The materials included in The Papers of
John Jay are derived from nearly 14,000 photocopies
of Jay and Jay-related materials collected by the late Richard
B. Morris and his staff in preparation for Professor Morriss
projected four-volume letterpress series of the unpublished papers
of John Jay. The originals and contemporaries copies of these
items reside in some 85 repositories around the world, including
the Library of Congress, the U.S. National Archives, the U.K.
Public Records Office, Archivo Historico Nacional (Spain), Nationaal
Archief (Netherlands), National Library of Scotland, major U.S.
research libraries, and many U.S. state and local historical societies.
For permission to publish these documents
or further information about them, please contact the owning institutions
identified in the individual item and image displays. In some
case additional information, such as collection name and local
catalog number, has been included at the request of the owning
institution. Please make sure to cite this information in
any correspondence you may have with the institution.
Columbia
University's own collection of Jay's
papers is housed in the Rare
Book and Manuscript Library. The collection, which covers
the period 1745 to ca. 1862, comprises ca. 10,500 items (69 boxes).
It includes letters, manuscripts, documents and letterbooks of
and relating to Jay and many members of his family. The letters
touch on every aspect of American life and government of the period,
and contain correspondence from such prominent individuals as
John Adams, George Clinton, James Duane, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander
Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Rufus King, John Paul Jones, Lafayette,
Robert B. Livingston, William Livingston, Gouverneur Morris, Robert
Morris, Edmund Randolph, Philip Schuyler, and George Washington.
There are approximately 500 letters from Jay, primarily drafts
of correspondence to the persons listed above, as well as his
correspondence as Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 1784-1789. The
manuscripts and documents include many reports, commissions, and
diplomas, as well as a draft copy of Federalist Number 5 and
Jays oath of office as Chief Justice of the United States
Supreme Court; also included are manumission documents, and a
group of documents from Trinity Church, where his father was a
vestryman from 1732 to 1746.
Additional material relating to the Jay family
may be found in the Jay Family papers, 1828-1943, also at Columbia
(14,685 items in 84 boxes). In addition to family and personal
matters, the correspondence in this collections deals with anti-slavery,
New York State civil service, repeal of the Missouri Compromise,
the Civil War, the Blair Bill, international affairs, and New
York City and State government and politics.
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