Dorothy Whitney Straight Elmhirst papers
Scope and content
Includes both sides of Dorothy's correspondence with Willard D. Straight, whom she married in 1911, dealing with their courtship, and with World War I while he was stationed in France, 1917-1918; letters from friends concerning social engagements and activities in New York State and Washington, D.C.; letters from her brothers, her sister-in-law Gertrude V. Whitney, and various nieces and nephews. Also notebooks from her school days, guardianship papers, newspaper clippings concerning her father's death, guest books and photographs documenting her early life; correspondence, newspaper clippings, and certificates documenting her civic activities; inventory (l volume) and miscellany concerning the house at 1130 Fifth Avenue; communications concerning Willard D. Straight's death and funeral arrangements in Paris, his will and photographs; correspondence about the building of Willard Straight Hall at Cornell University, and correspondence and statements concerning THE NEW REPUBLIC and ASIA magazines. Major correspondents include Beatrice Bend (later Mrs. Henry Prather Fletcher), Katharine L. Barney (later Mrs. Courtlandt D. Barnes), Maurice Casenave, Herbert and Louise Croly, James Curtis, Henry P. Davison, William A. Delano, Richard Derby, Margaret (Myra) G. Dix (later Mrs. Charles Lawrance), Martin Egan, Alfred W. Fiedler, Henry Prather Fletcher, Florence (Daisy) Jaffray Harriman, Louise (Tottie) R. Knowlton (later Mrs. Buell Hollister), and George D. Marvin.
Also, William and Caroline D. Phillips, Ethel C. Roosevelt (later Mrs. Richard Derby), Susan R. Sedgwick (widow of Arthur Swann, later Mrs. Paul L. Hammond), Hazel Straight (later Mrs. James Forest Sanborn), Eliza Morgan Swift, May Tuckerman (later Mrs. Hermann Kinnicutt), Pauline P. Whitney (later Mrs. Almeric H. Paget), Anna L.B. Williams, and Gladys M. Vanderbilt (later Countess Szechenyi), A. Piatt Andrew, J. Howland Auchincloss, Robert and Martha W. Bacon and their son Robert Low Bacon, Frances P.B. Bolton, William J. Calhoun, Wilbur R. Chenoweth, Winston Churchill, Ellen Straight Cross, Richard Harding Davis, Charles D. Draper, Lord Charles French, John Foord, Mary Harriman (later Mrs. Charles C. Rumsey), Herbert C. Hoover, Colonel Edward M. House, Delancey K. Jay, Walter Lippmann, Charles Merz, Ruth Morgan, Annah D. Ripley (later Countess de Viel Castel), Alice L. Roosevelt (later Mrs. Nicholas Longworth), Corinne Roosevelt (later Mrs. Douglas Robinson), Theodore Roosevelt, Elihu Root, Lillian Wald, Lloyd Warren, William Fitz Hugh (Sheldon) Whitehouse, and Stark Young.
Also one leather-bound writing set containing paper, pencil, and pen; marked in gold letters: "D. W. June 1910" (Dorothy Whitney).
Dates
- 1887 - 1978
- Majority of material found within 1887 - 1926
Creator
Language of Materials
Collection material in English
Access Restrictions:
Access to the "Honeymoon scrapbook" in Box 9 restricted to the permission of the curator.
Restrictions on Use:
Edward C. Carter letter may not be reproduced.
Biographical / Historical
Philanthropist, educator, publisher, patron of the arts and social activist. Dorothy Payne Whitney, daughter of William C. Whitney, a financier and secretary of the Navy under President Grover Cleveland, married Willard Dickerman Straight in 1911. Straight died in 1919, and she married Leonard Knight Elmhirst in 1925. Dorothy and Elmhirst purchased Dartington Hall, Devon, England, reconstructed the 14th century manor and founded a school on the property. Dartington Hall became a center for the arts and a leading coeducational progressive school. The New School for Social Research in New York was begun with the backing of the Whitney Estate in 1919. Dorothy was involved with the New York State Food Commission, the Womens Liberty Loan Committee, the Social Unit Plan, the Junior League, the War Camp Service Committee, the Womens Emergency Committee of the European Relief Council, the New School for Social Research, the Tuberculosis Preventorium for Children, the Pueblos Defense Committee, and the Mayors Committee of Women on National Defense. She supported individual students at the Bordentown Military Academy and Hobart College, and helped to found The New Republic.
Extent
10 cubic feet. (10 cubic feet.)
Abstract
Includes both sides of Dorothy's correspondence with Willard D. Straight; letters from friends and relatives. Also materials on civic activities, correspondence on Willard Straight Hall, and correspondence on The New Republic and Asia magazines.
SERIES LIST
Series I. Correspondence Boxes 1-4, 13. Reels 1-10
Willard D. Straight to Dorothy Whitney Straight Willard D. Straight to Others Others to Dorothy Whitney Straight Engagement and wedding congratulations, 1911 Congratulations on Whitney W. Straight's birth, 1912 Dorothy to Willard Dorothy to Others Others to Willard Wedding congratulations (to Leonard K. Elmhirst), 1925 Transcripts of Correspondence (not microfilmed or indexed)
Series II. Other papers through 1911 Boxes 5-7, 9. Reels 11, 12
Photographs, documents, miscellany Notes
Series III. Other papers, 1912 through 1925 Boxes 8-10. Reels 12-14
1130 Fifth Avenue Civic activities Willard D. Straight in France, 1917-1918 (see also #1260, reel 7) India House Asia magazine Willard Straight Hall
Series IV. The New Republic Boxes 11-12. Reels 14-16
Correspondence Accounts
Physical Description
Correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, clippings, papers.
