Scope and Content Note
The papers of Breckinridge Long (1881-1958) consist of diaries, family papers, correspondence, reports and memoranda, speeches, articles, drafts of the Genesis of the Constitution of the United States of America, memorabilia., and an autograph collection. The papers extend from 1486 to 1948, with the bulk of the material primarily correspondence and State Department subject files and printed matter falling within the period 1910-1948. The collection is organized in ten series: Diaries; Early Family Correspondence and Related Material; General Correspondence; Subject File; State Department File; Article, Book, and Speech File; Miscellany ; Autograph Collection ; Formerly Classified; and Oversize.
Prominent in the collection are papers relating to Long's service as third assistant secretary of state under Woodrow Wilson (1917-1920); ambassador to Italy (1933-1936); ambassador on special mission to Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay (1938); and assistant secretary of state under Franklin D. Roosevelt (1940-1944). Also well documented are Long's work as secretary for the Missouri Code Commission (1914), chairman of the Jefferson Centennial Commission (1925-1929), and various activities on behalf of the Democratic Party and Princeton University.
Other files of significance include Long's diaries; family papers relating to forebears in the Blair, Breckinridge, Long, and Preston families; material from political campaigns; and manuscripts of articles, books, and speeches.
Prominent correspondents include Newton Diehl Baker, Ray Stannard Baker, Bernard M. Baruch, Desha Breckinridge, Jefferson Caffery, Wilbur J. Carr, Bainbridge Colby, Homer S. Cummings, Josephus Daniels, J. Lionberger Davis, James A. Farley, Carter Glass, Harry Bartow Hawes, W. R. Hollister, Edward Mandell House, Andrieus Aristieus Jones, Michael Kinney, Robert Lansing, W. G. McAdoo, Vance Criswell McCormick, Wilbur W. Marsh, George S. Messersmith, George Fort Milton, Henry Morgenthau (1891-1967), A. Mitchell Palmer, William Phillips, Key Pittman, Frank L. Polk, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Daniel C. Roper, Selden P. Spencer, William Stanley, Herbert Bayard Swope, Frank Abner Thompson, Guy Atwood Thompson, Joseph P. Tumulty, and Woodrow Wilson.