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Finding Aid for the Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series IX: Secretary's Correspondence, 1902-1936, undated HCFF.01.09
Part of the Frick Family Papers
Table of Contents
Summary Information
- Repository
- The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives10 East 71st Street
New York, NY, 10021
archives@frick.org
© 2014 The Frick Collection. All rights reserved. - Creator
- Frick, Henry Clay, 1849-1919.
- Title
- Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series IX: Secretary's Correspondence
- ID
- HCFF.01.09
- Date
- 1902-1936, undated
- Extent
- 2.3 Linear feet (6 boxes)
- Abstract
- Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), a Pittsburgh industrialist who made his fortune in coke and steel, was also a prominent art collector. This series consists chiefly of letters to and from his Pittsburgh secretary regarding payroll, staffing issues, bills, taxes, insurance, and other unfinished business matters.
Preferred Citation
Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series IX: Secretary's Correspondence. The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives.
Biographical Note
Henry Clay Frick was born 19 December 1849, in West Overton, Pa. One of six children, his parents were John W. Frick, a farmer, and Elizabeth Overholt, the daughter of a whiskey distiller and flour merchant. Frick ended his formal education in 1866, and began work as a clerk at an uncle's store in Mt. Pleasant, Pa. In 1871, Frick borrowed money to purchase a share in a coking concern that would eventually become the H.C. Frick Coke Co. Over the next decade, Frick expanded his business through the acquisition of more coal lands and coke ovens, and partnered with fellow industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1882. He assumed the chairmanship of Carnegie Bros. & Co. (later Carnegie Steel Co.) in 1889. During his tenure as chairman, differences between Frick and Carnegie emerged, most significantly in their approach to labor issues. Their relationship became further strained after the 1892 Homestead Strike, and in 1899, Frick resigned from Carnegie Steel Co.
Frick married Adelaide Howard Childs of Pittsburgh in 1881. The couple purchased a house (which they called Clayton) in Pittsburgh's East End, and had four children: Childs Frick (1883-1965), Martha Howard Frick (1885-1891), Helen Clay Frick (1888-1984), and Henry Clay Frick, Jr. (born 1892, died in infancy). After his break with Carnegie in 1899, Frick began spending less time in Pittsburgh. In 1905, he signed a ten-year lease on the Vanderbilt mansion at 640 Fifth Avenue in New York, and built an elaborate summer residence (Eagle Rock) on Boston's North Shore, which was completed in 1906 . Though Frick maintained his status as a Pittsburgh resident for the remainder of his life, he and his family chiefly divided their time between Massachusetts and New York. In 1907, Frick purchased land at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 70th Street in New York City. Construction of the new Frick residence, designed by Thomas Hastings of the firm Carrère and Hastings, began in 1912, after the demolition of the Lenox Library formerly on the site. The family moved into the house at One East 70th Street in the fall of 1914, and Henry Clay Frick died there on 2 December 1919.
Scope and Content Note
This series consists chiefly of correspondence to and from the office of Henry Clay Frick's Pittsburgh secretary regarding payroll, staffing issues, bills, taxes, insurance, and other unfinished business matters. The bulk of these files consist of letters, cables, and notes between Henry Clay Frick and F.W. McElroy, who joined Frick's staff as secretary in 1902. Among other topics, their letters discuss checks issued, payments to be made, appointments, meetings, and travel arrangements. McElroy was employed in Frick's office until 1915. Other members of Frick's staff represented in these files include his New York secretaries Alice Braddel and Ida Mary Brock, W.J. Naughton, who joined the staff as assistant secretary in 1905, and C.F. Chubb, who replaced McElroy in 1915.
Correspondence with staff at Frick's various residences can also be found in this series, particularly during the period in which Frick leased the Vanderbilt mansion at 640 Fifth Avenue in New York. Letters from stewards Joseph Holroyd and J.C. Congreve, housekeepers Florence Bain and Christy Mersereau, choreman Percy Martin, chauffeur Georges Despres, coachman James Elmore, chef Spencer Ford, caretaker John Holroyd, butler W.G. Mason, and gardener David Fraser generally concern payroll, staff, and bills, but sometimes give a glimpse into the mood and workings of the Frick household.
