Scope and Content Note
The papers of Edith Bolling Galt Wilson (1872-1961) span the years 1833-1961, with a few family letters from the years 1833-1850. There is little correspondence for the Woodrow Wilson presidential years; the bulk of the material originated after 1925. The collection is composed of family and general correspondence; copies of letters sent; correspondence and drafts of writings relating to Edith Wilson's autobiography, My Memoir(1938); diary notes; financial and legal records, including material relating to President Wilson's estate and to the publication rights in his writings; and memorabilia. The papers are organized into eleven series: Diary Notes; Family Correspondence; General Correspondence and Related Papers; Messages of Condolence; Writings File; Legal File; Miscellany; Financial File; Printed Matter, Awards and Certificates; and Addition.
The collection reflects the social life of Mrs. Wilson as a president's widow. Correspondence containing biographical information on President and Mrs. Wilson, as well as important information on the provenance of the president's papers, is included. The published version of Edith Wilson's autobiography ends with the president's death in 1924, but drafts for the period of her life after 1924 are among the papers. There are files containing correspondence and other papers of organizations such as the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, and the Woodrow Wilson Papers. Also included is a small group of letters of condolence on her death.
Most of the correspondence is of a social nature from leaders in American political life and society. Important correspondents include Newton Diehl Baker, Ray Stannard Baker, Bernard M. Baruch, Charles Richard Crane, Josephus Daniels, Norman H. Davis, Cleveland H. Dodge, Cary T. Grayson, Charles S. Hamlin, Marquis James, Jesse H. Jones, William Gibbs McAdoo, Cyrus H. McCormick, Francis B. Sayre, Adlai E. Stevenson (1900-1965), Arthur Sweetser, and Henry White; letters of members of their families are included in some cases. Presidents or their wives represented are William H. Taft, Florence Kling Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman and Bess Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Mamie Doud Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Jaqueline Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson (as senator).