Inventory of the Carter H. Harrison IV Papers, 1637-1953, bulk 1840-1950 The Newberry Library Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections 60 West Walton Street Chicago, Illinois 60610-7324 USA Phone: 312-255-3506 Fax: 312-255-3646 E-Mail: specialcolls@newberry.org URL: http://www.newberry.org Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Brian Silbernagel, 2003. ©2003

Administrative Information

Cite as:

Carter H. Harrison IV Papers, Midwest Manuscript Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago.

Provenance

Gift of Carter H. Harrison IV (1860-1953), 1952; Carter H. Harrison V (1890-), 1959; and Russell MacFall, 1960.

Processed by:

Amy Nyholm, Diana Haskell, Brian Silbernagel, 2003.

Access

The Carter H. Harrison IV Papers are open for research and available to users one box at a time in the Special Collections Reading Room (Priority III); except for Series 21, Collector's Items, which is 5 folders at a time maximum, and items in each folder will be counted before and after delivery to the patron (Priority I).

Ownership and Literary Rights

The Carter H. Harrison IV Papers are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to either the Newberry Library or the applicable author or his or her heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.

Biography of Carter H. Harrison IV

Carter Henry Harrison IV ("Harrison"), like his father, Carter Henry Harrison III, was a five term Democratic mayor of Chicago. Harrison served his first four terms around the turn of the twentieth century (1897-1905), with his final term running from 1911 until 1915. Harrison was also Collector of Internal Revenue for the Chicago area during the 1930s and early 1940s.

Harrison's father moved to Chicago in 1855 from Kentucky, shortly after his graduation from Transylvania University (now the University of Kentucky) Law School, and marriage to Sophonisba Preston, Harrison's mother. Upon his arrival in Chicago, Harrison's father invested his money in real estate, and then hung out his shingle as a lawyer and real estate agent. Harrison was born a few years later, on April 23, 1860. In 1873, Harrison's mother was advised to travel to Europe for her health, and Harrison and the rest of the family accompanied her and traveled throughout Germany, Austria, and Switzerland that spring and summer. Harrison's father then returned to Chicago in the fall to tend to his real estate business, but Harrison remained in Germany with his mother and attended school at the Altenberg Gymnasium.

In 1874, Harrison's father was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and despite spending much of 1875 in Europe with his family, he was re-elected to Congress in 1876. During this time, Harrison continued his studies at Altenberg, but after his mother died in the fall of 1876 he returned to Chicago.

Upon his return to Chicago, Harrison entered St. Ignatius College (now Loyola University), which was then located near the family's home on Ashland Avenue between Jackson and Van Buren Streets. Harrison graduated from St. Ignatius in 1881, second in a class of two, and then attended Yale University Law School, from which he received a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1883. After law school, Harrison came back to Chicago and practiced law until 1891 when he and his brother, William Preston Harrison, took over the operation of the Chicago Times, which their father had recently purchased.

After completing his second term in Congress, Harrison's father was elected mayor of Chicago and served four consecutive two-year terms, from April 1879 to April 1887. He then took a break from politics, including an eighteen month trip around the world, before being once again elected mayor in 1893. Six months after taking office, however, on the final day of the World Columbian Exposition, Harrison's father was assassinated in his home by Patrick Prendergast on October 28, 1893.

In 1894, Harrison's family sold the Chicago Times, and Harrison focused his energies on his real estate investments until he followed in his father's footsteps and successfully ran for mayor in 1897. Harrison served as mayor from 1897 until 1905, and again from 1911 to 1915. During his first term as mayor Harrison was best known for his bitter, but ultimately victorious, fight against Charles T. Yerkes, the traction railroad baron, who sought a fifty year streetcar concession from the city that Harrison felt was unfair. The traction interests had significant aldermanic support, allegedly obtained through bribery and improper means, and were prepared for Harrison's veto of the proposed ordinance, which they expected to be able to overcome. Harrison, however, went further and took the fight directly to the people, urging them to challenge their aldermen on the issue. Although this move angered some in the Chicago Democratic Party who felt that Harrison had overstepped his bounds, it made Harrison popular with the people, who re-elected him to a second two-year term in 1899.

