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The James Wadsworth Family

A Register of Its Papers in the Library of Congress


Prepared by Russell Smith and David Mathisen
Revised by Connie Cartledge

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Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

1997

Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html

Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 1997

Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms997014

Latest revision: 2005-02-22


Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

Names:

Subjects:

Occupations:

Administrative Information

Provenance:

Copyright Status:

Processing History:

Preferred Citation:

Biographical Notes

James Wadsworth

James S. Wadsworth

James Wolcott Wadsworth, Sr.

James Wolcott Wadsworth, Jr.

John Hay

Scope and Content Note

Organization of the Papers

Container List

Family Papers, 1730-1959, n.d.

Family Financial Papers, 1835-1851

Family Miscellany, 1730-1952

John Hay Papers, 1861-1959

James Wolcott Wadsworth, Jr., Papers, 1723-1957, n.d.

Oversize, 1884-1952


Collection Summary

Title: James Wadsworth Family Papers
Span Dates: 1730-1959
ID No.: MSS44297
Creator: Wadsworth, James, 1768-1844
Extent: 7,000 items; 50 containers plus 1 oversize; 22 linear feet
Language: Collection material in English
Repository: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Abstract: Correspondence, diaries, financial papers, scrapbooks, clippings, photographs, and other papers of the family of James Wadsworth (1768-1844) and his brother, William Wadsworth (1761-1833), who settled in Geneseo, N.Y., in 1790 and endowed schools and libraries there.

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.

Names:

Wadsworth, James, 1768-1844
Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889
Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872--Correspondence
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919--Correspondence
Wadsworth family
United States. Army--Officers
United States. Congress
United States. Dept. of State
United States. National Security Training Commission
Hay, John, 1838-1905. Papers of John Hay
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865. Letter of Abraham Lincoln (1864 July 9)
Wadsworth, James S. (James Samuel), 1807-1864. Papers of James S. Wadsworth
Wadsworth, James Wolcott, 1846-1926. Papers of James Wolcott Wadsworth
Wadsworth, James Wolcott, 1877-1952. Papers of James Wolcott Wadsworth
Wadsworth, William, 1761-1833. Papers of William Wadsworth

Subjects:

Diplomatic and consular service, American--Great Britain
Gettysburg (Pa.), Battle of, 1863
Libraries--New York (State)--Geneseo--Endowments
Schools--New York (State)--Geneseo--Endowments
Slavery--Southern States
Wilderness, Battle of the, Va., 1864
Geneseo (N.Y.)--History
London (England)--Social life and customs--19th century
New York (State)--Politics and government--1865-1950
Pennsylvania--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Campaigns
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Autographs
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Campaigns
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Casualties
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Peace
United States--Politics and government--1865-1950
Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Campaigns
Washington (D.C.)--Social life and customs--19th century

Occupations:

Landowners
Philanthropists
Reformers

Administrative Information

Provenance:

The papers of the James Wadsworth Family were given to the Library of Congress by James W. Symington, Evelyn W. Symington, James J. Wadsworth, and Reverdy Wadsworth between 1960 and 1983.

Copyright Status:

Copyright in the unpublished writings of the James Wadsworth Family in this collection and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library has been dedicated to the public.

Processing History:

The Wadsworth Family Papers were arranged and described in 1961. The description was revised in 1997. A description of the papers appears in the Library of Congress Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions, vol. 18, no. 3 (May 1961), pp. 129-130.

Preferred Citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, James Wadsworth Family Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Notes

James Wadsworth

Date

Event

1768, Apr. 20Born, Durham, Conn.
1787Graduated, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
1796-1798Acquired property with William Wadsworth on the bank of the Genesee River, New York state
Traveled to Europe with the help of Robert Morris, Aaron Burr, and DeWitt Clinton to interest foreign capitalists in American investments
ca. 1800-ca. 1844Urged establishment of county academies; instrumental in securing the enactment of legislation authorizing sending the public Lectures on School-Keeping to each school district; responsible for establishment of school district library system in New York; and built and endowed a public library in Geneseo, N.Y.
1804Married Naomi Wolcott
1844, June 7Died, Geneseo, N.Y.


James S. Wadsworth

Date

Event

1807, Oct. 30Born, Geneseo, N.Y.
1834Married Mary Craig Wharton
1861Commissioned brigadier general, U.S. Army
1864Commissioned brevet major general in the field for gallantry at the battles of Gettysburg, Pa., and The Wilderness, Va.
1864, May 8Died of wounds received at The Wilderness, Va.


