Scope and Content Note
The papers of John Purroy Mitchel (1879-1918) span the years 1835-1932, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1892-1918. The collection consists mainly of correspondence, desk diaries, speeches, articles, press releases, notebooks, memorabilia, and scrapbooks. The material documents Mitchel's administrations as counselor and mayor of New York City; work as collector of the Port of New York Authority; and activities as a member of the board of directors of the Corona Diamond Syndicate, conducting mining operations in British Guiana (Guyana). Also included is material pertaining to his views on national defense. The papers are organized into five series: Correspondence ; Speeches, Articles, and Press Releases ; Subject File ; Scrapbooks , and Miscellany .
Correspondents include Arthur James Balfour, Earl of Balfour, August Belmont, Andrew Carnegie, Joseph Hodgers Choate, Learned Hand, Norman Hapgood, Myron T. Herrick, Herbert Hoover, Charles Evans Hughes, John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937), Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), William H. Taft, Oswold Garrison Villard, and Woodrow Wilson.