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Contact information: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm79042218
Collection material in English
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.
Part I of the papers of Charles Phelps Taft, lawyer, public official, Protestant lay leader, and mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, son of President William H. Taft, was given to the Library of Congress by Taft in 1974. Part II was given by his estate in 1983. Part III was given by his children Seth Taft and Peter Rawson Taft in 2007.
The Charles P. Taft Papers were processed in 1978 by Michael J. McElderry with the assistance of Paul D. Ledvina and Susie H. Moody. The papers were expanded and revised in 1994 by Joseph Sullivan with the assistance of Sheila R. Day and Thelma Queen, and in 2020 by Michael Folkerts.
Items have been transferred from the Manuscript Division to other custodial divisions of the Library. Audiotapes and sound recordings have been transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. Maps have been transferred to the Geography and Maps Division, where a finding aid is available at https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/eadgmd.gm020008. Some photographs have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division. All transfers are identified in these divisions as part of the Charles P. Taft Papers. Patrons are encouraged to contact these divisions in advance of a research visit.
Related collections in the Manuscript Division include numerous papers of the Taft family, including the papers of Robert Alphonso Taft (1889-1953), Robert Taft Jr. (1917-1993), William H. Taft (William Howard) (1857-1930), William Howard Taft (1915-2011) , and William Howard Taft (1945- ).
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Charles P. Taft is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of Charles P. Taft 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, Charles P. Taft Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Part I of the papers of Charles Phelps Taft (1897-1983) spans the period 1824-1972, although most of the material is concentrated from 1937 to 1972. The collection consists of diaries, family and general correspondence, personal interest series relating to church activities, foreign affairs, government, politics, and public affairs, a general subject file, speeches and writings, and miscellany. Part I is organized in twelve series: Diaries , Family Correspondence , General Correspondence , Church Activities , Foreign Affairs , Government File , Political File , Public Affairs , General Subject File , Speeches and Writings File , Miscellany , and Oversize .
Taft's image as a progressive Republican was forged in the early 1920s when he joined the Charterites (City Charter Committee), a municipal reform movement composed of independent Republicans primarily concerned with challenging the Republican machine of Cincinnati. This political identity remained throughout his career, and while the Government File and General Correspondence series contain some record of his later involvement with the Charterites, the Cincinnati Historical Society retains the bulk of these papers.
Documentation concerning other aspects of Taft's political career can be found both in the Family and General Correspondence series. The former contains correspondence with Taft's brother, Robert A. Taft, and with David Ingalls, the Tafts' cousin and Robert's campaign adviser. Folders for Alfred M. Landon, I. Jack Martin, and Paul W. Walter in the General Correspondence supplement related subject headings in the Political File concerning Landon's presidential campaign, for which Taft was a prominent adviser, and Robert A. Taft's various campaigns for the Senate and for the Republican presidential nomination. Charles P. Taft's 1952 Ohio gubernatorial campaign is also documented in this series.
In his book,
Taft had a continuing interest in encouraging an internationalist foreign policy, and in 1945 he supported the extension and expansion of the ten-year-old Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act. The General Subject File contains material that demonstrates his role within the internationalist wing of the Republican Party in securing the passage of this legislation. In national as in local affairs, however, Taft also sought to influence public policy through nonpartisan citizens' committees, and the Public Affairs series contains many subject listings for such groups. Among the most prominent are the Committee for Economic Development, a group formed in 1942 to promote international trade and facilitate the transition from a wartime to a postwar economy; the Committee for a National Trade Policy, a group of businessmen who advocated lower trade barriers, for which Taft served as the first president from 1953 to 1955; and the Fair Campaign Practices Committee.
Although he was an enthusiastic religious layman throughout his life, Taft participated in church organizations even more fully after the war. As first lay president of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America and as chairman of the Department of Church and Economic Life for the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., Taft engaged in a wide range of duties including administration, fund-raising, and committee work. These activities are reflected in the subject files of the Church Activities series under the name of their appropriate organizations. Records of Taft's participation as a delegate to the World Council of Churches are also filed in this series.
Speeches and articles that are specifically listed include files of correspondence, drafts, and notes. They are succeeded by similar material arranged under generic headings.
The General Subject File includes categories that contain information on Taft's financial affairs and personal investments. Information regarding family interests located in this series, such as the Taft Broadcasting Co. and the Cincinnati Times Star Company, is supplemented by material in the Family Correspondence .
