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Nathan Lewis Miller Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: KM
Date: Aug 1989

Biographical History

Nathan Lewis Miller (1868-1953) was an American conservative politician and attorney. He was New York State Comptroller from 1901 to 1903 and sat on the New York State Supreme Court from 1903-1915. He served as Governor of New York (1921-1922) and as General Counsel of U.S. Steel Corporation (1925- ).

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Nathan Lewis Miller Papers comprise correspondence, legal briefs, memorabilia, and writings of the lawyer and New York State Governor (1921-1922). Spanning the years 1902 to 1958, the collection reflects Miller's public life as New York State Comptroller, State Supreme Court Justice, and Governor as well as his private law practice and his service as General Counsel for United States Steel Corporation.

The correspondence (Box 1) is arranged chronologically with a selected index of correspondents at the end of the inventory, and is in both volume and substance most heavily concentrated in the 1920s. An activist in both state and national Republican Party politics, Miller included among his correspondents Calvin Coolidge, Thomas Dewey, John Foster Dulles, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Herbert Hoover, Charles Evans Hughes, Cordell Hull, Alfred M. Landon, Herbert Lehman, Franklin Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Robert F. Wagner and Wendell Willkie. In addition to the political correspondence are a number of letters involving Miller's trusteeship of Cornell University and several others which concern financial matters.

Boxes 2-4 of the collection contain printed legal briefs for four of Miller's cases, memorabilia, including photographs and a scrapbook of obituaries, and writings. The writings include two drafts and the printed version of Miller's theory about the authorship of Shakespeare's plays, a printed copy of his autobiographical Recollections (1953), and three volumes of speeches, mostly in mimeographed form, from the 1922 gubernatorial campaign.

In addition, there are 6 oversized packages of memorabilia, including two commissions, two photograph albums, one photograph, and five scrapbooks, dated 1921-1922. One of the scrapbooks contains mainly newspaper cartoons and photographs of Miller, while the others are mostly newspaper clippings.

Arrangement of the Collection

Correspondence is arranged chronologically. Other material is arranged alphabetically by type or title.

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.

Subject Headings

Persons

Blough, Roger M. (Roger Miles), 1904-1985.
Coolidge, Calvin, 1872-1933.
Coughlin, Richard.
Crandall, Charles H. (Charles Henry), 1858-1923.
Crane, Frederick E. (Frederick Evan), 1869-1947.
Dewey, Thomas E. (Thomas Edmund), 1902-1971.
Dulles, John Foster, 1888-1959.
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969.
Fairless, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1890-
Farley, James A. (James Aloysius), 1888-1976.
Farrand, Livingston, 1867-1939.
Fawcett, James Waldo, 1893-1968.
Fiske, Haley, 1852-1929.
Forbes, Edgar Allen, 1872-
Glynn, George A.
Hays, Will H. (Will Harrison), 1879-1954.
Herter, Christian Archibald, 1895-1966.
Hobson, Richmond Pearson, 1870-1937.
Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964.
Hughes, Charles Evans, 1862-1948.
Hull, Cordell, 1871-1955.
Lamont, Thomas W. (Thomas William), 1870-1948.
Landon, Alfred M. (Alfred Mossman), 1887-1987.
Lehman, Herbert H. (Herbert Henry), 1878-1963.
Lehman, Irving, 1876-1945.
Lusk, Clayton R. (Clayton Riley), b. 1872.
Mann, Albert Russell, 1880-1947.
Miller, Nathan L., 1868-1953.
Morgan, J. P. (John Pierpont), 1867-1943.
Olds, Irving Sands, 1887-
Proskauer, Joseph M. (Joseph Meyer), 1877-1971.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945.
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1887-1944.
Sampson, Flem D.
Smith, Alfred Emanuel, 1873-1944.
Stettinius, Edward R., Jr. (Edward Reilly), 1900-1949.
Stoddard, Henry L. (Henry Luther), 1861-1947.
Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930.
Taylor, Myron Charles, 1874-1959.
Vandenberg, Arthur H. (Arthur Hendrick), 1884-1951.
Vernon, Paul E. (Paul Egbert), b. 1869.
Voorhees, Enders M. (Enders McClumpha), b. 1891.
Vrooman, Carl Schurz, 1872-1966.
Wadhams, William H. (William Henderson), 1873-1952.
Wakeman, Wilbur F.
Weeks, John W. (John Wingate), 1860-1926.
Wheeler, Everett Pepperrell, 1840-1925.
White, Horace, 1834-1916.
Willkie, Wendell L. (Wendell Lewis), 1892-1944.

Corporate Bodies

Republican Party (N.Y.)
Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )
United States Steel Corporation.

Subjects

Governors -- New York (State)

Places

New York (State) -- Politics and government, 1865-1950.

Genres and Forms

Clippings (information artifacts)
Correspondence.
Photographs.
Scrapbooks.

Occupations

Attorneys.
Governors.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Nathan Lewis Miller Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of the Miller Family and U.S. Steel Corp., 1965 and 1969.

Table of Contents

Correspondence

Legal briefs

Memorabilia

Writings

Selected Index to Correspondence

Inventory

Selected Index to Correspondence