Call Number:

DG.001

Repository:

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Extent:

130 linear ft.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of item] in the Jane Addams Collection (DG 001), Swarthmore College Peace Collection.

Date:

1838- (inclusive) and 1880-1935 (bulk)

Creator:

Abbott, Edith, 1876-1957, Abbott, Grace, 1878-1939, Blake, Katherine Devereux, 1858-1950, Bok, Edward William, 1863-1930, Bowen, Louise de Koven, 1859-, Baer, Gertrude, Balch, Emily Greene, 1867-1961, Catt, Carrie Chapman, 1859-1947, Detzer, Dorothy, 1893-1981, Dewey, John, 1859-1952, Doty, Madeleine Z. (Madeleine Zabriskie), 1877-1963, Drevet, Camille, Dudley, Helena Stuart, Ely, Richard T. (Richard Theodore), 1854-1943, Glücklich, Vilma, Hamilton, Alice, 1869-1970, Hertzka, Yella, 1873-1948, Heymann, Lida Gustava, 1868-1943, Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964, Hudson, Manley O. (Manley Ottmer), 1886-1960, Hull, Hannah Clothier, 1872-1958, Ickes, Harold L. (Harold LeClair), 1874-1952, Jacobs, Aletta H. (Aletta Henriette), 1854-1929, James, Ada L., James, William, 1842-1910, Jōdai, Tano, 1886-1982, Jordan, David Starr, 1851-1931, Kelley, Florence, 1859-1932, Kellogg, Paul Underwood, 1879-1958, Kellor, Frances, 1873-1952, Lathrop, Julia Clifford, 1858-1932, Lovett, Robert Morss, 1870-1956, Marshall, Catherine E., Mead, Lucia True Ames, 1856-1936, Pye, Edith M. (Edith Mary), Robins, Margaret Dreier, Ragaz, Clara, Ramondt-Hirschmann, Cor, Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919, Schwimmer, Rosika, 1877-1948, Sears, Amelia, Sheepshanks, Mary, 1872-1958, Smith, Mary Rozet, -1934, Starr, Ellen Gates, Stevens, Alzina P., Swanwick, Helena M. (Helena Maria), 1864-1939, Tarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva), 1857-1944, Taylor, Lea Demarest, Wald, Lillian D., 1867-1940, Wales, Julia Grace, 1881-, Webb, Sidney, 1859-1947, Webb, Beatrice, 1858-1943, Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924, Woods, Amy, Woolley, Mary Emma, 1863-1947, and Addams, Jane, 1860-1935

Abstract:

A world-famous social reformer; co-founded the first settlement house in America in 1889; championed many causes on behalf of the urban poor, such as protection of immigrants, child labor laws, industrial safety, juvenile courts, and recognition of labor unions; a leading figure in the movement for international peace; awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

Laura Jane Addams was born on September 06, 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois, the youngest of four living children. She was the daughter of John Huy Addams (1822?-1881), a wealthy grist mill owner and Illinois state senator (1854-1870), and Sarah Weber (1817-1863). Her father married Anna Hostetter Haldeman (1828-1919) in 1864, which brought two step-brothers into the family.

Part of America's first generation of college-educated women, Jane Addams graduated as valedictorian from Rockford Female Seminary (Illinois) in 1881, and was granted a Bachelor of Arts degree in June 1882. She spent a semester at the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1881-1882, before undergoing medical treatment herself in March 1882. In the Fall of 1882, her brother-in-law (and step-brother) performed an operation to correct the curvature of her spine. In 1883-1885, Addams traveled in Europe with friends and with her step-mother, and again in 1887-1888 with friends Ellen Gates Starr and Sarah Anderson. She visited Toynbee Hall in London, England with Sarah Anderson in June 1888. These were formative years for Addams as she viewed the slum conditions in cities in Europe, thought deeply about human rights for women and for the poor as well as about world peace, and talked with persons involved in alleviating social problems.

