Amos Tappan Akerman

February 23, 1821 - December 21, 1880
Year Admitted: 1877
Known For: U.S. Attorney General under President Ulysses S. Grant
Membership Type: Honorary Member

Daniel Appleton

Membership Type: Regular MemberDecember 10, 1785 - March 27, 1849
Year Admitted: 1843
Known For:  Founder of the publishing house D.A. Appleton & Co.

William H. Appleton

January 27, 1814 - October 19, 1899
Year Admitted: 1856
Known For: Publisher who was active in the struggle for international copyright laws, and president of the American Copyright League.
Membership Type: Life Member

Chester A. Arthur

October 5, 1829 - November 18, 1886
Year Admitted: 1866
Known For: 21st President of the United States.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

William H. Aspinwall

December 16, 1807 - January 18, 1875
Year Admitted: 1868
Known For: Founded the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. Established the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

Irving Bacheller

September 26, 1859 -February 24, 1950
Year Admitted: 1906
Known For: Journalist, editor and writer who founded the first modern newspaper syndicate in the United States. Served as a war correspondent in France during WWI. (45th NES President)
Membership Type: Regular Member

Leonard Bacon

February 19, 1802 - December 24, 1881
Year Admitted: 1870
Known For: Editor of the Christian Spectator. Helped to found the New Englander (later the Yale Review) and the Independent.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

George Bancroft

October 3, 1800 - January 17, 1891
Year Admitted: 1866
Known For: Historian and U.S. Secretary of the Navy. Established the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1845. Founding member and first President of the American Geographical Society.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

Frederick A.P. Barnard

May 5, 1809 - April 27, 1889
Year Admitted: 1870
Known For: 10th President of Columbia College and advocate for women’s education. Barnard College is named for him.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

Alfred Smith Barnes

January 28, 1817 - February 17, 1888
Year Admitted: 1864
Known For: Philanthropist and a major benefactor of Cornell University. His company, A.S. Barnes & Co., was leading publisher of textbooks.
Membership Type: Life Member

Lyman Beecher

October 12, 1775 - January 10, 1863
Year Admitted: 1835
Known For: Minister and founder of the American Temperance Society.
Father of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Henry Whitney Bellows

June 11, 1814 - January 30, 1882
Year Admitted: 1870
Known for: Clergyman, planner and president of the U.S. Sanitary Commission. Organizer of the Union League Club of New York and the Century Association, and assisted with the planning and establishment of Cooper Union.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

Cornelius Newton Bliss

January 26, 1833 - October 9, 1911
Year Admitted: 1869
Known for: Merchant, politician and art collector. U.S. Secretary of the Interior and as Treasurer of the Republican National Convention in four successive campaigns. Invited to serve as William McKinley’s Vice-President, but refused, and Teddy Roosevelt was subsequently chosen. A year later, McKinley was assassinated and Roosevelt became President. 25th NES President.
Membership Type: Regular Member

William T. Blodgett

Year Admitted: 1864
Known for:  Art collector and trustee and founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Membership Type: Regular Member
Photo via the Metropolitan Museum of Art

John Bright

November 16, 1811 - March 27, 1889
Year Admitted: 1877
Known for:  Orator, Quaker, British Radical and Liberal statesman. Served in the House of Commons from 1843-1889.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

Henry Sands Brooks

September 8, 1772 - December 21, 1833
Year Admitted: 1805
Known for:  Founder of Brooks Brothers, the men's clothing store, which was known for introducing ready-to-wear suits to U.S. customers and designing uniforms for elite regiments of the New York National Guard and New York State troops during the Civil War.
Membership Type: Founding Member

W.C. Bryant, Esq.

November 3, 1794 - June 12, 1878
Year Admitted: 1829
Known for:  Poet and editor of the New York Evening Post. Led the movement to establish Central Park. Bryant Park is named for him.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

Joseph Hodges Choate

January 24, 1832 - May 14, 1917
Year Admitted: 1856
Known for:  Lawyer and diplomat. President of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association and the New York City Bar Association. U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom. 15th NES President.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Elliot C. Cowdin

August 9, 1819 - April 12, 1880
Year Admitted: Unknown
President of the Mercantile Library Association of Boston; Officer of the New York Chamber of Commerce; United States Commissioner to the Exposition in Paris in 1867. NES President, 1871.

