TABLE OF CONTENTS


Descriptive Summary of the Collection

Administrative Information

Biography of Frank H. Woods, Jr.

Scope and Content of the Collection

Organization

Selected Search Terms

Container List

Series 1: Correspondence: Business and Personal Associates, 1929-1981

Series 2: Correspondence: Family Business and the Sahara Coal Company, 1935-1952

Series 3: Business Files, 1941-1979

Series 4: Civic and Philanthropic Files, 1923-1993

Series 5: Art-related Files, 1955-2000

Series 6: Personal Files, 1910-1981

Series 7: Family Files, 1890-1993

Series 8: Photographs, 1905-1976

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Inventory of the Frank H. Woods, Jr. Papers, 1890-2000, bulk 1935-1980


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 Alison Hinderliter, 2008.

©2007.


Descriptive Summary of the Collection

Creator Woods, Frank H. (Frank Henry), 1905-1980
Title Frank H. Woods, Jr. Papers
Dates 1890-2000
Dates bulk 1935-1980
Extent 9 cubic ft. (19 boxes)
Abstract Material relating to the life and career of businessman and philanthropist Frank H. Woods, Jr. of Chicago, including family, business, personal and philanthropic-related correspondence and general files, clippings, memorabilia and photographs.
Language Materials are in English.
Repository Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections
Collection Call Number Midwest MS Woods F
Collection Stack Location 3a 44 11-12

Administrative Information

Cite As

Frank H. Woods, Jr. Papers, Midwest Manuscript Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago.

Provenance

Gift, Lucia Woods Lindley, 2005.

Processed by

Virginia Hay Smith, 2007.

Access

The Frank H. Woods, Jr. Papers are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).

Ownership and Literary Rights

The Frank H. Woods, Jr. Papers are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.

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Biography of Frank H. Woods, Jr.

Chicago businessman and philanthropist.

Frank H. Woods Jr. was a successful businessman and civic-minded citizen of two cities: Lincoln, Nebraska, where he was born, and Chicago, where he lived and was active in the arts, community and philanthropic circles.

As one of the three sons of Frank H. Woods, Sr., founder of the Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph Company, Frank, Jr. was first associated with that company in 1937 when he became a board member, a position he held as chairman from 1958 until his retirement in 1979. In 1941 his parents endowed the Woods Charitable Fund, Inc., a private philanthropic foundation dedicated to support education, charities, the arts and humanities of Nebraska.

After graduating from Yale, Frank Woods, Jr. settled in Chicago where he began his business career and where he continued the work of the Woods Charitable Fund both in Nebraska and in Illinois. He joined his brothers, Thomas and Henry, and his father, in management of the family-owned Sahara Coal Company in Chicago, becoming its president in 1944 and chairman in 1978. Woods was a longtime board member of several large corporations involved in coal mining, office equipment, and electrical and telephone equipment. Besides the Sahara Coal Company, Woods served from 1933 to 1961 as director of the Automatic Electric Company of Chicago, chairman of the board of the Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation of Cleveland from 1958 to 1978, and as a director of the Chicago Harris Trust and Savings Bank from 1958 to 1975.

All his life, Frank H. Woods, Jr. was extremely active in the arts and in charitable and community affairs. He was trustee and life member of the Art Institute of Chicago, life trustee of the University of Chicago, on the board of the Chicago Horticultural and Zoological Societies, president and former director of the Council on Foundations, and either on the board or active in many other non-profit organizations. In the fall of 1949, Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson named him chairman of the Governor’s Committee on the Mid-Century White House Conference for Children and Youth, and he headed the Illinois delegation to Washington. Among his many interests was the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation in Red Cloud, Nebraska, to which the Woods Charitable Fund made a long-time commitment.

Woods received many honors and awards, including advanced honorary degrees from Lake Forest College and the University of Nebraska. A descendant of Boone County, Illinois, pioneers, he was deeply interested in his family’s history and he did extensive genealogical work. Married to Louise Brewer in 1935, they had four children: Lisa, Lucia, Brewer and Amy. At his death in 1980, the accolades and memorials indicated how highly he was esteemed as an inspiration and example, not only as a successful businessman but also as a family man, a philanthropist, and a dedicated supporter of the arts and his community.

