Collection inventory

Special Collections home page
printer friendly version

Charles Evans Hughes Letters

An inventory of his letters at Syracuse University

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Hughes, Charles Evans, 1862-1948.
Title: Charles Evans Hughes Letters
Inclusive Dates: 1894-1934
Quantity: 67 items (SC)
Abstract: Papers of the Lawyer, New York State governor, presidential candidate, U.S. Secretary of State. Outgoing correspondence, with the exception of two incoming letters from Horatio C. King and George B. McClellan. Most of the letters are responses to recommendations for various appointments and speaking invitations. Letters to John Barrett, Princess Bibesco, Joseph Buffington, Samuel P. Cadman, Samuel M. Cavert, Edward Fallows, Bert M. Fernald, Roy G. Fitzgerald, Julius Frank, Robert H. Fuller, Martin H. Glynn, Paul Hickok, Hamilton Holt, R. U. Johnson, Winfield Jones, William A. Nash, Clarence Owens, Robert Paine, Amasa J. Parker, George Pratt, Palmer Ricketts, E. Quincy Smith, Robert E. Speer, Frederic J. Stimson, Charles Vrooman, Albert H. Walker, Henry Wallace, George W. Wickersham, and Sidney Woodward.
Language: English
Repository: Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
222 Waverly Avenue
Syracuse, NY 13244-2010
https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center

Biographical History

Charles Evans Hughes (1862-1948) was an American lawyer and politician who served as Governor of New York, U.S. Secretary of State, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Charles Evans Hughes was born in Glen Falls, New York on April 11, 1862. His parents David Charles Hughes, a Methodist preacher, and Mary Connelly, a Baptist minister's daughter, were deeply religious. An intelligent child, Hughes began attending Madison College (presently Colgate University) at the age of fourteen before transferring to Brown University. He graduated first in his class from Columbia Law School and began practicing law in 1884. While working at the firm Chamberlin, Carter, and Hornblower, Hughes met his future wife, Antoinette Carter, the daughter of Walter S. Carter, a senior partner in the firm.

Hughes established himself politically by leading investigations into corporate corruption and the insurance industry. In 1906 he was elected Governor of New York. Four years later, President William Howard Taft appointed Hughes to the United States Supreme Court. Hughes left his Associate Justice position to run on the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 1916, but lost to Woodrow Wilson. After a few years in private practice, Hughes served as Secretary of State from 1921 to 1925 under Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. During his tenure, Hughes focused on various international efforts to avert another great war.

In 1930, President Herbert Hoover named Hughes the eleventh Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The Hughes court faced the Great Depression and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's court-packing plan. While in this position Hughes also oversaw the opening of the Supreme Court building in 1935. He resigned his post in 1941. Hughes died in Cape Cod, Massachusetts on August 27, 1948.

Works Written by Hughes

1909 Conditions of Progress in the Democratic Government
1925 The Pathway of Peace, and Other Addresses
1927 The Supreme Court of the United States
1928 Our Relation with the Nations of the Western Hemisphere
1929 Pan American Peace Plans

Return to top

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Charles Evans Hughes Letters are a collection of 65 outgoing and two incoming items written between 1894 and 1934. As a lawyer, New York State Governor, Secretary of State under Warren G. Harding, and Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Hughes answered letters from constituents, politicians (Martin H. Glynn, George B. McClellan), editors (Hamilton Holt, Louis Wiley), and clergymen (S. Parkes Cadman, Samuel Cavert, Smith T. Ford, Paul Hickok, Charles MacFarland, Robert E. Speer). Most of the letters are responses to recommendations for various appointments (Joseph Buffington, Joseph Carlino, Edward H. Fallows, McClellan, Wiley) as well as social and speaking invitations (G. Lennox Curtis, Ford, D. W. Hakes, Roy F. Fitzgerald, Winfield Jones, Mrs. J. E. Norcross, Clarence J. Owens, Amasa Parker, D. H. Pierson, Palmer C. Ricketts). In addition to a number of letters of introduction (Princess Bibesco, Diplomatic and Consular Office), there are also several responses to congratulatory messages received upon Lodge's assumption of various appointments (John Barrett, Ford, Lilla Day Monroe, William R. Rose).

Return to top

Arrangement of the Collection

The collection contains one series, Correspondence, which is arranged chronologically. There is also an alphabetical Index to the Correspondence located at the end of the finding aid.

