution's permission to obtain a photographic, xerographic, digital, or other copy of a document doesn't indicate permission to publish, exhibit, perform, reproduce, sell, distribute, or prepare derivative works from this document without first obtaining permission from the copyright holder and from any private individual, group, or corporation shown or otherwise recorded. Permission to publish, exhibit, perform, reproduce, prepare derivative works from, sell, or otherwise distribute the item must be obtained by the user separately in writing from the holder of the original copyright (or if the creator is dead from his/her heirs) as well as from any individual(s), groups, or corporations whose name, image, recorded words, or private information (e.g., employment information) may be reproduced in the source material. The holder of the original copyright isn't necessarily the National Park Service. The National Park Service is not legally liable for copyright, privacy, or publicity infringement when materials are wrongfully used after being provided to researchers for "fair use." This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if fulfillment of the order is judged in violation of copyright or federal or state privacy or publicity law. National Park Service: Manhattan Sites Finding Aid General Grant National Memorial Cataloged Resolutions and Memorial Items – Multiple Catalog #’s Page 5 PROVENANCE NOTE The items that comprise this collection were assembled from materials located in the Manhattan Sites Collections, now housed at Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, New York. This collection was formed from two accessions: GEGR-00001 and GEGR-00039. Each item has been cataloged individually by the National Park Service. Both accessions, GEGR-00001 and GEGR-00039, can be traced back to the transfer of Grant’s Tomb from the Grant Monument Association to the Federal Government. Resolutions, memorial books, banners, and sympathy letters, along with a variety of other Grant related ephemera, were deeded with the Tomb to the National Park Service on May 1, 1959. Shortly after the death of Julia Dent Grant in 1902, the Grants’ son Col. Frederick Dent Grant gave the Grant Monument Association over three thousand memorial items and resolutions created during the General’s illness and following his death. A portion of those items form this collection, but there is little information concerning what happened to the bulk of them. These items were maintained by the Grant Monument Association until the transfer in 1959. Many of the resolutions and memorial books were used by the Grant Monument Association in exhibits and displays in the reliquary rooms at the Tomb over the years.1 1 Kahn, David M. Historical Resource Study (New York: NPS, 1980). National Park Service, “General Grant National Memorial Administrative Records.” Catalog Number GEGR 895. Box 5, Folder 12, p. 150. National Park Service: Manhattan Sites Finding Aid General Grant National Memorial Cataloged Resolutions and Memorial Items – Multiple Catalog #’s Page 6 HISTORICAL NOTE Ulysses S. Grant is a prominent figure in 19th century American history. Grant served in the Infantry during the Mexican American War and as Commanding General of Union Armies during the American Civil War. He emerged from the war a hero, and was elected eighteenth President of the United States, serving two full terms. After his presidency, Grant traveled extensively, aided in international