In September 1889, Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr, a former Rockford classmate, opened Hull-House in Chicago's nineteenth ward. By 1893, Hull-House had become a center of some forty clubs, functions, and activities for the neighborhood's immigrant population. During the next forty years that Jane Addams resided there, Hull-House was to assume international significance as some of its more famous residents and associates -- Grace Abbott, Alice Hamilton, Florence Kelley, Julia Lathrop, and Henry Demarest Lloyd -- championed many causes including protection of immigrants, child labor laws, industrial safety, juvenile courts, recognition of labor unions, and woman suffrage. Addams herself served as the Inspector of Streets and Alleys in the neighborhood of Hull-House for three years, waged a fourteen-year battle for legislation to outlaw child labor, was president of the National Conference on Charities and Corrections, and helped establish the Children's Bureau as well as the National Association for Advancement of Colored People, to name a few involvements. She never drew a salary from Hull-House, but instead used her inheritance and the proceeds from her writings to live on as well as to underwrite the causes she championed.

Addams wrote many books that outlined her philosophy and the history of her endeavors: Democracy and Social Ethics (1902), Newer Ideals of Peace (1907), The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets (1909), Twenty Years at Hull-House (1910), A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil (1911), The Long Road of Women's Memory (1916), Peace and Bread in Time of War (1922), The Second Twenty Years at Hull-House (1930), and The Excellent Becomes Permanent (1932). With the publication of Newer Ideals of Peace, Jane Addams became known as a pacifist, a stand which brought her much ridicule and censure when the United States finally entered World War I (in January 1919, she was listed on Archibald Stevenson's "Traitors List" presented to the Overman Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee). Yet by 1931, public opinion had swayed to embrace her ideas and that year she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, shared with Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia University.

Early in 1915 Addams was elected chairman of the recently formed Woman's Peace Party of the United States. Later that year she was selected as president of the International Congress of Women at The Hague. She was chairman of the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace (1915-1919), a temporary organization which later became the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Working under the aegis of Herbert Hoover's Food Administration, she undertook a cross country lecture tour in 1918, encouraging increased food production to assist war victims. Elected president of WILPF at its founding in 1919, Jane Addams presided over the League's many international meetings, and, in 1929 at the Prague conference, was made the organization's honorary president for life. She convened the Pan-Pacific Women's Union, which met in Hawaii in 1928.

The M. Carey Thomas Prize, awarded by Bryn Mawr College to "an American woman in recognition of eminent achievement," was given to Jane Addams in 1931. Fifteen colleges and universities, including Yale and Smith, conferred honors upon her. In 1940, the U.S. Government included her as one of 35 persons in their Famous Americans series of commemorative stamps.

Jane Addams died of cancer on May 21, 1935 and was buried in Cedarville, Illinois.

The bulk of the Jane Addams Collection consists of correspondence, as well as Rockford Seminary notebooks, diaries, engagement calendars, writings and speeches by and about Addams, passports, visiting cards, reviews of her books, reference files, death notices, condolences, descriptions of memorial services, photographs, the Nobel Peace Prize medal, and memorabilia. Also of note is a very large quantity of mounted clippings (1892-1935) about Addams and material related to the operation of Hull-House. Assorted papers of her father, John Huy Addams, and of the Addams, Weber and Reiff families are also part of the collection. Current articles and reference works on Jane Addams update the collection continually. The personal library of Addams of books on the subjects of peace and international relations forms a separate special collection in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection.

The correspondence of Addams includes letters written to many of the most influential figures of her generation. Emily Greene Balch, a Women's International League for Peace and Freedom official and former Wellesley College professor, and Mary Rozet Smith, a Hull-House resident and intimate friend, each wrote hundreds of letters to her.

