The subject was a member of a Dutch family whose name first appears in the records of New Amsterdam in 1638. A branch of the family settled in Monmouth, N.J., and became prominent in the affairs of that state.

The subject was a prominent lawyer of Fairfield County, Connecticut, and a member of the state legislature as well as lieutenant governor of Connecticut from 1838 to 1842. This portrait was a gift to the Society from his granddaughter.

The subject was the son of Capt. Cyrus Hawley and Mary (Curtis) Hawley. In 1821 he married Mary Stiles Holly; they had eight children, one of whom was the artist. Hawley was a prominent lawyer of Fairfield County, Connecticut, and a member of the state legislature as well as lieutenant governor of Connecticut from 1838 to 1842. This portrait, a gift to the Society from his granddaughter, was probably based on a photograph made about 1855 or 1860.

The subject of this portrait was the younger of two daughters born to William and Elizabeth King (Hawley) de Groot of New York. She studied art in Paris and about 1920 began to collect paintings, eventually assembling a collection of about 150 works by leading French artists from Delacroix to Braque, which she donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She gave a sizable collection of portraits of her family to The New-York Historical Society.

The subject of this portrait was the son of Edward and Emeline (Leland) Davison. Like his father, also a New York businessman, he engaged in trade with South America. He was appointed consul general to the U.S. by President Domingo Sarmiento of the Argentine Republic in 1864 and held the post until the end of Sarmiento's administration in 1874. This portrait was a gift to the Society from his son.

Havemeyer was born in New York and educated at Columbia University. He made a sizable fortune operating a sugar refinery before beginning a career in politics. He became a member of the Tammany Society and in 1845 was elected to his first term as mayor of New York; he was elected two times more to the office, in 1848 and in 1872. This portrait was a gift to the Society from his grandson.

A native of Oklahoma, Harris attended the University of California where he first became seriously interested in music. He went on to become a composer and teacher. His scores were often derived from American folksongs or Protestant hymns; among his best known works are his "Third Symphony" (1938) and "Folk Song Symphony." He taught at Cornell and Indiana universities and at the Julliard School of Music.

Born in Berlin of American parents, Katharine Cornell gained fame as one of the foremost actresses of her day. This portrait is part of a series of portraits by Kaufman of America's leaders in the sciences, government, the arts, business, and education.

The subject of this portrait was the only child of Robert Comfort Cornell (d. 1844) and Amy (Lovett) Cornell. He was a lawyer in New York and from 1847 maintained offices at 69 Wall Street. He was Republican representative of the fourth district of New York County in the New York State Assembly in 1849.

A chemist, teacher, and public servant, Conant was a professor of chemistry at Harvard, and president of that university from 1933 to 1953. During World War II he was director of the National Defense Research Committee, and was active in the research project that led to the development of the atomic bomb. This portrait is part of Kaufman's series, executed in the early and middle 1940s, of notable American men and women.