Guide to the Lee Garnett Day and Nancy Sayles Day papers, 1890-1968

(bulk 1911-1945)

John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148
Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Published in 2017

Collection Overview

Title:	Lee Garnett Day and Nancy Sayles Day papers
Date range:	1890-1968, (bulk 1911-1945)
Creator:	Day, Lee Garnett, 1890-1968
Extent:	7.0 Linear feet
Abstract:	The Lee Garnett Day and Nancy Sayles Day papers consist of business records, correspondence, genealogies, photographs and other material from the Day and Sayles families. Much of the material concerns the Collins-Day South American Expedition of 1914-1915, Lee Garnett Day’s military career, the Bennett-Day Importing Company, and both Lee Garnett Day's and Nancy Sayles Day's travels around the world. The collection is dated from 1890 to 1968. Most of the material is dated from 1911 to 1945.
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Collection number:	Ms.2014.003

Scope & content

The Lee Garnett Day and Nancy Sayles Day papers contain correspondence and other materials belonging to Lee Garnett Day, Nancy Sayles Day and their families. Most of the other material consists of photographs from around the world, taken both before and after the Day’s marriage. A large number of photographs were taken on the Collins-Day South American Expedition in 1914-1915. The material is dated from 1890 to 1968, with the bulk dated from 1911 to 1945.

The papers have been organized into the following 7 series:

Series 1. Nancy Sayles and family This series includes materials from the Sayles family before Nancy Sayles’ marriage to Lee Garnett Day in 1925. The one exception is the inventory for the estate of Mary Sayles, Nancy’s mother. The material in this series is dated from 1896 to 1946. Most is dated from 1922 to 1925.

The correspondence includes letters to Nancy and to her parents. The correspondence to Nancy from Ernesto Lardinelli Becci, Nancy’s fiancee before her marriage to Lee Garnett Day, is in Italian. The correspondence to Nancy from Pierre Vercommen in Belgium is in French.

This series also includes membership certificates, newspaper clippings, passports, photographs, school notebooks and travel diaries. The newspaper clippings are primarily about Nancy Sayles’ broken engagement to Ernesto Lardinelli Becci in 1925. Photographs that were enclosed in travel diaries were left in the diary. Other photographs, including an album of photographs of Saleholme, are in Series 7. Photographs and postcards. The membership certificates belonged to Nancy’s mother Mary Sayles. They are from the New England Historic Genealogical Society and the Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Ephemera include the questions and answers to an undated Rhode Island drivers test and two drawings.

Series 2. Lee Garnett Day and family This series contains material from the Day family before Lee Garnett Day's marriage to Nancy Sayles in 1925. It is dated from 1892 to 1925. Most is dated from 1911 to 1921. Material other than correspondence is arranged alphabetically. This series includes correspondence from Lee Garnett Day to his family and friends as well as correspondence to and from other members of the Day family. Other correspondence prior to 1925 can be found in Series 4. Business records, Series 5. The Collins-Day South American Expedition and in Series 6. Lee Garnett Day’s military career. Most of the other material in this series consists of travel diaries from Lee Garnett Day's trip around the world after his graduation from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1911. That trip included a visit to the ancient city of Petra in southern Jordan. Photographs that are not related to the South American expedition or to his business or military career are in Series 7. Photographs and postcards.

Series 3. Lee Garnett Day and Nancy Sayles Day and family This series consists of material from the Day family after the marriage of Lee Garnett Day and Nancy Sayles in 1925. It is dated from 1925 to 1968. Most is dated from 1928 to 1950. Material other than correspondence is arranged alphabetically.

The correspondence in this series is to and from the Day family and friends. Correspondence related to the Day's trip to Portugal, some of which is in Portuguese, is in a separate folder, as is material regarding Lee Garnett Day's 1927 expedition to Mount Roraima in South America. Other material includes an address book, the Day's marriage certificate, information regarding the Day’s property in Connecticut, newspaper clippings, obituaries for members of the Day family and passports.

The scrapbook in this series consists of newspaper clippings regarding the trial and conviction of Garnett’s brother Henry Mason Day, Jr. of contempt of court for jury shadowing. In 1929 he was accused of hiring a team of private detectives to follow and investigate the twelve jurors in the case of United States v. Harry F. Sinclair and Albert P. Fall. Henry Mason Day, Jr. worked for Sinclair, who was the head of the Sinclair Consolidated Oil Corporation. Sinclair was accused of conspiracy to defraud the government in the Teapot Dome scandal in the early 1920s.

