Main content
Joshua Butler Wright Papers
Notifications
Held at: Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Joshua Butler Wright (1877-1939), a member of the diplomatic service was born in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, on October 18, 1877, the son of Louis Bogert and Caroline Isabel (Richards) Wright. After graduating from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1899, he began a career in banking in New York until 1906 when he resigned to pursue a career in farming and stock raising in Wyoming.
After dabbling in the rural life, Wright began his foreign service career which spanned thirty years and encompassed travels all over the globe. His first appointment was as secretary of the American Legation, Tegucigalpa, Honduras from 1909-1912. Wright was assigned special duty at the Department of State and then became Secretary of the American Legation, at Brussels, Belgium from 1912-1913. He served as secretary to the American delegation to the Opium Conference at the Hague in 1913. He became Secretary to the Embassy, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1913-1915 and then Acting Chief of the Division of Latin American Affairs in 1915. He was Counselor of the Embassy at St. Petersburg 1916-1917. In 1918 he returned briefly to the United States serving at the Department of State and as Counselor of the Embassy in London from 1918 to 1921. In 1921 Wright was Expert Assistant to the American Commissioners at the Conference on Limitation of Armaments in Washington, D.C. Wright served as United States Commissioner to the Brazilian Centennial Exposition, Rio de Janeiro in 1922. He was the Secretary of the U.S. delegation to the fifth International Conference of American States at Santiago, Chile from March through May 1923. Wright was the Third Assistant Secretary of State from January 30, 1923 to July 1, 1924 and Assistant Secretary of State between 1924 and 1927. After serving as the Assistant Secretary of State, Wright held a succession of ministerships including: Hungary 1927-1930; Uruguay 1930-1934 and Czechoslovakia 1934-1937. He was Ambassador to Cuba from July 1937 until his death on December 4, 1939.
Following his death in Havana, Cuba, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the light cruiser the U.S.S. Omaha to bring back Wright's body to the United States. Funeral services were held at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. on December 11, 1939.
Consists of selected papers of Wright documenting his diplomatic career. ‡b Included are 16 diaries spanning the years 1909-1918, 1927-1928, 1931-1932, and 1936; some correspondence; a scrapbook on the Rogers Act of 1922 concerning the reorganization of the foreign service; and a document on the German-Czechoslovakian crisis of 1938.
The collection was a gift of his daughter, Mary Wright Lampson in June 1992 (Accession #ML1992-15).
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by Jean Holliday in 1992. Finding aid written by Jean Holliday in 1992.
There is no information about appraisal for this collection.
Organization
Place
- Publisher
- Public Policy Papers
- Finding Aid Author
- Jean Holliday
- Finding Aid Date
- 2001
- Access Restrictions
-
Collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
-
Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
Series I: Correspondence (1909) consists of a few pages of personal correspondence written to a Mr. and Mrs. Bob while passing through the Panama Canal zone.
The material in this series consists of one personal correspondence.
Physical Description1 box
1 box
Series II: Document (1939) contains a single State Department document (author unknown) relating the history of the German-Czechoslovak crisis of 1938. This document was compiled from a study of telegrams received from American missions in Europe during this crisis. Entitled, "The Czechoslovak Crisis," the document is stamped "February 6, 1939 Havana" and includes marginal notes by Joshua Butler Wright, accompanied by a letter dated January 31, 1939 from James Clement Dunn, Adviser on Political Relations, Department of State. Wright's reply of February 8, 1939 relates his experience in Prague from 1934-37 and in Budapest 1927-30. Mention is made of Ambassador Wright's conversation with Eduard Benes on the subject of the administration of the Sudetan District and his exasperation and regret that a wiser technique was not followed. The document reflects British, French, German and Czechoslovakian diplomatic discussions of the "Sudetan German Party" situation and of Adolf Hitler's proclamation as "Protector of the 10,000,000 Germans living beyond German frontiers," which included 3,500,000 Sudetan Germans living in Czechoslovakia.
The material in this series consists of a single document compiled by Wright from several sources and maintains the original order.
Physical Description1 box
1 box
Series III: Scrapbook (1921-1926) includes newspaper clippings, biographical data, congressional publications, press releases, articles and speeches and brief correspondence relating to the Rogers Act of 1922 on the reorganization and improvement of the Foreign Service.
The material in this series consists of a single scrapbook.
Physical Description1 box
1 box
Series IV: Diaries (1909-1936) includes sixteen diaries. The diaries reflect topographic descriptions as well as ethnic and cultural mores of Latin and South American countries visited during Joshua Butler Wright's foreign service career. Anti-American sentiments, declarations of martial law, and rumors of revolution are all documented together with routine encounters at various embassies.
Most notable is the description of activities in St. Petersburg during the early months of the Russian Revolution with a recording of conversations (although not fully described) with various diplomats concerning the internal affairs of the Russian state. The diaries also describe reactions to Woodrow Wilson's peace overtures, the British blockade of Germany, rumors of German atrocities, Russian-German alliances and peace proposals are also recorded. Plots and the final death of Rasputin are noted as well as international intrigue and espionage recorded with rumors of a hastening of a civil war in Russia.
As Secretary to the American Legation in Brussels from 1912-1913, Joshua Butler Wright noted the confusion and difficulties of foreign service confirmations during the Taft-Wilson transition and the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson as President of the United States. Wright describes the Belgian fear of invasion, their proposals to increase the Army of defense, and numerous general strikes by the Socialists. During the 2nd International Opium Conference in the Hague, Wright served as French translator and noted his annoyance at the numerous mistakes in the printed translations of the conference. He, however, considered this position an invaluable experience on the organizational complexities of an international Conference.
Wright chronicled trips to the interior of Hungary in 1927 in a ten-page entry entitled "Impressions of Hungarians" which defines the food and culture of the country and the fact that the Carnegie Endowment on December 7, 1927 donated 1200 volumes of books to the Budapest Library.
In 1931 repeated anti-Americanism was expressed in Uruguay due to financial difficulties involving international loan payments and failure of the League of Nations.
On January 17-18th, 1936, Joshua Butler Wright recorded radio broadcasts from Prague, Czechoslovakia and discussed the Berlin-Sudetan question. On December 19, 1936, he mentions an interview with the President of Czechoslovakia Eduard Benes. A memoranda mentioned in the diary did not arrive with the papers although researchers should review the State Department document entitled "The Czechoslovak Crisis" located in Box 1.
The Joshua Butler Wright Papers do not contain diaries for the following years: 1919-1926, 1929-1930, 1933-1935, 1937-1939.
The diaries in this series are arranged in chronological order.
Physical Description2 boxes
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box
1 box