Members of Frick's immediate family occasionally corresponded with the Pittsburgh office as well. Frick's wife Adelaide H.C. Frick, son Childs Frick, and daughter Helen Clay Frick wrote to advise of travel plans, give instructions, and forward bills for payment. Additional correspondents represented in this series include John E. Shaw, renting agent at the Frick Building, Frick Building Annex, and Union Arcade Building in Pittsburgh, and D.B. Kinch, who superintended various construction projects for Frick, including his New York residence at One East 70th Street. Later materials in this series, particularly those from the 1920s and 1930s, often relate to the settlement of debts by tenants in Frick's Pittsburgh office buildings.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by correspondent.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
These records are open for research by appointment under the conditions of The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives Access Policy. For all inquiries or to schedule an appointment, please contact the Archives Department at archives@frick.org.
Provenance
Gift of the Helen Clay Frick Foundation, 2015.
Processing Information
Arranged and described by Julie Ludwig, 2014, with funding from the Helen Clay Frick Foundation.
Related Materials
Related Materials
Letterpress copybooks of outgoing correspondence compiled by Henry Clay Frick's Pittsburgh office can be found in Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series VIII: Letterpress Copybooks, Subseries II: Secretary's Letterpress Copybooks, 1891-1919.
Controlled Access Headings
Genre(s)
- Correspondence.
Personal Name(s)
- Frick, Adelaide Howard Childs, 1859-1931.
- Frick, Childs, 1883-1965.
- Frick, Helen Clay, 1888-1984.
- Frick, Henry Clay, 1849-1919.
- McElroy, F.W. (Frank W.)
Collection Inventory
| 1 | 1 |
Aiken - Bowditch
Scope and Contents note
Aiken Club (Aiken, S.C.), 1918 Alden, E.H., 1911-1912 Allegheny County, Pa. - County Treasurer, 1913 Allen, George Lockhart, 1904-1913 Arco Company (Cleveland, Ohio), 1918-1919 Bain, Florence, 1912 Baltimore & Ohio R.R. Co. (See: Pyle, R.E.) Banning, Kendall, 1904 Beddoe, Edwin E., 1904 Benedict, E.L., 1935 Benton, G.W., 1910 Boissevain, D.G., 1904-1906 Boscia, Arthur (See: John E. Shaw, 1934) Boston News Bureau (Boston, Mass.), 1912 Boston Saddlery & Harness Co. (Boston, Mass.), 1907 Bosworth, S.C., 1911 Bowditch, Ernest W., 1910 |
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| 1 | 2 |
Braddel, A.
