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/mm78041749
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 Oscar S. Straus, attorney, businessman, public official, diplomat, United States secretary of commerce and labor, and author, were given to the Library of Congress by the Oscar S. Straus Memorial Association, Inc., in 1945-1956.
The Oscar S. Straus Papers were processed circa 1950 and expanded circa 1954-1956. The finding aid was revised in 2011.
A pamphlet has been transferred to the Rare Book and Special Collections Division where it is identified as part of the Oscar S. Straus Papers.
An alphabetically arranged index and a chronologically arranged calendar are available in the Manuscript Reading Room. A description of the Oscar S. Straus Papers appeared in the
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Oscar S. Straus is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of Oscar S. Straus 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.
A microfilm edition of part of these papers is available on one reel. Consult reference staff in the Manuscript Division concerning availability for purchase or interlibrary loan. To promote preservation of the originals, researchers are required to consult the microfilm edition as available.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Oscar S. Straus Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Oscar Solomon Straus (1850-1926) span the years circa 1856-1955, with the bulk of the material dating from 1856 to 1923. The collection chiefly relates to Straus's service as minister and later ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), United States secretary of commerce and labor, and member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Hague, Netherlands. When appointed by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 as secretary of commerce and labor, Straus became the first Jew to hold a cabinet post. The papers are organized into the following series: Correspondence , Diaries and Notebooks , Scrapbooks , Miscellany , and Addition . A select index of correspondence from Theodore Roosevelt and his secretaries appears at end of the container list.
The Correspondence includes general correspondence and letterbooks of Straus's outgoing letters. In the early correspondnece are letters between Straus and his older brothers, Nathan and Isidor, with many of Isidor's letters written during Straus's first appointment as minister to the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). Other correspondents from Straus's career include Robert Bacon, John Barrett, Thomas F. Bayard, Nicholas Murray Butler, Andrew Carnegie, Grover Cleveland, Calvin Coolidge, Ralph M. Easley, James Rudolph Garfield, Lloyd Carpenter Griscom, Warren G. Harding, Benjamin Harrison, John Hay, Lee Kohns, Robert Lansing, William Loeb, William McKinley, Adolph S. Ochs, George Foster Peabody, Theodore Roosevelt, Elihu Root, William H. Taft, and Woodrow Wilson.
The Diaries and Notebooks series contains diaries covering Straus's career and miscellaneous notebooks. The diaries begin with Straus's first appointment as minister to the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) from 1887 to 1888, resume with his second appointment to that post from 1898 to 1900, then cover the remainder of his career beginning with his appointment as secretary of labor and commerce in 1906 through his appointment as a member of the President's Second Industrial Conference in 1919 and end in 1923. A discrete set of notes tucked inside the 1887-1888 diary is Straus's memorandum about a trip to Egypt in March-April 1888. Also included in the folder with the diary is a memorandum and letter recounting infringements on religious liberty in the empire probably in violation of the Berlin treaty of 1878. The miscellaneous notebooks include lecture notes and thoughts and quotations kept by Straus and two notebooks in shorthand kept by Straus's personal secretary, Theodore Linus Weed.
The Scrapbooks , though arranged somewhat chronologically, are largely topical. Individual scrapbooks cover Straus's publications
Miscellany contains manuscripts of Straus's publications and speeches, commemorative items, photographs, clippings and other printed matter, diplomas, and an autobiography of Isidor Straus published posthumously. Included also are the minutes of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a memorial address in memory of John Hay.
The Addition is comprised of the records of the Oscar S. Straus Memorial Association. Included is correspondence, congressional resolutions, minutes, clippings, blueprints, and mailing lists covering the public subscription campaign and the construction of a memorial to Straus in Washington, D.C., and a lecture series given under the aegis of the association entitled "Commentary on Pan American Problems" and presented by Ricardo J. Alfaro.
This collection is arranged in five series:
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm78041749
Letters sent and received, including photocopies of correspondence from other parts of the collection, along with clippings and other printed matter, drafts of documents, essays, notes, photographs, and speeches.
Arranged under general correspondence and letterbooks and therein chronologically.
Handwritten and typed diaries, with correspondence, clippings, photographs, and other material laid or pasted in, and miscellaneous notebooks. Correspondence tipped into the volumes has been photocopied and the photocopies inserted chronologically in the Correspondence series.
Arranged by type of material and therein chronologically.
Clippings, correspondence, photographs, calling cards, and printed
matter. Correspondence tipped into the volumes has been photocopied and the
photocopies inserted chronologically in the Correspondence series.
Arranged chronologically.
Speeches and writings, clippings, commemorative items, diplomas, memorials, minutes, photographs, printed matter, an autobiography of Isidor Straus, and other miscellaneous material.
Arranged by type of material.
Correspondence, congressional resolutions, minutes, clippings, receipts, blueprints, and mailing lists relating to the Oscar S. Straus Memorial Association.
Arranged by type of material and therein chronologically.