William L. Honnold papers, 1842-1955., bulk 1902-1950

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Summary

Creators:
Honnold, William L., (William Lincoln), 1866-1950
Abstract:
This collection contains correspondence, reports, maps, plans, photographs, realia, and ephemera relating to the life and career of William L. Honnold (1866-1950), a pioneering American mining engineer in South Africa, who later became a major benefactor to the Claremont Colleges, and his wife, Caroline Burton (1868-1954). The collection documents in particular Honnold’s early career in the coal fields of Minnesota and gold fields of California; his activities in furthering the technique of deep mining in South Africa; his position as arguably the first mining engineer in to fully combine the roles of engineer, business entrepreneur, and top corporate executive; his long friendship with Herbert Hoover and his contributions to World War I relief in Belgium and Northern France as a member of the Commission for Relief in Belgium; his long friendship with Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, and their founding of the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa; his “retirement” to California in the 1920s, and his subsequent business ventures, many with members of the Mudd family; and his philanthropic activities, the bulk of which benefited the Claremont Colleges, as well as his alma maters, Knox College and the Michigan Mining School (now Michigan Technological University). Photographs from Honnold’s life in South Africa graphically portray Johannesburg’s elite at the height of the Edwardian age. Extensive financial records from the 1920s onward, including virtually complete accounts paid, document the contemporary cost of living, such as food; workmen’s and servants’ wages; automobile maintenance; travel; jewelry, artwork, and other luxury items; and taxes.
Extent:
102 linear feet (142 boxes + 2 map-case drawers).
Language:

Background

Scope and content:

The William L. Honnold papers contain correspondence, reports, maps, plans, photographs, realia, and ephemera relating to the life and career of William L. Honnold (1866-1950), one of the first mining engineers to successfully combine the roles of engineer, business entrepreneur, and corporate executive, and a major donor to the Claremont Colleges.

The collection falls naturally into three chronological periods: (1) the years prior to 1915, encompassing Honnold’s early life and active mining career, from the 1890s until his departure from South Africa; (2) the years 1915 to 1924, encompassing Honnold’s service in World War I relief, his cooperation with Ernest Oppenheimer in the founding of the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa in 1917, his business activities, and his move to California in 1922; (3) the period from 1924, when Honnold and his wife became domiciled in California, onward, encompassing Honnold’s increasingly diversified business activities and his philanthropic activities, in particular his support of the Claremont Colleges.

The records for the first period constitute Series 1: United States, and Series 2: South Africa. They contain primarily mining reports and correspondence addressed to the Consolidates Mines Selection Company of London, for whom Honnold worked as a consulting engineer from 1899, first in the United States (the extant reports relate to mines in Arizona, California, and the Yukon), and from 1902 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The reports document Honnold’s technical abilities as a miner and his skill as an administrator: in 1912, he became Managing Director of the company in South Africa, and Chairman of the Board of the subsidiary companies under its direct control. Much of the correspondence relates to Honnold’s dealings in the stock of Consolidated Mines Selection Company, and reveals the business acumen that made him so financially successful.

The records for the second period, 1915-1924, are fragmentary. Neil C. Cross, Honnold’s Los Angeles secretary from 1924 onward, wrote on 30 August 1954 to John T. Staker, husband of Honnold’s niece, “I recollect that about 1916 W.L. employed Rollin B. Burton [Caroline Honnold’s nephew, who served as Honnold’s New York secretary (“investment” or “fiscal agent” and “tax adviser”) from 1917 until 1937] to keep his record and files and that after W.L. came out here the files were put in storage in New York or New Jersey” [Box 60, Folder 8]. The surviving materials most probably constitute those Honnold considered most memorable or most important from a legal standpoint. They relate primarily to Honnold’s World War I relief work, his mission in 1918-1919 on behalf of the Guaranty Trust Company of New York and other financial institutions to help restart the Belgian economy, and the founding of the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa in 1917. Records of the first two can be found in Series 3: United States, in the subsection ”Civic and philanthropic activities”. Records of the founding of the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa constitute the earliest part of Series: 5: Anglo American Corporation of South Africa. Those relating to the founding of the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa were carefully selected, cataloged, and filed in a safe deposit box; they omit many telegrams and letters known from other sources to have passed between Honnold and Oppenheimer at this time.

The records for the third and last period, 1924 onward, relate to Honnold’s “retirement” in California, his house in Bel-Air, the establishment of the Honnold Trust in 1926, and his philanthropic endeavors in support of the Claremont Colleges, the California Institute of Technology, and his almae matres, Knox College and the Michigan College of Mining and Technology (now Michigan Technological University). The materials comprise those records created by Honnold and Cross in Los Angeles, together with those records created by Burton in New York and forwarded by him to California. Cross arranged those for 1924 through 1930 by subject: these records now constitute Series 3: United States, and the pre-1931 sections of Series 6: Honnold Foundation and Series 8: Personal and family. In 1931, Cross changed to a chronological system, with annual files on each subject. These materials now constitute Series 4: Chronological files. Certain legal and tax records for 1931-1938 were removed from this series in the 1970s or 1980s by a prior processor of the collection to a separate box and refoldered; as it proved impossible to determine with absolute certainty to which year each of these files belonged, no attempt was made to reincorporate these files into Series 4, and they were retained where they were found; they can now be found in Series 3: United States, Subseries 3.4: Financial and legal. Access to the files is through a series of card files compiled by Cross—a single alphabetical file for 1924-1930, and separate alphabetical card files for each year from 1931 onwards—that give the title(s) of the file(s)containing materials relating to a particular individual or subject. The files are largely complete; for files known to be missing from the collection, see “Items Removed from the Collection” in the administrative notes at the beginning of this finding aid. The extant records offer considerable detail on Honnold’s various business ventures (many with members of the Mudd family); his extensive correspondence with colleagues and friends, including many from his earliest days in Minnesota and South Africa; his interest in Republic politics (in particular, his devotion to “the chief”, Herbert Hoover); his concern for education and support for educational institutions; and his deep affection and concern for the welfare of his wife Caroline. Extensive financial records from the 1920s onward, including virtually complete accounts paid, document the contemporary cost of living, including basic foodstuffs; workmen’s and servants’ wages; automobile repair; jewelry, artwork, and other luxury items; and taxes.

