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Harriet Randolph Hyatt Mayor Papers

An Inventory of her papers at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: --
Date: Nov. 1966

Biographical History

Harriet R. Hyatt Mayor was born in Salem, Mass. in 1868, the daughter of Audella Beebe Hyatt and Alpheus Hyatt II, the noted paleontologist. After traveling abroad with her family at an early age she began to show artistic tendencies. She studied art and sculpture in Boston and began a promising career. She encouraged her sister Anna to join her in sculpting. Harriet was married in 1900 to Alfred Goldsborough Mayor and soon began to raise a family. Alfred G. Mayor, son of Alfred M. Mayor, the noted physicist, was an outstanding natural scientist in his own right. He and his wife spent 22 happy years together and had four children, A. Hyatt, Katharine, Brantz, and Barbara.

Mrs. Mayor suffered a slight attack of tuberculosis in 1912 and went abroad with her children. She barely escaped Germany before World War I began. After Dr. Mayor's death in 1922, Mrs. Mayor busied herself with other activities: she traveled in Europe, she also became active in the Daughters of the American Revolution and long served as regent of the Princeton, New Jersey chapter. This association contributed to her interest in genealogy (as well as her mother's similar interest) and she made studies of the Hyatt and Mayor family trees. She lived most of her later years in Princeton, only leaving to live with her sister Anna (Mrs. Archer M. Huntington) during her last year. She died at the Huntington estate in Bethel, Conn., in 1960 at the age of 92.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The papers of Harriet Hyatt Mayor include correspondence, an address book, artifacts, an autograph collection, bills and receipts, diaries, (1901-04, 1937-38, and undated), genealogy materials, notes and notebooks, photographs, scrapbooks, manuscripts of articles written by Mrs. Mayor, sketchbooks and published material consisting of articles, newspaper clippings, and press releases about Mrs. Mayor and others.

Correspondence, includes incoming, outgoing letters, incoming letters of others, and correspondence by subject. Subject File, contains an address book, artifacts, an autograph book and collection, bills and receipts, catalogues, a cashbook, copies of letters, copyright notices, DAR material, diaries (1901-04, 1937-38, and undated), foreign currency, genealogical materials and correspondence, health reports, legal papers, a medal, notes and notebook, a passport, programs and cards and travel booklets. Photographs, consists of pictures of documents, family and friends and places. Manuscripts, includes articles by Mrs. Mayor and by others, and sketches and sketchbooks. Published Material, contains articles by Mrs. Mayor and others, newspaper clippings about Mrs. Mayor and others, and press releases about others. Duplicates, consists of one folder of articles about Mrs. Mayor's father, Alpheus Hyatt II.

Arrangement of the Collection

The incoming correspondence is arranged alphabetically by author. The outgoing correspondence is arranged chronologically. The correspondence of others is all incoming letters to other members of the family arranged alphabetically by recipient and then chronologically. The correspondence by subject is a series of copybooks of letters. Photographs are arranged alphabetically by subject. These photographs are followed by scrapbooks of photos and also negatives. Manuscripts are organized alphabetically by type and then alphabetically by title. Subject File and Published Material are arranged alphabetically by type.

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.

Related Material

The Special Collections Research Center has numerous collections for the Hyatt-Mayor families. For information on members of the Hyatt, Mayor, Beebe, and Huntington families see the SCRC Subject Index for the finding aids of individual family members.

Subject Headings

Persons

Chase, Adelaide Cole.
Coad, Clara Carter Hyatt.
Huntington, Anna Hyatt, 1876-1973.
Huntington, Archer M. (Archer Milton), 1870-1955.
Hyatt family.
Hyatt, Audella Beebe, 1840-1932.
Mayor family.
Mayor, Alfred Goldsborough, 1868-1922.
Mayor, Harriet H. (Harriet Hyatt), 1868-1960 -- Archives.

Subjects

Art, American -- 20th century.
Art, American.
Painters -- United States.
Sculptors -- United States.
Upper class -- United States.
Women artists -- United States.
Women painters -- United States.
Women sculptors -- United States.

Genres and Forms

Articles.
Clippings (information artifacts)
Correspondence.
Diaries.
Genealogies (histories)
Notebooks.
Photographs.
Scrapbooks.
Sketchbooks.
Sketches.

Occupations

Artists.
Painters.
Sculptors.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Harriet Randolph Hyatt Mayor Papers
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Table of Contents

Correspondence

Subject files

Photographs

Manuscripts

Published material

Duplicates

Inventory