The Yerkes battle cemented Harrison's reputation as a man of integrity and one who was not afraid to ruffle a few feathers in order to do what he thought was right. Harrison was re-elected again in 1901 and 1903, but declined to run in 1905, when he was succeeded as mayor by Edward F. Dunne, another Democrat. In 1907, the mayoral term was extended from two years to four and Dunne lost his re-election bid to Republican F. A. Busse. Harrison then re-entered the political scene for the 1911 election, in which he defeated Dunne in the Democratic primary, and Republican Charles E. Merriam, a professor at the University of Chicago, in the general election. During what would prove to be his final term as mayor, Harrison was persuaded that the best way to handle prostitution and gambling was to try to eliminate these practices altogether, instead of treating them as necessary evils and attempting to segregate such vices to particular sections of the city where they could be contained and informally regulated by the police, as Chicago had done for many years. This change in tactics led Harrison to a direct confrontation with long-time allies John J. ("Bathhouse John") Coughlin and Michael ("Hinky-Dink") Kenna, the aldermen of Chicago's notorious First Ward, which served as the city's main red-light district. Harrison eventually succeeded in shutting down most of Chicago's houses of prostitution and gambling dens, including the infamous Everleigh Club, but these achievements came at a cost. Without Coughlin and Kenna's political support (which, ironically, had been critical years earlier when he stood up against Charles Yerkes), Harrison lost the Democratic nomination to Robert M. Sweitzer in 1915 and moved to the sidelines of Chicago politics, although he remained active in the Democratic Party at the national level throughout the remainder of his life.

When America entered World War I, Harrison desperately wanted to participate, but was too old to serve in the military. He lobbied heavily for an appointment to a meaningful position that would allow him to, if not see action, at least be able to "hear the big guns." Eventually, Harrison was made a Captain in the American Red Cross and stationed in Toul, France, a few miles behind the front lines, where he worked to help make life more comfortable for the American troops stationed and recovering at the several field hospitals located there.

Following the war, Harrison spent most of the 1920s traveling. He took multiple trips around the world, along with shorter excursions to Europe and Africa. By the early 1930s, however, reversals in the stock market had diminished his personal fortune and Harrison decided to return to work, even though he was now over seventy years old. Relying on his political connections, Harrison was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the Northern District of Illinois by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. It was thought that this would be a relatively short-term position, but Harrison ended up holding the post until the end of 1944, when he finally retired from public service for good at the age of 84.

Harrison was a both an outdoorsman and a scholarly patron of the arts. He loved hunting and fishing, and throughout his life went on numerous expeditions into the wilderness in search of big game or the perfect trout stream, including hunting and fishing trips to the Sierra Nevada Mountains, India, Indochina, and Africa. In 1940, when he was eighty years old, Harrison and his long-time friend Oscar Mayer (the Chicago meat-packer), each bagged a 150 pound buck on their annual hunting trip to northern Michigan. Harrison also had somewhat of a reputation as a trencherman, and favored a "Kentucky Nightcap" of bourbon before retiring for the day. At the same time, however, Harrison was an avid art collector and regular at the Chicago symphony and opera. Before his death, he donated his substantial art collection to the Art Institute of Chicago, including works by Paul Gauguin, Childe Hassam, Mary Cassatt, Claude Monet, and Toulouse-Lautrec. In recognition of his support, the Art Institute ultimately named Harrison a Benefactor and Governing Life-Member of the museum. According to his daughter, Harrison's "light-reading" usually consisted of poetry or the ancient Greek classics, and he read a chapter of the Bible each night throughout his life in fulfillment of a boyhood promise to his mother.

Harrison died on Christmas Day, 1953, at the age of ninety-three. On New Year's Eve of that same year, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution recognizing his accomplishments as mayor, Collector of Internal Revenue, world traveller, and patron of the arts. The resolution stated, in part, that "from such men as Carter H. Harrison, men of integrity, vision, high civic ideals and unswerving zeal, we shall take example." Harrison led a life full of accomplishments and achievements, and appeared to have no regrets. The only disappointment that seemed to stick with him was the failure of his son, Carter H. Harrison V, to have a son that could carry on the family name. Much to Harrison's chagrin, it was his daughter, Edith Harrison Manierre, who bore him two grandsons, while his son gave him four granddaughters.

Scope and Content of the Collection

The largest part of this collection consists of the correspondence of Carter H. Harrison IV (1860-1953), although there is also a fair amount of correspondence and other documents relating to Harrison's father, Carter H. Harrison III (1825-1893), and Harrison's wife, Edith Ogden Harrison. Harrison's correspondents included some of the leading Democratic political figures of his day, including William Jennings Bryan, James Farley, Harold L. Ickes, and James Hamilton Lewis. The outgoing correspondence of Harrison's father is mainly personal, although some of his incoming correspondence relates to requests for patronage appointments and other political matters.