Series 4. Business records This series consists primarily of material related to the Bennett Day Importing Company, later named the Baker-Bennett-Day Division of General Foods Corporation, and material related to Daynemouth Kennels in Stamford, Connecticut, where Garnett and Nancy raised Great Dane dogs. It is dated from 1890 to 1965, with most dated from 1923 to 1950. It is arranged in four subseries:

Subseries A. Be Bright Lustre Cream consists of correspondence, reports from chemical testing laboratories and advertising material regarding this product produced by the Barnsdall Corporation, later a division of General Foods Corporation. It is dated from 1923 to 1927. Henry Mason Day, Jr. was at one time the President of the International Barnsdall Corporation.

Subseries B. Bennett Day Importing Company consists primarily of correspondence, advertising material, financial records and photographs related to the importation and sale of various nuts sold by the company. The material is dated from 1890 to 1941. Most is dated from 1923 to 1936.

Subseries C. Daynemouth Kennels consists primarily of correspondence, kennel records, photographs and 16mm color films related to the breeding and showing of Great Dane dogs. The material is dated from 1944 to 1950, but most is undated. The Day family also raised Nubian goats and Shropshire sheep at Cobble Mountain Farm in West Cornwall, Connecticut. The Nubian goats raised by the Days help to repopulate the goat population in Europe after World War II.

Subseries D. Mid-Patent Land Corporation consists solely of a certificate of incorporation of the Mid-Patent Land Corporation from 1929. Lee Garnett Day was one of the incorporators.

Subseries E. Nancy Sayles Day Foundation is dated from 1951 to 1965. It consists primarily of correspondence related to her grants to two institutions. The grant to the Veterinary College at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York was to be used to support the study of viruses and nutrition in dogs. The grant to Yale University was to create a Mycology Laboratory.

Series 5. The Collins-Day South American Expedition The purpose of this expedition was to collect specimens of birds and mammals for the American Museum of Natural History in New York, New York, and for the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. The members included Alfred M. Collins, a hunter of large game; George K. Cherrie, a naturalist at the American Museum of Natural History; Willard Walker, also a hunter; Robert Becker of the Field Museum of Natural History, and Lee Garnett Day. The expedition left New York on December 26, 1914 for Mollendo, Peru. After traveling by train, mule train and at times on foot, the expedition ended in the state of Para in northern Brazil. The expedition returned to New York at the end of April 1915.

Most of the material in this series consists of photographs. The series also includes the January 1916 issue of The American Museum Journal, which contains Lee Garnett Day's article “South American Trails”; a paperback book in Spanish, missing its cover, about building the Cochabamba-Chimore railroad in Bolivia; a box of glass slides that were probably taken in Bolivia, Peru and Brazil; and newspaper clippings about the expedition. The material is dated from 1914 to 1916.

Series 6. Lee Garnett Day’s military career The material in this series concerns Lee Garnett Day's career in the New York National Guard and the United States Army. It is dated from 1916 to 1968. Most of the material is dated from 1916 to 1945. The series has been organized into three subseries:

Subseries A. New York National Guard The material in this subseries is related to Lee Garnett Day's service in Troop B, Squadron A, Cavalry of the New York National Guard. Day enlisted on July 2, 1915. In 1916 he served six months on the Mexican border as part of the United States Army’s expedition to capture the Mexican revolutionary leader Francisco “Pancho” Villa. The expedition was commanded by General John J. Pershing. Day was mustered out on December 2, 1916. Most of the material in this subseries consists of photographs, which are not labeled or dated. The material that is dated is from circa 1916 to 1968. The bulk is dated circa 1916.

Subseries B. World War I and aftermath This subseries contains material related to Lee Garnett Day's service in the United States Army during World War I. After his service in the New York National Guard, Day transferred to the United States Army and was commissioned a First Lieutenant in August 1917. He was sent overseas in October of that year and served with the 4th Section (Quartermaster Corps), General Staff. His primary duties were as a regulating officer in charge of seeing that supplies of all kinds were delivered where and when they were needed. By the time he was discharged he had been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. During his service in World War I, Day was awarded the Croix de Guerre, with palm; Chevalier, Legion of Honor; the Distinguished Service Medal and the Purple Heart.

Most of the material in this subseries consists of correspondence and photographs. Most of the correspondence was written by Lee Garnett Day and his brother Henry Mason Day Jr. to their family in New York while they were in France during the war. The military correspondence is typewritten and concerns Lee Garnett Day's official duties. The photographs in this subseries are of various places in Europe, primarily France. They are not labeled or dated. Other material includes reports compiled by Lee Garnett Day as part of his duties as a regulating officer, and maps, primarily of Verdun and Metz, France. The dated material is from 1917 to 1922.

