Call Number:

C0359

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 60 boxes
• 25.8 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker Papers, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1910-1959 (inclusive)

Creator:

Wertenbaker, Thomas Jefferson (1879-1966)

Form:

Correspondence and Manuscripts.

Abstract:

Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker was an American historian who taught at Princeton from 1910 to 1947. He was internationally recognized and wrote a number of important historical works. In 1947, he was president of the American Historical Association. His papers consist of Wertenbaker's works, correspondence, photographs, miscellaneous material, and printed matter.

Thomas J. Wertenbaker was a professor of history at Princeton from 1910 to 1936, serving as department chairman from 1928-1936. Wertenbaker published several highly regarded works on colonial American history, and was a popular teacher among students. His eventual appointment as president of the American Historical Association underscored his deserved reputation as one of the nation's eminent historical scholars and even after his retirement from Princeton he continued to publish extensively and garner appointments from other universities.

Consists of Wertenbaker's works, correspondence, photographs, miscellaneous material, and printed matter. The collection contains manuscripts of his books-- The Planters of Colonial Virginia (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University, 1922), The Founding of American Civilization (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1938), The Old South (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1942), Princeton 1746-1896 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1946), Father Knickerbocker Rebels (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1948)--as well as working files for articles (many on notable Virginians, the Civil War, and Reconstruction), university and public lectures, and speeches. Much of Wertenbaker's works reflect his scholarly interest in Colonial America in general and the state of Virginia in particular. The bulk of the correspondence concerns his historical research, works, and interests, including professional societies, such as the American Philosophical Society and the American Historical Association, although there is some family correspondence as well. In addition, the collection contains a scrapbook, slides used to illustrate his lectures, offprints of Wertenbaker's articles, and subject files.