Wilson-McAdoo Collection

Preliminary arrangement and description by Special Collections staff; latest revision D. Tambo.

Department of Special Collections

Davidson Library

University of California, Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA 93106

Phone: (805) 893-3062

Fax: (805) 893-5749

Email: special@library.ucsb.edu

URL: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/special-collections/

Guide to the Wilson-McAdoo Collection, ca. 1859-1967

Collection number: Bernath Mss 18

Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara

Contact Information:

Department of Special Collections
Davidson Library
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Phone: (805) 893-3062
Fax: (805) 893-5749
Email: special@library.ucsb.edu
URL: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/special-collections/

Processors:: Preliminary arrangement and description by Special Collections staff; latest revision D. Tambo.
Date Completed:: Apr. 7, 1999
Latest revision:: May 9, 2008
Encoded by:: Todd Chatman; A. Demeter

Descriptive Summary

Title: Wilson-McAdoo Collection

Dates: ca. 1859-1967

Collection number: Bernath Mss 18

Collection size: 10 linear feet (21 boxes, 2 oversize boxes, and 3 sound recordings).

Repository: University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Dept. of Special Collections

Santa Barbara, CA 93106

Physical Location: Boxes 1-16 (SRLF); Boxes 17-21 (Del Norte); Boxes 22-23 (Del Norte Oversize); sound recordings (Annex 2).

Abstract: Three series: (1) Personal papers and records of President Woodrow Wilson's daughters Eleanor Wilson McAdoo, her husband William Gibbs McAdoo, and their two children Ellen Wilson Mcadoo Henshaw and Mary Faith McAdoo Haddad; (2) Personal papers and records of President Woodrow Wilson, his first wife Ellen Axson Wilson, and their two children Margarent Woodrow Wilson and Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre; (3) Correspondence, newspaper clippings, and photographs of the Wilson family, and typescripts of Eleanor Wilson McAdoo's three books.

Languages: English, French

Access Restrictions

Part of collection is stored off-site; advance notice required for retrieval.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

Preferred Citation

Wilson-McAdoo Collection. Bernath Mss 18. Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Biography

Eleanor Randolph Wilson McAdoo (1889-1967). Youngest daughter of Woodrow and Ellen Louise Axson Wilson, born in Middletown, Connecticut, 5 October 1889. Married to William Gibbs McAdoo, at the White House, 7 May 1914. Divorced 1934. Well known public speaker and radio commentator. Author of numerous short stories and two books, The Priceless Gift, a collection of her parents love letters, and The Woodrow Wilsons, a memoir. Longstanding interest in world peace movements; present at the founding of the United Nations in San Francisco. Active in the United World Federalists movement. Died in Montecito, California, April 1967.

Ellen Wilson McAdoo (1915-1946). Daughter of Eleanor Randolph Wilson and William Gibbs McAdoo.

Mary Faith McAdoo Bush (1920-1988). Daughter of Eleanor Randolph Wilson and William Gibbs McAdoo. Born in New York, 6 April 1920. Graduate of Girls Collegiate School of Claremont. Published several books, including a biography of her father. Died in Santa Barbara, California, November 1988.

William Gibbs McAdoo (1863-1941). Born near Marietta, Georgia, 31 October 1863. Married Eleanor Randolph Wilson, 1914. Secretary of the Treasury and Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board during the presidency of Woodrow Wilson; U.S. Senator from California, 1933-1939. Resident of Santa Barbara, California. Died 1 February 1941.

Ellen Louise Axson Wilson (1860-1914). Wilson's first wife, born in Savannah, Georgia, 15 May 1860. Married to [Thomas] Woodrow Wilson, from 24 June 1885 to her death, at the White House, 6 August 1914.

Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre (1887-1933). Second daughter of Woodrow and Ellen Louise Axson Wilson, born Gainesville, Georgia, 28 August 1887. Married at the White House, Washington, D.C., 25 November 1913, to Francis Bowes Sayre, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, diplomat, and sometime Assistant Secretary of State. Died 15 January 1933.

Margaret Woodrow Wilson (1886-1944). Eldest daughter of Woodrow and Ellen Louise Axson Wilson. Spent several years in India, late 1930s-early 1940s, as a follower of Sri Aurobindo.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924). Born in Staunton, Virginia, 28 December 1856. Married Ellen Louise Axson, 1885. Inaugurated President of Princeton University, 1902. Elected Governor of New Jersey, 1910. 28th President of the United States, 1913-1921. Died 3 February 1924.