Besides the foregoing, the collection also contains a significant amount of materials relating to the history of Harrison's family, including letters written by and to his ancestors, and letters sent to Harrison by family members and others recounting the family's genealogy. The writings of Harrison that are part of this collection consist mainly of speeches, articles, and short untitled manuscripts on various topics, together with drafts of, and a large amount of culled material from, Harrison's three books (Stormy Years, Growing Up With Chicago, and With the American Red Cross in France, 1918-1919). In addition, there are a number of photographs (mainly of Harrison, his father, and other individuals), and a series of printed invitations and other souvenirs kept by Harrison as mementos of some of the dinners and other events he attended during and after his tenure as mayor, such as a luncheon honoring Theodore Roosevelt and a ball for Heinrich, Prince of Prussia. Finally, there are some collector's items, including letters and autographs from John Quincy Adams, Washington Irving, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, George Washington, and Noah Webster.

Harrison clearly kept the items in this collection with an eye that they might one day be saved for posterity. Many items throughout the collection contain handwritten annotations by Harrison in which he explains the document's context or provides his thoughts on the document's subject. Harrison also often refers the reader to specific pages of his books for more information about the person, place, or event in question.

Narrative descriptions of the subject matter, types of material, and arrangement of each series are available through the Organization section of the finding aid.

Harrison's papers are organized in the following series:

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1881-1953 . Box(es) 1

This series consists of materials pertaining generally to Harrison's life. The series includes several biographical sketches, a collection of negative articles and editorials from the Chicago American (a Republican newspaper) about Harrison and his record as mayor, political pamphlets touting Harrison's accomplishments as mayor, letters of introduction, diplomas, and clippings of newspaper stories about Harrison. This series also includes a number of certificates presented to Harrison in connection with various awards, appointments, and honors. Clippings of newspaper and magazine articles which only mention Harrison, and are not primarily about his life, are arranged in Series 8 (Clippings).

This series is arranged alphabetically by title, subject, or type of materials. Multiple items within a folder are then arranged chronologically

Series 2: Incoming Correspondence, 1867-1953 . Box(es) 2-8

The majority of this series is personal correspondence sent to Harrison, although there are also a significant number of items that were sent to Harrison in his official capacity as Mayor of Chicago or Collector of Internal Revenue. Several letters have handwritten annotations by Harrison explaining the letter's context or giving his thoughts on the sender or the letter's subject.

Much of Harrison's official incoming correspondence involves patronage job appointments. The rest of Harrison's incoming correspondence covers a wide range of topics, including: (a) his three books (Stormy Years, Growing Up With Chicago, and With the American Red Cross in France, 1918-1919); (b) the political activities of the Democratic Party at both the local and national level, including four letters from Tammany Hall boss Richard Croker; (c) early Chicago history; (d) hunting and fishing trips; (e) efforts to locate the whereabouts of various individuals with whom Harrison was acquainted in the past; and (f) responses from well-known people of Harrison's day from whom he requested autographs as a young man.

Among the correspondence in this series are two interesting letters from then Senator Harry Truman in 1936 in which Truman tells Harrison what he thinks of the French and expresses his displeasure at France's failure to repay the United States for debts incurred during World War I in connection with the purchase of war supplies. There is also a letter from Harrison's brother, William Preston Harrison, giving his eyewitness account of the assassination of Harrison's father in 1893, and a letter from Lawton Parker inviting Harrison to attend a meeting to discuss the formation the Arts Club of Chicago. Finally, this series includes letters relating to Harrison's service with the American Red Cross in France at the end of World War I, and his gifts to the Art Institute of Chicago.

There is a fair amount of correspondence (i.e., over five letters) from the following individuals or entities: American Red Cross; Art Institute of Chicago; Bobbs-Merrill Company; William Jennings Bryan; Charles Collins; Charles G. Dawes; Charles S. Deneen; Edward F. Dunne; E. K. Eckert; James Farley; Alexander Hugh Ferguson; Charles Fitzmorris; Sophonisba Preston Harrison; William Preston Harrison; Henry Horner; Cordell Hull; Harold L. Ickes; James Hamilton Lewis; Frank O. Lowden; Edgar Lee Masters; William Gibbs McAdoo; John T. McCutcheon; F. Millet; Henry Morgenthau Jr.; Battling Nelson; Lawton Parker; Henry T. Rainey; Frederick Rex; Franklin Delano Roosevelt; Julius Rosenwald; A. J. Sabath; Adlai E. Stevenson; William Hale Thompson; Henry Emerson Tuttle; and Walter Ufer.

