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<!doctype html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no"> <title>The Ezra Cornell Papers: Home | Cornell University</title> <meta name="description" content="The Cornell University Library Ezra Cornell papers are a collection of selected letters, notebooks and other materials pertaining to Cornell University's founder, Ezra Cornell."> <meta name="keywords" content="rare, archives, books, manuscripts, ezra cornell" /> <meta property="og:description" content="The Cornell University Library Ezra Cornell papers are a collection of selected letters, notebooks and other materials pertaining to Cornell University's founder, Ezra Cornell." /><meta property="og:url" content="https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/ezracornellcoll/index.php" /> <meta property="og:title" content="The Ezra Cornell Papers" />   <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/main_new.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://use.fontawesome.com/releases/v5.13.0/css/all.css"> <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Raleway:wght@400;900&display=swap" rel="stylesheet"> <script src="scripts/main_new.js"></script>  </head> <body> <nav id="skip-link" aria-label="skip to main content"><a href="#mainframe">Skip to main content</a></nav> <header> <div class="branding">  <div class="banding"> <a class="logo-cul" href="https://www.library.cornell.edu/" title="Cornell University Library website homepage"><img src="images/cul-logo.svg" alt="Cornell University Library site"></a>  </div>  <nav class="user-tools" aria-label="My account and Search menu"> <a href="https://www.library.cornell.edu/myacct" title="My account"><i class="fas fa-user fa-lg" aria-hidden="true"><span class="sr-only">My Cornell Library Account</span></i></a> <a href="https://www.cornell.edu/search/" title="Search"><i class="fas fa-search fa-lg" aria-hidden="true"><span class="sr-only">Search Cornell</a></span></i></a> </nav> </div> <section id="hero"> <div id="hero-title">The Ezra Cornell Papers</div> <aside id="hero-aside">The Ezra Cornell papers consist of correspondence, financial and legal records, court proceedings, and other documents pertaining principally to the Cornell family, the telegraph industry, and the founding of Cornell University.</aside> </section> <div style="margin: 20px; display: grid; grid-template-columns: 1fr 200px;"> <nav id="mainnav" aria-label="main"> <a href="javascript:void(0);" class="icon" onclick="togglemainnav()"><i class="fa fa-bars" aria-hidden="true"><span class="sr-only">Main Navigation</span></i></a> <a class="selectednavtab" aria-current="page"href="index.php">Home</a> <a href="https://digital.library.cornell.edu/collections/ezra-cornell">Search/Browse</a>  </nav> </div> </header> <main id="mainframe"> <div class="imagemediumleft"> <img class="carrousel_image" src="images/ezra_senate_400.jpg" alt="Ezra Cornell Photograph" /><br /> <span>Ezra Cornell, ca. 1864. From the <em>Photographic Senatorial Album of the Empire State</em>, 1864-65. Albany, N. Y.: Churchill & Dennison, [1865].</span> </div> <h1>Overview</h1> <p>Cornell Library’s Rare and Manuscript Division is home to the <strong>Ezra Cornell papers</strong>, part of <a href="https://rare.library.cornell.edu/cornell-university-archives/">Cornell’s University Archives</a>. The papers include selected letters, notebooks and other materials by or pertaining to Cornell University's founder, Ezra Cornell.</p> <p>A <a href="https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/ead/htmldocs/RMA00001.html">guide to the Ezra Cornell Papers</a> offers a list the contents of the physical collection and associated resources. It is open for public research. Much of the collection has been digitized and can be browsed or searched here:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong><a href="https://digital.library.cornell.edu/collections/ezra-cornell">Search/Browse the collection</a></strong></p> <h2>Collection Description</h2> <p>The Ezra Cornell papers consist of correspondence, financial and legal records, court proceedings, and other documents pertaining principally to the Cornell family, the telegraph industry, and the founding of Cornell University. The papers also show Cornell's career as a farmer, New York State legislator, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, and include subsequently printed materials collected in support of his various affairs and enterprises.