Scope and Content

Arrangement

The collection is divided into fourteen series. Series I-IV contain personal papers and records of President Woodrow Wilson's third and youngest daughter, Eleanor Wilson McAdoo, her husband William Gibbs McAdoo, and their two children Ellen Wilson McAdoo and Mary Faith McAdoo. Series V-VIII contain personal papers and records of President Woodrow Wilson, his first wife Ellen Axson Wilson, and their first two children Margaret Woodrow Wilson and Jessie Woodrow Wilson. Series IX-X contain Wilson family clippings, photographs, and ephemera. Series XII contains the McAdoo family childrens collection. Series XIII contains Wilson family oversize materials. Series XIV contains audiovisual materials.

Series I: Eleanor Wilson McAdoo (boxes 1-7, 18-20). The largest series in the collection, containing family, personal, and professional correspondence, as well as material relating to publications, radio broadcasts, and speeches by EWA. Also includes some financial records and personal ephemera.

Series II: Ellen Wilson McAdoo (box 7). Contains a small amount of family, personal, and professional correspondence.

Series III: Mary Faith McAdoo (box 7). Contains a small amount of family and personal correspondence.

Series IV: William Gibbs McAdoo (box 8). Includes family, personal, and professional correspondence, as well as some financial and legal records.

Series V: Ellen Axson Wilson (box 9). Contains family correspondence, including cablegrams to Woodrow Wilson (1904) and photostatic copies of other correspondence to Woodrow Wilson.

Series VI: Jessie Woodrow Wilson (box 9). Contains correspondence to sister Margaret, ca. 1910-1930.

Series VII: Margaret Woodrow Wilson (boxes 9-13). Includes correspondence to Woodrow Wilson and material relating to her stay Sri Aurobindo's ashram in India, from the late 1930s to early 1940s.

Series VIII: Thomas Woodrow Wilson (boxes 14-15). Contains a small amount of outgoing personal, family, and professional correspondence, some as photostatic copies. Also includes a Wilsoniana section, with correspondence, unpublished and published material, about Wilson.

Series IX: Wilson Family Ephemera (box 15). Includes early (1859-1929) Axson family correspondence, as well as correspondence among other family members.

Series X: Wilson Family Clippings (box 16). Contains material relating to various family members, including Woodrow Wilson and Eleanor Wilson McAdoo.

Series XI: Wilson Family Photographs (box 17). Contains photographs of various family members, including Woodrow Wilson, Ellen Axson Wilson, and Eleanor Wilson McAdoo.

Series XII: McAdoo Family Childrens Collection (box 21). Includes correspondence among several family members.

Series XIII: Oversize Wilson Family Ephemera (boxes 22-23). Includes photographs and a scrapbook.

Series XIV: Audiovisual Materials. Includes sound recordings, in various formats.

Indexing Terms

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

McAdoo, Eleanor Wilson, 1889-1967 -- Archives.

McAdoo, Ellen Wilson, 1915-1946.

Bush, Mary Faith McAdoo, 1920-1988.

McAdoo, William Gibbs, 1863-1941.

Wilson, Ellen Axson.

Sayre, Jessie Woodrow Wilson, 1887-1933.

Wilson, Margaret Woodrow, 1886-1944.

Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924.

McAdoo family -- Archives.

Wilson family -- Archives.

Presidents -- Family.

Related Materials

Manuscript Sources:

McAdoo, William Gibbs. William Gibbs McAdoo letters to his wife, Eleanor (Wilson) McAdoo, 1914-1938. University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library (BANC MSS 70/127c).
William Gibbs McAdoo Papers. Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.
Woodrow Wilson Papers. Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C. Available on microfilm, 540 reels. Covers Wilson's personal life and public career.
Woodrow Wilson Papers, 1913-1921. The National Archives, Washington, D.C. Includes presidential documents.
Woodrow Wilson Papers. Princeton University Library, Princeton, N.J. Includes personal correspondence with many of Wilson's closest friends and associates.