Membership Type Regular Member

Major John A. Dix

July 24, 1798 - April 24, 1879
Year Admitted: 1864
Known for: Secretary of the Treasury, U.S. Senator, and the 24th Governor of New York. Union major general during the Civil War.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

William E. Dodge, Jr.

February 15, 1832 - August 9, 1903
Year Admitted: 1863
Known for: Businessman and philanthropist. Co-founded the Phelps Dodge Corporation, one of the largest copper mining companies in the world. 31st NES President.
Membership Type: Life Member

William Emerson

May 6, 1770 - May 12, 1811
Year Admitted: 1805
Known for: Unitarian Minister. Founder of Boston’s Philosophical Society, Anthology Club and the Boston Athenaeum. Father of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who delivered his last public address at the 1870 NES Annual Dinner.
Membership Type: Founding Member

Amos R. Eno

November 1, 1810 - February 21, 1898
Year Admitted: 1844
Known for: Merchant and real estate developer who constructed and built the Fifth Avenue Hotel, the Madison Square Theatre, and established the Second National Bank of New York.
Membership Type: Regular Member

George H. Evans

March 25, 1805 - February 2, 1856
Year Admitted: 1843
Known for: Publisher, editor and radical reformer who helped create the Homestead Act of 1862.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

William M. Evarts

February 6, 1818 - February 28, 1901
Year Admitted: 1839
Known for: Lawyer, U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senator from New York. Founder and first president of the New York City Bar Association. Spoke at the 1854
Annual Dinner. 11th NES President.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Walter Sherman Gifford

January 10, 1885 - May 7, 1966
Year Admitted: unknown (1930s)
Known for: President of the AT&T Corporation (1925-1948). 64th NES President.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Horace Greeley

February 3, 1811 - November 29, 1872
Year Admitted: 1838
Known for: Editor, writer and founder of the New York Tribune.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Moses Grinnell

March 3, 1803 - November 24, 1877
Year Admitted: 1833
Known for: U.S. Navy officer, U.S. Representative from New York, and first Central Park Commissioner. It was said that he built more ships in the days of American Shipbuilding
than any other New York Merchant. 8th NES President.
Membership Type: Life Member

Rush Christopher Hawkins

September 14, 1831 - October 25, 1920
Year Admitted: 1866
Known for: Lawyer, politician, book collector and art patron. Union General in the Civil War. Member of the Legion of Honour of France.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Oliver Otis Howard

November 8, 1830 - October 26, 1909
Year Admitted: 1868
Known for: U.S. Army officer and a Union general in the Civil War
Membership Type: Honorary Member

Thomas Hill Hubbard

December 5, 1781 - May 21, 1857
Year Admitted: 1832
Known for: Lawyer, judge and member of the Democratic-Republican party. Twice elected as the U.S. Representative from New York. Founder of Hamilton College.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Charles Evans Hughes

April 11, 1862 - August 27, 1948
Year Admitted: 1920
Known for: 36th Governor of New York, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Secretary of State, and 11th Chief Justice of the U.S. Republican candidate in the 1916 Presidential election, narrowly losing to Woodrow Wilson.
Membership Type: Life Member

Richard Morris Hunt

October 31, 1827 - July 31, 1895
Year Admitted: 1868
Known for: Architect and founder of The American Institute of Architects and the Municipal Art Society. Designed the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. Also designed the base of the The Pilgrim,
the statue donated by NES to New York City in 1885.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Morris Ketchum Jesup

June 21, 1830 - January 22, 1908
Year Admitted: 1866
Known for: Banker and philanthropist. President of the American Museum of Natural History and major contributor to funding Admiral Peary's Arctic expeditions. Helped to establish the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). 35th NES President.
Membership Type: Regular Member

March 16, 1789 - October 1867
Year Admitted: 1834
Known for: 9th President of Columbia College, newspaper publisher and editor of the New York American. Son of founding NES Member Rufus King.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