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1910-1915 | |
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| 1 | 3 |
Braddock - Denny
Scope and Contents note
Braddock, James S., 1906 Brashear, John A., 1905-1914 Braun Salvage Co. (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1935 Brock, Ida Mary, 1905-1907, undated Buchanan, John G., undated Burch, R. Clayton, 1906 Butler, Henry E., 1912 Byers, John W., 1903-1904 C.A. Hurd Co. (Beverly Mass.), 1912 Caldwell, R.B., 1903 See also: Commercial National Bank of Coshocton (Coshocton, Ohio) Campion, A.G., 1906-1907 Carr, William A., 1905-1911, undated Carrère and Hastings, Architects (See: Hastings, Thomas) Central District and Printing Telegraph Company (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1906-1907 Century Publishing & Engraving Co. (Chicago, Ill.), 1905 Chas. D. Barney & Co. (New York, N.Y.), 1907, 1912 Childs, Martha H., 1912 Chubb, Charles F., 1918-1920 Claney, M.C., 1913 Colby, Francis T., 1913 Commercial National Bank of Coshocton (Coshocton, Ohio), 1907 Commonwealth Real Estate and Trust Company of Pittsburgh, Pa., 1904 Congreve, J.G., 1914 Conroy, Bridget (See: Helen Clay Frick, 1908 June 5) Continental Coke Co. [no place], 1903 Cottier & Co. (New York, N.Y.), 1904 County Treasurers, Boro Collectors, etc., undated Cowl, Clarkson (See: Schanck, George E.) Cummins, A., undated Curry, William, 1904 D.M. Linehan & Company (Prides Crossing, Mass.), 1912 Denny, John, 1925-1926 |
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| 1 | 4 |
Després-Freymeyer
Scope and Contents note
Després, Georges, 1907-1913 Di Nella, D., 1932-1936 Dillon, J.K., 1903 Dreyfus, [?],1911 Dustin, A.C., 1903-1910 Elmore, James, 1906-1913, undated Employers' Liabiliy Assurance Corp. (New York, N.Y.), 1919 Erksine, Albert De W., 1904-1908 Eyermann, Peter, 1907 Faraday Coal and Coke Company (See: Overholt, Karl F.) Farjeon, Ballin & Co. (New York, N.Y.), 1912-1913 Finn Pump Mfg. Co. (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1928, 1933 Foley, B.J., 1913 Ford, Spencer A., 1904 Fraser, David, 1905, 1924, undated Fred H. Lucas Carriage Co. (Boston, Mass.), 1905 Freymeyer, Harry W., 1904 |
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| 1 | 5 |
Frick, Adelaide - Frick, Childs
Scope and Contents note
Frick, Adelaide, 1906-1913 Frick, Childs, 1904-1924 |
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| 1 | 6 |
Frick, Helen Clay
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1907-1913 | |
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| 1 | 7-8 |
Frick, Henry Clay
Scope and Contents note
Chiefly letters and notes between F. W. McElroy and Henry Clay Frick. Most items concern financial or other business transactions. |
1902-1904 | |
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| 2 | 1-8 |
Frick, Henry Clay, continued
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1905-1907 | |
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| 3 | 1-9 |
Frick, Henry Clay, continued
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1908-1914 | |
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| 4 | 1-2 |
Frick, Henry Clay, continued
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1914-1915, undated | |
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| 4 | 3 |
G.M. Alexander & Son - Holroyd, John
Scope and Contents note
G.M. Alexander & Son (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1912-1916 G.M. Hopkins Co. (Philadelphia, Pa.), 1905 Gerrity, T., 1905 Gibson, Archer, 1908-1913 Girard Auto Supply Co. (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1924 Goddard & Co. (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1932 Great American Refining Co. (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1921-1922 Haggin, J.B., 1905 Hall, Sherman [business card], undated Harsh, Newton D., 1916 Hastings, Thomas, 1912 Hatfield, Chauncey B., 1904 Hearn, [George A.], Estate of, 1914 Henschel, C.R., 1912 Hicks, R.W., 1905-1908 Hindeman, W.W., 1927 Holroyd, John, 1912-1914 |
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| 4 | 4-9 |
Holroyd, Joseph
Scope and Contents note
Mostly letters from Holroyd to F.W. McElroy concerning payroll, staff changes, bills, etc. |
1904-1914 | |
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| 5 | 1 |
Hotchkiss - Keast
Scope and Contents note
Hotchkiss, C.W., 1906 Independent Retail Coal & Coke Dealers Association of West Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1935 International Appraising Co. (New York, N.Y.), 1919 International Shale Process Corp. (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1922, undated James D. Smith & Co. (New York, N.Y.), 1904 Keast, David S., 1936 |
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| 5 | 2 |
Kinch, D.B.