A sampling of Addams' correspondents includes Edith Abbott, Grace Abbott, Katherine Devereux Blake, Edward Bok, Louise de Koven Bowen, Carrie Chapman Catt, Dorothy Detzer, John Dewey, Madeleine Z. Doty, Helena Stuart Dudley, Richard Theodore Ely, Alice Hamilton, Herbert Hoover, Maney O. Hudson, Hannah Clothier Hull, Harold L. Ickes, Ada L. James, William James, David Starr Jordan, Florence Kelley, Paul Underwood Kellogg, Frances Alice Lochner, Ida C. Lovett, Robert Morss Lovett, Lucia Ames Mead, Margaret Dreier Robins, Theodore Roosevelt, Rosika Schwimmer, Amelia Sears, Anna Garlin Spencer, Ellen Gates Starr, Alzina Parsons Stevens, Ida Minerva Tarbell, Graham Taylor, Lee Demarest Taylor, Lillian D. Wald, Julia Grace Wales, Woodrow Wilson, Amy Woods, and Mary Emma Wooley.

Among the foreign correspondents are Gertrud(e) Baer, Henrietta Octavia Barnett, Kathleen D. Courtney, Camille Drevet, Vilma Glücklich, Yella Hertzka, Lida Gustava Heymann, Aletta H. Jacobs, Tano Jodai, Catherine E. Marshall, Beatrice Potter Webb, and Sidney James Webb.

Further information about Jane Addams can be found in published autobiographies, as well as other secondary material owned by the Swarthmore College Peace Collection. See also comments on traveling and working with Addams (1915, 1919, 1922) by Lucy Biddle Lewis in her papers owned by the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College.

There are several variations of collections by/about Jane Addams available. This finding aid for the Jane Addams Collection describes ONLY the original documents and resources actually owned by the Swarthmore College Peace Collection (SCPC). The notations concerning microfilm in this finding aid refer to the published microfilm set: The Jane Addams Papers (Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, Inc. (UMI), 1984). The Swarthmore College Peace Collection does not own a full set of the original resources included in this microfilm.

The published microfilm set entitled The Jane Addams Papers (ed. Mary Lynn McCree Bryan, et. al., UMI, 1984) consists of 82 reels with thousands of documents concerning the life of Jane Addams. These original sources come from hundreds of archival repositories and libraries around the world, INCLUDING most of those deposited at the SCPC. The Jane Addams Papers [microfilm set] is currently owned by over 40 academic and large public libraries across the United States. The printed guide to this set of microfilm describes the contents of each reel of microfilm and is entitled The Jane Addams Papers (edited by Mary Lynn Bryan, et. al., Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI, 1985). In 1996, a detailed index to the published microfilm set was published under the title: The Jane Addams Papers: A Comprehensive Guide (edited by Mary Lynn McCree Bryan, et. al., Indiana University Press, 1996). These resources are NOT available online. Researchers who wish to consult the microfilm must first examine the printed guide or index to determine which reel(s) of microfilm to use.

The Jane Addams Collection is made up of at least three accessions. The first, sent by Jane Addams in 1930, had "Jane Addams Collection Swarthmore" stamped in black on each item [as well as those papers culled from the early WOmen's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) papers?]. The papers in the 144 manuscript boxes transferred from the Library of Congress in 1950 were all stamped in red. Mary G. Cary, SCPC Curator, and Dorothy G. Harris, Associate Director of the Friends Historical Library, visited Hull-House in Chicago in 1959, and returned with a third accession of material, all stamped in green. In addition, correspondence of Addams and material about her has been received from various sources in later years, with most being stamped in blue. These are found at the end of Series 1.

A card index to the Addams correspondence was kept up through the 1980s. A color coding system was used to indicate:

1. White: first and second accessions
2. Blue: 3rd accession
3. Buff: accessions after 1959; located by name of collection or by date
4. Salmon: correspondence in other Swarthmore College Peace Collection document groups

This has been superseded by the index in The Jane Addams Papers: A Comprehensive Guide, edited by Mary Lynn Bryan (Indiana University Press, 1996). The Guide details what is on the 82 reels of microfilm that contain all of the known Addams papers in repositories around the country. An attempt was made throughout the checklist to compare the Swarthmore College Peace Collection's Addams papers with the microfilm and to identify which Series appear on which reels, using the same subject headings as were used in the Guide.

