Scope and Content Note
The papers of Jacob August Riis (1849-1914) span the years 1870-1990, but are concentrated in the period 1887-1913. They consist of correspondence, drafts and printed copies of articles, outlines of lectures, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, appointment books, financial records, deeds, indentures, radio scripts, and miscellaneous material. The papers document Riis's career as a journalist and illustrate his concern for the poor, his belief in the humanity of the "slum dweller," and his devotion to family. The collection is arranged in six series: Family Correspondence , General Correspondence , Speeches and Writings File , Scrapbooks , Miscellany , and Addition . Some material is in Danish.
The papers focus on the period after Riis's emigration from Denmark to the United States in 1870 and his later success as a police reporter in which he witnessed the abuses of slum life. His effort to improve conditions in tenements began shortly after he became editor of the South Brooklyn News, a Democratic newspaper, in 1874. His interest in the abuses of poverty is revealed briefly in the General Correspondence and more fully in the Scrapbooks series and the Speeches and Writings File . Many drafts in the Speeches and Writings File are outlines and lists of thoughts rather than complete texts.
Riis gathered information from health department and police records, conversations with officials, and trips through the slums with health department inspectors. His stories about tenement dwellers and their struggle for survival appear in the scrapbooks. Among the clippings is the capsulized version published in Scribner's Magazine of his first book, How the Other Half Lives. Other articles exploring slum conditions and police work in New York City appeared without his byline in the New York Tribune and the New York Sun. Additional writings by Riis in the scrapbooks are reports of the Council of Confederated Good Government Clubs and the Small Parks Committee. Riis also wrote articles for the Danish newspaper Nationaltitende in which he reported on the social conditions and job opportunities in New York for prospective immigrants.
The Miscellany series includes personal expense records, biographical information, and radio scripts based on Riis's life.
Family Correspondence consists largely of letters to and from Riis's wives, Elisabeth D. Nielson Riis and Mary Phillips Riis, his daughter Kate Riis, and his sons, John Riis and Roger Riis. Riis's warm and lasting friendship with Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) is documented by letters from Roosevelt during the years 1894-1913. Other prominent correspondents include Felix Adler, Andrew Carnegie, Josephine Shaw Lowell, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
The Addition spans the years 1898-1990. The bulk of the material is made up of family correspondence to John Riis, son of Jacob A. Riis, from his mother, Elisabeth, and letters from Jacob Riis's grandson, J. Riis Owre, to his cousin, Martha Riis Moore. The general correspondence consists of two letters from Riis, one to Sara Guy and Mrs. J. A. Maddur, the other to George M. Martin. The addition also contains notes and genealogical material relating to Riis's descendants.