Scope and Content Note
The papers of Robert McNutt McElroy (1872-1959) span the years 1909-1924, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1913-1924. The collection relates to his work as the educational director of the National Security League, professor of American History at Princeton University, supporter of General Leonard Wood for the Republican nomination for president, 1920, and later that year of Warren G. Harding, and especially as official biographer of President Grover Cleveland. Considerable correspondence dates from 1913-1924, although only the years 1918-1921 seem to be represented with anything like completeness. The papers are organized into five series: General Correspondence and Other Papers ; Subject File ; Speech, Article, and Book File ; Miscellany ; and Oversize .
Of consequence to those interested in the papers of Grover Cleveland is the correspondence, June 1922-1924, relating to the ninety collections of holograph Cleveland letters that McElroy assembled and later presented to the Library as the “McElroy Collection, Cleveland Papers.” These letters are now bound in the Cleveland Papers. Among McElroy’s correspondents are Frances Folsom Cleveland, James Cardinal Gibbons, Warren G. Harding, Arthur W. Page, George Haven Putnam, and Leonard Wood.
Also included in the papers are the manuscript of Grover Cleveland: The Man and the Statesman (1923); many copies of Cleveland letters, 1824-1905; McElroy’s notes for the book; and a list of his sources. The notes are particularly useful as the published edition omits the footnotes included in them. Additional material includes lecture notes, speeches, memoranda, printed matter, and a scrapbook of clipping concerning McElroy’s service as educational director of the National Security League.