Published Sources:

Axson, Stockton. Brother Woodrow: A Memoir of Woodrow Wilson by Stockton Axson, ed. Arthur S. Link. Papers of Woodrow Wilson. Supplementary volume. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993. Memoir, covering Wilson's years as President of Princeton, by his brother-in-law and friend.
Craig, Douglas B. After Wilson: The Struggle for the Democratic Party, 1920-1934. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992. Includes chapter on William Gibbs McAdoo.
Elliot, Margaret Randolph Axson. My Aunt Louisa and Woodrow Wilson. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1944. Recollections by the sister of Wilson's first wife.
McAdoo, Eleanor Randolph Wilson, in collaboration with Margaret Y. Gaffey. The Woodrow Wilsons. New York: Macmillan Co., 1937. Memoir by Wilson's daughter.
McAdoo, Eleanor Randolph Wilson. The Priceless Gift: The Love Letters of Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Axson Wilson. New York: McGraw-Hill and Co., 1962. A selection, compiled by their daughter.
McAdoo, William Gibbs. Crowded Years: The Reminiscences of William G. McAdoo. Boston: Jonathan Cape, 1931.
Mulder, John M. Woodrow Wilson: A Bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1997. Contains numerous further references to manuscript and published sources.
Saunders, Frances Wright. Ellen Axson Wilson: First Lady between Two Worlds. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985.
Wilson, Woodrow. The Papers of Woodrow Wilson. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1966-1994. Extensive multi-volume edition of public and personal papers.

Series I: Eleanor Wilson McAdoo

Family Correspondence, Outgoing

Box 1: 1

1899-1907

Box 1: 2

1908-1927

Box 1: 3

1942-1946

Box 1: 4

Undated

Personal Correspondence, Incoming

Box 1: 5-12

A-Z (arranged alphabetically by surname of correspondent), ca. 1922-1964

Box 1: 13

Unidentified

Professional Correspondence

Box 2: 1

Outgoing, 1927-1950

Incoming (arranged alphabetically by surname of correspondent, mostly dealing with writings and speeches), ca. 1914-1965

Box 2: 2-7

A-J

Box 3: 1-5

K-S

Box 4: 1-2

T-Z

Box 4: 3

Unidentified

Box 4: 4

Office of War Information, 1943-1944

Works

Box 4: 5

Articles, and Reminiscences (includes "Statement" re Woodrow Wilson's last thoughts about League of Nations)

Books

Box 18

Julia and the White House (novel about a young girl growing up in the White House), TSS, 1946

The Priceless Gift

Box 4: 6-7

Holographic and typescript partial drafts

Box 19

TSS

Box 20

Galley Proofs, 1962

The Woodrow Wilsons

Box 4: 8-9

Typescript drafts of chapters, with holographic corrections

Box 5: 1

Typescript drafts of chapters, with holographic corrections

Other Writings

Box 5: 2

[Julia] and other (partial typescript and holographic drafts)

Box 5: 3

Short Stories (typescript drafts)

Box 5: 4

Publicity Book (includes biographical sketch, with comments and radio scripts, and typed copies of letters and speeches concerning Woodrow Wilson), n.d.

Radio Broadcasts

Box 5: 5

April-July 1941

Box 5: 6-7

Unidentified, n.d.

Box 5: 8

Radio Broadcasts and Speeches (unidentified holographic drafts), n.d.

Box 5: 9

Speeches (holographic and typescript drafts), ca. early 1940s

Records - Financial

Box 6: 1

Incoming Correspondence, 1923-1951

Banking Records

Box 6: 2

Los Angeles, 1947-1951

Box 6: 3

New York, 1950-1951

Box 6: 4-5

Receipts, 1926-1951

Personal Ephemera

Box 7: 1

Address Books and Diary (re trip to Europe), n.d.

Box 7: 2

Biographical Material (includes 1967 obituaries)

Box 7: 3

Invitations and Distinctions

Box 7: 4

Lecture Advertisement (includes biographical sketch; spoke on the topics of: "The Peacemakers-1918 and 1945," "Women as a Force for World Peace," "The San Francisco Charter," and "The Battle-Scarred Road to Peace")

Box 7: 5

Notes

Box 7: 6

Publications and Papers (by other writers)

Box 7: 7

Typescript articles and papers (by other writers)

Box 7: 8

Miscellaneous Writings (holographic copies, apparently by EWM)

Box 7: 9

Unidentified TSS and MSS (including list of achievements of League of Nations during its first 25 years)

Box 7: 10

Wedding Gift Book, 1914

Series II: Ellen Wilson McAdoo

Box 7: 11

Family Correspondence, Outgoing (to mother and Mary Faith McAdoo), 1928-1935

Box 7: 12

Personal Correspondence, Incoming, 1923-1933

Box 7: 13

Professional Correspondence, Incoming, 1915, 1932

Box 7: 14

Personal Ephemera, 1913, 1931

Series III: Mary Faith McAdoo

Box 7: 15

Family Correspondence, Outgoing (to mother), 1933-1938

Box 7: 16

Personal Correspondence, Incoming, n.d.

