Finding Aid for the William Gibbs McAdoo Papers, 1902-1938

Processed by Tina Brauer; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé

UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections

Manuscripts Division

Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library

Box 951575

Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575

Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu

URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/

Finding Aid for the William Gibbs McAdoo Papers, 1902-1938

Collection number: 350

UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections

Manuscripts Division

Los Angeles, CA

Contact Information

Manuscripts Division
UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Telephone: 310/825-4988 (10:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m., Pacific Time)
Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/

Processed by:: Tina Brauer, 19 November 1963
Encoded by:: Caroline Cubé
Online finding aid edited by:: Josh Fiala, August 2002

Descriptive Summary

Title: William Gibbs McAdoo Papers,

Date (inclusive): 1902-1938

Collection number: 350

Creator: McAdoo, William Gibbs, 1863-1941

Extent: 15 boxes (7.5 linear ft.) 9 oversize boxes

Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.

Los Angeles, California 90095-1575

Abstract: William Gibbs McAdoo (1863-1941) was a lawyer with a practice in Chattanooga, Tennessee before relocating to New York City in 1892. He developed system of rapid transit tunnels under the Hudson River and was president (1902-13) of the company which built them. In 1912, McAdoo served as vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee and was later appointed Secretary of the Treasury (1913). During World War I, he served as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. He moved to Los Angeles, California (1922) and served as a Democrat in the U.S. Senate (1933-38). The collection consists of correspondence, financial records, and clippings related to the personal life and political career of William Gibbs McAdoo.

Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.

Language: English.

Administrative Information

Restrictions on Use and Reproduction

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Restrictions on Access

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.

Additional Physical Form Available

A copy of the original version of this online finding aid is available at the UCLA Department of Special Collections for in-house consultation and may be obtained for a fee. Please contact:

Public Services Division
UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Telephone: 310/825-4988 (10:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m., Pacific Time)
Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu

Provenance/Source of Acquisition

Zeitlin & Ver Brugge Booksellers, gift and purchase, 1951.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], William Gibbs McAdoo Papers (Collection 350). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

UCLA Catalog Record ID

UCLA Catalog Record ID: 2221355

Biography

McAdoo was born near Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia, on October 31, 1863; attended the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; admitted to Tennessee bar in 1885 and began law practice in Chattanooga, Tennessee; moved to New York City, 1892; developed system of rapid transit tunnels under the Hudson River and was president (1902-13) of the company which built them; vice chairman, Democratic National Committee, 1912; appointed Secretary of the Treasury by Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1918; chairman of the Federal Reserve Board during World War I; moved to Los Angeles, California, 1922; served as Democrat, U.S. Senate, 1933-38; died while visiting Washington, D.C., on February 1, 1941.

Scope and Content

Collection consists of correspondence, financial records, and clippings related to the personal life and political career of William Gibbs McAdoo. Includes materials related to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 as well as bound volumes of clippings related to the Hudson and Manhattan Railway Company.

Organization and Arrangement

Arranged in the following series:

Books on the Federal Reserve Act and the Federal Reserve System (Boxes 1-3).
McAdoo's personal financial ledgers, 1902-36 (Box 4).
Correspondence and related material concerning McAdoo's activities with the Boy Scouts of America, 1919-20 (Boxes 5-6).
Ledgers, account books, and records concerning McAdoo's business affairs, 1919-31 (Boxes 7-8).
Personal files re: financial affairs, 1920-26 (Boxes 9-10).
Correspondence and papers re: professional career, 1910-22, and Senatorial affairs, 1936-38 (Box 11).
U.S. Railway Administration and Democratic National Committee chairmanship (Box 12).
Private correspondence, legal documents, and miscellany, ca. 1911-22 (Box 14).
Personal receipt file, 1919-20 (Box 15).
Bound copies of mortgages, legal documents, etc. (Boxes 16-17).
Clippings re: Hudson & Manhattan Railway Company and Century Syndicate Company (Boxes 18-21).
U.S. Liberty Loan posters (Boxes 22-24).

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

McAdoo, William Gibbs, 1863-1941--Archives.

United States--Federal Reserve Act.

Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Company.

Legislators--United States--Archival resources.

Boxes 1-3

Miscellaneous books on the Federal Reserve Act and the Federal Reserve System from William G. McAdoo's private library. Some copies are autographed by the donor and container McAdoo's holograph annotations.

Box 4

Federal Reserve System.