Rufus King

March 24, 1755 - April 29, 1827
Year Admitted: 1805
Known for: Lawyer, politician, and diplomat. Signer of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Represented New York in the U.S. Senate, served as Minister to Britain, and was the Federalist candidate for Vice President (1804, 1808) and President (1816) of the United States.
Membership Type: Founding Member

Darwin P. Kingsley

Year Admitted: 1896
Known for: Orator and President of the New York Life Insurance Company. Coined the phrase “You have powers you never dreamed of. You can do things you never thought you could do. there are no limitations in what you can do except the limitations of your own mind.” 41st NES President.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Francis Lieber

March 18, 1798 or 1800 - October 2, 1872
Year Admitted: 1870
Known for: Jurist and political philosopher and editor of Encyclopaedia Americana. Author of the Lieber Code, also known as Code for the Government of Armies in the Field (1863), which laid
the foundation for conventions governing the conduct of troops during wartime.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

Abiel Abbot Low

February 7, 1811 - January 7, 1893
Year Admitted: 1844
Known for: Entrepreneur, business man and philanthropist. Made his fortune importing tea, porcelain, opium and silk from China. Father of Seth Low.
Membership Type: Life Member

Seth Low

January 18, 1850 - September 17, 1916
Year Admitted: 1879
Known for: Educator and political figure who served as Mayor of Brooklyn, President of Columbia University and Mayor of New York City. A leading municipal reformer during the
Progressive Era. 36th NES President.
Membership Type: Regular Member

James Russell Lowell

February 22, 1819 - August 12, 1891
Year Admitted: 1870
Known for: Romantic poet, critic, editor, diplomat and orator, who was associated with the Fireside Poets. Early editor of the Atlantic Monthly. Minister to Spain and England.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

George P. Marsh

March 15, 1801 - July 23, 1882
Year Admitted: 1844
Known for: Diplomat and philologist, considered by some to be America's first environmentalist.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

J. Pierpont Morgan

April 17, 1837 - March 31, 1913
Year Admitted: 1856
Known for: Financier, banker, art collector and philanthropist. Served in several NES leadership positions, including treasurer and 26th NES President.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Levi P. Morton

May 16, 1824 - May 16, 1920
Year Admitted: 1864
Known for: Representative from New York and the 22nd Vice President of the United States (1889–1893). Later served as the 31st Governor of New York.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Charles F. Orvis

Year Admitted: 1899
Known for: Founder of the fishing, hunting and sporting goods company Orvis.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Samuel Osgood

February 3, 1747 - August 12, 1813
Year Admitted: 1805
Known for: Served in the Massachusetts and New York state legislatures, and represented Massachusetts in the Continental Congress. The first Postmaster General under the U.S. Constitution.
Membership Type: Founding Member

Edward L. Partridge

Year Admitted: 1907
Known for: Doctor, and a strong advocate for protecting and preserving the natural beauty of the Hudson River Highlands and Palisades. Petitioned the Federal Government to create Bear Mountain State Park. 40th NES President.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Anson Green Phelps

March 24, 1781 - November 30, 1853
Year Admitted: 1841
Known for: Philanthropist and co-founder of the mining company Phelps Dodge, with fellow NES Member William E. Dodge.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Charles Phelps

May 1, 1833 - December 27, 1908
Year Admitted: 1872
Known for: Colonel in the Union Army during the Civil War and recipient of the Medal of Honor. U.S. Congressman from Maryland.
Membership Type: Life Member

John Jay Phelps

October 25, 1810 - May 12, 1869
Year Admitted: 1843
Known for: Publisher and railroad baron. Owner and editor of the New England Review.
Membership Type: Regular Member

William Walter Phelps

August 24, 1839 - June 17, 1894
Year Admitted: 1865
Known for: U.S. Representative from New Jersey. Served as the U.S. Ambassador to Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Membership Type: Regular Member

