Scope and Content Note
Part I
Part I of the papers of Charles Phelps Taft (1897-1983) spans the period 1824-1972, although most of the material is concentrated from 1937 to 1972. The collection consists of diaries, family and general correspondence, personal interest series relating to church activities, foreign affairs, government, politics, and public affairs, a general subject file, speeches and writings, and miscellany. Part I is organized in twelve series: Diaries , Family Correspondence , General Correspondence , Church Activities , Foreign Affairs , Government File , Political File , Public Affairs , General Subject File , Speeches and Writings File , Miscellany , and Oversize .
Taft's image as a progressive Republican was forged in the early 1920s when he joined the Charterites (City Charter Committee), a municipal reform movement composed of independent Republicans primarily concerned with challenging the Republican machine of Cincinnati. This political identity remained throughout his career, and while the Government File and General Correspondence series contain some record of his later involvement with the Charterites, the Cincinnati Historical Society retains the bulk of these papers.
Documentation concerning other aspects of Taft's political career can be found both in the Family and General Correspondence series. The former contains correspondence with Taft's brother, Robert A. Taft, and with David Ingalls, the Tafts' cousin and Robert's campaign adviser. Folders for Alfred M. Landon, I. Jack Martin, and Paul W. Walter in the General Correspondence supplement related subject headings in the Political File concerning Landon's presidential campaign, for which Taft was a prominent adviser, and Robert A. Taft's various campaigns for the Senate and for the Republican presidential nomination. Charles P. Taft's 1952 Ohio gubernatorial campaign is also documented in this series.
In his book, You and I--and Roosevelt, Taft argued for some New Deal programs while not going so far as to endorse Franklin D. Roosevelt himself. His rejection of political partisanship coupled with his experience in municipal government and civic affairs provided attractive credentials for service in the federal government during World War II. Taft was first assigned to the President's War Relief Control Board in March 1941. Records relating to this position are contained in the Government File . This series also contains material pertaining to Taft's subsequent service in the State Department, 1943-1945. Of further interest are the daily activity books Taft kept while serving with the Federal Security Agency and the State Department. These books constitute the Diary series and are composed of appointment notes and transcriptions of telephone calls as well as copies of correspondence and reports. Unfortunately, some of these volumes have suffered severe insect and water damage that drastically reduces their usefulness.
Taft had a continuing interest in encouraging an internationalist foreign policy, and in 1945 he supported the extension and expansion of the ten-year-old Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act. The General Subject File contains material that demonstrates his role within the internationalist wing of the Republican Party in securing the passage of this legislation. In national as in local affairs, however, Taft also sought to influence public policy through nonpartisan citizens' committees, and the Public Affairs series contains many subject listings for such groups. Among the most prominent are the Committee for Economic Development, a group formed in 1942 to promote international trade and facilitate the transition from a wartime to a postwar economy; the Committee for a National Trade Policy, a group of businessmen who advocated lower trade barriers, for which Taft served as the first president from 1953 to 1955; and the Fair Campaign Practices Committee.
Although he was an enthusiastic religious layman throughout his life, Taft participated in church organizations even more fully after the war. As first lay president of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America and as chairman of the Department of Church and Economic Life for the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., Taft engaged in a wide range of duties including administration, fund-raising, and committee work. These activities are reflected in the subject files of the Church Activities series under the name of their appropriate organizations. Records of Taft's participation as a delegate to the World Council of Churches are also filed in this series.
Speeches and articles that are specifically listed include files of correspondence, drafts, and notes. They are succeeded by similar material arranged under generic headings.
The General Subject File includes categories that contain information on Taft's financial affairs and personal investments. Information regarding family interests located in this series, such as the Taft Broadcasting Co. and the Cincinnati Times Star Company, is supplemented by material in the Family Correspondence .
Part II
Part II of the Taft Papers consists of an addition to the collection, spanning the years 1816-1983, with the bulk of the material concentrated in 1955-1979. The addition contains family papers, correspondence, genealogical and financial material, a political diary, reports, statements, speeches, articles, lectures, printed matter, and miscellaneous material. Part II is organized in six series: Family Papers , General Correspondence , Personal Office File , Speeches and Writings File and Miscellany . Subjects include Taft's tenure on the Cincinnati City Council, his interest and service in the Charterite movement in Cincinnati, Taft business interests, family associations, and church affairs. A few files in the Personal Office File series complement his interests and activities as a lawyer, but this aspect of his life is more fully documented in Part I.