James Wolcott Wadsworth, Sr.

Date

Event

1846, Oct. 12Born, Philadelphia, Pa., son of James S. Wadsworth
1864-1865Volunteer aide on staff of Major General G. K. Warren, U.S. Army
1865, Jan. 24Commissioned and appointed captain, aide-de-camp
1865, May 25Brevetted major for gallant and meritorious service at Five Forks and Petersburg, Va.
1865, June 26Mustered out of U.S. Army
1875-1877Supervisor, Geneseo, N.Y.
1876Married Louise Travers
1878-1879Member, New York general assembly
1880-1881Comptroller of New York
1881-1885United States representative from New York
1898Honorary A.M., Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
1901-1907United States representative from New York
1926, Dec. 24Died, Geneseo, N.Y.


James Wolcott Wadsworth, Jr.

Date

Event

1877, Aug. 12Born, Geneseo, N.Y., son of James Wolcott Wadsworth, Sr.
1898B.A., Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
1899Entered stock and farming business
1902, Sept. 30Married Alice Hay, daughter of John Hay
1905-1910Director, Genesee Valley National Bank and Trust Co.
Member, New York general assembly; speaker, 1906-10
1908-1928Delegate, Republican national conventions
1911-1915Managed large ranch, Paloduro, Tex.
1915-1927United States senator from New York
1933-1951United States representative from New York
1951-1952Chairman, National Security Training Commission
1952, June 21Died, Geneseo, N.Y.


John Hay

Date

Event

1838, Oct. 8Born, Salem, Ind.
1858A.M., LL.D., Brown University, Providence, R.I.
LL.D., Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.
LL.D., Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
LL.D., Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
LL.D., Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
1861-1865Private secretary, with John George Nicolay, to Abraham Lincoln
Brevet colonel, United States volunteers
1865-1870Secretary of legation, Paris, France; Madrid, Spain; Vienna, Austria
Chargé d'affaires, Vienna, Austria
1874Married Clara Stone
1879-1881President, International Sanitary Conference
1890Published with John George Nicolay Abraham Lincoln, a History (New York: Century Co. 10 vols.)
1897-1898Ambassador to England
1898-1905Secretary of state
1905, July 1Died, Washington, D.C.

Scope and Content Note

The papers of the James Wadsworth Family of Geneseo, New York, span the period 1730-1959 and describe the activities of four generations of the family in both regional and national affairs. The collection consists chiefly of the correspondence of James and William Wadsworth, who founded the Geneseo branch of the family and occupied land there in 1790; James S. Wadsworth, Civil War general who commanded the First Division, I Corps, at Gettysburg and was later killed in the Battle of the Wilderness; James Wolcott Wadsworth, United States representative from 1881 to 1885 and 1891 to 1906; and James Wolcott Wadsworth, Jr., who represented New York in the United States Senate from 1915 to 1927 and in the House of Representatives from 1933 to 1951. Consisting primarily of personal correspondence, the papers reflect the changing problems of the nation in the careers of succeeding generations.

Included in the collection is correspondence of John Hay, whose daughter Alice married James Wolcott Wadsworth, Jr., and whose letters, chiefly in the years 1882-1903, comment on life in London and Washington, D.C., in the late nineteenth century.

Also in the collection are a letter from Abraham Lincoln to Horace Greeley, 9 July 1864, in which he promises safe conduct for any person or persons “professing to have any proposition of Jefferson Davis in writing for peace embracing the restoration of the Union and abandonment of slavery,” and an album containing autographed photographs of scores of the nation's leaders during the Lincoln administrations. Letters of Theodore Roosevelt are also among the correspondence.

Organization of the Papers

The collection is arranged in six series:


Container List

BoxContents
BOX 1-8

Family Papers, 1730-1959, n.d.

