James Augustin Brown Scherer Papers, 1916-1943, bulk 1917-1918

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Summary

Creators:
Scherer, James A. B. (James Augustin Brown), 1870-1944.
Abstract:
The bulk of the collection centers on the work with the Council of National Defense of James A.B. Scherer (1870-1944), president of the California Institute of Technology, during the First World War. Subjects in the collection include: African-Americans; Americanization; American Red Cross; liberty bonds; military training camps; Newton Baker; patriotism; rationing; sedition; preventive medicine, U.S. Department of Agriculture; World War I propaganda; war risk insurance; and William Randolph Hearst.
Extent:
452 items in 4 boxes
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

The bulk of the collection centers on the work of James A.B. Scherer with the Council of National Defense during the First World War. There are two and half boxes of documents which had been previously collected in two large volumes. The original arrangement (by date) has been retained for both collections (labeled “Bulletins” and “General Letters,” respectively) in cataloged form. The “General Letters” collection is the most extensive; it comprises the entirety of Box 2 and the first half of Box 3. In some cases – due to the similarity of their subject material – two or more consecutive listings in the index have been cataloged together in one folder. There are two smaller collections labeled “Noteworthy Activities Undertaken by State Councils” and “I.C.A. Circulars.” These two smaller document collections have their own folders in Box 3. All four contain an index – those for the two still-bound collections list the bulletins in the reverse order of their appearance. The two large volumes have been cataloged in the order listed in their indexes.

The collection also has one box of semi-cataloged manuscripts, correspondence, and ephemera. In addition to directives on the formation of community-level patriotic organizations and meetings, Americanization programs, and fuel and food conservation for the war effort, the box also contains Scherer’s travel itinerary from his tour of State Councils of National Defense early in the war. The box also contains a bevy of newspaper clippings covering Scherer’s criticism of the Hearst newspaper syndicate and his resignation following an order from the Secretary of War to end his criticism. Most of the unbound council of National Defense documents are stamped “For Information Only; No Action Desired” – all dated after Scherer had stepped down. The collection’s ephemera includes a number of Council of National Defense pamphlets, advertisements, and news clippings.

Subjects in the collection include: African Americans; Americanization; American Red Cross; Newton Baker; the draft; Fourth of July; liberty bonds; military training camps; patriotism; rationing; sedition; preventive medicine, U.S. Department of Agriculture; World War I propaganda; war risk insurance; and William Randolph Hearst.

Biographical / historical:

James Augustin Brown Scherer (1870-1944) (aka James A.B. Scherer) was born in Salisbury, North Carolina, on May 22, 1870, to the Rev. Simeon and Harriet Isabella (nĂ©e Brown) Scherer. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Roanoke College, Scherer accepted a position teaching English at the Japanese Imperial Government school in Saga, Japan. While serving in this post, he met Bessie Brown, a native of Yamaguchi, Japan, whom he wed on July 5, 1894. He also began a lifelong interest in the Japanese people and culture. Scherer returned to the United States with his new wife the following year, and went on to complete both his master’s and doctoral diplomas at Pennsylvania College in 1897.

Scherer’s work as an educator and administrator began in earnest when he took his first teaching position as a professor of history at the Lutheran Seminary at Charleston, S.C. After seven years teaching, nearby Newberry College offered its vacant presidency to Scherer. He accepted, and spent the next four years garnering himself a reputation as an excellent administrator. In 1908, Scherer came west to head the Throop Polytechnic Institute. Throop’s board of trustees knew of Scherer’s aptitude for organization and fundraising and hired him although had little scientific background or training. Scherer reorganized Throop into a West Coast center of science and an academic powerhouse – renaming it the California Institute of Technology in the process – the following year. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Scherer volunteered to serve as the chief field agent for the state councils’ section of the Council of National Defense. In the summer of 1918, Scherer abruptly quit his post when Secretary of War Newton Baker ordered him to cease his criticism of William Randolph Hearst’s newspapers, which Scherer had felt harbored pro-German sentiments. Though he remained on as a special representative of the United States Shipping Board, Scherer resigned his primary post on the grounds that Baker’s orders infringed on his rights to free speech.

In 1920, Scherer retired from Caltech and spent six years traveling the nation and writing. During this period, he produced a number of books on the history of California. On his return, he became director of the Southwest History Museum at Los Angeles. He continued in this position until 1931, when he made a final voyage to Japan. During these five years, Scherer wrote six books on the Japanese, which garnered him the Imperial Order of the Sacred Treasure – an extraordinary honor – from Emperor Hirohito in 1937. True to his convictions regarding his freedom of speech, however, Scherer returned the medal to the Japanese government a year later when it suppressed his indictment of Japanese imperialism in Japan Defies the World (1938).

During World War II, Scherer again offered his services to the war effort. After the entrance of the United States into the war in December 1941, the Office of War Information (OWI) capitalized Scherer’s fluency in the Japanese language and his familiarity with the Japanese people, and had the former university president send out bi-weekly short-wave broadcasts across the Pacific Ocean. Once again, Scherer found his participation in the war effort cut short, due not to political disagreements, but to ailing health. Scherer never lived to see the rapprochement between the United States and Japan. He died at his home in Santa Monica of a heart defect in February 1944.

Acquisition information:
In Library.
Arrangement:

Arranged in the following order:

  • Boxes 1-3: Council of National Defense. State Councils Section
  • Box 4: Manuscripts, Newspaper clippings, and Ephemera

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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