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Scope and Content of the Collection

Correspondence, articles, business files, clippings, documents, memorabilia and photographs regarding the life and career of Frank H. Woods, Jr. and his family.

Correspondence, much of which relates to the Sahara Coal Company and Woods’s relationship with his father, Frank H. Woods, Sr., in running the company, 1935-1952, and other letters which deal with Woods’s business interests. Also, family correspondence, to and from Woods and between other family members, and a large group of condolence letters after his death. A major part of the collection concerns Woods’s civic and philanthropic activities with articles, documents and records, clippings and other items, especially concerning his involvement with the Art Institute of Chicago and the Woods Charitable Foundation’s support of the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial Educational Foundation in Red Cloud, Nebraska. Also, a large collection of portraits, snapshots and family photographs, many of which are in albums commemorating summers spent at the Woods vacation home on Madeline Island in Wisconsin.

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

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Organization

Papers are organized in the following series:

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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

  • Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation
  • Art Institute of Chicago
  • Lindley, Lucia Woods
  • Sahara Coal Company
  • Stevenson, Adlai (Adlai Ewing), 1900-1965
  • Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation
  • Woods Charitable Fund
  • Woods family
  • Woods, Frank H. (Frank Henry), 1868-1952
  • Woods, Frank H. (Frank Henry), 1905-1980
  • Woods, Henry C.
  • Woods, Nelle Cochrane

Subjects

  • Art collectors and collecting -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Art museums -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Businessmen -- Middle West -- History -- 20th century
  • Coal mines and mining -- Middle West -- Records and correspondence
  • Correspondence -- Middle West -- 1905-1980
  • Family foundations -- Middle West -- History -- 20th century
  • Family life -- Middle West -- History -- 20th century
  • Family-owned business enterprises -- Middle West -- History -- 20th century
  • Father and child -- Middle West -- History -- 20th century
  • Lincoln (Neb.) -- History
  • Madeline Island (Wis.)
  • Manuscripts, American
  • Philanthropy -- Middle West -- History -- 20th century
  • Photographs -- 1906-1979
  • Travel -- Europe -- 1925-1979
  • Women authors, American -- Nebraska -- History -- 20th century

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Container List

Series 1: Correspondence: Business and Personal Associates, 1929-1981

Letters to and from Frank H. Woods, Jr. and individuals which were filed in Woods’s office, primarily relating to business matters but which contain some personal information and ephemera as well.
Arranged alphabetically.

Box Folder Contents
1 1 Aitken, William and Philip, 1935-1978
1 2 Allerton, John G., 1968-1973
1 3 Barnes, Emily Otis, 1971-1974
1 4 Beach, George, 1972-1978
1 5 Burgert, Woodward, 1973-1978
1 6 Carr, Sabin W., 1960-1977
1 7 Davis, John M.K., 1970-1975
1 8 Dijoud, Rene, 1954-1974
1 9 Edmiston, Robert, 1957-1978
1 10 Faulkner, Edwin J., 1956-1979
1 11 Gann, Ernest K., 1950-1972
1 12 Gary, Theodore S., 1947-1952
1 13 Gessner, Huldah, 1952-1974
1 14 Gish, Harold S., 1954-1978
1 15 Humphreys, William A., Jr., 1971-1979
1 16 Huth, Hans, 1971-1972
1 17 Kampmann, Hans and Birthe, 1959-1978
1 18 McCormack, Alfred, 1939-1956
1 19 McIntosh, Al, 1948-1974
1 20 MacRae, Robert H., 1957-1775
1 21 Masropodio, Gino, 1972-1978
1 22 Mayer, Frederick M., 1960-1967
1 23 Mullins, Thomas D., 1961-1979
1 24 Nicoll, Raymond Vere, 1956-1977
2 25 Orr, Douglas W., 1954-1974
2 26 Pleven, Rene, 1934-1974
2 27 Ransom, Floyd, 1973-1979
2 28 Raymond, William D., 1970-1975
2 29 Redpath, Robert U., 1935-1978
2 30-31 Rich, Wilmer Shields, 1959-1979
2 32 Seacrest, Joe W., 1972-1979
2 33 Semenenko, Serge, 1953-1958
2 34 Shawver, Ernest B., 1959-1978
2 35 Tripp, Alice E., 1961-1981
2 36 Tyler, A.P., 1972-1976
2 37 Varner, D.B., 1976-1979
2 38 Warner, Leslie H., 1976
2 39 Wheatley, Charles, 1977-1980
2 40 Miscellaneous, A-M, 1958-1977
2 41 Miscellaneous, O-W, 1929-1979

