A.B. Crane, Correspondence from, 1891-1907

The Garrett Papers are built around former B and O President Robert Garrett and his wife Mary F. Jacobs. In a general sense, the most valuable aspect of the collection in terms of research is the correspondence. The bulk of the collection is made up of the correspondence of Robert Garrett, his wife, their private secretary, Mr. A.B. Crane, Miss Mary E. Garrett and others in some fashion connected with the Garretts. Also included are numbrous accounts, bills and receipts. The nature of materials in the collection is oriented toward the personal business, activities and concerns of the Garrett family. While Robert Garrett's connection with the B and O Railroad and the banking house of Robert Garrett and Sons is evident, many such references are tangential to private concerns. The only portion of the collection dealing extensively with B and O business is the Field-Garrett telegraph controversy material. Dated May through September 1885, this related to efforts by Jay Gould and Cyrus Field of Western Union to purchase the B and O Telegraph Company and Robert Garrett's resistence to the proposal. Robert Garrett's letterbooks also deal with some B and O business, but to a rather limited extent. There is no significant material in the collection relating to the banking house of Robert Garrett and Sons.

The Garrett's life style and personal activities are the [UNK] of this collection. Robert Garrett's club activities, his network of friends and associates along with his private financial dealings are all well-represented. A sensitive man, Garrett was much troubled by the death of William H. Vanderbilt in his presence during a private interview in 1885. Public speculation that he had precipitated Vanderbilt's death through arguing business matters resulted in Garrett's vigorous denial. In two lengthy letters, Garrett patiently explains that he did not excite or inflame Vanderbilt and thus had no hand in his death.

Incidents such as this coupled with the strain of running the B and O pushed Garrett into retirement at the age of 40 in October of 1887. It was barely six months later that Garrett slipped into a severe emotional afflication after hearing of the death of his younger brother Thomas Harrison Garrett. He never recovered from his disability and died at the relatively early age of 49.

Robert Garrett's papers center around the years 1884 to 1887, the height of his involvement with the B and O. Seemingly his personal life was then closely tied to his business activity. Certainly this is somwhat demonstrated by his near isolation after 1887. Many of Garrett's friends and associates were intimately connected with business professions and when he abandoned his own business life, he abandoned his social life as well. To be sure, many associates wrote to Garrett encouraging him to regain his health just after he became ill, but these letters became less numerous and drop off to nothing fairly quickly.

Prior to his infirmity, Garrett was rather involved with the social side of Baltimore. When he married Mary Sloan Frick in 1873, he acquired a mate even more socially inclined than himself. It was probably Mrs. Garrett's idea to expand and renovate their Mt. Vernon Place home; certainly it was her project. This collection contains a good deal of correspondence relating to this work, including a number of letters from McKim, Mead and White. As it was not fitting and proper for a woman to become too visibly involved in business dealings, Garrett's secretary Mr. A.B. Crane handled most of it at her direction. It would not be surprising to find most of the builders and other contractors involved with the effort came to wish they had never taken the job, for Mrs. Garrett was continually dissatisfied with the work done and the prices charged. Crane's correspondence is replete with letters expressing Garrett's displeasure over one thing or another and her unwavering insistence that it be rectified. Stanford White of McKim, Mead and White proved to be a most adroit diplomat and managed to keep the work going despite the many disputes. His letters to Crane and Mrs. Garrett were always rational, cordial and often empathetic. The Garrett accounts, bills and receipts as they relate to No. 11 Mt. Vernon Place are useful in that they fully illustrate the work materials and effort involved in the project. It can be seen that a number of firms were forced to re-submit and even alter their bills due to Mrs. Garrett's intransigence.

Mrs. Garrett did not appreciably slacken the pace of her life style when her husband fell into near disability. Accounts, bills and receipts from numerous European trips can be found in the collection, many dating later than 1888. Work also continued unabated at 11 Mt. Vernon Place. Furthermore, a number of letters dating from the 1890's to the 1900's evince a significant involvement of Mrs. Garrett with the Colonial Dames of America. Also, Mrs. Jacobs' continuing support of the Robert Garrett Hospital for Children is discernable through the numerous accounts, bills and receipts connected with that institution in the collection. After her marriage to her husband's former personal physician Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs in 1902, Mrs. Jacobs' papers become less numerous possibly because they were being kept by somebody not associated with the Garrett family.

Mr. A.B. Crane's correspondence does not for the most part relate to his own personal affairs. First as private secretary to Robert Garrett at the B and O and then as personal agent to Miss Mary E. Garrett, Mrs. Robert Garrett as well as Garrett himself, Crane handled a good deal of family business. Much of it deals with work at No. 11 Mt. Vernon Place as well as the hiring of domestic servants. His fundamental role in the performance of Garrett family business makes his correspondence rather valuable for research purposes. Mary E., Robert and Mrs. Robert Garrett all directed him to act for them; this connection is well documented in the collection.

The only personal material relating to Crane involves his two sons and their difficulties at Dickinson Preparatory School around the turn of the century.

The quantity of material relating to Mary E. Garrett in this collection minimal. Most of what is contained in her papers are letters requesting financial aid. On many such requests, Miss Garrett has written a response and forwarded it to Crane for him to relate to the sender. Her outgoing correspondence is for the most part directed to Crane directing him to perform various corresponding duties for her. While the material here is useful to some extent, its research potential is not extensive.

The remaining correspondence in the collection concerns Garrett business and interests similar to those already described. There are groupings of correspondence connected with Robert Garrett secretaries/agents Dr. William B. Barnard and William E. Guy as well as letters to and from various Garrett family members, including John W. Garrett.

Other materials in the collection also deal mostly with Garrett private matters. These papers, although not as numerous as the correspondence or the accounts, bills and receipts, are highly interesting in their own right as they are in many cases very informative. They deal in financial and legal areas as well as in numerous others.