Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm82056200
Collection material in English and Spanish
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of Courtney Letts de Espil, writer and wife of the Argentine ambassador to the United States, were given to the Library of Congress by Letts de Espil in a series of installments from 1939 to 1995 and by Mrs. Benjamin Welles in 1977.
Copyright in the unpublished writings of Courtney Letts de Espil in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.
The papers of Courtney Letts de Espil are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Courtney Letts de Espil Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Courtney Letts de Espil span the years 1925-1994 with the bulk of the material dating from the 1930s and 1940s. The papers are in English and Spanish and primarily consist of diaries, writings, correspondence, news clippings, and photographs.
The diaries form the centerpiece of the papers, in particular the eight notebooks of detailed writings covering de Espil's ten years as the Argentine ambassador's wife in Washington, D.C., 1933-1943. Many social events of political Washington are described recounting the food, the table settings, and the conversations. The Espils were friendly with many well-known politicians, reporters, State Department officials, and diplomats of New Deal Washington. There are numerous entries in the diaries concerning Adolf Augustus Berle and Beatrice Berle, Charles Evans Hughes and Antoinette Hughes, Cordell and Frances Hull, Harold L. Ickes, Arthur and Martha Krock, Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Henry and Elinor Morgenthau, Drew Pearson, Arthur H. Vandenberg and Hazel Vandenberg, Henry Agard Wallace and Ilo Wallace, and Sumner and Mathilde Welles. During these years, Courtney Letts de Espil was especially good friends with Mathilde Welles, wife of Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles, and with Frances Hull, wife of Secretary of State Cordell Hull. The long conflict at the State Department between Hull and Welles is documented from the perspective of the wives through conversations and impressions reported in the diaries and correspondence in the Correspondence series. An edited and typed version of the Washington diaries appears in the writings series as Courtney de Espil's memoirs, "Washington in the Time of Franklin D. Roosevelt" which has an index that can be helpful in finding entries in both the memoirs and the diaries.
The first three notebooks date from 1927 and describe the cruise Courtney and John Borden, her husband at the time, took to the Alaskan Arctic. These notebooks formed the basis of her 1928 book
The Correspondence series contains primarily incoming correspondence. Notable correspondents include George Bush, Frances Hull, Adlai E. Stevenson II (the prologue to "Washington in the Time of Franklin D. Roosevelt," in the Writings series, explains the relationship to Stevenson), Sumner and Mathilde Welles, and Edward and Wallis Warfield, Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
The Writings series includes "Washington in the Time of Franklin D. Roosevelt," with a prologue and epilogue written in 1994, other drafts, and some published material.
In addition to photographs of the Espils, the Miscellany series and Oversize include photographs of Sumner and Mathilde Welles and Frances Hull. Many other photographs are in a scrapbook that also contains news clippings and correspondence.
This collection is arranged in five series:
Handwritten notebooks.
Arranged in chronological order.
Letters sent and received.
Arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent and chronologically therein.
Drafts, published items, and book reviews.
Arranged alphabetically by title.
Photographs, printed matter, speeches, guest lists, and a scrapbook.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material and chronologically therein.
Photographs.
Organized and described according to the series, folders, and boxes from which the items were removed.