Homer Lusk Collyer and Langley Wakeman Collyer, known as the Collyer brothers, were two American brothers who became infamous for their bizarre natures and compulsive hoarding. The two lived in seclusion in their Harlem brownstone at 2078 Fifth Avenue in New York City where they obsessively collected books, furniture, musical instruments, and myriad other items, with booby traps set up in corridors and doorways to crush intruders. Both died in their home in March 1947 and were found dead surrounded by more than 140 tons (127,000 kg) of collected items that they had amassed over several decades.

The Livingston family of New York is a prominent family that migrated from Scotland to the Dutch Republic, and then to the Province of New York in the 17th century. Descended from the 4th Lord Livingston, its members included signers of the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. Several members were Lords of Livingston Manor and Clermont Manor, located along the Hudson River in 18th-century eastern New York.