Correspondence
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Lay, Oliver Ingraham, 1845-1890
label: Collection Creator
content: Lay, Charles Downing, 1877-1956
setName: label: See more items in
content: Oliver Ingraham Lay, Charles Downing Lay, and Lay Family papers
label: See more items in
content: Oliver Ingraham Lay, Charles Downing Lay, and Lay Family papers / Series 1: Oliver Ingraham Lay and Marian Wait Lay Papers
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1814-1944
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.layoliv, Subseries 1.2
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The files are organized according to family members' surname; material within each folder is arranged chronologically.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Included are letters between Oliver Ingraham Lay and Marian Wait Lay, as well as the respective correspondence files of Oliver Ingraham Lay, Marian Wait Lay, Wilfrid Lay (Oliver's son), Charles Downing, and various family members, reflecting the mutual interaction between friends, acquaintances, and colleagues. Topics include daily events, personal reflections, creative activities, trips, and residences. 

Oliver Ingraham Lay's letters to family members and friends describe his painting activities, working methods, and projects, including his commissioned portraits for Edwin Booth and Cyrus Field. Many contain references to Lay's prominent clients, such as Cornelia Curtis and family, Frederick and Mathilda Shelton, and Mary Shannon and the Shannon family. Also found are letters from Alexander Lawrie discussing his painting and financial difficulties. Lay's letters contain references to his colleagues, Henry Bellows, Fidelia Bridges, Sanford Gifford, Jervis McEntee, and William Trost Richards, among others. There are scattered references to Lay's exhibitions at the Artists' Fund Society, the Brooklyn Society of Artists, and the Century Association. One letter to Annie Brown describes his meeting with Oscar Wilde at the Century Association. 

Condolence letters to Marian Lay upon Oliver Ingraham Lay's death include letters from Fidelia Bridges and George Henry Story.  A file of transcriptions contains miscellaneous correspondence and two theatrical scenarios by Lay, reflecting the artist's enduring interest in the stage productions of his day.   

Also of interest, are items found in the correspondence files of Lay family members. Charles Downing's letters to Marian Wait Lay discuss his experimental fruit plantings conducted at his residence in Newburgh, New York.  The Brown family correspondence contains numerous references to Fidelia Bridges; also found is an illustrated letter from Annie Brown to Oliver Ingraham Lay. Letters exchanged between Samuel Wait and his son and namesake, Samuel, wholesale dealers in cattle and grain illustrate the manner in which mercantile activities were conducted during the early half of the nineteenth century.