Series IV: William Gibbs McAdoo

Family Correspondence

Box 8: 1

Outgoing (to wife, EWM), 1929

Box 8: 2

Outgoing (to EWM), 1936

Box 8: 3

Incoming - Outgoing (financial matters re Ellen Wilson McAdoo), 1938

Box 8: 4

Personal Correspondence, Incoming (includes telegrams of condolences re Woodrow Wilson's death in 1924), 1922-1931

Professional Correspondence

Box 8: 5

Outgoing (includes letters while Secretary of the Treasury and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee), 1912-1913

Box 8: 6-9

Incoming (arranged alphabetically by surname, mostly about statement to Senate committee, and intention to move to California), 1922-1923

Records

Box 8: 10

Financial, 1920-1931

Box 8: 11-13

Legal, 1921-1922, 1942

Box 8: 13

Personal Ephemera (includes obituary), ca. 1916-1941

Series V: Ellen Axson Wilson

Family Correspondence, Outgoing

To Woodrow Wilson

Box 9: 1-2

Photostats (apparently used by EWM for her book Priceless Gift; originals at Princeton University), ca. 1885-1904

Box 9: 3

Letters (while on trip to Italy), 1904

Box 9: 4

Telegrams (while on trip to Italy), 28 Mar-19 Aug. 1904

Box 9: 5

To Eleanor Wilson (daughter), 1911

Box 9: 6

Professional Correspondence, Incoming, 1914

Series VI: Jessie Woodrow Wilson

Box 9: 7-8

Family Correspondence, Outgoing - to Margaret (sister), n.d., 1911-1930

Series VII: Margaret Woodrow Wilson

Family Correspondence, Outgoing

Box 9: 9

To father (Woodrow Wilson), ca. 1894-1923

Box 9: 10

To mother (Ellen Axson Wilson), ca. 1901-1909

Box 9: 11

To sister (Eleanor Wilson McAdoo), ca. 1936-1940

Box 9: 12

To others, n.d., ca. 1939-1942

Personal Correspondence

Outgoing

Box 10: 1

To Sri Aurobindo, ca. 1938

Box 10: 2-4

A-Z (arranged by name of correspondent, often forename, many written from or about India), ca. 1939-1942

Box 10: 5-6

Incoming, A-Z (arranged by name of correspondent, often forename), ca. 1916-1942

Professional Correspondence

Box 10: 7

Outgoing, n.d., 1936-1942

Box 10: 8-9

Incoming, n.d., ca. 1939-1942

Box 10: 10

Solicitations of Sri Aurobindo's books, 1940

Box 10: 11

Unidentified Correspondence, ca. 1938-1942

Works

Box 11: 1-5

Gospel of Ramakrishna (TSS drafts)

Box 11: 6

"The School House as a Community Center" (printed pamphlet), 1916

Box 11: 7

Speeches, n.d.

Records

Financial

Box 12: 1

Correspondence, Outgoing, 1938-1942

Box 12: 2

Correspondence, Incoming, 1938, 1940

Box 12: 3

Banque de l'Indochine, 1940-1943

Box 12: 4-5

Imperial Bank of Inda, 1941-1944

Box 12: 6

National Metropolitan Bank, 1938-1941

Box 12: 7

Miscellaneous Receipts

Box 12: 8

Legal (Will of Willa Boord), ca. 1938-1940

Personal Ephemera

Box 13: 1

Diary, 1939

Box 13: 2

Miscellaneous Correspondence by other writers

Box 13: 3

Miscellaneous Notes

Box 13: 4

Personal Memorabilia (includes address book, clippings, and envelopes)

Box 13: 5

Publications and Papers by Sri Aurobindo (including partial corrected typescript draft of The Life Divine)

Box 13: 6

Publications and Papers by other writers

Box 13: 7

Notebook (in French)

Box 13: 8

Portrait of Sri Aurobindo (b/w framed photo)

Box 13: 9

Recital Scrapbook, 1917

Series VIII: Thomas Woodrow Wilson

Family Correspondence, Outgoing

Box 14: 1

To Eleanor Wilson McAdoo - 2 TLS, 1919, 1923

To Ellen Axson Wilson (photostats; apparently used by EWM for her book Priceless Gift; originals at Princeton University)

Box 14: 2

ca. 1884-1896

Box 14: 3

1913

Box 14: 4

Personal Correspondence, Outgoing

Additional Note

1 ALS to Lucy Marshall Smith, 15 Sept. 1897 and 1 TLS to Arthur Brisbane, re the Espionage Bill before Congress, 25 April 1917.