Letters to Harrison specifically about his family's genealogy and history are arranged separately in Series 11 (Harrison Family History). Letters to Harrison about the Chicago Commission for the Encouragement of Local Art are arranged separately in Series 12 (Chicago Commission for the Encouragement of Local Art).

This series is arranged alphabetically by the sender's name. Multiple items within a folder are then arranged chronologically.

Series 3: Outgoing Correspondence, 1873-1953, . Box(es) 9-10

This series consists of letters written by Harrison, the majority of which are typewritten carbon copies or drafts, although there are also a few signed originals, some of which are handwritten. Most of the letters from 1921-1928 were written to his children, Carter H. Harrison V (1890-) and Edith Ogden Harrison Manierre (1896- ) (who is referred to as "Ogden"), about Harrison's trips around the world and other overseas travels. Many of these letters are several typewritten pages long. Besides his family correspondence, there are also a number of letters relating to Harrison's post-mayoral political activities, such as letters in which he states his position on a particular issue, supports someone for an elected or appointed position, or reports to the National Democratic Party on the political activity and sentiment in Chicago and other parts of northern Illinois around the time of the 1936 and 1938 elections.

This series also includes: (a) letters relating to the Chicago Municipal Art Commission (1915); (b) letters relating to Harrison's work with the American Red Cross in France (1918-1919); (c) letters about art and Harrison's art collection (e.g., 1929, 1941-1944); (d) letters to Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior, regarding the Illinois State Advisory Board of the Public Works Administration, of which Harrison was chairman (1933-1934); (e) letters relating to Harrison's position of Collector of Internal Revenue, particularly with respect to patronage job appointments (1934-1944); (f) letters about Harrison's books, Stormy Years (1935-1937), Growing Up With Chicago (1938-1941, and 1944), and With the American Red Cross in France, 1918-1919 (1940, 1944, 1947-1949, and 1951); (g) letters about early Chicago people, places, and events (1936-1945, 1947, and 1949); (h) letters about fly fishing and hunting (1940, 1944-1945, and 1949); (i) letters about stamp collecting, vermouth and other drinks, William Preston Harrison's trips to the South Pacific in the mid-1890s, and various other reminiscences (1942); (j) letters relating to the length of the lines at the Internal Revenue Service payment windows (1943); (k) letters regarding his gifts of prints, books, and papers to Yale University (1947-1949); and (l) letters relating to Harrison's gifts to the Art Institute of Chicago (1932-1949).

Some of the items in this series have handwritten annotations by Harrison explaining the letter's context or giving his thoughts on the sender or the letter's subject. Most of the items in this series date from 1920-1949. There are very few letters from 1873-1910, 1916-1917, and 1950-1953. After 1934, a fair percentage of the letters in this series were written to Harrison's close friends Edgar Lee Masters and Russell MacFall.

This series is arranged chronologically by the date each letter was written, with the exception of those letters relating to Harrison's gifts to the Art Institute of Chicago which have been placed in a separate folder at the end of this series and then arranged chronologically.

Series 4: Harrison Family Correspondence and Miscellaneous Documents, 1637-1954, . Box(es) 11

This series is primarily made up of letters to and from persons who appear to have been ancestors of Harrison, although there are also a few items (such as a will, letters of introduction, seventeenth and eighteenth century land deeds, and documents concerning military or political appointments), that are not correspondence but which have been included in this series because they relate to Harrison's ancestors. The series also includes: (a) a letter sent to Caroline Owsley from Belle Harvey regarding the Grasshopper Club and other social activities of Harrison's mother, Sophonisba Preston Harrison; (b) three letters sent to William Preston Harrison, Harrison's brother (a response from Rutherford B. Hayes to Preston's request for an autograph, a condolence letter following Harrison's father's assassination, and a thank you note for a complimentary subscription to the Chicago Times); (c) two letters sent by Harrison's son, Carter H. Harrison V, to Russell MacFall following Harrison's death; (d) seventy letters from Ella Lewis to Lucy Brady Cook, Harrison's daughter-in-law; and (e) a letter from James Madison to Robert H. Grayson.

