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James Hugh Keeley, Jr. Papers
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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
James H. Keeley, Jr. (1895-1990) was born in Curwensville, Pennsylvania. He attended the Military School of Aeronautics, Princeton University, in 1917, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the American University of Beirut in 1931. After serving as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War I, Keeley worked in the restaurant business until 1920 when he joined the Foreign Service.
Keeley's early career in the Foreign Service featured a series of postings in the Middle East: vice consul at Istanbul, Turkey, 1920-1923; consul at Damascus, Syria, 1923-28; and consul at Beirut, Lebanon, 1928-1931. From there Keeley moved to Montreal, where he served for four years, and then to Salonika, Greece, where he was consul from 1936-1939. After the outbreak of war in Europe, Keeley returned to Washington, where he held a variety of State Department posts, including chief of the Special War Problems Division from March 1943-September 1944.
In the fall of 1944 Keeley returned to Europe, serving in Antwerp and then Athens until 1947. In 1948 Keeley was named American minister to Syria, which made him the chief American diplomatic representative in Syria at that time. Keeley held this position until 1950.
In 1950 Keeley returned to the United States, spending two years as a fellow in international relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and the 1952-53 academic year as chairman of the Near East Seminar at the State Department Foreign Service Institute. In June 1953 he became consul-general in Palermo, Italy, and served there until his retirement in the early 1960s.
Keeley married Mathilde Vossler in December 1922. They had three sons: Hugh Morgan ("Budge"), Edmund LeRoy ("Mike"), and Robert.
Consists primarily of correspondence but also includes writings, clippings, various personal records, and photographs that document Keeley's career in the Foreign Service. Series 1 contains personal and office correspondence that details the foreign service world and the political climate in countries where Keeley was stationed. Series 2 is not extensive and supplements Series 1. Most of the material details Keeley's work as consul general in Athens, Greece (1946-1947) and his involvement in the Allied Mission for Observing the Greek Elections and also includes official and family correspondence. Series 3 documents Keeley's personal life. Of specific interest are drafts of articles Keeley wrote, including those about life in Damascus (circa 1924-1928). The first subseries of Series 4 contains correspondence between Keeley and his immediate family. The second subseries contains correspondence between both Keeley and his wife, their siblings, parents and extended family. Series 5 contains personal and family photographs and a photo album that documents family life in Damascus, including the Druze revolt of 1925. Photos of Bedouins in Syria (circa 1923) and Palestinian scenes after the earthquake of 1927 are included.
Gift of Keeley's sons, Edmund and Robert, and his daughter-in-law, Darlene Keeley in 1996 (ML1996-1).
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 Grace Kashangaki in 1999 and Helene van Rossum in 2002. Finding aid written by Grace Kashangaki in 1999 and Helene van Rossum in 2002. The materials were arranged into series and sub-series and collection-level and series-level descriptions were created within this time frame. Restricted materials were removed during processing, re-housed in separate boxes and listed as restricted in the finding aid.
No information about appraisal is available for this collection.
Organization
Subject
- Bedouins -- Syria. -- 20th century -- photographs
- Diplomatic and consular service, American -- Greece. -- 20th century
- Diplomatic and consular service, American -- Syria. -- 20th century
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Diplomatic history
Place
- Greece -- Foreign relations -- United States -- 20th century
- Greece -- History -- Civil War, 1944-1949.
- Syria -- Foreign relations -- United States -- 20th century
- Syria -- History -- Insurrection, 1925-1927.
- United States -- Foreign relations -- Greece. -- 20th century
- United States -- Foreign relations -- Syria. -- 20th century
Occupation
- Publisher
- Public Policy Papers
- Finding Aid Author
- Grace Kashangaki; Helene van Rossum
- Finding Aid Date
- 2002
- Sponsor
- These papers were processed with the generous support of Edmund and Robert Keeley and Princeton University's Department of Hellenic Studies.
- Access Restrictions
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This collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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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 1, General Correspondence, 1920-1947, contains both personal and office correspondence. The series details the small and chummy world of foreign service officers as it contains letters between James Keeley and his many friends and colleagues. Some correspondence of other foreign service officers criticizes how the Service worked and treated its staff, with some suggesting improvements. Of particular interest in this respect is the correspondence with Edward Groth, John Randolph, and Howland Shaw.
Some of the correspondence sheds light on the political climate in the countries where Keeley was stationed, though for the period 1923-1931, when Keeley served as consul in Syria and (from 1928) Lebanon, there is surprisingly little information. However, extensive reports on the situation in Syria can be found in Series 2. The correspondence series contains more information concerning the situation in Greece, especially in the correspondence with Lincoln MacVeagh and Harold Shantz. MacVeagh was American minister to Greece, and Shantz was consul general in Athens while Keeley was posted as consul in Salonika (1936-1939). The MacVeagh file contains formal memos from 1936-1937, with detailed information regarding the political landscape in Thessaloniki (Salonika). These include accounts of local perceptions of political events and leaders; communist activity and names of suspected communists; the business environment, and significant political events in Salonika. Subsequent letters to MacVeagh contain information on pre-war conditions in Salonika. Correspondence with Keeley's vice-consul, Andrew Foster, concerns the day-to-day affairs of the consulate.