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1906-1917 | |
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| 5 | 3 |
Kinch, John Z. - Naughton, Clyde
Scope and Contents note
Kinch, John Z., 1915 Knoedler, Roland F., 1912, 1914 Kuhn, Loeb & Co., 1905 (See: Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series V: Subject Files, #226: Various stock and bond syndicates) Kuykendall, Paul, 1914 Lawyers Club (New York, N.Y.), 1907 Little & Browne, Architects (Boston, Mass.), 1907 Lull, R.D., 1912-1914 M. Knoedler & Co., 1907 (See: System: The Magazine of Business; and Knoedler, Roland F.) M. Welte & Sons (New York, N.Y.), 1904 Mackintosh, Hemphill & Co. (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1904 Magee, [William A.], 1910 Martin, Percy, 1912 Mason, W.G., 1911 Matthews, R.J., 1904 May, E., 1913 McCrea, James, 1906 McElroy, F.W., Mrs., 1907 Mercantile Trust Company (New York, N.Y.), 1904-1911 Mersereau, Christy, 1913-1914 Metropolitan Club (New York, N.Y.), 1906 Metropolitan Club (Washington, D.C.), 1918 Morris, W.J., 1927 See also: Great American Refining Co. Naughton, Clyde M., 1920 |
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| 5 | 4-5 |
Naughton, William J., 1910-1913
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1910-1921 | |
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| 5 | 6 |
Naumkeag - Pennsylvania
Scope and Contents note
Naumkeag Trust Company (Salem, Mass.), 1910 New England Telephone and Telegraph Company (Boston, Mass.), 1904 New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Co., 1907 (See: Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series V: Subject Files, #226: Various stock and bond syndicates) Nicola, F.F., 1904, 1907 Ogiz, Marika, 1904-1908 Overholt, Karl F., 1906-1924 Paddock, Carrie A., 1906, 1910 Pennsylvania Railroad Co. (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1905-1915 |
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| 5 | 7 |
Perkins - Shaw Coal Co.
Scope and Contents note
Perkins, L., 1913 Pittsburg Concrete Company (Allegheny, Pa.), 1905 Pittsburgh Field Club (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1912-1914 Pittsburgh, Pa. - Board of Water Assessors, 1912 Pittsburg Press Club (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1904 Popper & Sternbach (New York, N.Y.), 1912 Postal Telegraph-Cable Company (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1910 Pyle, R.E. (Baltimore & Ohio R.R. Co.), 1906 Ratcliffe, Mannie, 1912 Robert Dickey & Co. (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1906 Rogers, Oscar, 1919 Sammons, W. L., 1904 Schoonmaker, S.L., 1911-1912 Scott, Hugh R., 1904, 1912 Shaw Coal Company (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1912-1919 |
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| 5 | 8 |
Shaw, John E.
Scope and Contents note
Correspondence in connection with Shaw's duties at Renting Agent for the Frick Buildings in Pittsburgh (e.g. Frick Building, Frick Building Annex, and Union Arcade Building). |
1911-1934 | |
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| 6 | 1 |
Simpson - University
Scope and Contents note
Simpson, David E., 1904 Smith, W.H., 1907 Smith, William Watson, 1907, 1911 St. Clair Improvement Company (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1905-1914 Standard Oil Co. (Bayonne, N.J.), 1906 Stephany, Lewis F., 1905 (See: Holroyd, Joseph, 1905 September 30) Stephenson, Samuel, [1910?] Sterry, Fred (Royal Poinciana Hotel, St. Augustine, Fla.), 1904 Stewart Iron Works (Covington, Ky.), undated Sturm, Andrew E., 1913 Sumner, Wm. A., 1905 System: The Magazine of Business (Chicago, Ill.), 1907 Taft, Frank, 1907 Thompson, N.E., 1911-1912 Thompson, Robert, 1910 Union Restaurant Co. (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1904-1912 Union Safe Deposit Co. (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1907-1912 United States Steel Corp. (New York, N.Y.), 1906 University Club (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1908 |
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| 6 | 2 |
Vanzandt - Zimmerman
Scope and Contents note
Vanzandt, J.S., 1905 Weeks, Oakley, 1912-1914 Western Union Telegraph Co. (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1912 Wyness, George, 1905-1914 Zimmerman, T.J., 1907 (See: System: The Magazine of Business) |
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