The letters to and from Harrison's ancestors cover a variety of topics, both business and personal, but seem to have been collected by Harrison because they were written by, or sent to, family members, rather than because he was particularly interested in their subject matter. Only a very few of the items in this series contain explanatory annotations by Harrison. Correspondence relating specifically to the genealogy and history of the Harrison Family is gathered in Series 11 (Harrison Family History). Correspondence to or from Harrison's father, Carter H. Harrison III, or Harrison's wife, Edith Ogden Harrison, is arranged separately as well in Series 16-17, and Series 14-15, respectively.

The correspondence in this series is arranged alphabetically by the sender's name. Multiple items within a folder are then arranged chronologically. Documents other than correspondence are arranged alphabetically by the name of the person to whom the document primarily relates.

Series 5: Correspondence Pertaining to Carter H. Harrison IV, 1899-1945 . Box(es) 12

This series consists of correspondence neither sent to, nor by, Harrison or any member of his family, but about which Harrison is the primary subject. Most of these letters relate to Harrison's re-election campaigns, his salary as Collector of Internal Revenue, and possible job appointments for him following his tenure as mayor.

This series is arranged alphabetically by the author's name. Multiple items within a folder are then arranged chronologically.

Series 6: Miscellaneous Correspondence, 1858-1938. Box(es) 12

This series contains an assortment of letters that were apparently neither written by, nor sent to, Harrison or his family. It is not clear why Harrison kept many of the letters in this series, or even how he obtained them in the first place. Some may have been collected because Harrison felt that the author was a person of historical significance, such as the letters written by William Jennings Bryan and the note written by Oliver Wendell Holmes, others may have been forwarded to Harrison by the addressee. Some of the letters refer to Harrison's father or other members of his family. The letter from A. S. Trude, for example, relates to Patrick Eugene Prendergast, the man who murdered Carter H. Harrison III.

This series is arranged alphabetically by the sender's name. Multiple items within a folder are then arranged chronologically.

Series 7: Writings, 1880-1934, . Box(es) 13-15

This series consists of an assortment of works authored by Harrison, including speeches and articles, as well as partial drafts and culled material relating to Harrison's three books (Stormy Years, Growing Up With Chicago, and With the American Red Cross in France, 1918-1919). Also in this series is an account of a trip Harrison took down the Nile in 1895, notes regarding early Chicago families, and a number of short manuscripts on art, politics, and various other topics, many of which are handwritten or incomplete.

This series is arranged alphabetically by title or type of material. Untitled speeches and manuscripts have been placed at the end of the series.

Series 8: Clippings, 1858-1952, . Box(es) 16

This series consists of clippings of newspaper and magazine articles that either mention Harrison or were about subjects of particular interest to him. Clippings of articles primarily about Harrison's life rather than Harrison's connection to another person or matter are arranged in Series 1 (Biographical Materials). In some cases, Harrison clipped only a portion of the article, cutting it off part way through.

Several of the articles in this series are stories of graft, corruption, prostitution, gambling, and other illegal activities in Chicago, which Harrison apparently saved to favorably compare his record as mayor to that of some of his successors, such as William Hale Thompson and Edward J. Kelly. Others relate to Harrison's books, or to historic Chicago people, places, or events to which Harrison had some connection. A number of the clippings are about people whom Harrison or his father knew. This series also includes two copies of the Chicago Times from 1858 and 1861 which may have been saved by Harrison's father.

Some of the clippings are accompanied by Harrison's handwritten or typed notes providing his thoughts on the subject of the article, or explaining how the subject of the article related to him. These annotations generally range from one sentence to a couple of paragraphs in length.

See also clippings in five bound volumes, cataloged separately as Case + E5 H24608.

This series is arranged alphabetically by the primary subject of the clippings. Multiple items within a folder are then arranged chronologically.

Series 9: Photographs and Prints, 1870-1947 . Box(es) 17

Most of the items in this series are photographs or prints of Harrison, his father, or other individuals whom Harrison knew or admired. There are also some photographs of Chicago buildings and a folder of newspaper clippings that have been placed here rather than in Series 8 (Clippings) because the clipping are almost entirely of pictures, with very little or no text. Most of these newspaper clippings are of pictures of Harrison.

