Lamont-Corliss Family papers
Scope and Contents
The Lamont-Corliss Family Papers extensive files of Florence and Thomas Lamont's social, family, and philanthropic correspondence, writings (manuscripts), speeches, photographs, memorabilia, and clippings. There is also material related to Florence Lamont's interest in and concern for international peace, philosophy, and poetry. Family material consists of childhood writings, diaries, correspondence, letters to mother, husband, children, employees, relative to family news, trips abroad, domestic items, address books, guest lists, passports, photographs, genealogical material, privately-printed family history, obituaries, letters of condolence, tributes. A considerable amount of Smith College (1889- 1894) includes correspondence with family and friends, lecture notes, notebooks, invitations, programs, valentines, photographs. Philanthropic papers consist of correspondence about contributions, especially with Smith College, associations for poetry and philosophy, organizations for international understanding, and charities in New York, New Jersey, and Florida. Philosophic and literary papers include correspondence with literary figures, published and unpublished manuscripts and speeches on world peace, poetry, and philosophy. There are a small number of photographs, mostly of family. Correspondents of note include Thomas William Lamont, 1870-1948; John Masefield, 1878-1967; Jan Christiaan Smuts, 1870-1950 (photocophies); Arnold Toynbee, Lamont family; and Corliss Lamont, 1916- 1965. Topics include philosophy, philanthropy, Smith College, literature, socialism, United Nations.
Dates of Materials
- Creation: 1875 - 2007
Creator
- Lamont family (Family)
- Corliss family (Family)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for use without restriction beyond the standard terms and conditions of Smith College Special Collections.
Conditions Governing Use
Materials in this collection may be governed by copyright. For reproductions of materials that are governed by fair use as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission to cite or publish is required. Researchers are responsible for determining who may hold materials' copyrights and obtaining approval from them. Researchers do not need anything further from Smith College Special Collections to move forward with their use.
Biographical / Historical
Florence Haskell Corliss was born Englewood, NJ in 1873. She graduated from Smith College in 1893, and received an M.A. in Philosophy from Columbia University. She married Thomas W. Lamont, banker and CEO of J.P. Morgan and Co. in 1895 and they had 4 children. She was interested in philanthropic activities, especially those related to education and international affairs/peace. She served as a Smith College trustee from 1911-25. She also supported the New School for Social Research and, in 1948, donated 150 acres in Palisades, NY to Columbia University for the establishment of The Center for Geography Studies. Lamont was a supporter of the League of Nations and the United Nations. She served on the board for League of Nations Association and the Executive Committee of the American Asssociation for the United Nations until her death in 1952. She also served on various committees of foreign policy associations and was active in NY literary circles. Her friends included Robert Frost, John Masefield, and H.G. Wells. In addition to her philanthropic work Lamont wrote and published stories, poetry and articles, and contributed to the Journal of Philosophy. She also travelled frequently in Europe, Asia, Mexico.
Extent
13.812 linear feet (31 containers)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Philanthropist; Pacifist; Poet; and Philosopher. Papers document Florence Haskell Corliss and Thomas Lamont's family, social life, and philanthropic work. Topics include philosophy, philanthropy, Smith College, literature, socialism, United Nations. Materials include correspondence, writings (manuscripts), childhood writings, speeches, diaries, genealogical material, photographs, memorabilia, and clippings.
Arrangement
This collection has been added to over time in multiple "accessions." An accession is a group of materials received from the same source at approximately the same time.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The collection was gifted by Florence Haskell Corliss between 1965 and 2010.
Processing Information
Between September 2022 and February 2023, Smith College Special Collections renumbered many boxes to eliminate duplicate numbers within collections in order to improve researcher experience. A full crosswalk of old to new numbers is available.
Subject
- Lamont family (Family)
- Lamont, Corliss, 1902- -- correspondence (Person)
- Lamont, Florence Haskell Corliss, 1873-1952 (Person)
- Lamont, Thomas, 1870-1916 -- correspondence (Person)
- Masefield, John, 1878-1967--Correspondence (Person)
- Smuts, Jan Christiaan, 1870-1950--Correspondence (Person)
- American Association for the United Nations (Organization)
- League of Nations (Organization)
- Corliss family (Family)
- Cunningham, Priscilla (Person)
- Lamont, Corliss and Thomas W. Austin (Person)
- Lamont-Corliss family (Person)
- Lamont, Thomas, 1870-1916 (Person)
- Lamont, Corliss, 1902- (Person)
- Toynbee, Arnold, 1852-1883 -- Correspondence (Person)
- Smith College -- Students (Organization)
Source
Genre / Form
- Books
- Brochures
- Genealogies.
- Notes
- Pamphlets
- Phonograph records
- Speeches.
- Writings
- Yearbooks
- clippings
- correspondence
- diaries
- memorabilia
- photographs
- scrapbooks
Geographic
- China -- Description and travel
- China -- Description and travel
- Europe -- Description and travel
- Japan -- Description and travel
- Mexico -- Description and travel
- United States -- Intellectual life -- 20th century
Topical
- Title
- Finding aid to the Lamont-Corliss Family papers
- Status
- Legacy Finding Aid (Updated)
- Date
- 2006
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 07/26/2017: This resource was modified by the ArchivesSpace Preprocessor developed by the Harvard Library (https://github.com/harvard-library/archivesspace-preprocessor)
- 2017-07-26T17:48:17-04:00: This record was migrated from InMagic DB Textworks to ArchivesSpace.
- 2018-10-25: Updated to conform to DACS
- 2010-10-17: Inventory to processed portion of collection imported.
Repository Details
Part of the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History Repository
