Moses Sperry Beach and family papers
Call Number
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Language of Materials
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.
Subjects
Organizations
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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.
Repository
Series I. Volumes, 1844-1905, inclusive
Letter book (in French), 1844-1845, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Covering July 31, 1844 through August 7, 1845.
Beach Brothers, New York Sun articles of co-partnership, accounts, etc., 1844-1855, 1848 Nov. 27, inclusive
Ledger, 1845-1860, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Covering September 2, 1845 through December 31, 1860, and including "Moses S. Beach, in a/c with The Sun Establishment," July 8, 1853 through June 27, 1857.
Letterpress copybook, 1850-1851, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Beach Brothers and Moses Sperry Beach, New York Sun. Covering August 12, 1850 through June 26, 1851.
Scrapbook (1 of 3), 1851, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Containing mostly Moses S. Beach's editorials from the New York Sun, with a pamphlet issued by the newspaper of "Practical Hints for a Tour in Europe."
Scrapbook (2 of 3), 1858-1867, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Moses S. Beach editorials and travel articles from the New York Sun. With a prospectus and passenger list for the "Excursion to the Holy Land, Egypt, the Crimea, Greece, and Intermediate Points of Interest" aboard the steamer "Quaker City," the tour famously lampooned in Mark Twain's chronicle, The Innocents Abroad (1869). Moses S. Beach and his daughter, Emmeline Buckingham Beach, were among the passengers.
Scrapbook (3 of 3), 1867-1869, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Moses S. Beach. With earlier and later material, such as continued accounts of the "Quaker City" steamer's journey to the Holy Land, and a tipped-in letter from Henry Ward Beecher to a Mr. Pond, dated Albany, January 2, 1877. A Harper's Weekly cartoon pokes fun at Alfred E. Beach's pneumatic subway, November 2, 1867.
Travel diary, 1851, 1873, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Covering the Beach family's European tours of 1851 (April 16 through August 31), and 1873 (April 26 through May 21).
Album, 1851, inclusive
Scope and Contents
A compilation of engraved images of the various sites the Beach family visited during their European tour of 1851.
Journal [ledger], 1861-1868, inclusive
Scope and Contents
"Journal—M. & C. Beach" [Moses & Chloe Beach], recording expenses for January 1, 1861 through December 31, 1868.
Manifold book, 1873, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Covering April 26 through December 20, 1873, and containing "Travel Siftings," a diary in letter form of the Beach family's European tour.
Checkbook, 1877-1879, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Stubs for checks written April 20, 1877 through September 13, 1879. Also contains miscellaneous New York Sun accounts of the 1860s.
Diary, 1875-1897, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Diary kept by Ella Beach for the period June 1, 1875 through January 2, 1897.
Manifold book, 1878, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Ella Beach's diary in letter form of a European tour, April 9 through November 8, 1878.
Album, 1896, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Violet Beach's album containing photographs and ephemera of various European locales, 1896.
Album, 1905, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Violet Beach's album of mass-produced images, postcards, and ephemera of various European locales, 1905.
Series II. Loose papers, 1843-1923, inclusive
Brooklyn Trinidad Asphalt Pavement Company, 1870, 1871, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Agreement between the Brooklyn Trinidad Asphalt Pavement Company of the City of Brooklyn and Moses S. Beach et al., October 12, 1870. With an undated letter and two proxies dated May 6, 1871 appointing Moses S. Beach power of attorney in company business for brothers Evander W. Ranney (1811–1888) and James W. Ranney (1824–1889). "Trinidad asphalt" was a type of paving material.
Brazos, San Bernard and Oyster Creek Canal and Navigation Company, 1850, inclusive
Scope and Contents
An Act to incorporate the Brazos, San Bernard and Oyster Creek Canal and Navigation Company [Brazos River Valley, Texas], February 11, 1850.
Court transcript—In Chancery of New Jersey, Moses Y. Beach et al., against receivers of Plainfield Bank, 1847, inclusive
Scope and Contents
". . . a true copy of the bill in the case wherein Moses Y. Beach, Moses S. Beach, and Henry D. Beach is complainant, and Joseph C. Hamilton, John L. Darcy, Daniel Dodd Jr., and Joel Dunn, receivers of the Plainfield Bank are defendants," sworn September 11, 1847; filed December 8, 1847.
