Scope and Content Note
The papers of Edward William Bok (1863-1930) span the years 1880-1926, with the bulk of the material dating from 1920 to 1925. The papers consist of a handwritten draft of Bok's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography, The Americanization of Edward Bok (1920); a biography of Bok's father-in-law, Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis, A Man From Maine (1923); and another autobiographical work, Twice Thirty (1925).
Also included in the Bok Papers are the typescript of The Americanization of Edward Bok and autograph albums dated 1880-1889. The autograph collection is made up of signatures of prominent American political, military, and literary figures. The collection contains letters to Bok as editor of the Ladies' Home Journal and a writing by Jessie Benton Frémont relating to the death of her husband, John C. Frémont. The manuscript was sent to Bok and is accompanied by a brief cover letter from Jessie Benton Frémont. The 2019 Addition is a letter dated September 6, 1882, from Civil War General William T. Sherman responding to Bok, with his opinion on the adage "the pen is mightier than the sword" and referencing Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.