Scope and Content Note
The papers of Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth (1884-1980) span the years 1888-1942, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the years 1899-1908 and 1931-1936. The collection includes the following series: Diaries , Family Correspondence , General Correspondence , Speeches and Writings , Miscellany , and Oversize .
Roosevelt’s diaries were written while she lived in the White House during the administration of her father, Theodore Roosevelt, and continue until 1912, several years after her marriage to Congressman Nicholas Longworth (1869-1931).
The Family Correspondence series consists chiefly of letters received between 1895 and 1905 and includes letters from her father and her stepmother, Edith Kermit Roosevelt, and her brothers and sisters.
Most of the letters in the General Correspondence were received between 1900 and 1906 and 1931 and 1936. Early correspondence concerns Longworth’s friends and social acquaintances, especially during her residence in Washington, her world travels, and notes on her engagement to marry Nicholas Longworth. Later correspondence concerns her writing ventures. From 1932 to 1934, she contributed monthly installments of her reminiscences to Curtis Publishing Company’s Ladies’ Home Journal under the editorship of Loring Schuler. In 1936, she began a short-lived daily newspaper column of comments on the political scene in Washington. The 1936 correspondence consists chiefly of readers’ responses to her column. The General Correspondence also includes condolences sent to Longworth on the death of her husband in 1931. A few drafts of outgoing letters by Longworth complete the series.
The Speeches and Writings series is related to Longworth’s 1936 newspaper column. In addition to a set of the news syndicate release copies, there are notes, and fragments and drafts of her writings.
The Miscellany consists mainly of newspaper clippings and scrapbooks covering Longworth’s activities in the White House, her marriage to Nicholas Longworth, and their travels.