Return to top

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Return to top

Subject Headings

Persons

Barrett, John, 1866-1938.
Buffington, Joseph, 1855-1947.
Cadman, S. Parkes (Samuel Parkes), 1864-1936.
Cavert, Samuel McCrea, 1888-1976.
Fallows, Edward Huntington, 1865-
Fernald, Bert Manfred, 1858-1926.
Fitzgerald, Roy Gerald, 1875-1962.
Frank, Julius.
Fuller, Robert H. (Robert Higginson), 1865-1927.
Glynn, Martin Henry, 1871-1924.
Hickok, Paul Robinson, 1877-1945.
Holt, Hamilton, 1872-1951.
Hughes, Charles Evans, 1862-1948.
Johnson, Robert Underwood, 1853-1937.
Jones, Winfield, 1874-
King, Horatio C. (Horatio Collins), 1837-1918.
McClellan, George B. (George Brinton), 1865-1940.
Nash, William Alexander, 1840-1922.
Owens, Clarence J. (Clarence Julian)
Paine, Robert Treat, 1835-1910.
Parker, Amasa J. (Amasa Junius), 1807-1890.
Pratt, George Dupont, 1869-
Ricketts, Palmer C. (Palmer Chamberlain), 1856-1934.
Smith, E. Quincy (Edward Quincy), b. 1868.
Speer, Robert E. (Robert Elliott), 1867-1947.
Stimson, Frederic Jesup, 1855-1943.
Vrooman, Charles Elliott.
Walker, Albert Henry, 1844-1915.
Wallace, Henry Cantwell, 1866-1924.
Wickersham, George W. (George Woodward), 1858-1936.
Woodward, Sidney C.

Subjects

Governors -- New York (State)
Politicians -- United States.

Places

New York (State) -- Politics and government -- 1865-1950.

Genres and Forms

Correspondence.

Occupations

Governors.
Politicians.

Return to top

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Charles Evans Hughes Letters
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Finding Aid Information

Created by: KM
Date: Feb 1989
Revision history: 12 Nov 2008 - converted to EAD (LDC); 21 Mar 2014 - corrected Bibesco (MRC)

Return to top

Inventory

Correspondence
SC 79 1894-1907 (9 letters)
SC 79 1908 (7 letters)
SC 79 1909-1910 (6 letters)
SC 79 1911-1920 (8 letters)
SC 79 1921 (7 letters)
SC 79 1922 (5 letters)
SC 79 1923 (9 letters)
SC 79 1924-1925 (6 letters)
SC 79 1927-1928 (5 letters)
SC 79 1929-1930, 1934 (5 letters)

Return to top

Index to correspondence

  • Bannard, Otto T. : 08 Apr 1908
  • Barrett, John : 10 Jun 1921; 02 Mar 1925; 02 Nov 1927
  • Bibesco, Princess : 02 Dec 1921
  • Blake, Irving : 08 May 1924
  • Buffington, Joseph : 31 Mar 1921
  • Cadman, Samuel Parkes : 09 Nov 1928
  • Carlino, Joseph : 05 Dec 1906
  • Cavert, Samuel McCrea : 31 May 1923
  • Curtis, G. Lennox : 20 Dec 1911
  • Diplomatic and Consular Officers : 24 May 1922; 09 Jun 1923; 15 Jun 1923
  • Fallows, Edward Huntington : 04 Dec 1906
  • Fernald, Bert M. : 24 Nov 1922
  • Fishel, Henry W. : 25 Jun 1906
  • Fitzgerald, Roy Gerald : 30 Nov 1916; 19 Jan 1925
  • Ford, Smith T. : 01 Dec 1906; 27 Feb 1908; 23 Nov 1908; 25 Sep 1922
  • Frank, Julius : 05 Mar? 1907; 04 Oct 1921; 15 Jun 1923; 08 May 1928; 26 Nov 1928
  • Fuller, Robert Higginson : 19 Aug 1910
  • Glynn, Martin H. : 10 Mar 1914
  • Hakes, D. W. : 06 Feb 1908
  • Henderson, Olive : 15 Aug 1923
  • Hendrian, Otto A. (Mrs.) : 11 Jul 1924
  • Hickok, Paul Robinson : 21 Mar 1921; 16 Apr 1923; 19 Feb 1925
  • Holt, Hamilton : 12 Jan 1908
  • Johnson, Robert Underwood : 12 Jan 1923
  • Jones, Winfield : 07 Nov 1922
  • King, Horatio Collins (incoming) : 04 Oct 1910
  • MacFarland, Charles S. : 04 Nov 1921
  • Mason, C. E. : 15 Apr 1910
  • McClellan, George B. (incoming) : 17 Apr 1907
  • Mendheim, Jesse M. : 12 Apr 1934
  • Monroe, Lilla Day : 23 Jan 1925
  • Morgan, Douglas O. : 13 Mar 1929
  • Nash, William A. : 02 Sep 1907
  • Norcross, J. E. (Mrs.) : 11 Jan 1908
  • Owens, Clarence J. : 04 May 1923
  • Paine, Robert Treat : 17 Dec 1894
  • Parker, Amasa J. : 01 Mar 1917
  • Pierson, D. H. : 29 May 1906
  • Pratt, George Dupont : 18 Sep 1918
  • Ricketts, Palmer Chamberlain : 24 Jan 1908
  • Robinson, David : 02 Apr 1927
  • Rose, William R. : 08 Mar 1921
  • Smith, Edward Quincy : 01 Mar 1930
  • Speer, Robert Elliott : 01 Oct 1923
  • Stimson, Frederic Jesup : 02 Apr 1910
  • Vrooman, Charles Elliott : 06 Nov 1915
  • Walker, Albert Henry : 27 Nov 1909
  • Wallace, Henry Cantwell : 17 Jan 1922
  • Wickersham, George Woodward : 07 Dec 1929
  • Wiley, Louis : 14 Dec 1929
  • Woodward, Sidney C. : 07 Sep 1910
  • Young, Benjamin Loring : 20 Nov 1919; 23 Nov 1919

Return to top