Moses Sperry Beach and family papers
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Abstract
Papers of newspaper editor Moses Sperry Beach (1822–1892) and family. With his brother, Alfred Ely Beach (1826–1896), Beach owned and edited the New York Sun between 1848 and 1868. In addition to accounts of the newspaper's operation and some personal expenses, the collection includes Beach's dispatches from his journey to the Mediterranean and the Holy Land aboard the steamer Quaker City (a trip best recalled today through the humorous account of fellow passenger Mark Twain), as well as travel diaries and scrapbooks of other European tours assembled by his daughters.
Biographical note
Moses Sperry Beach (1822–1892), the son of newspaper publisher Moses Yale Beach (1800–1868) and Nancy (Day) Beach (1802–1880), acquired from his father control of the New York Sun in 1848. The elder Beach had bought the paper from his brother-in-law, Benjamin Day, a decade earlier. Moses S. Beach co-owned the Sun with his brother, the inventor Alfred Ely Beach (1826–1896), until 1852, then edited it alone until selling it in 1868. (Alfred Ely Beach later owned and edited Scientific American, and is best remembered for his experimental pneumatic subway under Broadway.)
Moses S. Beach married Chloe Emmeline Buckingham (1827–1903) in 1845. Among their children were daughters Emmeline Buckingham "Emma" Beach (1849–1924), C. Ella Beach (1857–1938), and Violet Beach (1868–1946), all of whom were frequent traveling companions to Europe.
Arrangement
The collection is organized in two series:
Series I. Volumes, 1844–1905 (in roughly chronological order)
Series II. Loose papers, 1843–1923 (filed by document type)
Scope and Contents
Papers of newspaper publisher Moses Sperry Beach (1822–1892) and family. Along with articles of co-partnership for the New York Sun, which Beach and his brother, Alfred Ely Beach, acquired from their father in 1848, the collection includes scattered accounts and some correspondence from the Sun's operation.
Moses S. Beach and his daughter Emma were passengers on the five-month journey of the Quaker City, a steamer that famously toured Europe and the Holy Land in 1867. Beach published accounts of their travels in the Sun, clippings of which are gathered in two scrapbooks in the collection (Box 2, Volumes 6–7), but it is through the writings of fellow passenger Mark Twain, who lampooned the trip in his wildly popular 1869 book, The Innocents Abroad, that the voyage is best remembered today. The collection includes accounts of other European tours made by Beach and family members, some kept as diaries in letter form, or collected in scrapbooks and albums, as well as three passports issued in 1841, 1851, and 1866.
Longtime residents of Brooklyn Heights, the Beaches also had a home in Peekskill, New York, where their close friend, the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, owned adjoining property. A newspaper clipping in the collection (Box 5, Folder 6) lists the varieties of Arkansas woods ("oak, sycamore, sassafras, black walnut, ash, holly") supplied to furnish the interior of the Beach's Peekskill residence.
A number of deeds, leases, indentures, and other loose papers reflect Moses S. Beach's real estate and business interests in New York City, New York State, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
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Access Restrictions
This collection may be stored offsite. To arrange to consult it, please go to www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Use Restrictions
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org.
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as "Moses Sperry Beach and Family Papers, MS 49, The New York Historical."
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession information for this collection is lacking. It is not described in Arthur J. Breton's 1972 A Guide to the Manuscript Collections of The New-York Historical Society, so it was likely acquired later.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Archivist Joseph Ditta based this finding aid on a typed, undated inventory in February 2026.