John Hay Whitney and Betsey Cushing Whitney family papers

The collection, spanning the decades of the 1820s to the 1990s, provides a substantive resource for the study of the private and public lives of the Whitney family, a prominent American family widely known for its members’ engagement in business, public service, government service, publishing, philanthropy, horse racing and breeding, and fine art collecting. While the majority of the papers document the lives of John Hay Whitney and Betsey Cushing Whitney, principally from the 1950s to the 1990s, there are also materials on their family members, particularly John M. Hay, Payne Whitney, Helen Hay Whitney, Joan Whitney Payson, Harvey Cushing, and Kate Crowell Cushing. Material on many of these family members, especially John Hay Whitney and Betsey Cushing Whitney, are found throughout the collection and each series must be consulted to find applicable papers.

The private lives of the Hays, Whitneys, and Cushings, are documented through correspondence, diaries, financial records, property records, photographs and scrapbooks, newspaper and magazine clippings, and estate files. These materials can be used to study family milestones, including births, deaths, and marriages; the properties they acquired and in which they lived; their financial and investment profiles; family social networks; travels; and cultural pursuits. There are extensive files on the art collection amassed by John Hay Whitney and Betsey Cushing Whitney and their support of various charitable causes, especially in the fields of medicine, education, and art.

The business files in the collection are mostly from the 1960s to the 1990s. John Hay Whitney’s professional life as one of the country’s first venture capitalists and his development of J. H. Whitney & Company in 1946; his founding of Pioneer Pictures in 1934, which introduced and developed Technicolor movies; and his purchase and management of the New York Herald Tribune in 1957 are documented through correspondence, financial records, legal files, and audio recordings. The most substantive material related to his ambassadorship is his speech files from 1957 to 1961. There is limited documentation on his involvement with the Republican Party and support of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Helen Hay Whitney’s writing career is documented through various short writings, some of which appear to be unpublished, and correspondence with friends and family members. There is only minimal documentation of Payne Whitney’s business interests and John M. Hay’s government service, and no documentation on Joan Whitney Payson’s ownership of the New York Mets. Materials on Harvey Cushing, Kate Crowell Cushing and their daughters Barbara, Mary, and Betsey, include correspondence, biographical materials, diaries, and photographs. The collection also includes a limited amount of correspondence, topical files, newspaper clippings, and photographs documenting the relationships of Betsey Cushing Whitney and James Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Eleanor Roosevelt during the 1930s when James Roosevelt was married to Betsey Cushing Whitney.