This series is arranged alphabetically by the subject of the photograph or print, except that all of the newspaper clippings have been placed together in a single folder.

Series 10: Printed Invitations and Souvenirs, 1883-1952. Box(es) 18

This series primarily consists of printed invitations, menus, and other souvenirs that Harrison collected as mementos of various dinners, receptions, and other functions that he attended. In addition, this series also includes various political mementos, including a humorous excursion ticket that mentions Carter H. Harrison III, and admission tickets to political conventions. Catalogues from exhibitions where items from Harrison's art collection were shown, or in which he otherwise had a special interest, as well as a set of club by-laws from Les Rosettes et Rubans de France, are also arranged in this series. A few of the items contain handwritten notes by Harrison that provide some background information about the event to which the item in question pertains.

The items in this series are arranged alphabetically by the name of the person, place or event to which they relate.

Series 11: Harrison Family History, 1868-1952, . Box(es) 18

This series consists of materials relating to the genealogy and history of Harrison's family. Most of the items in this series are letters sent to Harrison, apparently in response to his queries for information, but there are also some letters that were sent to Harrison's father or other members of Harrison's family. In addition to correspondence, this series also includes a few other documents pertaining to the history and genealogy of Harrison's family, such as: (a) the text of an interview given by Harrison to an alumni magazine in which he recounts his family history; (b) a short biography / obituary of Caroline Dudley Harrison Owsley (1858-1943), written by Edith Ogden Harrison, Harrison's wife; (c) a longer biography of Nathaniel Hart written by Sallie Young Williams; and (d) materials pertaining to the Harrison ancestral homes of Adams House (Kentucky), Berkely (Virginia), Clifton (Virginia), and Shirley (Virginia). Additional information about Harrison's family history collected by the Newberry Library can be found in the accession file.

Correspondence in this series is arranged alphabetically by the sender's name. Other items are arranged alphabetically by their title, type, or subject matter. Multiple items within a folder are arranged chronologically.

Series 12: Chicago Commission for the Encouragement of Local Art, 1915-1945, . Box(es) 19

The Chicago Commission for the Encouragement of Local Art was created by the Chicago City Council in 1914 at Harrison's behest. Its purpose was to support local artists by purchasing some of their paintings and sculptures, and then displaying these works in the public schools, city hall, and other municipal buildings of Chicago. The Commission had seven members, three of whom were selected by the Art Institute of Chicago, one by the Mayor of Chicago, and one each by the Municipal Art League, the Friends of American Art, and the Palette and Chisel Club. Harrison was appointed to the Commission in 1924 by Mayor William Dever, and served through the end of 1944. This series contains items relating to the Commission, including yearbooks from 1915 and 1925, a list of the works purchased by the Commission from 1914 through 1943, and a letter to the Committee on Finance of the Chicago City Council dated January 2, 1945, in which Harrison recounts some of the history of the Commission in connection with his resignation over the fact that many of the paintings purchased by the Commission were being hung in the offices of the Board of Education rather than the public schools as Harrison had intended.

This series is arranged alphabetically by subject or type of material. Multiple items within a folder are then arranged chronologically.

Series 13: The Hill School Matter, 1938-1945 . Box(es) 19

This series consists of correspondence regarding the payment of the tuition, room and board, and other fees incurred by Harrison's grandsons, Cyrus E. Manierre and William E. Manierre while they were students at The Hill School in Pennsylvania from 1933-1938. The boys' father, C. Edson Manierre, had failed to make the necessary payments, and Harrison agreed to help settle the boys' accounts in order to permit Cyrus to graduate with his class in June 1938, so that Cyrus could enter West Point that summer. This arrangement was not disclosed to Edson Manierre, who separately agreed to make monthly payments to The Hill School until the debt was satisfied. These monthly payments were first applied against the boys' remaining outstanding balance after Harrison's payment, and then collected by The Hill School on Harrison's behalf in order to repay Harrison the amount he had advanced on Edson's behalf. Harrison was concerned that if Edson Manierre knew that Harrison had already paid The Hill School, Edson would not make an effort to repay him. The correspondence in this series relates to the initial agreement between Harrison and The Hill School, the status of Edson Manierre's monthly payments to The Hill School, an incident that occurred immediately after William Manierre graduated from The Hill School in 1942, in which he was caught drinking, and a final dispute between Harrison and The Hill School over the issue of whether Harrison should pay a portion of the attorneys' fees incurred by The Hill School in connection with Edson Manierre's payments. Some of these letters also contain information about the actions of Harrison's grandsons during World War II.

