Scope and Content Note
The papers of Russell Wheeler Davenport (1899-1954) span the years 1866-1980, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1930-1954. The collection documents Davenport's personal life as well as his professional endeavors as an author, editor, and political activist. Included are diaries, family papers, household data, correspondence, memoranda, financial papers, political files, speeches, writings, photographs, research material, artifacts, and printed matter.
As early as age twenty-six, Davenport knew he had a philosophical purpose in life. As he wrote Harriet Cowles, "I believe I have a mission. I must work to express it" (January 5, 1925). That expression was manifested in his editorial work, political activities, and creative writing. The Personal File is a rich study of his quest to define this mission.
The correspondence in the Personal File consists of letters between Davenport and his family and intimate friends, chiefly his mother, Cornelia Whipple Davenport (1865-1946) and his first fiancee, Harriet Cowles. The letters and his diaries in this series describe his years at Thacher School, Ojai, California, and at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut; his World War I ambulance service in France; his journalistic work on the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington; his fiancee's bout with tuberculosis; experiments with various literary forms, including a 1926 trip to Europe to do research for an historical novel; and the development of his writing style. In addition, his mother's letters trace the founding and growth of her wholesale import business in the 1920s and 1930s. Davenport's correspondence with Harriet Cowles details his creative writing techniques and his association with the Spokane literary circle, which included Vachel Lindsay. His correspondence with Phelps Putnam and Robert (Bob) Bates contains in-depth descriptions and criticisms of each other's writings. Many of Davenport's letters go beyond recording the events of his life; they delve into his personal relationships, feelings, philosophies, goals, and methods. The correspondence includes letters between other family members and close family associates as well as with Davenport. Letters that involve Davenport either as a writer or recipient are filed under his name.
Throughout his life, Davenport recorded his life story. The Biographical Data file contains notes compiled around the age of twenty-three and twenty-four detailing his education, family life, friendships, and character development. Later notes dated around 1940 also list significant events. Other biographical material consists of association memberships, certificates, and obituaries.
Other sections of the Personal File document various aspects of Davenport's life. The legal papers contain his will, a separation agreement with Marcia Davenport, and guardianship papers for the custody of their daughter, Cornelia Whipple Davenport (1934- ). The property papers reflect his life-long interest in maintaining a country place as well as a New York apartment. The financial papers provide details of Davenport's income, expenses, and investments, including a 1929 investment in a theater production called "Harlem." The estate papers primarily concern Davenport's management of the estate of his first mother-in-law, Alma Gluck Zimbalist. Davenport had a strong interest in the education of his daughter and three step-daughters, as reflected in the school papers section. It contains detailed reports on their progress and includes a 1912 description of Davenport's own scholastic achievements. There are also several photographs, primarily of family and friends, including one of Davenport as a child which has been removed to the Oversize series.
A separate group of material revolves around Davenport's interest in astrology. He was introduced to the subject in 1927 and eventually took a course in it. He developed the idea that astrology should reinforce psychoanalysis and devoted an enormous amount of time trying, unsuccessfully, to establish a scientific method to that end. The papers include his charts and calculations for analyzing his associates and predicting events such as the outcome of World War II, Wendell Willkie's 1940 presidential campaign, and stock market fluctuations. A portion of this section contains the astrological diaries and worksheets pertaining to Davenport's self-study. He was meticulously honest about his character traits, health, moods, motives, relationships, and career. Notations refer to lying in traffic court, "stealing" the plot of Gentleman King, his greatest period of artistic activity, and his unfulfilling years at Fortune. A lengthy 1943 entry details the profound influence of P. D. Uspenskii's book, A New Model of the Universe, on his thinking.
The General Correspondence series contains Davenport's incoming and outgoing correspondence with his professional colleagues. Especially notable is the network among these associates for obtaining services and favors. Important correspondents are Dwight D. Eisenhower, Eric Hodgins, Paul G. Hoffman, Herbert Hoover, Harry Hopkins, Robert Johnson, Joseph P. Kennedy, Walter Lippmann, Henry Cabot Lodge, Clare Boothe Luce, Archibald MacLeish, John D. Rockefeller, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Elmo Roper, Joseph Scribner, Simon and Schuster, Inc., Thacher School, and Adelaide Walker.
A significant part of the Political File relates to Davenport's involvement with Wendell Willkie's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 1940 and 1944. Davenport wrote Willkie's speeches and coordinated research on such topics as agriculture, foreign policy, national defense, and taxation. Much of the correspondence is to or from Raymond Buell, Willkie's foreign policy advisor and political intimate. Buell's papers are also available in the Manuscript Division. Later letters are from students and writers inquiring about Willkie's life and achievements. Several card files contain names of contacts in various fields, such as labor, or in regional Willkie clubs. Davenport was also instrumental in Edward Corsi's campaign for mayor of New York (1949-1951) and was an early supporter of Dwight Eisenhower's 1952 presidential campaign.
