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/mm81031302
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 Peyton Conway March, military officer and army chief of staff, were given to the Library of Congress by Peyton Conway March, Cora McEntee March, and Lawrence Martin, 1952-1958.
The papers of Peyton Conway March were minimally processed and described in 1958. The papers were re-organized and a new finding aid produced in 2015.
When the papers were re-processed in 2015, items were transferred from the Manuscript Division to other custodial divisions of the Library. Some photographs were transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division and maps to Geography and Map Division where they are identified as part of the Peyton Conway March Papers.
Copyright in the unpublished writings of Peyton Conway March in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.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 Peyton Conway March 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, Peyton Conway March Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Peyton Conway March (1864-1955) span the years 1897-1955, with the bulk of the material dating from 1898 to 1933. The papers are organized into the following series: Correspondence, Speeches and Writings, Subject File, Miscellany, Scrapbooks, and Oversize. The collection is focused on March's globe-spanning military career, specializing in artillery command, and his retirement writings and opinions on military topics. March is given credit for establishing the primacy of the chief of staff position within the army hierarchy. As chief of staff, March succeeded in transporting the troops and supplies to Europe for the rapid buildup of the American Expeditionary Forces in 1918 and then overcame the logistical challenge of demobilization in 1919. Notable correspondents in the papers include Newton Diehl Baker, Tasker Howard Bliss,William Sidney Graves, and John J. Pershing.
The Correspondence series has a chronological file from 1911 to 1955 and a small alphabetical file that dates solely from 1918 to 1921, while March was chief of staff. The correspondence is largely military-related before 1921, the year of his retirement. Post retirement correspondence concerns his writing projects, special requests from the public, and personal correspondence with friends, often other retired military personnel.
The Speeches and Writings file includes the drafts of his 1932 book
The Subject File is largely organized around March's various military assignments: command of artillery at Fort Riley, Kansas, command of the Astor Battery in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War, service in the Philippines working with General Arthur MacArthur during the 1899 Philippine American War, assignment to the Japanese Imperial Army in Manchuria as an observer during the Russo-Japanese War, and service in France during World War I. Also in the Subject File are reports and training manuals on a variety of army topics, but with a special focus on World War I and on artillery. March's memorandum arguing against the Siberian intervention by Allied forces in 1918 is in the Subject File; correspondence concerning the Siberian intervention is in the Correspondence File.
The Miscellany series is primarily composed of news clippings and printed matter related to March, an assortment of War Department proposals and reports, and other miscellaneous material.
The Scrapbooks series, all placed in Oversize, has nine volumes, seven of which are collections of newspaper clippings, with a few photographs and magazine articles, documenting the career of March. The last two scrapbooks relate to March Air Force Base, Riverside, California, which was named for March's son, Peyton C. March, Jr., an army air corps pilot who was killed in a 1918 flight training exercise in Texas.
This collection is arranged in six series:
Letters sent and received..
Arranged in a chronological file and a small personal file organized alphabetically by name of person or organization.
Drafts and other material relating to March's book
Arranged alphabetically by type of writing or title.
Material relating to March's military service, including his service in the Philippines, at Fort Riley, Kansas, in World War I, and also his time with the Japanese Imperial Army during the Russo-Japanese war. Includes reports, military training manuals, orders, military correspondence and memoranda, and biographical material.
Arranged alphabetically by subject.
News clippings, printed matter, War Department proposals and reports, notes, small notebooks, and some photographs.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Nine scrapbooks primarily containing newspaper clippings and some photographs and articles concerning the military career of March. The last two scrapbooks contain photographs and text pertaining to March Air Force Base, Riverside County, Calif., which was named after March's son, an army air corps pilot killed in a training flight in 1918.
Arranged chronologically
Maps, muster roll, printed matter, photographs, and scrapbooks.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.