This series is arranged chronologically.

Series 14: Edith Ogden Harrison, Incoming Correspondence, 1884-1949 . Box(es) 19

This series consists of correspondence sent to Edith Ogden Harrison, Harrison's wife. Most of the letters are personal in nature and fairly short. Some simply seek to arrange a time for a visit, while others are about the health and current activities of the sender and his or her family. The letters that she received from William Preston Harrison, Harrison's brother, are more numerous and of greater length. Most of these letters were written by William Preston Harrison while he was in Europe and tell of his travels.

This series is arranged alphabetically by the sender's name. Multiple items within a folder are then arranged chronologically.

Series 15: Edith Ogden Harrison, Writings and Outgoing Correspondence, 1916-1949. Box(es) 19

This series consists of works and letters written by Edith Ogden Harrison, Harrison's wife. "Bicycles and Billiards" is a short essay about the pursuit of these pastimes in Chicago around the turn of the twentieth century. It may have been taken from the manuscript of Edith Harrison's autobiography, Strange to Say. Edith Harrison's diary is a small notebook containing descriptions of her daily activities, as well as lists of expenses, recipes, and notes to herself about people she met and a variety of other miscellaneous topics. The outgoing correspondence from 1921-1928 consists of letters to her children and grandchildren while she and Harrison were traveling overseas. All of the outgoing correspondence from 1946-1949 was addressed to Russell MacFall, a friend of the Harrisons who worked for the Chicago Tribune, and relate to the assistance MacFall provided Mrs. Harrison with the editing and publishing of Strange to Say.

This series is arranged alphabetically by title or type of material. Multiple items within a folder are then arranged chronologically.

Series 16: Carter H. Harrison III, Incoming Correspondence, 1842-1893, . Box(es) 20

This series consists of correspondence sent to Carter H. Harrison III (1825-1893), Harrison's father. The subjects of the letters arranged in this series are varied. A number concern political matters, ranging from an explanation by Horace Boies, Governor of Iowa, of his positions on free coinage and trade, to requests by other Democratic politicians for promotions or jobs for their friends or constituents. Other letters are personal, such as thanks for his hospitality following visits, requests for meetings, letters of introduction, letters from his mother while he was at Yale, and letters from his wife. Also in this series is a letter from James S. Duff, who was in charge of the Chicago mayor's office during the administrations of John Rice and R. B. Mason, presenting Harrison's father with the keys to the old mayor's office that was destroyed during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Certain of the items have handwritten annotations by Harrison explaining the context of the letter or providing some background material about the author, although far fewer of the letters in this series are annotated than in Series 2 (Incoming Correspondence).

This series is arranged alphabetically by the sender's name. Multiple items within a folder are then arranged chronologically.

Series 17: Carter H. Harrison III, Outgoing Correspondence, 1838-1892 . Box(es) 21

This series consists of handwritten letters by Carter H. Harrison III (1825-1893), Harrison's father. Most are personal letters written to his wife, mother, and other family members. Many of the letters were written while Harrison's father was traveling abroad, including almost all of those from 1851-1853 and 1887-1888. For many of the other years there are only one or two letters, and there are not any letters from the Civil War period. Harrison wrote short notes on a few of the letters summarizing their contents or providing some background information.

This series is arranged chronologically by the date each letter was written, with the exception of undated or incomplete letters, which have been placed together at the beginning of the series.

Series 18: Carter H. Harrison III, Speeches and Other Works, 1876-1893 . Box(es) 21

This series consists of mainly of printed copies of speeches given by Carter H. Harrison III (1825-1893), Harrison's father. In addition, there are also some notes regarding heraldry, and a paper Carter H. Harrison III wrote on behalf of the Iroquois Club of Chicago to Congress advocating the construction of the Illinois & Michigan canal.

This series is arranged alphabetically by title or subject.

Series 19: Carter H. Harrison III, Miscellaneous Documents, 1843-1942, . Box(es) 21

This series consists of a variety of documents pertaining to Carter H. Harrison III (1825-1893), Harrison's father. Included in this series are: (a) memorabilia from the last day of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition at which Harrison's father spoke shortly before his assassination; (b) newspaper and magazine clippings relating to Harrison's father, including a 1923 article from the Lexington Herald about the Harrison family estate in Fayette County, Kentucky, which also contains a fair amount of information about the history of the Harrison family; (c) a list of slaves owned by Carter H. Harrison III and his mother; (d) some math problems Harrison's father completed while he was at Yale; (e) letters of introduction, including one for Carter H. Harrison III's wife, Sophonisba Preston Harrison; and (f) a copy of the probate court file relating to the settling of Carter H. Harrison III's estate. A few items have annotations by Harrison.

