Leather Letter & Bill Organizer

The Harold Stirling Vanderbilt Collection consists of materials transferred to Vanderbilt University from the Manalapan, Florida estate “Eastover” after the death of Vanderbilt’s widow Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt. Spanning the years from approximately 1900 to 1978, it contains linear feet of materials. Much of the collection consists of correspondence, scrapbooks, photo albums, snapshots and other photographs, and artifacts pertaining to Vanderbilt’s involvement in yacht racing, bridge and Vanderbilt University. The collection mostly concerns these three aspects of Vanderbilt’s life.

It contains little personal correspondence and almost no materials relating to his business affairs during his long association with the New York Central Railroad.

The correspondence is divided into three groups, concerning Vanderbilt’s interests in bridge, yacht racing, and Vanderbilt University. There are several hundred photographs in the collection. It contains photographs from Vanderbilt’s childhood, cruises, and yacht races, as well as photographs of his family, friends, residences, travels, yachts and airplanes. Over a third of the photographs are of his wife Gertrude Conaway’s childhood and family and family travels. The early photographs are a fine depiction of turn-of the-century costume and customs.