Call Number:

C0231

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 9 boxes
• 9.9 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Charles Richard Williams Papers, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1863-1927 (inclusive) and 1900-1927 (bulk)

Creator:

Williams, Charles Richard, 1853-1927

Form:

Lecture notes., Correspondence., Drafts (preliminary versions)., and Poems.

Abstract:

Charles Richard Williams, Princeton Class of 1875, was an author and editor of the Indianapolis News between 1892-1911. The collection consists of selected holograph and typescript manuscripts of nonfiction, lectures, essays, poetry, translations, and paraphrases of Williams, as well as correspondence and documents pertaining to him, correspondence of other persons, and some of his works in print.

Charles Richard Williams, Princeton Class of 1875, was an author and editor of the Indianapolis News (1892-1911). Born in Prattsburg, New York, in 1853, Williams attended the University of Rochester and received his B.A. from Princeton University in 1875. He worked as a high school teacher and college professor and then turned to publishing. He was the literary editor of the New York World in 1883 and assistant general manager of the Associated Press from 1883 to 1892 before becoming editor-in-chief of the Indianapolis News. Williams also authored several books, including In Many Moods, Life of Rutherford B. Hayes, and History of the Cliosophic Society. He died in 1927.

Consists of selected holograph and typescript manuscripts of nonfiction, lectures, essays, poetry, translations, and paraphrases of Williams (Princeton Class of 1875), as well as correspondence and documents pertaining to him, correspondence of other persons, and some of works in print. Published manuscripts included in the collection are The Cliosophic Society, Princeton University (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1916), In Many Woods (Indianapolis: The Hollenbeck Press, 1910), The Return of the Prodigal: A Monodrama (Chicago: Toby Rubovitz, 1912 [private printing]), and Selections from Lucian (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1896). There are 39 shorter works--articles, essays, lecture notes--and much unpublished poetry.

Correspondents include Woodrow Wilson, members of the Class of 1875 on the occasion of its 50th reunion, and members of the Western Association of Princeton Clubs, and there is also a letterbook of business letters (1890-1909) of the Associated Press in which Williams was active. Papers of other persons of note include letters of Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William T. Sherman, Benjamin Harrison, Ulysses S. Grant, and William Henry Smith, Williams' father-in-law, and there is a small collection of autographs of mostly American historical and political figures.