Scope and Content Note
The papers of Rounsevelle Wildman (1864-1901) and Edwin Wildman (1867-1932) cover the period 1896-1923, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the years 1898-1900. The collection consists of correspondence, writings, legal material, cables, reports, notes, photographs, clippings, printed matter, and miscellaneous items. The papers are organized into six groupings: official correspondence, general correspondence, a legal file, article file, subject file, and miscellany.
Rounsevelle Wildman was consul general in Hong Kong with connections to revolutionists from the Philippines including Emilio Aguinaldo in the early stages of the Philippine American War after American annexation of that country. The collection contains correspondence with Filipino representatives, reports of spies and detectives, news regarding insurgents, documents on lawsuits regarding insurgent funds, and correspondence with American commanders and State Department and other officials. Much of the latter consists of carbon copies of official communications.
The correspondence of Edwin Wildman deals mainly with the Boxer Rebellion in China and his aid to Leonard Wood's campaign for the presidency in 1920. His articles relate in part to the Philippines and to Manila.
Subject files include the translated narrative reports of Filipinos about the Philippine American War, information about the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, material about Aguinaldo, and the correspondence of Edwin Wildman with the War Department regarding the purchase of Jose Rizal's last poem.
The miscellany consists of biographical material, financial papers, newspaper and magazine clippings, photographs, and printed matter dealing with relations between Americans and Filipinos and Spaniards.
Correspondents of Rounsevelle Wildman include Thomas W. Cridler, William A. Day, George Dewey, John Goodnow, Marcus Alonzo Hanna, John Hay, David Jayne Hill, Elwell Stephen Otis, Leonard Wood, and John Addison Porter, President William McKinley's private secretary.