Collection inventory

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Del Mar, Alexander, 1836-1926.
Title:	Alexander Del Mar Letters
Inclusive Dates:	1866-1909
Quantity:	0.25 linear ft.
Abstract:	American mining engineer, economist, historian, politician. Incoming correspondence in reply to requests for reports from the heads of various government agencies (Horatio C. Burchard, William Pitt Kellogg, N.C. McFarland, Joseph Nimmo, Charles W. Seaton); letterbook (1 volume) of outgoing correspondence
Language:	English
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Ave., Suite 600 Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center/university-archives

Biographical History

Alexander Del Mar (1836-1926) was an American mining engineer, economist, author, politician, and historian.

Born in New York on August 9, 1836, the oldest son of Jacques and Belle Del Mar, Del Mar spent some of his adolescence in England and Spain. He attended the Madrid School of Mines, while in London he stayed with his uncle, Manuel Del Mar, an author.

A student of history and political economy, Del Mar served as the director of the Bureau of Statistics from 1866 to 1869. The Bureau was charged with compiling relevant statistics for the government, a task which previously fell to the Treasury and State departments. After this position, Del Mar undertook various pursuits including joining the Liberal Republican Party and attending the International Statistical Congress in St. Petersburg. In 1876, Del Mar served as a mining engineer of the United States Monetary Commission. Two years later, he served as a clerk to the committee on naval expenditures of the House of Representatives. He served as New York state chairman of the National Silver Party in the 1890s. He wrote a number of books on money and monetary policy, including A History of Money in Ancient States (1881) and A History of Monetary Crimes (1899).

Alexander Del Mar married his first wife, Emily, in 1861; the couple had eleven children. After Emily's death in 1912 Del Mar married his second wife, Alice, with whom he had a further nine children. He died at the home of one of his daughters in Little Falls, New Jersey on July 1, 1926.

Selected Works by Alexander Del Mar
	1872	Proceedings of the Second Session of the National Insurance Convention
	1880	A History of the Precious Metals from the Earliest Times to the Present
	1885	The Science of Money
	1886	Money and Civilization
	1899	The History of Money in America from the Earliest Times of the Establishment of the Constitution
	1890	The Worship of Augustus Caesar
	1900	The Middle Ages Revisited; or, the Roman Government and Religion and Their Relations to Britain
	1900	Ancient Britain in the Light of Modern Archeological Discoveries
	1907	The Messiah

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Alexander Del Mar Letters consist of incoming items written between 1866 and 1896, and a letterbook containing copies of outgoing letters written between 1890 and 1909. The bulk of the incoming correspondence are replies to Del Mar's requests for annual reports from the heads of various government agencies (Horatio C. Burchard, William Pitt Kellogg, N.C. McFarland, Joseph Nimmo, Charles W. Seaton). A letter from William Barnes approves Del Mar's plan for the Great Western Loan Insurance Company of New York. Allen Granberry Thurman's letter expresses anticipation for reading Del Mar's A History of the Precious Metals, while George H. Pendleton writes for information concerning tariffs, internal revenue, and finance. Hearing of the decision of the National Silver Party, William Teller writes:

I could see nothing for the friends of silver to do but support Bryan and Sewall, and if all the friends of silver will do that, I am confident Bryan will be the next President.

Note: Pages are extremely thin and fragile. Many of the sheets have suffered damage from the ink. Exercise great care in turning pages.

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Arrangement of the Collection

The collection contains one series, Correspondence. Incoming items are arranged alphabetically by correspondent. The letterbook is a bound volume and remains in original order.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Alexander Del Mar Letters
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Incoming correspondence, purchase, 1967. Letterbook with outgoing correspondence, gift of Peter Lyne, great-grandson of Alexander Del Mar, 2025.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: KM
Date: Oct 1987
Revision history: 23 Oct 2008 - converted to EAD (LDC) ; 3 Feb 2026 - 1 volume added, promoted from SC to regular collection (MRC)

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Inventory

	Correspondence, incoming
Oversize 1		Barnes, William 20 Jul 1867 (1 letter)
Oversize 1		Berry, C. R. 13 Jan 1882 (1 letter)
Oversize 1		Brown, W. Colvin 18 May 1867 (1 letter)
Oversize 1		Burchard, Horatio Chapin 1880, 1882 (2 letters)
Oversize 1		Hoffman, John Thompson 1872, undated (2 letters)
Oversize 1		Kellogg, William Pitt 11 Dec 1867 (1 letter)
Oversize 1		Lamont, Daniel Scott 10 Apr 1885 (1 letter)
Oversize 1		McFarland, N. C. Dec 1881 (1 letter)
Oversize 1		Nimmo, Joseph 13 Dec 1881 (1 letter)
Oversize 1		Pendleton, George Hunt 25 Jun 1869 (1 letter)
Oversize 1		Seaton, Charles W. 13 Dec 1881 (1 letter)
Oversize 1		Stern, Simon 1866, 1867 (2 letters)
Oversize 1		Teller, Henry Moore 22 Jul 1896 (1 letter)
Oversize 1		Thurman, Allen Granberry 1881, 1884 (2 letters)
Oversize 1		Walker, Amasa 24 Feb 1868 (1 letter)
Oversize 1		Miscellaneous 1867, 1875 (3 letters)

	Correspondence, outgoing
Oversize 1		Letterbook 1890-1909 (1 volume)
			Gift of Peter Lyne, great-grandson of Alexander Del Mar, 2025.
			Pages are extremely thin and fragile. Many of the sheets have suffered damage from the ink. Exercise great care in turning pages.

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