Correspondence, primarily incoming, of various members of the Wadsworth family. Also included in the papers are a diary, legal papers, and other miscellaneous papers.
Arranged chronologically with an index of James S. Wadsworth's Papers filed at the end of the papers.
BOX 11730, 1755, 1764-1825
(28 folders)
BOX 21826-1829
(26 folders)
BOX 31830-1831
(27 folders)
BOX 41832-1839
(24 folders)
BOX 51840-1862
(29 folders)
BOX 61863-1870
(19 folders)
BOX 71871-1882, 1894-1941
(24 folders)
BOX 81942-1959, n.d.
(15 folders)
Index of James S. Wadsworth's Papers, University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y., typescript volume
BOX 9

Family Financial Papers, 1835-1851

Arranged chronologically.
BOX 91835-1851
(48 folders)
BOX 10

Family Miscellany, 1730-1952

Correspondence, photographs, clippings, pamphlets and maps, genealogical information, writings, and other material.
Arranged alphabetically by name of person, topic, or type of material.
BOX 10Clippings
(2 folders)
Genealogy
Memorial books
Pamphlets and maps
Photographs
(5 folders)
Suffrage letters
Wadsworth, Jeremiah, typescript volume of his letters
World War I narrative
BOX 11-14

John Hay Papers, 1861-1959

Correspondence, pamphlets and programs, poetry, writings, memorabilia, photograph album, will, and other material pertaining to John Hay and his family.
Arranged alphabetically by name of person, topic, or type of material, except for the photograph album which is filed at the end of the series.
BOX 11Family correspondence
1861-1896
(24 folders)
1897
Jan.-Aug.
(4 folders)
BOX 12Sept.-Dec.
(4 folders)
1898-1906, 1919, 1959, n.d.
(19 folders)
BOX 13Fink, Joseph L., address, "A Tribute to a Great American," 1938
Index to letters and diaries
Last will and testament, 1905
Lincoln, Abraham, and Mary Todd Lincoln, letters, 1861-1864
Memorabilia and Lincolniana
Miscellany and autographs
Pamphlets and programs
Poems
Writings
Hay, Clara Stone (wife)
Hay, John
Index note cards
"The Money Makers"
School writing book
BOX 14Photograph album
Items available online.
BOX 15-50

James Wolcott Wadsworth, Jr., Papers, 1723-1957, n.d.

