Scope and Content Note
The papers of Laurence Adolph Steinhardt (1892-1950) span the years 1929-1950, with the bulk of the material focused on his career in the State Department from 1933 until his death in an airplane crash in 1950. Included are correspondence, memoranda, reports, legal and financial records, speeches and writings, printed matter, and miscellaneous material relating to his positions as ambassador to Sweden, Peru, the Soviet Union, Turkey, Czechoslovakia, and Canada.. The papers are organized into five series: General File ; Subject and Legal Files ; Letterbooks ; Addition ; and Classified .
The General File (formerly titled Miscellaneous) constitutes the bulk of the collection and consists largely of incoming correspondence, embassy reports, writings, and personal material organized by year. The papers also contain personal financial material, files relating to the day-to-day operation of the various embassies to which Steinhardt was assigned, and a small number of articles and speeches.
Included among the many notable correspondents in the collection are George V. Allen, Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Joseph Edward Davies, James A. Farley, Loy W. Henderson, Cordell Hull, C. D. Jackson, Alfred A. Knopf, Ruth Bryan Owen, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Edward R. Stettinius, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, and Sumner Welles.