Woodrow Wilson Family Letters Finding Aid

Woodrow Wilson Family Letters Finding Aid

Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library staff

FA100043

1883-1944

Collector's donation of letters between members of the Wilson Family.

David A. Manning

Cataloging of archival materials

English

The collection is arranged in eleven folders by category. The folders are stored in a small collections box.

Folder Contents
1 Letters: Ellen Wilson to Woodrow Wilson
26 July 1984
11 May 1911
2 Letters: Eleanor Wilson McAdoo to Woodrow Wilson
28 February 1910
3 Letters: Eleanor Wilson McAdoo to Ellen Wilson
18 November 1907
25 November 1907
15 December 1907
21 October 1908
4 Letters: Margaret Wilson to Woodrow Wilson
14 August 1899
March 1910
5 Letters: Jessie Wilson Sayre to Eleanor Wilson McAdoo
10 March 1928
6 Letters: Margaret Wilson to Eleanor Wilson McAdoo
16 April 1941
17 November 1941
16 March 1942
21 June 1942
7 January 1943
7 October 1943
8 November 1943
19 November 1942
7 Letters: Sri Aurobindo to Eleanor Wilson McAdoo
18 March 1944
Envelope used for Letter
8 Envelopes: Woodrow Wilson to Ellen Wilson
26 September 1883
8 November 1883
3 June 1884
5 June 1884
13 July 1884
10 August 1884
21 August 1884
31 August 1884
3 April 1885
5 April 1885
23 April 1885
26 April 1885
29 September 1885
16 March 1892
9 Envelopes: Woodrow Wilson to Ellen Wilson
2 June 1896
5 June 1896
3 July 1896
7 July 1896
10 July 1896
5 February 1900
12 March 1900
19 April 1904
12 January 1907
13 July 1908
17 July 1908
18 July 1908
18 April n.d.
10 Envelopes: Margaret Wilson to Eleanor Wilson McAdoo
31 July 1939
n.d. January 1940
n.d. August 1940
n.d. January 1944
8 March n.d.
11 Place Cards: Mrs. Wilson and Mr. Grubbs
Mrs. Wilson Place Card
Mr. Grubbs Place Card

Woodrow Wilson (1864-1924) was born in in Staunton, Virginia. In 1883, he met Ellen Axson while he was visiting his cousin in Rome, Georgie. The two later became engaged and married on June 24, 1885 after Wilson completed graduate work at John’s Hopkin’s University. The marriage produced three daughters: Margaret (1886-1944), Jessie (1887-1933), and Eleanor (1889-1967). Wilson became the 28th president in 1912 and in 1914, Ellen passed away from Bright’s disease. As a result, their daughter Margaret took over the First Lady duties. In 1940, Margaret traveled to the ashram of Sri Aruobindo in Pondicherry, French India where she chose to stay as a missionary. She lived there for the rest of her life and died from uremia in 1944. Eleanor, youngest daughter of Wilson married William Gibbs McAdoo in 1914 and would later divorce in 1934. She would later become an author and wrote a biography of her father titled The Woodrow Wilsons in 1937. She died at her home in Monticello, CA in 1967.

This collection consists of eleven folders of letters, envelopes, and place cards from members of the Wilson family to one another including letters from Woodrow Wilson to Ellen Wilson, Margaret Wilson to Eleanor Wilson McAdoo, Sri Aurobindo to Eleanor Wilson McAdoo. Included are the letters and the envelopes used for the letters describing various points of their lives and travels and the letter from Sri Aurobindo to Eleanor Wilson discussing the death of Margaret Wilson in 1944. There are also two place cards with one belonging to Mrs. Wilson and a Mr. Grubbs.