The Political File also includes material pertaining to Davenport's role in several activist groups. Some of the more prominent are: Citizens For Victory (1941-1943), dedicated to maintaining civilian wartime morale and working for a just postwar peace; Common Cause (1949-1952), a postwar organization working for democracy as opposed to fascism and communism; Union Now (1939-1940), the popular name of the cause adopted by the Inter-Democracy Federal Unionists who were seeking the unification of the United States and Great Britain; and World Citizenship Movement (1947-1950), another postwar group advocating world government as a means of ensuring peace and unity among all peoples. Related collections are the papers of Clarence Streit and the Atlantic Union. The largest body of material in this category relates to the Republican Advance (1949-1951), a liberal Republican movement initiated by Davenport, Henry V. Poor, and Arthur J. Goldsmith. The group is well documented by organizational records, policy statements, membership data, financial records, and state chapter files.
The Subject File contains correspondence and research material on the topics of primary importance to Davenport's political and editorial work: agriculture production and policies, business and industry, labor relations, the concepts of democracy and freedom, housing, health care, national defense, social security, and taxation. Much of his research was performed by long-time associate, Adelaide Walker. Correspondents throughout this series include Dwight D. Eisenhower, Eric Hodgins, Paul G. Hoffman, Harry Hopkins, Henry R. Luce, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Elmo Roper, Willi Schlamm, and Blackwell Smith.
Several subseries of the Subject File center on Davenport's work for various Henry Luce publishing enterprises. For two decades, interspersed with several leaves of absence, he functioned as a writer, managing editor, chairman of the board of editors, and special projects editor at Fortune magazine. He also worked intermittently on Life magazine's editorial staff and as the director of the Experimental Magazine Division of Time, Incorporated. These files contain correspondence, interoffice memoranda, editorial policy statements, financial papers, and research material. Notable are the papers concerning a number of roundtables where distinguished panelists discussed timely issues.
Davenport had a brief association with the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1947. CBS had just ventured into broadcasting editorials, a new concept for the radio field. Material in the file on this subject includes correspondence and memoranda dealing with editorial policies, drafts, scripts, and research reports. Another subject file pertains to Davenport's service as a war correspondent for American Mercury magazine in 1944-1945.
In his later years, Davenport became increasingly concerned with developing an American ideology to combat fascism and communism. He established the Institute for Creative Research to study this concept and produce materials to further American ideals. Under its auspices, he began to write the final distillation of his theories on freedom and democracy. He died before the project could be completed, but it was finished by his wife, Natalie Potter Davenport, with the help of several colleagues, and published as The Dignity of Man. The Institute existed into the early 1970s. Its records include correspondence, financial data, research project files, and material relating to its founding and dissolution.
Davenport's various literary forms are represented in the Writings series. His early creative efforts were devoted to poetry and fiction. Many of his poems date from the 1920s, a period when his hopes for a free-lance literary career conflicted with the necessity of earning a living. Even after Davenport joined the Fortune staff, he never totally abandoned poetry, as is evidenced by a large portion of material relating to his patriotic poem My County (originally titled "American Overture") published in 1944.
The novels and short stories section contains early drafts of The Abominable Branch (the British version of his novel Through-Traffic) and "Prelude to a Career." Other unpublished works, often only rough sketches or outlines, are autobiographical. "Chris and Dorothy" describes his 1938 relationship with Dorothy Hale; "Martin and Helen" fictionalizes his romance with Harriet Cowles; and "Oscar's Brood" alludes to Davenport's association with Jane (Jenny) Norton of Louisville, Kentucky. The material relating to "Gentleman King" includes Davenport's letter denying a charge of plagiarism. Two small notebooks contain ideas for plots and characters.
The Writings series also contains drafts of a musical play "So Help Me God," which Davenport wrote with his wife Marcia, and drafts of Davenport's numerous speeches. Speeches which Davenport wrote for Wendell Willkie are located in the Political File series. Also included are several works by others, such as Marcia Davenport, Natalie Potter Davenport, Parker Lloyd-Smith, and Phelps Putnam, who were closely associated with Davenport.
The 2018 Addition complements the initial portion of the collection and pertains chiefly to Davenport's career, his military service in World War I, and his early life at school and college. The majority of the addition relates to Davenport's writings. Included in the writings are drafts of his book The Dignity of Man and editorials for Fortune magazine. Also represented are items pertaining to Davenport's service in World War I and his school and college years. An item of note in the Artifacts series is the Purple Heart medal that Davenport was awarded. He was wounded while serving as a foreign correspondent during the latter part of World War II.
The 2018 Addition also features nine photograph albums and approximately seventy black and white photographs. The albums range in date from 1866 to 1923. The albums include family photographs, photographs of Davenport at the Thatcher School in Ojai, California, photographs and postcards of trips, including Yellowstone Park (album OV 4), commencement photographs at Yale University, and a 1923 album of members of Yale's Skull and Bones Club. The albums also include images from Santa Barbara, California, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, and Barbados. The photographs, dating from 1870 to 1956, are comprised chiefly of family photographs. Most of the photographs are of Davenport and his father, Russell W. Davenport, Sr.