The Swarthmore College Peace Collection (SCPC) Jane Addams Collection is made up of the following:

1. Series 1 consists of correspondence (1870-1935) to and from Addams. Supplementary correspondence, which appears after Box 23, contains the letters that were given to the SCPC after the first filming of the Addams Collection was done prior to 1985. It also consists of copies of Addams letters that are in other repositories, and Addams letters in other SCPC collections.
2. Addams was in the habit of making pencilled notes on the envelopes of letters she received. Many of these envelopes had been detached from their correspondence before the papers came to the SCPC. Addams also filed papers on special subjects in long envelopes, on which she made notes concerning their contents. All those that were detached may be found in Series 2, though many others appear in other Series as well.
3. Series 3 contains a large number of the printed and manuscript articles and speeches by Addams, in chronological order, as well as the manuscripts of two of her books, The Excellent Becomes the Permanent and My Friend, Julia Lathrop.
4. In Series 4 may be found varied material on Addams and her many involvements, including papers from Hull-House. These too are in chronological order.
5. Series 6 consists of calling cards, diaries, passports, Rockford Seminary notebooks, engagement calendars, and other items of a personal nature.
6. Letters, wedding trip journals, and other material by and about John Huy Addams, father of Jane Addams, appear in Series 7.
7. Series 8 contains letters by Addams family members and extended family members, legal documents, and genealogy material.
8. A very extensive number of newsclippings about Addams, many sent to her by a clipping bureau, were mounted and can be found in Series 11. This Series is added to periodically.
9. Series 12 contains publicity and reviews for Addams' books.
10. Series 13A is made up of material relating to Hull-House: its residents, programs, clubs, and publications; and items of interest to Addams and other Hull-House personnel in their work on settlements, slums, child labor, and peace.
11. Addams' reference files in Series 14 are divided into categories: WILPF, people, subjects, organizations, and miscellaneous.
12. Series 16 contains Vol. 5:1 through Vol. 9:7 of the Rockford Seminary Magazine.
13. A folder of copies of war cartoons that were collected by Addams is all that is now in Series 17.
14. Series 18 is made up of Addams family and extended family letters, as well as genealogical material, and other items. These were received from Mary Hulbert in 1979.

The collection includes many photographs of Jane Addams by herself or with others, of family members, of friends or associates, of Hull-House, and of the Addams family homestead and mill. It also includes oversize items, memorabilia, and sound/video recordings, all of which are described in the checklist after Series 18.

It was necessary to keep the Series listings as they are because of the microfilm designations of what Series appears on which frames, even though material could now be more readily accessible if rearranged, and even though material in some Series has since been transferred. For instance, the photographs in Series 5 and 9 are now in the SCPC Photograph Collection (under DG 001). The books formerly in Series 10 were returned to Alice DeLoach in 1963. The clippings in Series 13 are no longer separate from those in Series 11. The herbarium put together by Addams, which comprised Series 15, was discarded after being microfilmed, because of its poor condition.

The SCPC has several microfilmed versions of parts of DG 001. The reel numbers 1:1-29, and 113 have been assigned by the SCPC as part of their internal microfilm number system. It is expected that the material on reels 1:1-29 has been incorporated into the material filmed by UMI (113). The reels consist of the following:

1. 1:1 Correspondence, 1872-05/13/1902
2. 1:2 Correspondence, 05/14/1902-12/08/1911
3. 1:3 Correspondence, Dec. 1911-July/Aug. 1913
4. 1:4 Correspondence, July/Aug. 1913-Nov. 1916
5. 1:5 Correspondence, Dec. 1916-June 1920
6. 1:6 Correspondence, July 1920-Oct. 1921
7. 1:7 Correspondence, Nov. 1921-Feb. 1923
8. 1:8 Correspondence, March 1923-May 1924
9. 1:9 Correspondence, June 1924-Dec. 1925
10. 1:10 Correspondence, January 1926-March 1927
11. 1:11 Correspondence, April 1927-July 19, 1928
12. 1:12 Correspondence, July 20, 1928-Aug. 1930
13. 1:13 Correspondence, Sept. 1930-12/10/1931
14. 1:14 Correspondence, 12/11/1931-March 1932
15. 1:15 Correspondence, April 1932-June 1933
16. 1:16 Correspondence, July 1933-Sept. 1934
17. 1:17 Correspondence, October 1934-May 1935, includes letters from Albert Einstein, Emily Greene Balch, Lucia Ames Mead, Henrietta Rothwell, Carrie Chapman Catt, Salmon Levinson, Anna Cass, and Addams' nephews (great-nephews?) Johnny and Henry; a few short letters from Addams; telegrams of condolence re: Addams' death from Jeannette Rankin, Mary McLeod Bethune, Carrie Chapman Catt, Congressman A.J. Sabath, Lillian Wald, and Rosika Schwimmer; and Supplementary Correspondence (1959 accession), 1889-October 16, 1896
18. 1:18 Supplementary Correspondence (1959 Accession), June 1896-Dec. 1923
19. 1:19 Supplementary Correspondence (1959 Accession), 1924-1933; and, correspondence of Addams with Ida C. Lovett (1922-1935), and with George and Alice Haldeman
20. 1:20 Correspondence of Ada James, Henry Demarest Lloyd, Raymond Robins, Julia Grace Wales, Louis P. Lochner, and others [originals in State Historical Society of Wisconsin]
21. 1:21 Correspondence, 1894-1935, of Anita McCormick (Mrs. Emmons) Blaine [originals in State Historical Society of Wisconsin]
22. 1:22 Selections from Richard T. Ely papers, 1890-1915, including correspondence of Florence Kelley [originals in State Historical Society of Wisconsin]
23. 1:23 Speeches and Correspondence of Florence Kelley and Julia Lathrop [originals in State Historical Society of Wisconsin]
24. 1:24 Correspondence, 1870-1915, received from Alice DeLoach [called the "Ellen Starr Brinton Collection of the Jane Addams Family Papers" at DeLoach's request]. Originals returned to DeLoach (see provenance section of checklist). Includes correspondence of Alice Haldeman, 1870-1915; John Huy Addams and Anna Haldeman Addams; George Haldeman, 1881-1887; and Marcet Haldeman-Julius; and Article "Two Mothers of Jane Addams" by Marcet Haldeman-Julius [note: microfilm of 1904-1915 is in reverse chronological order]
25. 1:25 Correspondence, 1916-1925, received from Alice DeLoach [called the "Ellen Starr Brinton Collection of the Jane Addams Family Papers" at DeLoach's request]. Originals returned to DeLoach (see provenance section of checklist). Includes correspondence of Marcet Haldeman-Julius, and peace pamphlets
26. 1:26 Hull-House Publications: Hull-House Yearbook (1876-1878), Hull-House Songs, Hull-House Bulletin (2:1, 2:2, 2:3, 3:3, 3:6)
27. 1:27 Correspondence, 1876-1878, of Addams with Vallie Beck
28. 1:28 Correspondence, 1916-1919, of Addams with Oswald Villard and the Sunset Club; and Material on meetings and memberships (1891-1893)
29. 1:29 Papers relating to Addams, 1890-1931, at Yale University [originals in the MSS and Archives Department at Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University]
30. 113:1-71 and Addendum 113:1A-11 Complete microfilm collection filmed by University Microfilms International (UMI, Michigan, 1985)