Series 2: Correspondence: Family Business and the Sahara Coal Company, 1935-1952

Letters of Frank H. Woods, Sr. in Nebraska, and his sons, Henry C. and Frank H. Woods, Jr. in Chicago, regarding the ownership and management of the Sahara Coal Company. The correspondence, primarily written between Frank Woods, Sr. and Frank Woods, Jr., contains not only detailed business matters but personal information as well.
Arranged chronologically.

Box Folder Contents
3 42-51 Woods, Frank H., Sr. and Frank H. Woods, Jr. and Henry C. Woods, 1935-1944
4 52-63 Woods, Frank H., Sr. and Frank H. Woods, Jr. and Henry C. Woods, 1945-1952

Series 3: Business Files, 1941-1979

Small collection of miscellaneous files apparently kept in Frank H. Woods’s office, which contains letters, articles, clippings, photographs and memorabilia regarding the Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation, a 1975 conference on coal, the Harris Trust and Savings Bank, the Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph Co., the Sahara Coal Company and the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co.
Arranged alphabetically.

Box Folder Contents
5 64 Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation, 1952-1976
5 65 Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation photographs, 1953-1965 and undated
5 66 Conference on Coal, 1975
5 67 Harris Trust and Savings Bank, 1958-1975
5 68 Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1958-1979
5 69 Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph Company photographs, 1948-1967
5 70 Sahara Coal Company, 1960-1978 and undated
5 71 Sahara Coal Company, "The Musings of Uncle Hank", 1947-1965
5 72 Sahara Coal company photographs, 1941-1975 and undated
5 73 Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, photograph and Zippo lighter

Series 4: Civic and Philanthropic Files, 1923-1993

Material relating to Woods’s various non-business activities, including work with a number of charitable organizations, clippings, some correspondence, speeches and speech notes, a few photographs and a file on the Governor Adlai Stevenson’s Governor’s Committee for Illinois on the Midcentury White House Conference for Children and Youth. Also, abundant material regarding the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation, Red Cloud, Nebraska, including professional photographs by Woods’s daughter, Lucia Woods Lindley.
Arranged alphabetically.

Box Folder Contents
6 74 A Century of Progress, 1923-1935
6 75 Charitable Funds and Foundations Miscellany, 1952-1980
6 76 Chicago Community Trust, 1957-1978
6 77 Clippings, 1950-1976 and undated
6 78 Community Fund of Chicago, 1957-1959
6 79 Cooper Foundation, 1971-1980
6 80 Correspondence, Misc., 1955-1963
6 81 Council on Foundations, 1960-1993
6 82 Governor's Committee for Illinois on the Midcentury White House Conference for Children and Youth, 1949-1952
6 83 Illinois Society for the Prevention of Blindness, 1962
6 84 Institute of Medicine, 1964
6 85 Lincoln (Nebraska) Community Council, 1958-1975
6 86 The Nature Conservancy, 1970-1990
6 87 Photographs, 1956-1965 and undated
6 88 Planned Parenthood, 1951-1977
6 89-90 Speeches and speech material, 1950-1974
6 91 University of Chicago, 1962-1966
6 92 Welfare Council of Metropolitan Chicago, 1952-1957
7 93 Woods Charitable Fund, Inc., 1941-1967
7 94 Willa Cather Centennial, "The Art of Willa Cather", 1973
7 95-100 Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation, 1961-1979
7 101 Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation Endowment Trust, 1973-1977
8 102 Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation: Grant Proposals and Correspondence, 1965-1973
8 103 Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation: Publicity, Clippings, Correspondence, 1960-1978
8 104 Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial Newsletter, 1957-1980
8 105 Willa Cather: Clippings, 1961-1979
8 106 Willa Cather: Miscellany, 1964-1977
8 107 Willa Cather: Prairie Schooner Development Project, 1962-1980
8 108 Willa Cather: Photographs of home, church and depot, 1967-1970
8 109 Willa Cather: Photographs by Lucia Woods Lindley, 1972-1974

