Phipps Family History: May I Have Your Autograph?

In addition to its renowned landscape and fine arts collection, Old Westbury Gardens maintains and preserves other cultural resources that evoke the grand pre-war country place era in American history during which the estate was built.  

The library in Westbury House, for example, contains an interesting collection of books that Jay and Dita Phipps acquired. The collection ranges from rare editions of works by Lord Byron, Anthony Trollope, and Robert Burns, as well as popular books from the mid-20th century such as Crusade in Europe (1948) by Dwight D. Eisenhower (1948) and Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft (1950) by Thor Heyerdahl. 

The Phipps Family Papers Collection held by Old Westbury Gardens contains a small, yet significant, collection of autographs, holographs—a document wholly in the handwriting of its author—and manuscripts signed by notable individuals from a variety of professions, including poets, authors, politicians, and royals such as Walt Whitman, Charlotte Brontë, Theodore Roosevelt, and King James II of England. 

The collection of such items has a long history, which became popular (and profitable) during the mid-19th century.  

As with other aficionados of other pursuits, in late 1800s and early 1900s manuscript collectors emphasized the intellectual and aspirational benefits to collecting autographs, 

…the autograph collector, who extends his interests to the various great and celebrated characters whose letters he possesses, and who become to him, henceforth, intimate associates, since by their correspondence he can enter into their thoughts and feelings, listen to their very words, become familiarized with their manners, and know what they said and did during their most private moments in the seclusion of their households. 

By means of his written treasures he can, at will, enter into close communion with the distinguished of every rank and condition of life; not as a mere spectator, standing in the crowd, catching a passing glance when in solemn pomp they march across the stage of life, but as a near acquaintance to whom they appear. 

Yet, in due course, they emphasized the financial gains as exceptionally important to the collecting of such documents.  

Letters of mere Bishops, Peers, Members of Parliament, &c . , unless the writers are otherwise distinguished, are quite unsaleable. …For one's own private collection the limits may be extended according to choice, but he would be unwise who expended money on letters which are never at all likely to realise their cost. …Perhaps the most important consideration for the collector is how to estimate the value of autographs. To learn the reasons which influence the different prices of letters of men of equal eminence. 

A Manual for the Autograph Collector, by Henry T. Scott, M.D. , L.R.C.P. (London, 1898) 

This noble pursuit by serious “collectors” was in contrast to  

…the “Autograph Fiend” (the phrase is, I believe, American in its origin), who pesters, often with unpardonable persistence, well known personages for their signatures in albums or on photographs, and the discriminating collector who accumulates for the benefit of posterity either important documents or the letters of famous men. 

Chats on Autographs by A. M. Broadly (London, 1910) 

The bulk of the Phipps autograph and manuscript collection were purchased from the Anderson Auction Company, which through acquisitions was absorbed into Sotheby’s. 

Among the items in the Phipps autograph collection are 

• 1890 Manuscript of Walt Whitman’s first draft of “The Patrol at Barnegat.” When published Whitman titled the work “Patroling [sic.] Barnegat.” 

• 1883 Manuscript/Holograph of the “America” (“My Country, 'Tis of Thee”) by Samuel F. Smith  

• 1900 Typescript speech with hand-written notes by Theodore Roosevelt on his acceptance of the Republican Vice Presidency nomination—a nomination he reluctantly accepted. 

Questions remain about this collection of autographs and manuscripts—particularly what motivated the Phipps to acquire these documents. This will be one of the projects archive specialist Drew Fullshire will research as he continues his cataloging of the Phipps Collection.  

~Paul Hunchak, Director of Public Programs and Visitor Services