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/mm78046433
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 Lester Hood Woolsey, lawyer, diplomat and geologist, were given to the Library of Congress by his daughters, Elizabeth Woolsey Nyborg (Mrs. Wesley Nyborg) and Ruth Woolsey Findley (Mrs. William Findley), in 1961.
The collection was processed in 1962. The finding aid was revised in 2011. The finding aid was updated in 2023 by Maria Farmer as part of a division-wide remediation project by the Inclusive Description Working Group.
Notes concerning the Woolsey Papers appeared in the Library's
Copyright in the unpublished writings of Lester Hood Woolsey Papers in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the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 Lester Woolsey 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, Lester Hood Woolsey Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Lester Hood Woolsey (1877-1961) span the years 1831-1958, with the bulk from 1909 to 1928. The collection consists primarily of a subject file from Woolsey's public service in the Department of State and while he was a partner in international law with Robert Lansing. It relates principally to American foreign relations during World War I and to international legal problems, notably sabotage claims during the postwar period. Included is correspondence, memoranda, drafts of state papers annotated by Woolsey, Lansing, and others, telegrams, treaty documents, minutes and resolutions of conferences, manuscripts of articles, diaries, and annotated printed matter. The collection is organized into eight series: Diaries , General Correspondence , Special Correspondence , Subject File , Printed Matter , Bibliographic File , John Watson Foster Correspondence , and Edward Yardley Correspondence .
Also in the collection is a small group of correspondence and a separate file of Woolsey-Lansing correspondence for the period of their law partnership. Additional material includes family correspondence of the Lansing family dating between 1831 and 1921, as well as holograph drafts of articles, speeches, and an unpublished book by Lansing. A series of letters by various correspondents to Lansing's father-in-law, John Watson Foster, dates between 1878-1912.
Other correspondents include Jane Anderson, Daniel W. Bell, Robert W. Bonynge, John Foster Dulles, Avery J. Howe, Manley O. Hudson Clarence H. Mackay, John J. McCloy, H. H. Martin, John Bassett Moore, Amos J. Peaslee, Frank L. Polk, and Theodore Joly de Sabla.
The collection is arranged in eight series:
Diaries and shorthand notebooks relating to dates of meetings, persons talked to, and related information.
Organized into diary and notebook groupings.
Letters received and carbons of letters sent.
Arranged chronologically.
Correspondence between Woolsey and Robert Lansing.
Arranged chronologically.
Correspondence, telegrams, memoranda, notes, copies of official documents and other material.
Arranged alphabetically by subject or type of material.
Articles, books, and periodical issues annotated by Woolsey.
No arrangement.
Case notes, legal digests, newspaper article digests, bibliographical and legal notes.
Arranged by type of material.
Letters to Foster from prominent individuals.
Arranged chronologically.
Letters to Yardley, a law partner of Woolsey, and carbons of his replies.
Arranged chronologically.