John Pierpont

April 6, 1785 - August 27, 1866
Year Admitted: 1805
Known for: Poet and pastor who spoke at the 1855 Annual Dinner. Grandfather of J. Pierpont Morgan, who served as the Society's 26th President.
Membership Type: Founding Member

Nathaniel Prime

1768 - 1840
Year Admitted: 1805
Known for: Banker and partner of the investment banking firm Prime, Ward and King. First president of the New York Stock and Exchange Board.
Membership Type: Founding and Life Member

George P. Putnam

February 7, 1814 - December 20, 1872
Year Admitted: 1864
Known for: Founder of George P. Putnam Broadway, leading publisher of art books and the first U.S. publishing company to set up a branch in London. Founder of Putnam's Magazine. Co-founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Membership Type: Regular Member

John Bishop Putnam

July 17, 1849 - October 7, 1915
Year Admitted: 1888
Known for: Founder of the Knickerbocker Press, a book printing and manufacturing company.
Membership Type: Regular Member

John D. Rockefeller

July 8, 1839 -
May 23, 1937
Year Admitted: 1883
Known for: Philanthropist and founder of Standard Oil.
Membership Type: Life Member

Theodore Roosevelt

October 27, 1858 - January 6, 1919
Year Admitted: 1901
Known for: 33rd Governor of New York, 26th President of the United States and 1908 Nobel Peace Prize Winner. Spoke at the 1898 Annual Dinner.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

Elihu Root

February 15, 1845 - February 7, 1937
Year Admitted: 1872
Known for: Lawyer and statesman. U.S. Senator from New York, U.S. Secretary of State and U.S. Secretary of War. Recipient of the 1912 Nobel Peace Prize. Founded the American Society of International Law. 28th NES President.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Gardiner Spring

February 24, 1785 - August 18, 1873
Year Admitted: 1832
Known for: Minister, orator and author. Spoke at the 1820 Annual Dinner.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

Henry G. Stebbins

September 15, 1811 - December 9, 1881
Year Admitted: 1859
Known for: U.S. Representative from New York, president of the New York Stock Exchange, trustee of the American Museum of Natural History, and president of the Board of Commissioners of Central Park. President of Atlantic and Great Western Railways.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Francis Lynde Stetson

April 23, 1846 -December 5, 1920
Year Admitted: 1895
Known for: Lawyer and general counsel to numerous historically significant companies, including  the Northern Pacific Railway and the United States Steel Corporation. J.P. Morgan's personal attorney.  President of the New York City Bar Association (1910-1911). Benefactor to Williams College. 39th NES President.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Ebenezer Stevens

August 11, 1751 - 1823
Year Admitted: 1805
Known for: Major General in the U.S. Army during the Revolutionary War and participant in the Boston Tea Party. Served on the committee of arrangements for the first Annual Dinner
in 1805. 4th NES President.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Thomas B. Stillman

Year Admitted: 1859
Known for: Founder of Novelty Iron Works. Established the first line of steamships on the East Coast, which transported people and goods from New York City to Charleston.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Henry Randolph Storrs

September 3, 1787 - July 29, 1837
Year Admitted: unknown (1830s)
Known for: Lawyer and U.S. Representative from New York. 6th NES President.
Membership Type: Regular Member

Isaac N. Phelps Stokes

1867 - 1944
Year Admitted: 1899
Known for: Architect who designed St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University and was active in housing reform. Wrote and published an authoritative history of Manhattan titled The Iconography of Manhattan Island. Donated the I.N. Phelps Stokes Collection of American Historical Prints to the New York Public Library. Brother of NES Member James G. Phelps Stokes, nephew of NES Member William E. Dodge Stokes, and great-grandson of NES Member Anson Greene Phelps.
Membership Type: Regular Member

 James G. Phelps Stokes

1872 - 1960
Year Admitted: 1899
Known for: Socialist writer, political activist and philanthropist. Founding member of and key figure in the Intercollegiate Socialist Society. Brother of NES Member Isaac N. Phelps Stokes,
nephew of NES Member William E. Dodge Stokes, and great-grandson of NES Member Anson Greene Phelps.
Membership Type: Regular Member