Box 14: 5

Professional Correspondence, Outgoing

Additional Note

1 ALS to Mrs. John Lyon Gardiner, 14 Feb. 1901 and 1 TLS to General John J. Pershing, introducing Wilson's brother-in-law, Dr. Stockton Axson, 13 Sept. 1918

Box 14: 6

Works - Baccalaureate Address, 13 June 1909

Box 14: 7

Personal Ephemera (includes Woodrow Wilson autograph and 1920 Democratic National Convention ticket)

Wilsoniana (material relating to Woodrow Wilson)

Box 14: 8

Inaugural Day (program and invitation, addressed to EWM), 5 Mar. 1917

Box 14: 9

Memorials (for Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Axson Wilson)

Box 14: 10

Miscellaneous Correspondence - Incoming, 1919-1966

Box 14: 11-12

Miscellaneous Published Material (mostly articles about Woodrow Wilson)

Box 15: 1

Miscellaneous Unpublished Material (includes dedications, essays, and songs)

Box 15: 2

Woodrow Wilson Foundation (includes minutes and reports), ca. 1944-1965

Series IX: Wilson Family Ephemera

Box 15: 3

Axson Family Correspondence, 1859-1929

Box 15: 4

Axson, J. S. K., Jr. - Notebook, ca. 1884

Box 15: 5

Bones [?], Helen - To Margaret Wilson, 1914, 1927

Box 15: 6

Hoyt Family Correspondence, n.d., 1859

Box 15: 7

McAdoo, Molly - To Eleanor Wilson McAdoo, ca. 1935-1937

Box 15: 8

McAdoo, Robert H. - Miscellaneous Correspondence, 1918, 1923

Box 15: 9

Sayre, Francis B. - To Eleanor Wilson McAdoo, 1966

Box 15: 10

Woodrow, James - To Eleanor Wilson McAdoo, ca. 1963

Box 15: 11-12

Wilson Family - Miscellaneous Correspondence, ca. 1900-1946

Box 15: 13

Miscellaneous Ephemera (primarily cards and envelopes), ca. 1893-1950

Series X: Wilson Family Clippings

Eleanor Wilson McAdoo

Box 16: 1

Wedding Scrapbook, 1914

Box 16: 2

Biographical Articles, ca. 1914-1956

Box 16: 3

Reviews of The Woodrow Wilsons, 1937

Box 16: 4

Reviews of The Priceless Gift, 1962, 1967

Box 16: 5

William G. McAdoo - Biographical Articles (includes death notices), ca. 1917-1941

Box 16: 6

Margaret W. Wilson - Biographical Articles (includes death notice), ca. 1917-1944

Box 16: 7

Thomas Woodrow Wilson - Biographical Articles (includes death notices), ca. 1913-1964

Box 16: 8

Miscellaneous Family Clippings, ca. 1915-1963

Box 16: 9

Miscellaneous Historical Clippings, ca. 1915-1953

Series XI: Wilson Family Photographs

Box 17: 1

Eleanor Wilson McAdoo

Box 17: 2

William G. McAdoo

Box 17: 3

Ellen and Mary Faith McAdoo

Box 17: 4

Ellen Axson Wilson (11 items)

Box 17: 5

Jessie and Margaret Woodrow Wilson

Box 17: 6

Margaret Woodrow Wilson

Box 17: 7

Thomas Woodrow Wilson (25 items)

Box 17: 8

Wilson Homes and Monuments

Box 17: 9

Miscellaneous and Unidentified Photographs

Series XII: McAdoo Family Childrens Collection

Box 21: 1-2

Correspondence (includes Ellen McAdoo, Eleanor McAdoo, Mary Faith McAdoo, William G. McAdoo, and Sally McAdoo as correspondents), ca. 1925-1936

Series XIII: Oversize Wilson Family Ephemera

Box 22

Scrapbook with articles about Woodrow Wilson's death in 1924; other newspaper articles, ca. 1917-1956

Box 23

Photographs (black and white, mostly of Eleanor Wilson McAdoo)

Series XIV: Audiovisual Materials

A/V No. A0312/D12

78 rpm sound recording - Star Spangled Banner, sung by Margaret Woodrow Wilson (A Panama Pacific International Exposition Souvenir Record), 1915

A/V No. A0313/D16

Acetate sound recording - Democratic National Committee, Interview with Eleanor Wilson McAdoo, 11 Oct. 1948

A/V No. A0314/D12

LP sound recording - Adlai Stevenson in Conversation with Arnold Michaelis, 19 June 1956