</p> <p>After leaving the DeRuyter, New York pottery business of his father Elijah, Ezra Cornell moved to Ithaca to work as a mechanic, engineer, millwright, and dam-builder; soon after, he sold plows and their patent rights in New England, the Mid-Atlantic states, and in the Deep South. During his travels, letters home and closely kept diaries described his view of America in the 1840s and 1850s. During the test-laying of the telegraph cable between Washington and Baltimore, Cornell's ingenuity and industry resulted in his affiliating himself with the new enterprise. Again, diaries and letters home recount in detail the difficulties of procuring equipment, convincing the public of the telegraph's utility, selling subscriptions, managing laborers, and accruing stock. Travels in the midwest provide a view of the special problems in the less well-settled mid-prairie states.</p> <p>The Civil War was observed by Ezra Cornell as a contributor to the <i>Ithaca Journal</i>. His brother and several cousins and nephews participated in the conflict for both causes, and they wrote many letters to Cornell. It was prior to and during this period that the consolidation of Western Union provided Cornell with enormous stock dividends. Conversations with fellow legislator Andrew Dickson White concerning Cornell's desire to contribute money for an altruistic enterprise led to the founding of the University. Cornell had been cash-poor and far from home for many years; when he announced the establishment of the Cornell University, he was deluged with appeals for help, from close and distant relatives, from needy sufferers and cranks. As a New York State legislator, he received hundreds of letters of appeal from constituents on local and state issues.</p> <p>Family correspondence occurs throughout the collection. The Cornell family was large, located throughout the United States, and involved in many endeavors and enterprises. The correspondence also documents his farming interests and the establishment of the Cornell family's Forest Park farm, the establishment of the Cornell Public Library in Ithaca, his work in the coal oil business, the photo-lithography business, agricultural supplies and science, and his interest in New York State canals and railroads. In addition to the correspondence, diaries, and letterbooks, the papers also contain documents pertaining to Cornell legal cases, finance, estate records, and family memorabilia.</p> <h2>Provenance</h2> <p>The Cornell papers have for the most part been presented to the University by the Cornell family. Some material has been held by the Cornell University Library since the beginning of the University. Upon the establishment of the Collection of Regional History in 1942 and the University Archives in 1951, material has been held there and in its successor organizations, Cornell University Library's Department of Manuscripts and University Archives, and the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. Additional material was transferred to the University Archives from the DeWitt Historical Society of Ithaca, New York.</p> <h2>Additional Online Resources</h2> <p>Older exhibitions about Ezra Cornell and his life featured at Cornell Library are also available online, including:</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/Ezra-exhibit/entrance.html">Invention and Enterprise: Ezra Cornell, A Nineteenth-Century Life, 1996</a>.</li> <li><a href="https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/Ezra/exhibition/introduction/index.html">“I Would Found an Institution”: The Ezra Cornell Bicentennial, 2006</a>.</li> </ul> </main> <footer id="footer"> <p><strong>Library Resources:</strong> <a href="https://www.library.cornell.edu">Library Website</a> / <a href="https://newcatalog.library.cornell.edu/search">Search</a> / <a href="https://newcatalog.library.cornell.edu">Catalog</a> / <a href="https://encompass.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/checkIP.cgi?access=gateway_standard&url=https://cornell.summon.serialssolutions.com/">Articles & Full-Text</a> / <a href="https://newcatalog.library.cornell.edu/databases">Databases</a> / <a href="https://erms.library.cornell.edu/">E-Journal Titles</a> / <a href="https://www.library.cornell.edu/visual-resources">Images</a></p> <p style="margin-top:15px;">漏2020 <a href="https://rare.library.cornell.edu/">Division of Rare & Manuscript Collections</a>, Cornell University Library.</p> <p>If you have a question or comment, please <a href="https://rare.library.cornell.edu/contact-us/">contact us</a>. | <a href="https://www.library.cornell.edu/privacy">Privacy</a> | <a href="https://www.library.cornell.edu/web-accessibility">Web Accessibility Assistance</a></p> </footer> </body> </html>