Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series IX: Secretary's Correspondence
Scope and Content Note
This series consists chiefly of correspondence to and from the office of Henry Clay Frick's Pittsburgh secretary regarding payroll, staffing issues, bills, taxes, insurance, and other unfinished business matters. The bulk of these files consist of letters, cables, and notes between Henry Clay Frick and F.W. McElroy, who joined Frick's staff as secretary in 1902. Among other topics, their letters discuss checks issued, payments to be made, appointments, meetings, and travel arrangements. McElroy was employed in Frick's office until 1915. Other members of Frick's staff represented in these files include his New York secretaries Alice Braddel and Ida Mary Brock, W.J. Naughton, who joined the staff as assistant secretary in 1905, and C.F. Chubb, who replaced McElroy in 1915.
Correspondence with staff at Frick's various residences can also be found in this series, particularly during the period in which Frick leased the Vanderbilt mansion at 640 Fifth Avenue in New York. Letters from stewards Joseph Holroyd and J.C. Congreve, housekeepers Florence Bain and Christy Mersereau, choreman Percy Martin, chauffeur Georges Despres, coachman James Elmore, chef Spencer Ford, caretaker John Holroyd, butler W.G. Mason, and gardener David Fraser generally concern payroll, staff, and bills, but sometimes give a glimpse into the mood and workings of the Frick household.
Members of Frick's immediate family occasionally corresponded with the Pittsburgh office as well. Frick's wife Adelaide H.C. Frick, son Childs Frick, and daughter Helen Clay Frick wrote to advise of travel plans, give instructions, and forward bills for payment. Additional correspondents represented in this series include John E. Shaw, renting agent at the Frick Building, Frick Building Annex, and Union Arcade Building in Pittsburgh, and D.B. Kinch, who superintended various construction projects for Frick, including his New York residence at One East 70th Street. Later materials in this series, particularly those from the 1920s and 1930s, often relate to the settlement of debts by tenants in Frick's Pittsburgh office buildings.
Dates
- 1902-1936, undated
Creator
- Frick, Henry Clay, 1849-1919 (Person)
Access Restrictions
These records are open for research by appointment under the conditions of
Biographical Note
Henry Clay Frick was born 19 December 1849, in West Overton, Pa. One of six children, his parents were John W. Frick, a farmer, and Elizabeth Overholt, the daughter of a whiskey distiller and flour merchant. Frick ended his formal education in 1866, and began work as a clerk at an uncle's store in Mt. Pleasant, Pa. In 1871, Frick borrowed money to purchase a share in a coking concern that would eventually become the H.C. Frick Coke Co. Over the next decade, Frick expanded his business through the acquisition of more coal lands and coke ovens, and partnered with fellow industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1882. He assumed the chairmanship of Carnegie Bros. & Co. (later Carnegie Steel Co.) in 1889. During his tenure as chairman, differences between Frick and Carnegie emerged, most significantly in their approach to labor issues. Their relationship became further strained after the 1892 Homestead Strike, and in 1899, Frick resigned from Carnegie Steel Co.
Frick married Adelaide Howard Childs of Pittsburgh in 1881. The couple purchased a house (which they called Clayton) in Pittsburgh's East End, and had four children: Childs Frick (1883-1965), Martha Howard Frick (1885-1891), Helen Clay Frick (1888-1984), and Henry Clay Frick, Jr. (born 1892, died in infancy). After his break with Carnegie in 1899, Frick began spending less time in Pittsburgh. In 1905, he signed a ten-year lease on the Vanderbilt mansion at 640 Fifth Avenue in New York, and built an elaborate summer residence (Eagle Rock) on Boston's North Shore, which was completed in 1906 . Though Frick maintained his status as a Pittsburgh resident for the remainder of his life, he and his family chiefly divided their time between Massachusetts and New York. In 1907, Frick purchased land at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 70th Street in New York City. Construction of the new Frick residence, designed by Thomas Hastings of the firm Carrère and Hastings, began in 1912, after the demolition of the Lenox Library formerly on the site. The family moved into the house at One East 70th Street in the fall of 1914, and Henry Clay Frick died there on 2 December 1919.
Extent
2.3 Linear feet (6 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), a Pittsburgh industrialist who made his fortune in coke and steel, was also a prominent art collector. This series consists chiefly of letters to and from his Pittsburgh secretary regarding payroll, staffing issues, bills, taxes, insurance, and other unfinished business matters.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by correspondent.
Provenance
Gift of the Helen Clay Frick Foundation, 2015.
Processing Information
Arranged and described by Julie Ludwig, 2014, with funding from the Helen Clay Frick Foundation.
- Title
- Finding Aid for the Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series IX: Secretary's Correspondence, 1902-1936, undated HCFF.01.09
- Subtitle
- Part of the Frick Family Papers
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Arranged and described by Julie Ludwig.
- Date
- © 2014 The Frick Collection. All rights reserved.
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives Repository