Part II of the Taft Papers consists of an addition to the collection, spanning the years 1816-1983, with the bulk of the material concentrated in 1955-1979. The addition contains family papers, correspondence, genealogical and financial material, a political diary, reports, statements, speeches, articles, lectures, printed matter, and miscellaneous material. Part II is organized in six series: Family Papers , General Correspondence , Personal Office File , Speeches and Writings File and Miscellany . Subjects include Taft's tenure on the Cincinnati City Council, his interest and service in the Charterite movement in Cincinnati, Taft business interests, family associations, and church affairs. A few files in the Personal Office File series complement his interests and activities as a lawyer, but this aspect of his life is more fully documented in Part I.
The Family Papers reflect Taft's interest in maintaining relationships and communicating with his children and relatives. His son Seth Taft and daughter Eleanor ("Nonie") Taft maintained a lively correspondence regarding their families, including commentaries on Seth's Cuyahoga County, Ohio, council duties, his attempt to become county commissioner, and his try for the governorship of Ohio. Seth's wife, Frances, relates her anthropological interests while on family vacations in South America. Taft's commentaries to family and friends, his "Dear Robins" letters, are especially revealing regarding city council politics in Cincinnati, illuminating such matters as budgets, contracts, profiles of council members, the Charterite movement, and local politics. He also mentions the wide-ranging business interests of the Taft family, including Hanna Barbera enterprises, radio stations in Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Birmingham, various television stations, and amusements parks such as Kings Island in Ohio. He also writes about his health, church activities, and support for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team and the Cincinnati Bengals football team.
Taft's General Correspondence mostly contains material of a personal nature. Several of his friends shared his love of fishing. An angler with fly fishing as a specialty, he describes favorite fishing spots, gear, fishing lures, and wearing apparel. He also focuses on the achievements, illnesses, and deaths of friends and acquaintances.
The Personal Office File features Taft's association with his Episcopal congregation in Cincinnati and with the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. An ecumenicist, he was a dedicated member of Christ Church in Cincinnati. As senior warden, he directed and participated in numerous parish projects, many of which are reflected in the papers. Among the political associations documented in the Personal Office File are service on the Fair Campaign Practices Committee, the National Committee for an Effective Congress, and the Advisory Committee on Foreign Aid. He was active in assisting displaced persons after World War II, and the immigration case files in the Personal Office File document this aspect of his career. In the 1960s, Taft stated publicly that internal communism was not a threat to America. This comment, appearing in the letters to the editor column in the
The Speeches and Writings File in Part II dates mainly from the 1960s, but also includes material from the 1950s and 1970s. Among the main topics are social reform and religious and political interests. The series includes articles Taft wrote for the popular press and sermons he gave as a church lay leader.
The Miscellany contains notes, photographs, awards, property records, and scrapbooks of clippings covering his life and career from the late 1920s through 1969. Taft's health and fishing are a feature of this series. Also included are such nineteenth-century memorabilia dating from 1816 to 1837 as invoices, a cashier's check, a bank note, and an 1830 letter from Rufus Choate to Henry W. Kingsman.
Part III of the Taft papers consists of an addition to the papers, spanning the years 1855-1983, with the bulk of materital dating from 1906-1983. The addition contains diaries, family papers, correspondence, photographs, writings, and scrapbooks. Part III is organized in six series: Diaries, General Correspondence, Family Papers, Speeches and Writings, Subject File, and Miscellany.
The Diaries series contains day planners spanning the entirety of Charles' adult life, beginning from 1915 to his death in 1983. While many of these are day planners, the diaries from 1915-1920 also include longer entries from Charles' time at Yale University and service in the U.S. Army during World War I. The General Correspondence series contains letters received by Charles in his youth from several family members, notably his sister Helen Taft Manning, and his parents Helen Herron and William Howard Taft. The Family Papers series contains letters and various items collected by Eleanor Chase Taft, including letters to her mother Elizabeth Kellogg Chase. Also included are letters, photographs, and related material from the Taft children. The Speeches and Writings series includes drafts and notes on an unpublished autobiography by Taft. Additional material includes radio addresses, articles, an unpublished manuscript, and notebooks. The contents of the notebooks range from school notes, notes on clients from Taft's work as an attorney, meetings, and outlines for speeches. The Subject File contains various personal matter primarily related to the Taft family vacation home in Murray Bay, Quebec, Canada, and the Taft family geneology. The Miscellany series contains photographs of family, scrapbooks, news clippings, and yearbooks from the Taft School.
The collection is arranged in three parts composed of twenty three series:
Part I:
Part II:
Part III:
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm79042218
Daily activity books kept by Taft while serving in the federal government and containing appointment notes, transcriptions of telephone conversations, copies of outgoing and incoming correspondence and memoranda, minutes of meetings, and reports.
Arranged chronologically.
Letters sent and received between family members, legal documents, cards, family newsletter, telegrams, postcards, and miscellaneous material.