Subseries C. World War II and aftermath This subseries contains material related to Lee Garnett Day's service in the United States Army during World War II. Day reentered the army on March 22, 1943. His duties were primarily to direct the Overseas Supply Division from the Hampton Roads Point of Embarkation in Virginia. On May 17, 1944 he was appointed the Commandant of the Norfolk Army Base in Norfolk, Virginia. Day was promoted to Colonel on October 3, 1944. He was briefly overseas from November 1944 to January 1945 in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) and the European Theater of Operations (ETO). After his return he was stationed at the Norfolk Army Base until his discharge on November 25, 1945. As a result of his service during World War II, Day was awarded the Legion of Merit.

Most of the material in this subseries consists of photographs taken in Europe and in Norfolk and Newport News, Virginia. The subseries also includes a small amount of correspondence, information regarding Day's service record and citations, and several publications regarding the army and the army’s supply division. The material is dated from 1941 to 1951. Most is dated between 1944 and 1945.

Series 7. Photographs and postcards This series consists primarily of photographs and photograph albums that could not be identified as belonging to Series 4. Business records, Series. 5. The Collins-Day South American Expedition, or Series 6. Lee Garnett Day’s Military Career. Most of the photographs are not labeled or dated. The photographs that can be dated were taken from 1911 to circa 1935. Many of the photograph albums contain photographs taken by Lee Garnett Day on his trip around the world from 1911 to 1912. They include one album labeled “Petra” containing photographs of that ancient city in Jordan.

The personal photographs include photographs taken on Nancy’s trips to Europe and around the world with her mother, Mary Sayles; family vacations, summer camp, and the Day's trip to the British Isles. This series also contains several photographs of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh and the airplane they named Tingmissartoq, a Lockheed Model 8 Sirius that they flew in the 1930s. Tingmissartoq is an Inuit word that means "one who flies like a big bird". These photographs were most likely taken in 1933, when Lindbergh was working as a technical advisor for Pan American Airways.

The picture postcards in this series are of scenes from various countries around the world. They were not written on or mailed.

Access Points

Subject Names

• Day, Henry Mason, 1885-1956
• Gillespie , Nancy
• Gillespie, Thaddeus R.
• Lindbergh, Anne Morrow, 1906-2001
• Lindbergh, Charles A., (Charles Augustus), 1902-1974

Subject Topics

• Explorers--South America
• Postage stamps
• Teapot Dome Scandal, 1921-1924
• United States. Army—History—Punitive Expedition into Mexico, 1916
• World War, 1914-1918
• World War, 1939-1945

Geographical Names

• Petra Great Temple Site (Petra, Jordan)
• Roriama, Mount
• South America--Discovery and exploration

Document Types

• Business records
• Clippings (information artifacts)
• Diaries
• Ephemera
• Genealogies
• Letters (Correspondence)
• Maps
• Notebooks
• Official reports
• Passports
• Photographs
• Picture postcards
• Receipts (Financial records)

Subject Topics

• Military
• Social Life and Customs

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in 7 series.

• Series 1. Nancy Sayles and family
• Series 2. Lee Garnett Day and family
• Series 3. Lee Garnett Day and Nancy Sayles Day and family
• Series 4. Business records
• Series 5. The Collins-Day South American Expedition
• Series 6. Lee Garnett Day's military career
• Series 7. Photographs and postcards

Biographical note

Lee Garnett Day

Lee Garnett Day was born in New York, New York on May 5, 1890. He was the youngest child of Henry Mason Day, Sr. (1851-1909) and Emily D. Day (1869-1954). The family called him Garnett. His father was a partner in Bennett, Day and Company, founded in 1882. The firm imported nuts and dried fruits.

After graduating from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1911, Day traveled around the world before taking over as president of his late father’s firm. In 1932 the business was sold and renamed the Baker-Bennett-Day Division of General Foods Corporation. Day served as its vice president until his retirement from business life in 1941.

In 1914, Day and Alfred M. Collins organized and funded the Collins-Day South American Expedition. The purpose of this expedition was to collect specimens of birds and mammals for the American Museum of Natural History in New York, New York, and for the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. The members included Alfred M. Collins, a hunter of large game; George K. Cherrie, a naturalist at the American Museum of Natural History; Willard Walker, also a hunter; Robert Becker of the Field Museum of Natural History, and Lee Garnett Day. The expedition left New York on December 26, 1914 for Mollendo, Peru. After traveling by train, mule train and at times on foot, the expedition ended in the state of Para in northern Brazil. The expedition returned to New York at the end of April 1915.

