The Archives and Special Collections recently received an extraordinary collection from former Trustee Alex Reese and his siblings Frances Reese Olivieri, John R. Reese, and George Reese.
The Reese Family Papers document the professional and personal lives of several of the ancestors of Frances Gallatin Stevens Reese and her husband, Willis Livingston Mesier Reese. The papers contain indentures, personal, political, and business correspondence, military documents, manuscripts of prose and poetry, scrapbooks, bills of lading, invoices, promissory notes, canceled checks, financial ledgers, diaries, passports, newspaper clippings and photographs.
Highlights from the collection include the papers of Ebenezer Stevens (1751-1823), who was a Major General in the American Continental Army and corresponded with Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, and James Madison. The papers of Robert Shaw Oliver tell his story while he served in the Civil War, rising to the rank of General after the conflict. He was named Assistant Secretary of War in 1903 under Theodore Roosevelt and served into the administration of William Howard Taft. Researchers will also find the personal papers of Frances (Franny) Reese (1917-2003) who was a leading environmentalist and founding member of Scenic Hudson. Her efforts helped launch the modern environmental movement during the lengthy and controversial law case known as the Scenic Hudson Decision.
The Reese Family Papers are already available for use by researchers. The finding aid for the collection can be found at the following URL: http://library.marist.edu/archives/reesePapers/reesePapers.xml. These papers are a treasure trove of information for articles, term papers, or capping papers. Don't let the opportunity to be the first to publish using the Reese Family Papers get away!