Arranged alphabetically by correspondent and chronologically therein.
Letters received and copies of letters sent, telegrams, postcards, and miscellaneous enclosures.
Arranged alphabetically by correspondent and in reverse chronological order therein.
Correspondence and related material mostly concerning activities of church organizations such as the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and the World Council of Churches.
Arranged alphabetically by organization or subject.
Correspondence, printed matter, and miscellaneous material relating to foreign policy, relief services, and international affairs.
Arranged alphabetically by organization or subject.
Correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes of meetings, and working files concerned with the various elected positions and government appointments that Taft held in both federal and local government.
Arranged alphabetically by organization or subject.
Correspondence and printed matter reflecting Taft's involvement in various political campaigns and causes including campaigns of Robert A. Taft, Robert Taft, Jr., and Seth Taft.
Arranged alphabetically by subject.
Correspondence, memoranda, reports, and printed matter concerning organizations serving the public, community, or special interest groups such as the Committee for a National Trade Policy, the Committee for Economic Development, and the Fair Campaign Practices Committee.
Arranged alphabetically by organization or by subject.
Correspondence, printed matter, financial reports, and related material pertaining to a variety of topics.
Arranged alphabetically by subject.
Handwritten and typewritten drafts and printed copies, correspondence, notes, outlines, research material, printed matter, and miscellany.
Speeches cited individually are organized chronologically and contain a variety of material. Drafts and printed copies of other speeches, as well as notes and outlines, correspondence, and miscellany are arranged separately and organized chronologically within each type of material.
Handwritten and typewritten drafts and printed copies, letters to the editor, and correspondence.
Files on articles are organized chronologically and contain a variety of material. Printed copies and typescripts of other articles, as well as letters to the editor, and correspondence are arranged separately and organized chronologically within each type of material.
Drafts of publications, correspondence, notes and research material, outlines and miscellany.
Arranged under title of publication and chronologically thereunder where possible. Includes separate files of correspondence and related material grouped by publisher.
Newspaper clippings, printed matter, correspondence, personal records, notes, greeting cards, invitations, golf score cards, scrapbooks, and speeches and writings by others.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Print and scrapbooks.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.
Letters exchanged between family members.
Arranged alphabetically by name of person, relationship to Taft (e.g. "grandchildren"), or type of letter (e.g. "Dear Robins" family newsletters) and chronologically therein.
Correspondence, lists, graphs, charts, photographs, biographical and genealogical material, reports, a diary, school papers, and financial material related to the Taft and Chase families.
Arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically therein.
Letters to and from Taft with attached or related telegrams, announcements, reports, newspaper clippings, and printed matter.
Arranged alphabetically by name of person or organization and in reverse chronological order therein.
Correspondence, notes, charts, newspaper clippings, reports, invitations, statements, certificates, printed material, lists, press releases, minutes of meetings, agendas, schedules, and miscellaneous material.
Arranged alphabetically by name of person, subject, or organization and in reverse chronological order therein.
Typed, handwritten, and printed drafts of articles with related correspondence, outlines, notes, and printed matter.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material and therein by subject or title of article. Correspondence folders are arranged in reverse chronological order.
Manuscripts, correspondence, printed matter, and other material relating to Taft's books.
Arranged alphabetically name of publication and by type of material. Correspondence folders are arranged in reverse chronological order.
Correspondence, handwritten and typed drafts of lectures, a contract, and financial material.
Arranged alphabetically by lecture bureau or series and by type of material. Correspondence folders are arranged in reverse chronological order.
Printed matter, newspaper clippings, reports, fact sheets, correspondence, and press releases.
Arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically therein.
Handwritten and typed drafts and printed copies of speeches with related correspondence, notes, outlines, and newspaper clippings.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material and therein by subject, occasion, or location of speech. Correspondence folders are arranged in reverse chronological order.
Correspondence, nineteenth century collectibles, a manuscript of a biography of Taft, notes, photographs, printed matter, speeches by others, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, and miscellaneous papers of personal interests to Taft.
Arranged alphabetically by subject or type of material.
Daily activity books kept by Taft throughout his life.
Arranged chronologically.
Letters received by Charles P. Taft.
Arranged alphabetically by correspondent and in chronological order therein.
Letters exchanged between family members and miscellaneous items.
Arranged alphabetically by name of person and chronologically therein.
Drafts and printed copies of unpublished autobiography and manuscript, correspondence, notes, outlines, research material, printed matter. Also includes articles, notebooks, and speeches.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Memoranda, notes, and printed matters covering a variety of topics.
Arranged alphabetically by subject.
News clippings, contact books, photographs, scrapbooks, and yearbooks.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.