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: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm78016360
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.
The papers of Bainbridge Colby, United States secretary of state, statesman, and lawyer, were given to the Library of Congress between 1955 and 1963 by his wife, Anne Colby. A substantial addition was received in 1977 from Ernest D. Leet with a smaller addition added in 1982 from the Fenton Historical Society, Jamestown, N.Y.
The papers of Bainbridge Colby were arranged and described in 1957. The collection was revised and expanded by David Mathisen in 1964 and again in 1979 with the inclusion of Addition I and in 1984 with Addition II. The finding aid was revised in 2011.
The Colby Papers are described in
Some photographs have been transferred to the Library's Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as part of the Bainbridge Colby Papers.
Copyright in the unpublished writings of Bainbridge Colby in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.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 Bainbridge Colby 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, Bainbridge Colby Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Bainbridge Colby (1869-1950) span the years 1863-1950, with the bulk of the material dated from 1912 when he assisted in organizing the Progressive Party in support of Theodore Roosevelt's presidential campaign. The collection contains correspondence, letterbooks, notebooks, scrapbooks, photographs, and other papers concerning national politics, the Progressive Party, and American foreign policy. The papers are organized in the following eight series: Notebooks , Correspondence , Addresses, Statements, and Articles , Press Releases , Scrapbooks , Miscellany , Additions , and Oversize .
The Correspondence series contains a few early family letters but mostly documents Colby's career from 1912 onward. Correspondence with Woodrow Wilson predominately pertains to foreign policy issues and personal affairs, and although it represents the most extensive correspondence in the series, there are also exchanges with other public figures including James M. Cox, Josephus Daniels, Samuel Gompers, William Randolph Hearst, Gilbert M. Hitchcock, Cordell Hull, David Lloyd George, Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924), Medill McCormick, Theodore Roosevelt, Alfred Emanuel Smith, John Spargo, and André Tardieu.
Colby was an effective speaker, and the Addresses, Statements, and Articles series includes copies of his many political addresses over a long period of time. The series contains several drafts of the 1912 convention call of the Progressive Party annotated and initialed by Theodore Roosevelt. Drafts of Colby's best-known and most significant state paper, the note of August 10, 1920, enunciating America's refusal to recognize the new Russian government following the revolution of 1917, is also included in the series. United States policy with respect to Russia stood until reversed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933.
A large series of Scrapbooks contains newspaper clippings concerning speeches, political campaigns, and trips. Correspondence originally enclosed in the scrapbooks has been removed and filed in the Correspondence series.
The Additions series supplements similar material and topics found in the main body of the papers. Although he was an early supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Colby eventually became a critic of the New Deal, formed the anti-Roosevelt American Liberty League, and supported the Republican Party candidate Alfred M. Landon in the 1936 presidential election. Addition I contains various types of material relating to Colby's political reversal as well as to other topics.
This collection is arranged in eight series:
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm78016360
Notebooks.
Arranged by type of material.
Letters received.
Arranged chronologically.
Drafts and copies of addresses, statements, and articles.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Mimeographed press releases.
Arranged chronologically.
Newspaper clippings of editorials, articles, and pictures.
Arranged by volume number and therein chronologically.
Appointments, certificates, photographs, newspaper clippings, illustrations, and printed matter.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Correspondence, letterbooks, drafts, legal and financial records, photographs, printed matter, and miscellaneous items.
Arranged by type of material.
Correspondence, printed matter, and miscellaneous items.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Appointments, certificates, photographs, and miscellaneous items.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.