Finding Aid for Alanson T. Briggs records, 1901-1913, 1901-1910 (bulk)

• Descriptive Summary
• Biographical Note
• Scope and Contents Note
• Arrangement Note
• Series Descriptions/Container List
  • Series I. NYPL General, 1901-1911
  • Series II. Correspondence, 1901-1913
  • Series III. Statistics and Budget, 1902-1911
  • Series IV. Sites, 1901-1913
  • Series V. Reports & Charts, 1904-1911

Access Restrictions

Access to the collection is restricted to qualified scholars and researchers through the Office of Special Collections, Room 316.

Preferred Citation

Alanson T. Briggs Records, The New York Public Library Archives, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

Born in 1871 in Roselle, New Jersey, Alanson T. Briggs was the eldest son of Reverend Dr. Charles A. Briggs, theologian and professor of Hebrew at Union Theological Seminary. In 1892 Alanson graduated from Columbia College and. After graduating from Columbia Law School, he joined the firm of Olin, Rives and Montgomery. Through his connection with this firm and as private secretary to George L. Rives, one of the original trustees of the NYPL, Briggs became Clerk of The Library's Board of Trustees. Briggs was appointed Agent for Carnegie Sites after the City, in response to Andrew Carnegie's offer of $5,200,000, agreed in 1901 to work with the NYPL in establishing branch libraries in Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx. As agent, Briggs acted as liaison between the City and The Library, in particular the Executive Committee (mainly Rives and Cadwalader) and the Circulation Committee (mainly Billings, Bostwick and later Anderson).

Briggs' main duties as Agent were to assist the Board in selecting sites for branches; to examine and, in conjunction with the Board of Appraisers appointed by the City, to appraise each site approved by the Board; to negotiate the purchase of sites; to report to both the City (the Comptroller and the Board of Estimate and Apportionment) and the Library on the progress of negotiations and construction; and to act as counsel for the Library in any issue connected with the Carnegie program. Briggs worked as Agent for some nine years, until the end of 1910, when the Board relieved him of his position. During this period he also served as Carnegie Agent for the Brooklyn Public Library (appointed February 9, 1903) and for the Queens Public Library (appointed early 1903). Briggs' work as Carnegie Agent in New York City attracted the attention of a group in Oregon, who approached him for help in presenting to Carnegie their request, ultimately successful, for a library for Salem, Oregon.

After leaving NYPL Briggs served as Secretary of the Court House Board and practiced law independently. Around 1931 he moved to California, where he died, in Hollywood, on January 31, 1946.

The papers of the Carnegie Agent span the years 1901 to 1913, with the bulk falling in the period 1901 to 1910. The collection consists of letter books and correspondence; typescript, handwritten and printed reports and memoranda; statistical tables and graphs; appraisals; blue prints; deeds; insurance policies; photographs; sketches; clippings; petitions; and invitations to the opening of most of the branch libraries.

While most of the collection pertains to the NYPL Carnegie branches, Briggs' records also contain material on other topics of interest. In addition to the folders containing general information on Carnegie sites in Brooklyn and Queens, there are printed, typescript and handwritten reports, tables and graphs, statistics, and the budgets relating to these two library systems, as well as to the NYPL. The collection also contains a transcript of New York State Library laws (Box 2); memoranda on the history of the New York, Brooklyn and Queens public libraries (Box 2); and material relating to a conflict between the libraries and the Bookbinders' Union (Box 1); to the sale of the Lenox Library building (Box 1); and to the Central Building on 42nd Street (Box 1). Of particular interest are photographs of the Carnegie sites under construction, contained in the Report of the Agent, 1 Apr. 1904 (Box 23 Folder 1).

The collection is organized into five series whose internal arrangement usually reflects the original order of the material. The five series are: I. NYPL General; II. Correspondence; III. Statistics and Budgets; IV. Sites; V. Reports and Charts

Although loose correspondence has been rearranged and grouped by year, in general material within each folder has been left unarranged. The series of site files has been arranged by site, but not consecutively. This reflects the order in which Briggs worked on the Carnegie sites and the priorities of the Library's branch program.