General
- Contact Information:
- Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections 2B Carl A. Kroch Library Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 (607) 255-3530 Fax: (607) 255-9524 rareref@cornell.edu http://rmc.library.cornell.edu
- Compiled by:
- J. Vargo
- Date completed:
- June 1979
- EAD encoding:
- Julia Guarneri, August 2002
- Date modified:
- Kristen Reichenbach, October 2018
General
Portions of this collection are available on microfilm. The guide to the microfilm is here.
- Andrew, A. Piatt (Abram Piatt), 1873-1936.
- Asia.
- Auchincloss, J. Howland.
- Bacon, Martha W.
- Bacon, Robert Law.
- Bacon, Robert, 1860-1919.
- Barney, Katharine L.
- Bolton, Frances P. B.
- Bordentown Military Academy
- Calhoun, William J. (William James), 1848-1916.
- Casenave, Maurice.
- Chenoweth, Wilbur, 1899-1980.
- Churchill, Winston, 1871-1947.
- Cornell University -- : Buildings.
- Croly, Herbert David, 1869-1950.
- Croly, Louise.
- Cross, Ellen Straight.
- Curtis, James.
- Davis, Richard Harding, 1864-1916.
- Davison, Henry Pomeroy, 1867-1922.
- Delano, William Adams, 1874-1960.
- Derby, Ethel Roosevelt.
- Derby, Richard.
- Dix, Margaret G.
- Draper, Charles D.
- Egan, Martin.
- Elmhirst, L. K. (Leonard Knight), 1893-1974.
- Fiedler, Alfred W.
- Fletcher, Beatrice Bend, -1941.
- Fletcher, Henry Prather, 1873-1959.
- Foord, John, 1842-1922.
- French, Charles, Lord.
- Harriman, Florence Jaffray, 1870-1967.
- Hobart College (Geneva, N.Y.)
- Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964.
- House, Edward Mandell, 1858-1938.
- Jay, Delancey K.
- Junior League
- Knowlton, Louise R.
- Lippmann, Walter, 1889-1974.
- Longworth, Alice L. Roosevelt, 1889-1980.
- Marvin, George D.
- Mayor\'s Committee of Women on National Defense
- Merz, Charles, 1893-1977
- Morgan, Ruth.
- New School for Social Research
- New York State Food Commission
- New republic.
- Phillips, Caroline D.
- Phillips, William.
- Pueblos Defense Committee
- Ripley, Annah D., Countess de Viel Castel
- Robinson, Corinne Roosevelt, 1861-1933.
- Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919.
- Root, Elihu, 1845-1937.
- Rumsey, Mary Harriman, 1881-1934.
- Sedgwick, Susan R.
- Social Unit Plan
- Social reformers.
- Straight, Hazel.
- Straight, Willard Dickerman, 1880-1918.
- Swift, Eliza Morgan.
- Szechenyi, Gladys M. Vanderbilt, Countess, 1887-1965.
- Tuberculosis Preventorium for Children
- Tuckerman, May.
- Viel-Castel, Anna Dillon Ripley, comtesse de, 1886-
- Wald, Lillian D., 1867-1940.
- War Camp Service Committee
- Warren, Lloyd.
- Whitehouse, William Fitz Hugh.
- Whitney, Gertrude Vanderbilt, 18757-1942.
- Whitney, Pauline P.
- Willard Straight Hall (Ithaca, N.Y.)
- Williams, Anna L. B.
- Women social reformers.
- Women\'s Emergency Committee of the European Relief Council
- Women\'s Liberty Loan Committee
- World War, 1914-1918
- Young, Stark, 1881-1963.
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Compiled by J. Vargo
- Date
- August 2002
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Revision Statements
- 12/07/2018: This resource was modified by the ArchivesSpace Preprocessor developed by the Harvard Library (https://github.com/harvard-library/archivesspace-preprocessor)
- 2007-05-29: converted from EAD 1.0 to EAD 2002
- Box: 14 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 15 (Mixed Materials)
- microfilm reel: 1 (Mixed Materials)
- microfilm reel: 2 (Mixed Materials)
- microfilm reel: 3 (Mixed Materials)
- microfilm reel: 4 (Mixed Materials)
- microfilm reel: 5 (Mixed Materials)
- microfilm reel: 6 (Mixed Materials)
- microfilm reel: 7 (Mixed Materials)
- microfilm reel: 8 (Mixed Materials)
- microfilm reel: 9 (Mixed Materials)
- microfilm reel: 10 (Mixed Materials)
- microfilm reel: 11 (Mixed Materials)
- microfilm reel: 12 (Mixed Materials)
- microfilm reel: 13 (Mixed Materials)
- microfilm reel: 14 (Mixed Materials)
- microfilm reel: 15 (Mixed Materials)
- microfilm reel: 16 (Mixed Materials)
- Box: 16 (Mixed Materials)
Repository Details
Part of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Repository
2B Carl A. Kroch Library
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853
607-255-3530
607-255-9524 (Fax)
rareref@cornell.edu