Scope and Content Note
The papers of William Edward Dodd (1869-1940) span the years 1895 to 1955, with the bulk of the material dating from 1900 to 1940. The papers are in English and German with French and are organized in six series: General Correspondence , Speeches and Writings , Miscellany , Family Correspondence , Addition , and Oversize . Included are two pocket diaries from 1928 and 1931, articles, speeches, book material, autobiographical notes relating to Dodd's life before 1930, a correspondence file, much of it within the family, from 1895 until 1953 long after his death, and letters written by Dodd during a trip to Europe, 1928-1929. The earlier papers relate to Dodd's work as an historian, author, and citizen-scholar interested in local, state, national, and international politics. The greater part of the papers concern Dodd's career as professor of history at the University of Chicago and as ambassador to Germany.
Prominent correspondents include Newton Diehl Baker, Carl L. Becker, Albert Jeremiah Beveridge, Claude Gernade Bowers, George P. Brett, Nicholas Murray Butler, Josephus Daniels, Edward Mandell House, Cordell Hull, R. Walton Moore, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Daniel C. Roper, Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht, and Frederick Jackson Turner, as well as many other scholars and diplomatic colleagues. Family correspondents include Dodd's wife, Martha Johns Dodd, and their daughter, Martha Dodd (Stern).