Correspondence relating to the Thessalonica Agricultural and Industrial Institute, or the American Farm School, begins in 1935, when Keeley was first assigned to Salonika. Charles House was the director of the all-boys school until he and his wife Anne became prisoners of war during the German occupation. The file consists mostly of letters sent by the Houses to Charles' mother, which were forwarded to the school and all the Houses' acquaintances. The letters describe day-to-day living conditions while the Houses were interned-part of the time in the Vittel concentration camp. Correspondence with Ethel Bliss concerns efforts to secure the release of Anne and Charles House, as well as the situation at the school during the absence of its director.
Much of the correspondence is personal and concerns family matters. R. Woodland Gates, his attorney, provided Keeley with legal advice concerning the affairs of his stepmother "Mother Keeley," among other topics. Bill Gates, a navy captain in Washington, helped Keeley while his sons served in the Navy during World War II.
The correspondence in this series is arranged alphabetically.
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(alphabetical order on first name)
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Series 2, Office Correspondence and Papers, 1924-1947, is not extensive, incomplete, and should be considered as a supplement to Series 1. Of the pre-war office files, the file on Damascus (1924-1928) is the most extensive. It includes reports on the Druze revolt of 1925, correspondence with the High Commissioner of France, and other official correspondence.
During World War II Keeley left his position in Greece for various duties in Washington, where he was assistant, later acting chief of the Special War Problems Division. Among the issues he addressed were the condition of prisoner of war camps and detention stations. Of special interest are the documents concerning the relocation of Japanese-Americans. Albert Clattenburg, chief of the Special War Problems Division, wrote in 1946 that Keeley should be considered "the father of the present repatriation program." Of some interest are Keeley's suggestions how to improve the Foreign Service.
Between September 1944 and November 1945 Keeley served as consul general in Antwerp, Belgium, a particularly trying time, since his family remained in America. Keeley witnessed intense German V-1 bomb attacks from October 13, 1944 to March 30, 1945. The file on Antwerp is not extensive, but his correspondence to his wife and family is particularly rich for this period.
The majority of the files in this series concern Keeley's work as consul general in Athens, Greece, in 1946-1947 (once again under Ambassador Lincoln MacVeagh) and his involvement in the Allied Mission for Observing the Greek Elections (AMFOGE).
The series is arranged chronologically according to the positions that Keeley held.
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Series 3, Personal Records, 1898-1947 [bulk 1917-1947]contains various documents concerning Keeley's personal life and that of his family. Of specific interest are the drafts of articles that Keeley wrote, including those about life in Damascus (circa 1924-1928), and poems and songs about the life of an American consul, by Charles Allen (circa 1926).
The records in this series are arranged chronologically.
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Series 4, Family Correspondence, 1907-1947 consists of two subseries. The first subseries contains the correspondence between James Hugh Keeley, his wife, and their sons.
The second subseries contains correspondence between both James Hugh Keeley and Mathilde Vossler-Keeley, their siblings, parents and extended family.
Some of the family correspondence belonged to Cora Larimore Keeley, who was unmarried and was admitted to the Bar of the District of Columbia in 1918. The Keeley family was Masonic, although this only becomes apparent in correspondence about the memorial stones for the deceased and about the home for LeRoy's children, Marguerite and James Hugh III.
This series is divided into two subseries, both arranged chronologically.
Physical Description4 boxes
The material in this subseries is arranged chronologically.
The correspondence between Keeley and Mathilde Vossler dates from before their marriage in 1922 and is particularly rich in periods when they were separated, especially in 1944-1945 when Keeley served in Belgium. Keeley was very much a family man and was unhappy when separated. Correspondence to the whole family has been filed among the correspondence to his wife.
Physical Description3 boxes
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The material in this subseries is arranged chronologically.
Keeley's correspondence with his brothers and sister (Edmund ("Mike"), LeRoy, Ralph, and Cora Larimore Keeley), and with his father, James Hugh Keeley, Sr., provides insights into Keeley's background. James was the youngest of the five, and his mother died when he was very young. His father, a lawyer, remarried much later to Jessie Lane, known as "Mother Keeley." Edmund, LeRoy, and Cora (the latter two lawyers, like their father) all died before or around the age of forty. James's remaining brother Ralph, a World War I pilot, became mentally ill in 1924. He remained in a home throughout his life. Keeley supported his family members financially in times of illness.
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Series 5, Photographs, circa 1898-circa 1947, contains personal and family photographs of Keeley, his father, brothers and sister, and his own family before 1947. A photo album for his oldest son contains some information on family life in Damascus, including the Druze revolt of 1925, and relatives. Some photos of Bedouins in Syria (circa 1923) and Palestinian scenes after the earthquake of 1927 are included.
The order in which these materials were sent to Princeton has been maintained.
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Materials in this series consist of post-1947 correspondence and records that were closed to researchers through the lifetime of the donors. Also included are some pre-1948 records considered personal or confidential.
Restricted materials were removed from the collection during processing and placed in separate boxes resulting in this distinct series. The materials in this series are not arranged in any particular order.
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Photographs contain images of dead bodies
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Big mess: unfoldered, insect parts or mouse droppings
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Bundles of letters and a diary, also moldy
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