COLUMBIA
LIBRARY
COLUMNS
 

Putting the John Jay Papers to Work

RICHARD B. .MORRIS
 

T
 

/■ If "^HROUGH purchase or gift the Library's Special Col¬
lections has acquired some five thousand papers by or
relating to John Jay, involving correspondence with
more than 250 individuals. The original purchase from the Iselin
family of several years ago has been supplemented by further sub¬
stantial acquisitions. Outstanding among the recent donors are
descendants of John Jay, including Mrs. Arthur M. R. Hughes
of Rochester, New York, Mrs. Pierre Jay and Miss Frances Jay
of New York City, and Mrs. Peter Augustus Jay of Washington,
D. C. These acquisitions have established Columbia University as
a notable center for American studies in the Revolutionary and
early National periods. In addition to the Jay Papers, the Library
now owns the Gouverneur Morris Papers, the De Witt Clinton
Papers, and a considerable number of Alexander Hamilton orig¬
inals, along with photocopies of all known Hamilton manuscripts.
Though extensive and important, the Jay collection represents
only a portion of the Jay Papers in this country and abroad.
Hence, the John Jay Papers project, which began operations in
the late spring of 1959 under an initial grant from the Avalon
Foundation, seeks to supplement our Jay collection of original
documents with photocopies of Jay Papers both here and abroad.
The John Jay Papers project has the following specific objec¬
tives:  (I) the assembling and organizing of the entire John Jay

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