Burlingame, Sara Lee. "The Making of a Spoilsman: The Life and Career of Roscoe Conkling from 1829 to 1873." Ph.D. dissertation, Johns Hopkins University, 1974.
CONKLING, Roscoe
1829–1888
Biography
CONKLING, Roscoe, (son of Alfred Conkling and brother of Frederick Augustus Conkling), a Representative and a Senator from New York; born in Albany, N.Y., October 30, 1829; moved with his parents to Auburn, N.Y., in 1839; completed an academic course; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1850 and commenced practice in Utica, N.Y.; district attorney for Oneida County in 1850; mayor of Utica 1858; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1859-March 3, 1863); chairman, Committee on District of Columbia (Thirty-seventh Congress); unsuccessful candidate in 1862 for reelection; elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses and served from March 4, 1865, until he resigned to become Senator, effective March 4, 1867; elected in 1867 as a Republican to the United States Senate; reelected in 1873 and again in 1879 and served from March 4, 1867, until May 16, 1881, when he resigned as a protest against the federal appointments made in New York State; was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by his own resignation; chairman, Committee on Revision of the Laws of the United States (Fortieth through Forty-third Congresses), Committee on Commerce (Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, and Forty-seventh Congresses), Committee on Engrossed Bills (Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses); resumed the practice of law in New York City; declined to accept a nomination to the United States Supreme Court in 1882; died in New York City, on April 18, 1888; interment in Forest Hill Cemetery, Utica, N.Y.
View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
[ Top ]External Research Collections
Boston Public Library
Boston, MA
Papers:
6 items.
Brooklyn Historical Society
Brooklyn, NY
Papers:
November 14, 1883. 1 letter.
Cornell University
Rare Books and Manuscript Collections
Ithaca, NY
Papers:
Correspondence in the Alonzo B. Cornell papers, 1830-1904; Ezra Cornell papers, 1828-1936; and David J. Millard papers, [ca.1819]-1874. Finding aid.
Henry E. Huntington Library
San Marino, CA
Papers:
32 letters in Samuel Latham Mitchell Barlow papers, 1798-1905. Congressional correspondence. Finding aid.
Indiana State Library
Indianapolis, IN
Papers:
Correspondence in the Benjamin Harrison papers, 1841-1900. In part, copies of Harrison papers in the Library of Congress.
Jervis Public Library
Rome, NY
Papers:
Dinner invitation (1865) in Thomas C. Bright autograph collection.
Library of Congress
Manuscript Division
Washington, DC
Papers:
1769-1895. 150 Items. Includes personal and political correspondence, printed matter, and papers relating to family history. Available on 1 microfilm reel.
Additional Papers:
Correspondence (1849-1888) in Harold J. Jonas collection of Conkling materials, 1822-1962. In part transcripts and photographs.
Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute
Utica, NY
Papers:
Miscellaneous items relating to Conkling.
New Jersey Historical Society
Newark, NJ
Papers:
Correspondence in Joseph P. Bradley papers, 1836-1937.
New-York Historical Society
New York, NY
Papers:
1863-1886. 23 items and a portrait.
New York Public Library
New York, NY
Papers:
Correspondence in Levi Parsons Morton papers, 1868-1920.
New York State Library
Manuscripts and Special Collections
Albany, NY
Papers:
Letters (1855-1879) in various collections including the Rutger Bleeker papers, 1771-1892; Seymour family papers, 1711-1912; Elbridge Gerry Spaulding papers, 1834-1907; Gilbert Hilton Scribner papers, 1868-1911; Edwin Denison Morgan papers, 1830-1872; Samuel Ludlow Frey papers, 1706-1912; John Augustus Griswold papers, ca. 1837-1895; and Charles Lanman collection, 1829-1869 (bulk 1855-1869).
Oneida Historical Society
Utica, NY
Papers:
1859-1881. 18 items. Correspondence and legal papers.
Pierpont Morgan Library
New York, NY
Papers:
1863-1878. 4 items.
Syracuse University
George Arents Research Library
Syracuse, NY
Papers:
1863-1884. 27 letters. Outgoing political correspondence.
Additional Papers:
13 letters in the Gerrit Smith papers, 1864-1874; correspondence in the Joseph Warren Keifer papers, 1858-1929 (bulk 1881-1883); David Bennett Hill papers, 1885-1910; and Charles B. Sedgwick papers, 1814-1891. Finding aid.
University of the Pacific
Holt-Atherton Pacific Center for Western Studies
Stockton, CA
Papers:
Correspondence in George Arthur Bell autograph and manuscript collection, 1779-ca. 1900.
University of Rochester
Rush Rhees Library
Rochester, NY
Papers:
30 letters by and 4 to Conkling (1849-1877) in various collections. Finding aid.
Yale University Libraries
Manuscripts and Archives
New Haven, CT
Papers:
Correspondence in Alexander Stewart Webb papers, 1818-1930; Edwards Pierrepont papers, 1813-1902; Thomas Collier Platt papers, 1851-1915; and Carrington family papers, 1749 1929. Finding aid.
Winterthur Museum
Winterthur, DE
Papers:
Correspondence in Salem Howe Wales papers, 1837-1908.
Research Libraries Information Network
In addition to the institutions listed above, items are also cataloged in collections at: Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, AL; Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, NY; Brown University, Providence, RI; Cortland County Historical Society, Cortland, NY; Onondaga Historical Association, Syracuse, NY; University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, IA; University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library, Ann Arbor, MI.
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Bibliography / Further Reading
Chidsey, Donald Barr. The Gentleman from New York: A Life of Roscoe Conkling. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1935.
Conkling, Alfred Ronald. The Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling, Orator, Statesman, Advocate. New York: C.L. Webster & Co., 1889.
Fry, James Barnet. The Conkling and Blaine-Fry Controversy in 1866. New York: Press of A.G. Sherwood & Co., 1893.
Hollenbach, James Barry. "The Political Speaking of Roscoe Conkling of New York." Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio University, 1973.
Jordan, David M. Roscoe Conkling of New York: Voice in the Senate. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1971.
McClain, Charles J. "From the Huntington Papers: The Huntington-Conkling Connection." Pacific Historian 29 (Winter 1985): 31-46.