The Alexander T. Stewart collection contains around 300 letters that Stewart received from strangers requesting financial assistance, employment, and other means of support. Many commented on the Civil War's negative economic impact on their lives, particularly in the South.
The majority of the letters are dated 1865-1876, including a large group (around 215 items) dated 1869-1870. Stewart's correspondents requested loans, donations, or employment; some wrote more than once. Writers include war widows, former soldiers, and others who had been affected by the war, particularly in the South. Many provided details of recent financial hardships, such as spouses' or parents' deaths, unemployment, and the effects of the Civil War, and some provided character witnesses or references. A soldier requested money for a camp stove (January 6, 1865); another man requested help after having difficulty collecting loans from southern borrowers (February 27, 1862); and a third writer mentioned displaced persons in South Carolina (March 9, 1867). Correspondents occasionally enclosed carte-de-visite portraits or newspaper clippings, and some pasted return postage onto their letters. The letters reveal the authors' views on wealth, social status, employment, and philanthropy in the Reconstruction-era United States.
Stewart received letters from correspondents in states including Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The few items that are not begging letters include a letter that Alexander T. Stewart wrote about his business affairs with P. Whitin & Sons (September 30, 1861) and a letter offering Stewart medical advice (April 7, 1873).
The collection contains 4 printed items: a ticket to a charity festival at the Astor House (February 22, 1855), 2 newspaper articles relating to Alexander T. Stewart, and a printed advertisement for A.T. Stewart & Co.'s store (September 23, 1871).
Alexander Turney Stewart was born in Lisburn, Ireland (now Northern Ireland), on October 12, 1803, the son of Alexander Stewart and Margaret Turney. He attended Belfast College and imigrated to New York City in 1818, where he worked as a tutor. After traveling to Ireland to collect an inheritance, Stewart returned to New York and opened a store on Broadway in 1823. His business grew quickly, aided by new retail methods. In 1846, Stewart constructed the "Marble Palace" to house his retail and wholesale dry-goods businesses; in 1850, Stewart's business expanded to become the city's largest dry-goods store. In 1862, Stewart relocated his retail business to the "Iron Palace," and he later opened auxiliary offices in other U.S. and European cities. Stewart was known for his philanthropic efforts, which included assistance for Irish citizens during the famine of the 1840s, donations to the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, and compensation for victims of the Great Chicago Fire. In 1869, Stewart founded Garden City, Long Island, with the intention of supplying affordable homes to working-class families. He and his wife, Cornelia Mitchell Clinch, were married in 1823. Alexander T. Stewart died on April 10, 1876.