This series is arranged alphabetically by title or type of material. Multiple items within a folder are then arranged chronologically.

Series 20: Miscellaneous, 1754-1951, . Box(es) 22

This series consists of a variety of documents collected by Harrison that he found of interest. Some relate directly to his life and work; with other items, the connection to Harrison is less clear. Included in this series are everything from cocktail recipes, to copies of poems Harrison enjoyed, to a list of the members of the Chicago Board of Education appointed by Harrison. This series also includes: (a) documents relating to the Chicago street railway workers strike of 1912, including a draft settlement agreement prepared by Clarence Darrow; (b) an account by William Preston Harrison, Harrison's brother, of Preston's round-the-world trip from 1887-1888; (c) William Preston Harrison's autograph collection, which includes the autographs of a number of Civil War generals, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Jefferson Davis; and (d) statements by Harrison regarding his work with the American Red Cross in France at the end of World War I.

This series is arranged alphabetically by subject, title, or type of material. Multiple items within a folder are then arranged chronologically.

Series 21: Collector's Items, 1783-1915, . Box(es) 23

This series consists of letters, autographs, and miscellaneous other documents that were not originally directed to Harrison or his family, but which Harrison collected. There are items from many famous people, most of whom were Americans, including John Quincy Adams, Washington Irving, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, George Washington, and Noah Webster. The content of the letters in this series tends to not be very substantive, with many of the letters being things such as thank you notes, responses to requests for autographs, and invitations and responses to invitations.

This box is stored in the Vault. The correspondence in this series is arranged alphabetically by the sender's name. Multiple items within a folder are then arranged chronologically. Documents other than correspondence are arranged alphabetically by the name of the person who signed the document, or to whom the document primarily relates.

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Newberry Library's public catalog. Researchers desiring additional materials on a particular topic should search the catalog using these headings.

Names

• American Red Cross
• Art Institute of Chicago
• Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925
• Chicago (Ill.). Commission for the Encouragement of Local Art
• Chicago (Ill.). Office of the Mayor
• Democratic Party (Cook County, Ill.) -- History -- Sources
• Dunne, Edward F. (Edward Fitzsimons), 1853-1937
• Farley, James Aloysius, 1888-
• Harrison family
• Harrison, Carter H. (Carter Henry), 1825-1893
• Harrison, Carter H. (Carter Henry), 1825-1893 -- Portraits
• Harrison, Carter H. (Carter Henry), 1860-1953
• Harrison, Carter H. (Carter Henry), 1860-1953 -- Art Collections
• Harrison, Carter H. (Carter Henry), 1860-1953 -- Portraits
• Harrison, Edith Ogden
• Harrison, William Preston, 1870-1940
• Horner, Henry, 1878-1940
• Hull, Cordell, 1871-1955
• Ickes, Harold L. (Harold LeClair), 1874-1952
• Lee, Robert E. (Robert Edward), 1807-1870 -- Portraits
• Lewis, James Hamilton, 1863-1939
• Lummis, Charles Fletcher, 1859-1928 -- Portraits
• Masters, Edgar Lee, 1868-1950
• Parker, Lawton, 1868-1954
• Rex, Frederick, b. 1880
• Sabath, Adolph Joachim, 1866-1952
• Tilden, Samuel J. (Samuel Jones), 1814-1886 -- Portraits
• United States. Internal Revenue Service. Collection Division.

Subjects

• Autographs -- Collections
• Chicago (Ill.). History -- Sources
• Chicago (Ill.). Politics and Government -- To 1950
• Clippings -- Illinois -- Chicago -- 1858-1952
• Manuscripts, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
• Mayors -- Illinois -- Chicago
• Parent and child -- Correspondence
• Patronage, Political -- Illinois -- Chicago
• Photographs -- Illinois -- Chicago -- 1900-1915
• Souvenirs (Keepsakes) -- Illinois -- Chicago
• Travel literature -- 1921-1928
• Travel literature -- Egypt -- 1895

Container List