William Jennings Bryan

A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress

Prepared by Joseph D. Sullivan and Allan Teichroew
Revised and expanded by Brian McGuire

Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

2006

Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html

Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2006

Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms006014

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

Names:

Subjects:

Occupations:

Administrative Information

Provenance:

Processing History:

Transfers:

Copyright Status:

Preferred Citation:

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

Related Material

Organization of the Papers

Description of Series

Container List

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.

Administrative Information

The papers of William Jennings Bryan, secretary of state, presidential candidate, congressman, author, and lecturer, were deposited in the Library of Congress by his wife, Mary Baird Bryan, from 1926 to 1929. Other members of the family donated additional papers, 1929-1945, and in 1942 converted the deposit to a gift. Another group of Bryan's papers, consisting chiefly of his correspondence with Woodrow Wilson, was purchased, 1970-1974. One item was transferred from the Copyright Office in 1982, and another was received by gift from Ralph L. Miller in 1985.

The Bryan Papers were processed in 1975 and 1979 and expanded in 1999. The finding aid was revised in 2006.

Phonograph records of lectures and readings by William Jennings Bryan and others have been transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division, where they are identified as part of this collection.

The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of William Jennings Bryan is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, William Jennings Bryan Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

The papers of William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) span the years 1877-1940, with nearly one-third relating to the presidential campaign of 1896 and the greater part of the remainder dated between 1913 and 1925. The collection consists of the following series: General Correspondence; Special Correspondence; Subject File, Speech, Article, and Report File; Miscellany; Biographer's Papers; and an Addition.

The correspondence for 1896 and early 1897 relates to public opinion and reaction to Bryan's nomination and campaign. Other items in the General Correspondence reflect his support of the Spanish-American War, his efforts to preserve world peace before the American entry into World War I, his career as a lecturer sponsored primarily by Chautauqua and its affiliates, and his interest in prohibition, political and monetary reform, and religious issues.

The Special Correspondence contains three volumes of letterbooks, 1883-1891, two volumes of carbon copies consisting largely of outgoing correspondence encompassing Bryan's two years as secretary of state, 1913-1915, and namesake and children's letters. The Subject File includes muster rolls and discharge documents from the Spanish-American War as well as material pertaining to the Panama Canal and the evolution trial of John Thomas Scopes in Dayton, Tennessee.

Miscellaneous material, scrapbooks, cartoons, a travel album, and newspaper clippings on Bryan's death, together with addresses, reports, editorials, printed matter, memorabilia, photographs, and an unpublished biography prepared by Bryan's daughter, Grace Bryan Hargreaves, complete the collection.

Most prominent among Bryan's many correspondents is Woodrow Wilson. The Wilson-Bryan correspondence is contained chiefly in the Addition series, but there are also letters between the two men in the General Correspondence and copies of letters in the State Department exchanges of the Special Correspondence. Other correspondents include Newton D. Baker, Bernard M. Baruch, Count Johann von Bernstorff, Edward Bok, Evangeline Booth, William E. Borah, Charles W. Bryan, Albert S. Burleson, Andrew Carnegie, Calvin Coolidge, Josephus Daniels, Paul Fuller, Martin H. Glynn, Gilbert M. Hithcock, Cordell Hull, Ollie M. James, David Starr Jordan, Frank B. Kellogg, George W. Kirchwey, Claude Kitchin, Robert M. La Follette (1855-1925), Robert Lansing, John Lind, David Lloyd George, Boaz Long, William G. McAdoo, Vance McCormick, Aimee Semple McPherson, John R. Mott, George W. Norris, Lee S. Overman, George Foster Peabody, Raymond Robins, James Brown Scott, Charles M. Sheldon, Morris Sheppard, Sir Cecil A. Spring-Rice, Billy Sunday, Huston Thompson, and William Allen White.

Related Material

Repositories other than the Library of Congress that have collections relating to William Jennings Bryan include Occidental College in Los Angeles, California, and the Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Organization of the Papers

The collection is arranged in eight series:

• General Correspondence, 1879-1931, n.d.
• Special Correspondence, 1883-1915
• Subject File, 1898-1925, n.d.
• Speech, Article, and Report File, 1877-1940, n.d.
• Miscellany, ca. 1877-1925
• Biographer's Papers, 1924-1934, n.d.
• Addition, 1913-1921
• Oversize, 1905-1925

Description of Series

Container List