Scope and Content Note

Includes the following:

Federal Reserve System. List of member banks by groups in Federal Reserve Districts 1 - [12] as of May 27, 1914.
U.S. Federal Reserve System. Board of Governors. Report, 1st... 1914.
U.S. Federal Reserve System. Board of Governors. Index Digest, Federal Reserve.
U.S. Federal Reserve System. Board of Governors. Index Digest, Federal Reserve Bulletin (vol. 1-4, 1914-1920), compiled by Charles S. Hamlin [autographed presentation copy].
U.S. Federal Bank of St. Louis. Rediscounting with ... St. Louis [c. 1916].
W.P.G. Harding. The formative period of the Federal Reserve System, 1925.
R.L. Owen. The Federal Reserve Act. New York, 1919.
U.S. Federal Reserve System. Board of Governors. Index Digest of the Federal Reserve Act and amendments. Washington, G.P.O., 1915.*.
U.S. 63rd Congress, 1st Session. House. H.R. 7837... An act to provide for Federal reserve banks... September 18, 1913. 51 pp. with Committee print 78 leaves.*.
U.S. 63rd Congress, 1st Session. Federal Reserve Act. Rural Credits.
...Senate Reports.
...Senate Hearings.
...Senate Hearings with index.
Jake Zeitlin, compiled. The Federal Reserve System: a collection of material from the library of Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo. 3 leaves, typescript [describes items listed above container in boxes 1-3].

* These two items are located in Box 3 and are copiously corrected and amended with interlineations, marginalia and notes on interleaved note paper, all in the handwriting of McAdoo. They are bound together and marked: Draft of Federal reserve bill H.R. 7837 with suggested ammendments by Secretary McAdoo.

Box 4

Ledgers containing records of McAdoo's personal financial transactions, 1902-1936. 4 vol.

Scope and Content Note

Interleaved in some of the volumes are cancelled checks, sight drafts, brokers' statements, profit and loss statements, and trial balances.

Boxes 5-6

Correspondence and related material concerning McAdoo's activities in behalf of the Boy Scouts of America, 1919-1920.

Boxes 7-8

Ledgers, account books and records concerning McAdoo's business affairs, 1919-1931.

Scope and Content Note

Includes the following:

Income account, 1919-1920.
Cash book, 1919.
Journal, 1921.
Stockbook and ledger, 1927.
Seaboard Realty Company, Los Angeles. Bylaws, January 1924.
Seaboard Realty Company, Los Angeles. Certificate of Incorporation, bylaws, and minutes, January 1924.
Seaboard Development Company, Los Angeles. Certificate of Incorporation, bylaws and minutes, August 30-October 22, 1931.
Culver City Airport, Incorporated, Los Angeles. Articles of Incorporation, bylaws, and minutes, December 15, 1928-August 9, 1929.

Boxes 9-10

Personal files covering financial affairs, 1920-1926.

Scope and Content Note

Includes the following:

Receipt files.
Automobile insurance file.
South Down Millbank property and Farmers Cooperative files.
Promotional Report addressed to McAdoo from E.T. Meredith, Des Moines, Iowa, September 26, 1921, concerning the development of certain coal properties in Utah and Arizona with cover letter, individual reports of other development companies and 3 fold. maps. 42 leaves. Typescript in binder.
Statements of Riggs National Bank of Washington, D.C. to accompany reply to Treasury Department.
Interrogatories regarding disposition of National Bank notes received from Treasury Department and regarding brokerage commissions and collateral pledged on real estate loans.

Boxes 11

Correspondence and papers pertianing to McAdoo's professional career, 1910-1922, and to his Senatorial affairs, 1936-1938.

Scope and Content Note

Includes the following:

Hudson & Manhattan Railway Company.
Correspondence and transit maps, 1910.
Speeches by and about works about McAdoo, 1911.
Correspondence regarding the position of Secretary of Agriculture, 1912-1913.
File on Secretaryship of the Treasury and party politics, 1913-1916.
Cavalcanti.
Pan-American questions. Rio de Janeiro, 1913.
American Association of Joint Stock Land Banks. The Federal farm loan system: argument of the Honorable W.G. McAdoo on this law ... October 30, 1919. Chicago, 1919.
Senatorial affairs: correspondence re impeachment of Federal judges, 1936 and the A.A.A., 1937-1938.

Box 12

[Correspondence, operating statistics etc.].

Scope and Content Note

Includes the following:

U.S. Railway Administration: correspondence, addresses, operating statistics for 1912, 1917-1922.
Democratic National Committee Chairmanship: correspondence, campaign literature, etc.

Box 13

Miscellaneous memorabilia, McAdoo's checkstubs and family letters, 1867-1901.

Box 14

Private correspondence, legal documents and miscellany, ca. 1911-1922.

Scope and Content Note

Includes the following:

General correspondence, 1911-1918.
Documents relating to McAdoo's private law practice, McAdoo, Cotton & Franklin, including articles of co-partnership, canceled checks, and financial statements, 1912-1920.
Correspondence and documents relating to personal legal matters, 1919-1922.

Box 15

Personal receipt file, 1919-1920.

Boxes 16-17

Bound copies of mortgages, legal documents, etc. (from Los Angeles County Law Library, December 1986) Unclear whether or not they pertain to McAdoo (no compromise).

Boxes 18-21, 25

Hudson & Manhattan Railway Company and Century Syndicate Company Scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings, 1902-1909.

Physical Description: 6 volumes.

Boxes 22-24

U.S. Liberty Loan posters.

Scope and Content Note

Includes the following:

1st-2nd Loans.
3rd Loan.
4th Loan.