For ease of reference, certain materials originally found in the above series have been arranged in separate series. The records of the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa (Series 5), although incomplete, offer important insight into the circumstances immediately leading to the founding of the company, and its development in the first critical years. Honnold’s correspondence with Julius S. Wetzlar, whom he had known as a member of the Consolidated Mines Selection Company Board of Directors since at least 1904 is especially illuminating. The records of the Honnold Foundation and the Honnold Trust (Series 6, supplemented by financial and legal records in Subseries 3.5 and Series 7: Ledgers and checks) document the creation, funding, and operation of the institution through which Honnold funded his gifts to the Claremont Colleges, the California Institute of Technology, Knox College, and the Michigan College of Mining and Technology.

Series 8 contains personal and family records of William L. and Caroline Burton Honnold. With few exceptions the materials cover the period prior to 1931; similar materials for the period 1931 onwards are to be found in Series 4: Chronological files. The records include the diary, sermons, and other writings of Honnold’s father, the Rev. Robert Honnold. Family papers include correspondence with Paul M. Folckemer, husband of Honnold's only full sister, Mary, and more extensive financial records and correspondence of Caroline's elder sisters, Mary Burton Curtis and Jessie A. (Burton) Shipman, whose financial affairs Honnold managed from at least the early 1920s, as well as correspondence with the latter’s husband, Charles Goodrich Shipman, MD, with whom Honnold had at least one joint business venture. Honnold's personal papers include his diplomas and awards; a blueprint of the couple's modest first house in Hibbing, Minnesota; life insurance policies from Honnold's earliest years as a mining engineer until 1931; and passports for both William and Caroline for the years the couple lived in South Africa through 1930. Extensive files give a complete accounting of the costs, and (incomplete) plans for the building of the Honnolds' Bel-Air residence. Additional materials document the relationship between the Honnolds and their long-time principal servants, chauffeur Joe Silvera, and housekeeper Josephine Sullivan. Other materials record Honnold's continued interest, both family and business, in his home town of Camp Point, Illinois. The papers include copies of many of Honnold’s writings, including most notably a “diary” of a 1934 deep-sea fishing cruise with Herbert Hoover, as well as Caroline's letters to Honnold during a six-month trip from South Africa to Camp Point and Ely, Minnesota, in 1904.

Series 9: Photographs, documents all aspects of Honnold's life, including his father and maternal relatives, his infancy and childhood in Illinois, his days as a student and young miner in Minnesota, his marriage, his work in California, his life in South Africa, his World War I relief service in Belgium and Northern France, and his retirement, business activities, and community service and philanthropic work in the United States. The series includes a number of photographs of Caroline Burton and her family from the period prior to her marriage to Honnold in 1895. The photographs from the Honnolds' life in South Africa portray the mining, government, and military elite in Johannesburg in the final years of the Edwardian era. The photographs from Honnold's service with the Commission for Relief in Belgium, as well as later photographs (many signed) of Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover illustrate Honnold's life-long friendship with and devotion to "the Chief".

Audio materials (Series 12) contains the audio recording of a January 1989 interview with Honnold’s niece, Mrs. Irene (Folckemer) Staker, then 92 years old, who reminisces about her uncle.

Series 13: Realia and ephemera, consists of non-documentary materials in the collection. They include a leather briefcase inscribed to Honnold from his colleagues at the Commission for Relief in Belgium, his masonic apron, and a considerable number of medals commemorating World War I relief in Belgium and Northern France, including the neck and lapel versions the Croix de Commandeur de l'Ordre de la Couronne, awarded Honnold by Albert I. of Belgium, as well as political medals documenting both William and Caroline Honnold's participation as alternate delegates at Republican National Conventions from 1928 to 1940. The series also includes three pieces of Caroline Honnold's jewelry, and a number of silver grooming and dining items.

Acquisition information:
The Honnold papers were transferred to the custody of Special Collections at some time between January 1981 and October 1987, but remained in Mabel Shaw Bridges ("Big Bridges") Auditorium until at least November 1987. They were physically moved to the Honnold Library by the end of 1988. Certain photographs now among the Honnold papers were acquired at an earlier date, possibly after Honnold's death in 1950 or that of his wife in 1954.
Arrangement:

Series 1: United States and Canada, 1899-1902

Series 2: South Africa, 1904-1915

Series 3: United States, 1919-1930

Series 4: Chronological Files, 1931-1955

Series 5: Anglo American Corporation of South Africa, 1917-1954

Series 6: Honnold Foundation, 1926-1953

Series 7: Ledgers and checks, 1923-1954

Series 8: Personal and family, 1842-1953

Series 9: Photographs, circa 1860-1954

Series 10: Maps, circa 1890-1925

Series 11: Graphics, circa 1900-1945

Series 12: Audio materials, 1989

Series 13: Realia and ephemera, circa 1870-1940

Series 14: Cross, Neil C., 1934-1954

Series 15: Materials in other repositories, 1891-1946

Physical location:
Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library. Claremont University Consortium.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Location of this collection:
800 N. Dartmouth Ave.
Claremont, CA 91711, US
Contact:
(909) 607‑3977
specialcollections@claremont.edu
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