Diaries, correspondence, memoranda, speeches, writings, clippings, printed matter, scrapbooks, and other material.
Arranged in subseries designated Diaries, Senate Papers, House of Representatives, Personal, Miscellaneous, and Scrapbooks and therein alphabetically by name of person or organization, topic, or type of material.
BOX 15Diaries and autobiography
Autobiography, n.d.
BOX 16Diaries and summary of engagements, 1915-1952
BOX 17Senate papers
Antilynching bill (Dyer), 1923-1926
Bonus, 1923-1926
Civil Service, 1824-1926
(4 folders)
Congress of the United States, bills, committees, and workings, 1919-1927
(5 folders)
Constitution, amendments to, 1923-1925
Crowell, Benjamin, 1923-1925
(2 folders)
Farm policy, 1924-1925
Foreign policy, 1922-1926
(6 folders)
Harding, Warren G., nomination as president, correspondence, 1935
Immigration Service, 1923-1926
(18 folders)
BOX 18Labor, 1924-1926
(2 folders)
Local self-government versus federal power, 1924-1926
(2 folders)
Mexico, 1926-1927
Military (Troop M), 1916
Military policy, 1921-1927
(20 folders)
New York state politics, 1908-1927
(11 folders)
BOX 19Politics, 1916-1927
(17 folders)
Prohibition, 1923-1927
(23 folders)
BOX 20Public works, 1921-1926
Retirement, 1927
Senatorial campaign, 1925-1926
(4 folders)
Social legislation, 1925-1926
(2 folders)
Teapot Dome scandal, 1924
World War I, 1916-1925
(3 folders)
BOX 21House of Representatives
Antilynching bill, 1937-1950
(5 folders)
Austin-Wadsworth bill, 1942-1945
(9 folders)
Burke-Wadsworth draft bill, 1940-1945
(7 folders)
Conduct of World War II
1935-1941
(13 folders)
BOX 221942-1948
(28 folders)
Congressional reorganization, 1946
Constitutional amendment, 1935-1950
(6 folders)
BOX 23Demobilization, 1943-1946
(11 folders)
Draft in operation, extension, 1940-1946
(27 folders)
BOX 24Economy in government, 1937-1950
(12 folders)
Equal rights amendment, 1944-1950
(3 folders)
Farm policy, 1933-1950
(24 folders)
Federal aid, 1939-1950
(2 folders)
Federal power, 1934-1949
(12 folders)
BOX 25Foreign policy, 1937-1950
(23 folders)
Immigration, 1939-1948
Labor, 1934-1950
(17 folders)
Lend Lease, 1941-1951
(5 folders)
BOX 26Liberty League, 1935-1938
(3 folders)
Library of Congress, 1951-1953
(3 folders)
Miscellaneous, 1927-1950
(43 folders)
BOX 27National Security Training Commission, 1951
Neutrality embargoes, 1933-1950
(17 folders)
New Deal, 1933-1950
(11 folders)
Office of the Clerk, 1941
Office of Price Administration, 1941-1946
(6 folders)
Peacetime draft, 1946-1950
(2 folders)
BOX 28Politics, 1924-1950
(63 folders)
BOX 29Postwar military policy, Woodrum Committee, 1942-1950
(14 folders)
Prewar military policy, 1920-1947
(7 folders)
Prohibition, 1933-1944
(6 folders)
Public housing, rent control, 1946-1950
(2 folders)
Reorganization of House committees, 1946
Retirement from Congress, 1950-1951
(22 folders)
BOX 30Retirement, Rochester, N.Y., dinner, 1950
(8 folders)
Supreme Court, 1937
(3 folders)
Taxation, 1935-1950
(17 folders)
Un-American activities, radicals, 1934-1947
(3 folders)
Unification of armed forces, 1946-1949
(5 folders)
BOX 31Universal military training, 1935-1952
(43 folders)
Veterans bonus, pensions, 1934-1952
(4 folders)
BOX 32Personal
American Military Mission to Armenia, 1919
Atlantic Union, 1950-1952
(4 folders)
Bank matters, 1916-1944
(3 folders)
Campaign contributions, 1926-1952
Degrees and other honors, 1942-1952
(3 folders)
Family history, 1813-1952
(9 folders)
Farm business matters, 1915-1951
(8 folders)
Federal Security Agency, 1951
Freedom on the March, 1950-1951
(4 folders)
Friends, letters
1914-1950
(13 folders)
BOX 331951, n.d.
(3 folders)
Frontier Mortgage Co., 1916-1952
(2 folders)
Geneseo, N.Y., and environs, 1916-1952
(4 folders)
Hay, Clarence, 1938-1950
(2 folders)
Historical documents and books, 1862, 1925-1940
International Stock Yards, 1936-1952
(5 folders)
Land, 1920-1949
Letters received during illness, 1950-1957
(9 folders)
Miscellaneous, 1951
Ostertag, Harold, 1951
(2 folders)
Press, relations with, 1924-1950
(3 folders)
Ranch, J. A., and Richie family, 1915-1951
(13 folders)
Requests for information, assistance, 1926-1951
(5 folders)
Requests to speak, attend meetings, 1923-1951
(10 folders)
BOX 34Roosevelt, Nicholas, 1950-1951
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1906
(3 folders)
Senate friends, 1950
(3 folders)
Sons of the American Revolution, 1950-1951
(3 folders)
Summary of James W. Wadsworth Papers, 1953
Symington, Tim and James, 1942-1951
(2 folders)
Symington, W. Stuart, 1923-1951
(5 folders)
Wadsworth, Craig, 1927-1943
Wadsworth, James J. (“Jerry”), correspondence, 1917-1950
(16 folders)
Wadsworth, James W., Sr., 1898-1926
Wadsworth, Reverdy, and family, 1951
Whitney, John Hay, 1951
Yale University, New Haven, Conn., 1951-1952
BOX 35Miscellaneous
Speeches and articles
1900-1939
(27 folders)
BOX 361940-1951, n.d.
(19 folders)
BOX 37Clippings and political photos, 1910-1952
(12 folders)
BOX 38Printed matter, 1900-1952
(11 folders)
BOX 39Scrapbooks
1723-1864
BOX 401878-1881
1902-1914, letterbook of James W. Wadsworth, Jr.
BOX 411817-1940
BOX 421898-1935
BOX 431899-1943
BOX 441922-1927, 1952
BOX 451926
BOX 461933-1950
BOX 471943-1947
BOX 481947-1949
BOX 491950
BOX 501952
BOX OV 1

Oversize, 1884-1952

Oversize certificates, degrees, and recognitions.
Arranged chronologically.
BOX OV 1Certificates, degrees, and recognitions, 1884-1952


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