Day had a long and successful military career. In 1916 he enlisted in Troop B, Squadron A, Cavalry of the New York National Guard. He was part of the American expedition commanded by General John J. Pershing that was sent to the Mexican border to apprehend Francisco “Pancho” Villa, a Mexican revolutionary leader. During World War I Day served eighteen months in France, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Quartermaster Corps. As a result of his service Day was awarded the Croix de Guerre, with palm; Chevalier, Legion of Honor; the Distinguished Service Medal and the Purple Heart. Day returned to the army during World War II, where he was responsible for sending supplies to troops in Europe. In 1944 he was promoted to Colonel. He later received the Legion of Merit, a military award given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements.

Day was a patron of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois and an Honorary Life Member of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, New York.

Lee Garnett Day and Nancy Sayles were married on September 25, 1925 at Saleholme, Nancy’s family home in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. They had two children, Nancy Lee Day Gillespie and Lee Garnett Day, Jr.

The Days raised Great Dane dogs at Daynemouth Kennels in Stamford, Connecticut. In 1940 the family purchased Cobble Mountain Farm in West Cornwall, Connecticut, where they raised Shropshire sheep and Nubian goats.

Lee Garnett Day died at his home in West Cornwall on May 24, 1968.

Nancy Sayles Day

Nancy Sayles Day was born April 12, 1905. Her father, Frank A. Sayles (1866-1920) was a successful industrialist in Rhode Island. Her mother, Mary Dorr Ames Sayles (1871-1946) was a descendent of several well-known Rhode Island families, including that of Roger Williams, who began the European settlement of what later became the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

In the summer of 1925 Nancy created much speculation in the society pages when she abruptly broke her engagement to Lt. Ernesto Lardinelli Becci, Undersecretary of the Interior in the Italian cabinet. The two had met in Rome in the spring of that year while Nancy and her mother were touring Europe. Within six weeks they were engaged. Becci learned that their wedding, scheduled for August 12, 1925, had been cancelled after he arrived in the United States from Italy on August 7. Nancy married Lee Garnett Day, with whom she had been friends, on September 25 of that year.

Nancy was an avid traveler, having made several trips around the world and to Europe both before and after her marriage. She was an art collector as well as a talented artist who worked in ceramics, glass and sculpture. The Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island houses the Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art. She contributed to many charities, including the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington, Connecticut, and the Daynemouth Shelter for homeless animals in Cornwall, Connecticut. In addition, she was a co-founder of the Animal Virus Laboratory at Cornell University and founder of the Nancy Sayles Day Mycology Laboratory at Yale University. She was deeply involved in the restoration of the Historic Old St. Luke’s Church, built in 1631 in Smithfield, Virginia.

Nancy Sayles Day died on October 23, 1964 after a brief illness.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Use of the materials:	Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation:	Lee Garnett Day and Nancy Sayles Day papers, Ms. 2014.003, Brown University Library
Contact information:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148 Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	The Lee Garnett Day and Nancy Sayles Day papers were given to the Brown University Library by Nancy Gillespie (Brown Class of 1979) and Thaddeus (Ted) R. Gillespie in 2013 and 2014.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid prepared by Mary Harrison.
Encoding:	This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2017-11-13
Descriptive rules:	Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Separated material:

Two books were donated with the collection and have been cataloged separately and are located in the John Hay Library. Institutiones Diui Iustiniani, nuper castigatiores redditæ. Iustiniani Sacratissimi principis Imperialium ciuiliumque Institutionum libri Quatuor, ad veterum ac elimatissimorum exemplarium fidem tandem expurgati, doctissimisque Accursij cæterorumque Iurisperitorum, præcipue verò Egidij Perrini Officialis à Iosayo interpretationibus ... adaucti. Adiectis etiamnum ipsius Iustiniani vita amplissima singulariumq[ue] locorum Indice ... prodeunt. 1539. This book has an inscription on the inside of the flyleaf "To Ye Ladye Sayles: To ye ende that thou mayeste 'laye downe ye lane' with jouste effect and proprietye; and in token of sincereste regarde, I woulde fain aske thine acceptance of this littel booke. Which meseemeth is, paradventure ye verie ouldeste booke of ye lane in this oure lande. Feb. 19th. 1890, Henry Howard" De L'Imitation de Jesus-Christ, Traducation nouvelle, par le Sieur De Beuil, Prieur de Saint Val. Vingt-Cinquieme Edition. Bruxelles: Eugene Henry Fricx, 1686.

Inventory

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