Scope and Content Note
The papers of Hamilton Fish (1808-1893) span the years 1732-1914, with the bulk of the collection in the period 1840-1890. The collection consists of ten series: General Correspondence , Department of State , Governor of New York , Journals and Diaries , Subject File , Scrapbooks , John Bassett Moore File , Miscellany , Addition , and Oversize .
Much of the collection relates to Fish's career as secretary of state in the two administrations of Ulysses S. Grant. The Department of State series includes bound volumes of diplomatic and domestic drafts and is complemented by drafts, transcripts, accounts, memoranda, and reports related to the conduct of foreign affairs. There is considerable material relating to the Alabama claims and the Treaty of Washington. Other subjects include Canadian reciprocity, fisheries, Cuba, Spain, Santo Domingo, and Haiti.
The detailed diary kept by Fish during his tenure as secretary of state is represented by a typed copy, prepared by John Bassett Moore, as well as the seven volumes of the original. The diary has also been reproduced on microfilm.
The General Correspondence series reflects the wide range of Fish's interests and career. There is much political correspondence, both state and national; letters written in his capacities as governor of New York and secretary of state are included as well as many business and family letters and correspondence relating to the Society of the Cincinnati.
The Governor of New York series contains Fish's annual messages and a few of his veto messages, but the bulk of the file consists of applications for office and pardons.
Correspondents include Charles Francis Adam, Amos Tappan Akerman, Henry B. Anthony, Chester Alan Arthur, J. Hubley Ashton, Orville Elias Babcock, Adam Badeau, George Bancroft, James M. Barrien, William W. Belknap, John Armor Bingham, James Gillespie Blaine, G. W. Blunt, George S. Boutwell, Benjamin Helm Bristow, Benjamin F. Butler, John L. Cadwalader, Simon Cameron, Zachariah Chandler, Salmon P. Chase, Robert S. Chew, George William Childs, Roscoe Conkling, John A. Creswell, William H. Crosby, Andrew Gregg Curtin, Caleb Cushing, J.C. Bancroft Davis, Columbus Delano, John A. Dix, George F. Edmunds, William Maxwell Evarts, Millard Fillmore, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Asa Bird Gardiner, James A. Garfield, Ulysses S. Grant, Horace Greeley, Moses Hicks Grinnell, Alexander Hamilton (1786-1875), Rutherford Birchard Hayes, E. R. Hoar, Washington Hunt, John Jay (1817-1894), Marshall Jewell, Francis Lieber, William L. Marcy, Matthew Fontaine Maury, Benjamin Moran, Edwin D. Morgan, Robert Hunter Morris, Oliver P. Morton, John Lothrop Motley, Edwards Pierrepont, John M. Read, William A. Richardson, George M. Robeson, Robert Cumming Schenck, John Schuyler, Winfield Scott, William Henry Seward, John Sherman, Daniel Edgar Sickles, Charles Sumner, Zachary Taylor, E. B. Washburne, Thurlow Weed, George H. Williams, and Robert C. Winthrop.
The Addition is composed mostly of constituent correspondence to Congressman Fish, chiefly 1844-1845, and includes requests for favors and governmental publications as well as reflecting concern for national issues such as the annexation of Texas. There is also personal correspondence between Fish and Thomas B. Dibblee, J. R. Van Rensselear, and others. The remainder of the Addition is composed largely of bills and receipts held by Nicholas Fish.