Arrangement

 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 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:

- White: first and second accessions

- Blue: 3rd accession

- Buff: accessions after 1959; located by name of collection or by date

- Salmon: correspondence in other SCPC 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This has been superseded by the index in The Jane Addams Papers: A Comprehensive Guide, edited by Mary Lynn Bryan (Indiana University Press, 1996).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 Jane Addams Papers: A Comprehensive 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 SCPC'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 SCPC Jane Addams Collection is made up of the following:

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- Series 6 consists of calling cards, diaries, passports, Rockford Seminary notebooks, engagement calendars, and other items of a personal nature.

- Letters, wedding trip journals, and other material by and about John Huy Addams, father of Jane Addams, appear in Series 7.

- Series 8 contains letters by Addams family members and extended family members, legal documents, and genealogy material.

- 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.

- Series 12 contains publicity and reviews for Addams' books.

- 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.

- Addams' reference files in Series 14 are divided into categories: WILPF, people, subjects, organizations, and miscellaneous.

- Series 16 contains Vol. 5:1 through Vol. 9:7 of the Rockford Seminary Magazine.

- A folder of copies of war cartoons that were collected by Addams is all that is now in Series 17.

- 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 01). 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. And, 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 01. 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 Correspondence, 1872-05/13/1902

1:2 Correspondence, 05/14/1902-12/08/1911

1:3 Correspondence, Dec. 1911-July/Aug. 1913

1:4 Correspondence, July/Aug. 1913-Nov. 1916

1:5 Correspondence, Dec. 1916-June 1920

1:6 Correspondence, July 1920-Oct. 1921

1:7 Correspondence, Nov. 1921-Feb. 1923

1:8 Correspondence, March 1923-May 1924

1:9 Correspondence, June 1924-Dec. 1925

1:10 Correspondence, January 1926-March 1927

1:11 Correspondence, April 1927-July 19, 1928

1:12 Correspondence, July 20, 1928-Aug. 1930

1:13 Correspondence, Sept. 1930-12/10/1931

1:14 Correspondence, 12/11/1931-March 1932

1:15 Correspondence, April 1932-June 1933

1:16 Correspondence, July 1933-Sept. 1934

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

1:18 Supplementary Correspondence (1959 Accession), June 1896-Dec. 1923

1:19 Supplementary Correspondence (1959 Accession), 1924-1933; and, correspondence of Addams with Ida C. Lovett (1922-1935), and with George and Alice Haldeman

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]

1:21 Correspondence, 1894-1935, of Anita McCormick (Mrs. Emmons) Blaine [originals in State Historical Society of Wisconsin]

1:22 Selections from Richard T. Ely papers, 1890-1915, including correspondence of Florence Kelley [originals in State Historical Society of Wisconsin]

1:23 Speeches and Correspondence of Florence Kelley and Julia Lathrop [originals in State Historical Society of Wisconsin]

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]

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

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)

1:27 Correspondence, 1876-1878, of Addams with Vallie Beck

1:28 Correspondence, 1916-1919, of Addams with Oswald Villard and the Sunset Club; and Material on meetings and memberships (1891-1893)

1:29 Papers relating to Addams, 1890-1931, at Yale University [originals in the MSS and Archives Department at Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University]

113:1-71 and Addendum 113:1A-11 Complete microfilm collection filmed by University Microfilms International (UMI, Michigan, 1985)

Index to Checklist | Jane Addams Photograph Exhibit | Swarthmore College Peace Collection | Swarthmore College

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For more information contact Wendy Chmielewski, Curator, at wchmiel1@swarthmore.edu or call 610-328-8557.