Passports—Moses Sperry Beach, 1841, 1851, 1866, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• French passport no. 967 issued May 29, 1841 to Moses S. Beach (1822–1892), accompanied by his brother, Joseph P. Beach (1828–1911).
• United States passport no. 973 issued April 1, 1851 to Moses S. Beach (1822–1892) accompanied by his wife [Chloe (Buckingham) Beach (1827–1903)]
• United States passport no. 28,167 issued October 2, 1866 to Moses S. Beach (1822–1892), accompanied by his daughters [C. Ella Beach (1857–1938) and Violet Beach (1868–1946)]
Portrait—Moses Yale Beach, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Engraved portrait of Moses Yale Beach (1800–1868) by Samuel Sartain (1830–1906), Philadelphia. Water damaged.
Real property—Arkansas—Craighead and Woodruff Counties, 1880–1923, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• Indentures (2) between James Milward Holmes and Marianne Oakes Holmes of Birmingham, Warwick, England, and Moses S. Beach of Brooklyn, New York, for property in Craighead and Woodruff counties, Arkansas, November 8, 1880.
• Warranty deeds (4) for property in Monroe, Jackson, and Woodruff counties, Arkansas, 1921, 1923.
• With a letter, April 24, 1890, from James Carson, land agent, Jonesboro, Arkansas, inviting "Miss Beach " and "W. B. Beach" to his home, and a newspaper clipping from the Spirit of Arkansas, November 15, 1881, describing the woods ordered by Moses S. Beach ("oak, sycamore, sassafras, black walnut, ash, holly") to furnish the interior of his residence at Peekskill, New York.
Real property—New York—Dutchess County, 1860, 1870, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Memorandum of agreement, J. Boorman, seller, and Moses S. Beach, buyer, Sunny Brook Farm, Hyde Park, November 10, 1860. With an advertisement clipped from the Commercial Advertiser, February 8, 1870, offering the same property for sale.
Real property—New York—Kings County, 1851, 1858, 1866, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• Power of attorney, Moses S. Beach and Chloe B. Beach, to Alfred E. Beach, to convey or lease real estate in New York and Brooklyn, March 31, 1851.
• Abstract of the title of Moses Y. Beach to a lot of land situate on the northeast corner of Cranberry and Willow Streets, Brooklyn, June 21, 1858.
• Lease, Robert C. Bell, for property owned by Moses S. Beach on the west side of Third Avenue north of 26th Street, Brooklyn, September 12, 1866.
Real property—New York—New York County, 1853 March 28
Scope and Contents
Lease, Alexander T. Stewart, for rent of the house owned by Moses S. Beach at 35 Reade Street (Manhattan), for the year beginning May 1, 1853.
Real property—New York—Westchester County, 1870, 1871, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• Deed, M. Georgine Schnitzspahn, Ferdinand Schnitzspahn, Adeline M. Darrow, and John C. Darrow, to Moses S. Beach, property at Cortland, Westchester County, November 1, 1870.
• Deed, John H. Parsons to Chloe B. Beach, property at Cortland, Westchester County, January 18, 1871.
Real property—Pennsylvania—Pike County, 1843, inclusive
Scope and Contents
"A corrected draft of 3 tract[s] of land situated in Upper Smithfield Township, Pike County," or "Map of Fritchler Property in Penna.," May 11, 1843.
Miscellaneous, 1851, 1866, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• Receipt for filing and docketing judgment in the Court of Common Pleas for the City and County of New York, in the case of Moses S. Beach and Alfred E. Beach against G. Benjamin Smith, January 27, 1851.
• Bishop & Rein, Importers & Manufacturers of Fine Jewelry, etc., receipt for "1 coral necklace" sold to Mrs. Beach, February 2, 1866.
• Valuation of mortgages held by the estate of Charles Y. Beach (1847–1917), undated.