William E. Dodge Stokes

1852 - May 18, 1926
Year Admitted: 1885
Known for: Real estate tycoon responsible for developing much of New York's Upper West Side. Commissioned and built the Ansonia Hotel, one of New York's grandest hotels at the turn of the
19th century. Uncle of NES Members Isaac N. Phelps Stokes and James G. Phelps Stokes, and grandson of NES Member Anson Greene Phelps.
Membership Type: Life Member

Charles Tiffany

February 15, 1812 - February 18, 1902
Year Admitted: 1865
Known for: Founder of Tiffany & Co, and co-founder of the New York Society of Fine Arts. Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.
Membership Type: Life Member

Louis Comfort Tiffany

February 18, 1848 - January 17, 1933
Year Admitted: 1872
Known for: Artist and designer of decorative arts and interiors. Designed the interiors of the Mark Twain House in Connecticut, as well as the State Rooms in the White House at the request of President Chester Arthur.
Membership Type: Life Member

John Trumbull

June 6, 1756 - November 10, 1843
Year Admitted: 1805
Known for: Artist and portraitist during the Revolutionary War. Served as an aide to General George Washington. His painting 'Declaration of Independence' is on the reverse of the two
dollar bill. Painted founder and 1st NES President James Watson (below).
Membership Type: Founding Member

Salem H. Wales

October 4, 1825 - December 2, 1902
Year Admitted: 1864
Known for: Owner, publisher and editor of Scientific American. Commissioner of the Department of Public Parks (including Central Park).
Membership Type: Life Member

James Watson

April 6, 1750 - May 15, 1806
Year Admitted: 1805
Known for: U.S. Senator from New York and naval officer of the Port of New York. Portrait at left painted by Founding NES Member John Trumbull. 1st NES President.
Membership Type: Founding Member

Daniel Webster

January 18, 1782 - October 24, 1852
Year Admitted: 1832
Known for: Statesman, lawyer, senator and orator who twice served as U.S. Secretary of State (1841-2, 1851-2). Spoke at the NES Annual Dinners in 1832, 1843 and 1850.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

Stephen Whitney

1776-1860
Year Admitted: 1805
Known for: Founded the National Bank of Commerce in New York City. Assisted with the establishment and building of the Merchant's Stock Exchange Building, the first permanent
home of the New York Stock Exchange.
Membership Type: Founding and Life Member

William C. Whitney

July 5, 1841 - February 2, 1902
Year Admitted: 1874
Known for: U.S. Secretary of the Navy, financier and philanthropist.
Membership Type: Life Member

Robert Charles Winthrop

May 12, 1809 - November 16, 1894
Year Admitted: 1839
Known for: Lawyer and philanthropist. U.S. Senator and Representative from Massachusetts, who served as Speaker of the House. Patron of the Boston Public Library and President of the Massachusetts Historical Society (1855 - 1885). Spoke at the 1839 Annual Dinner.
Membership Type: Honorary Member

Oliver Wolcott, Jr.

January 11, 1760 - June 1, 1833
Year Admitted: 1805
Known for: U.S. Secretary of the Treasury  (1795 - 1800). 24th Governor of Connecticut (1817 - 1827). Son of Oliver Wolcott, signer of the U.S. Constitution. 2nd NES President.
Membership Type: Founding Member

Thomas Waterman Wood

November 12, 1823 - April 14, 1903
Year Admitted: 1875
Known for: Painter, president of the National Academy of Design, and president of the American Watercolor Association. Painted a picture of the NES seal for the Society.
Membership Type: Life Member

Stewart L. Woodford

September 3, 1835 - February 14, 1913
Year Admitted: unknown (1870s)
Known for: Lawyer, Union Army veteran, New York Lieutenant Governor and U.S. Minister to Spain. 23rd NES President.
Membership Type: Regular Member

John Munro Woolsey

January 3, 1877 - May 4, 1945
Year Admitted: unknown (1930s)
Known for: U.S. federal judge in New York City, known "for his brilliant and poignantly phrased decisions," including several important precedents in First Amendment jurisprudence. 61st NES President.
Membership Type: Regular Member