Series 5: Art-related Files, 1955-2000

Material regarding Woods’s personal art collection of paintings and sculpture, and his association with the Art Institute of Chicago and the Nebraska Art Association. Contains insurance and sales figures, descriptions and photographs of individual purchases, both for Woods’s home and for the Art Institute where Woods served both a board member and as president, plus retained files of miscellaneous correspondence, clippings, printed membership letters, and various reports of museum activities. Also, two large bound albums, one regarding the Henry Moore sculpture “Nuclear Energy”, installed at the University of Chicago in 1967, and the other commemorating the opening of the Cochrane-Woods Art Center and the David and Alfred Smart Gallery at the University of Chicago in 1971.
Arranged by type of material.

Box Folder Contents
9 110 Insurance data for art collection, 1970-1973
9 111-119 Information regarding purchase of individual pictures, 1964-1980
9 120 Miscellaneous items relating to purchases of pictures, 1964-1976
9 121 Nebraska Art Association, 1970-2000
9 122 Sculpture and art objects, 1963-1972
9 123 Photographs and snapshots of miscellaneous pictures
10 124 Art Institute of Chicago: Presidency of Frank H. Woods, Jr., 1966-1970
10 125 Art Institute of Chicago: Clippings, 1962-1980
10 126 Art Institute of Chicago: Gifts, 1980
10 127 Art Institute of Chicago: History and general information, 1969-1980 and undated
10 128 Art Institute of Chicago: Letters to membership, 1964-1975
10 129 Art Institute of Chicago: Meetings, 1967-1977
10 130 Art Institute of Chicago: Miscellaneous correspondence, 1955-1974
10 131 Art Institute of Chicago: Miscellaneous reports, 1967-1980
10 132 Art Institute of Chicago: Published catalogs and reports, 1955-1981
11 133 Album: Cochrane-Woods Art Center and David and Albert Smart Gallery Opening, 1971
11 134 Album: Henry Moore sculpture "Nuclear Energy" installation, 1967
11 134 Album: Henry Moore sculpture "Nuclear Energy" installation, 1967

Series 6: Personal Files, 1910-1981

Material relating to the personal life of Frank H. Woods, Jr. from his childhood to his death, including biographical and educational information, an address book, travel diary and travel letters, awards, degrees and tributes, his club activities, a few early letters to his family, some medical-related items and other pieces of memorabilia, research and publication of his book Fanny, miscellaneous articles and clippings and a few photographs. Also, a large group of alphabetically arranged condolence letters written to the family upon his death in 1980, and several published tributes.
Arranged alphabetically.

Box Folder Contents
12 135 Address Book, n.d.
12 136 Awards and degrees, 1952-1975
12 137 Biographical material, 1914-1979
12 138 Club activities, 1951-1980
12 139 Club activities photographs, 1959-1970
12 140 Commemorative objects, undated
12 141 Correspondence to family, 1910-1918
12 142 Fanny publication information, 1975-1978
12 143 History of offices held by Frank H. Woods, Jr.,1980
12 144 Jewelry purchases and repairs, 1951-1977
12 145 Lincoln, Nebraska miscellany, 1949-1979
12 146 Medical-related items, 1935-1980
12 147 Miscellaneous and memorabilia, 1941-1977
12 148 Political miscellany, 1943-1978
12 149 Research: Brome County Historical Society, 1975-1980
12 150 Travel diary, 1925
13 151-155 Travel letters and material. 1928-1979
13 156 Funeral information, 1980
13 157 Obituaries, 1980
13 158-161 Condolence letters, A-J
14 162-168 Condolence letters, K-Z