The Family Papers reflect Taft's interest in maintaining relationships and communicating with his children and relatives. His son Seth Taft and daughter Eleanor ("Nonie") Taft maintained a lively correspondence regarding their families, including commentaries on Seth's Cuyahoga County, Ohio, council duties, his attempt to become county commissioner, and his try for the governorship of Ohio. Seth's wife, Frances, relates her anthropological interests while on family vacations in South America. Taft's commentaries to family and friends, his "Dear Robins" letters, are especially revealing regarding city council politics in Cincinnati, illuminating such matters as budgets, contracts, profiles of council members, the Charterite movement, and local politics. He also mentions the wide-ranging business interests of the Taft family, including Hanna Barbera enterprises, radio stations in Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Birmingham, various television stations, and amusements parks such as Kings Island in Ohio. He also writes about his health, church activities, and support for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team and the Cincinnati Bengals football team.
Taft's General Correspondence mostly contains material of a personal nature. Several of his friends shared his love of fishing. An angler with fly fishing as a specialty, he describes favorite fishing spots, gear, fishing lures, and wearing apparel. He also focuses on the achievements, illnesses, and deaths of friends and acquaintances.
The Personal Office File features Taft's association with his Episcopal congregation in Cincinnati and with the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. An ecumenicist, he was a dedicated member of Christ Church in Cincinnati. As senior warden, he directed and participated in numerous parish projects, many of which are reflected in the papers. Among the political associations documented in the Personal Office File are service on the Fair Campaign Practices Committee, the National Committee for an Effective Congress, and the Advisory Committee on Foreign Aid. He was active in assisting displaced persons after World War II, and the immigration case files in the Personal Office File document this aspect of his career. In the 1960s, Taft stated publicly that internal communism was not a threat to America. This comment, appearing in the letters to the editor column in the Cincinnati Enquirer, brought him immediate condemnation. Information on this controversy can be found in the file entitled "Communism and the communist threat, letter to the Cincinnati Enquirer, 1964-1965." Files on the University of Cincinnati reflect the municipal corporations course he taught during the 1960s.
The Speeches and Writings File in Part II dates mainly from the 1960s, but also includes material from the 1950s and 1970s. Among the main topics are social reform and religious and political interests. The series includes articles Taft wrote for the popular press and sermons he gave as a church lay leader.
The Miscellany contains notes, photographs, awards, property records, and scrapbooks of clippings covering his life and career from the late 1920s through 1969. Taft's health and fishing are a feature of this series. Also included are such nineteenth-century memorabilia dating from 1816 to 1837 as invoices, a cashier's check, a bank note, and an 1830 letter from Rufus Choate to Henry W. Kingsman.
Part III
Part III of the Taft papers consists of an addition to the papers, spanning the years 1855-1983, with the bulk of materital dating from 1906-1983. The addition contains diaries, family papers, correspondence, photographs, writings, and scrapbooks. Part III is organized in six series: Diaries, General Correspondence, Family Papers, Speeches and Writings, Subject File, and Miscellany.
The Diaries series contains day planners spanning the entirety of Charles' adult life, beginning from 1915 to his death in 1983. While many of these are day planners, the diaries from 1915-1920 also include longer entries from Charles' time at Yale University and service in the U.S. Army during World War I. The General Correspondence series contains letters received by Charles in his youth from several family members, notably his sister Helen Taft Manning, and his parents Helen Herron and William Howard Taft. The Family Papers series contains letters and various items collected by Eleanor Chase Taft, including letters to her mother Elizabeth Kellogg Chase. Also included are letters, photographs, and related material from the Taft children. The Speeches and Writings series includes drafts and notes on an unpublished autobiography by Taft. Additional material includes radio addresses, articles, an unpublished manuscript, and notebooks. The contents of the notebooks range from school notes, notes on clients from Taft's work as an attorney, meetings, and outlines for speeches. The Subject File contains various personal matter primarily related to the Taft family vacation home in Murray Bay, Quebec, Canada, and the Taft family geneology. The Miscellany series contains photographs of family, scrapbooks, news clippings, and yearbooks from the Taft School.