Series 7: Family Files, 1890-1993

Material relating to the Woods family, notably Frank H. Woods, Sr., Nelle Cochrane Woods and Thomas C. Woods. Mostly correspondence but also clippings, articles and memorabilia relating to the older generation and other members of the extended family. Except for a few letters written to him, Frank H. Woods, Jr. material is in Series 6. Also, a group of family items and memorabilia including articles on Madeline Island, Wisconsin, a guestbook and log of the family yacht Nellwood, and a postcard collection.
Arranged alphabetically by name or type of material.

Box Folder Contents
15 169 Cochrane, Thomas: genealogical information,1993
15 170 Ecols, Avery Woods, 1975
15 171 Haecker, Helen Woods and Madeline Garnish, 1944-1978
15 172 Peterson, Milton T. and Frank W., 1962-1979
15 173 Peterson, Shirley Woods, 1946-1980
15 174 Pray, Theron, 1967
15 175 Woods, Brewer C., 1977
15 176 Woods, Eliza: caretaker information, 1956-1976
15 177 Woods, Frank H., Sr.: biographical material, 1944-1952
15 178 Woods, Frank H., Sr.: miscellaneous correspondence to Henry C. and Frank, Jr., 1915-1951
15 179 Woods, Frank H., Sr.: miscellaneous memorabilia, 1890-1959 and undated
15 180 Woods, Frank, Sr.: obituaries, 1952
15 181 Woods, Frank H., Sr.: condolence Letters, 1952
15 182-183 Woods, Frank H., Sr.: clippings and tributes, 1929-1979
16 184 Woods, Frederick Moffatt: correspondence and memorabilia, 1906-1920 and undated
16 185 Woods, Henry C., Sr.: condolence letters and tributes, 1968
16 186 Woods, Henry C., Jr.: correspondence and business papers,
1962-1979
16 187 Woods, Louise Brewer: clippings, memorabilia, 1936-1984
16 188 Woods, Mark W.: correspondence, 1957-1975
16 189-190 Woods, Nelle Cochrane: correspondence to husband and sons, 1928-1942 and undated
16 191 Woods, Nelle Cochrane: miscellaneous and memorabilia,
1891-1936 and undated
16 192 Woods, Nelle Cochrane,:obituaries and condolence letters, 1950
16 193 Woods, Pace: correspondence and clippings, 1957-1979
16 194 Woods, Thomas C. to Frank H. Woods, Jr., 1918-1934
16 195 Woods, Thomas C.: obituaries and tributes, 1958
16 196 Woods, Thomas C.: condolence letters, 1958
16 197 Woods, Thomas C.: photographs, 1958
16 198 Woods, Winton D.: articles, clippings, letters, 1952-1981
17 199 Madeline Island, Wisconsin: clippings, 1945-1991
17 200 Nellwood: guestbook and log, 1931-1940
17 201 Postcard collection, 1908-1941
17 202 Miscellaneous family items and memorabilia, 1935-1976 and undated

Series 8: Photographs, 1905-1976

Portraits, group and miscellaneous pictures of Frank H. Woods, Jr. and his family, photographs of people, boats and houses relating to summer home on Madeline Island, Wisconsin, and five albums.
Arranged by subject.

Box Folder Contents
18 203-204 Woods, Frank, Jr.: portraits, 1905-1976
18 205 Woods, Frank H., Jr. and family, 1940-1948
18 206 Woods, Frank H., Jr. and Louise Brewer Woods, 1935-1970
18 207 Woods, Frank H., Jr.: groups
18 208 Woods, Frank H., Jr.: Miscellaneous, 1910-1975
18 209 Woods family miscellany, 1929-1965
18 210-211 Madeline Island, 1905-1940s
18 212 Album, 1909
19 213-216 Albums, 1906-1922