The Willard Family Papers span the years 1800-1968, with the bulk of material dating from 1890 to 1954. The collection documents the family's prominent involvement in the business, social, and political life of Virginia and Washington, D.C. Included are the papers of Joseph C. Willard (1820-1897), Union army veteran and owner of the Willard Hotel in Washington; his wife, Antonia Ford Willard (1838-1871), who was arrested in 1863 as an alleged Confederate spy; their son, Joseph Edward Willard (1865-1924), businessman, lieutenant governor of Virginia, and United States ambassador to Spain; and his wife, Belle Layton Wyatt Willard (1871-1954), businesswoman and social leader. The collection is arranged in two parts described below.

Part I

Part I consists largely of the papers of Joseph Edward Willard and his wife, Belle Layton Wyatt Willard, with smaller amounts of material relating to his father, Joseph C. Willard, and his mother, Antonia Ford Willard. Part I is arranged in nine series: Diaries and Notebooks, Family Correspondence, Letterbooks, General Correspondence, Subject File, Financial Records, Miscellany, Family Papers, and Oversize.

Joseph Edward Willard's years of public service spanned most of his adult life and are documented through the nine series in Part I. These series cover Willard's participation in Virginia's often-contentious, turn-of-the-century politics as a member of the House of Delegates from 1894-1902, lieutenant governor from 1902 to 1906, an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate in 1905, and as state corporation commissioner between 1906 and 1910. Part I also includes material relating to the Virginia volunteer infantry company organized and equipped by Willard at the beginning of the Spanish-American War and Willard's subsequent service on Fitzhugh Lee's staff in Cuba. Among items pertaining to the war is testimony from a court of inquiry investigation into a racial incident involving Willard's company at Camp Russell A. Alger in Virginia.

Also included in Part I is material from Willard's ambassadorship to Spain. Woodrow Wilson appointed Willard as the first United States ambassador to Spain in 1913, a position he held during both Wilson administrations. Part I includes copies of cables to and from the Department of State and other papers relating to diplomatic affairs, household accounts, social entertaining, and financial records concerning the maintenance of the embassy. Personal and diplomatic correspondence features letters to and from Henry F. Hollis, Edward Mandell House, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and various members of the diplomatic corps.

The papers of Joseph C. Willard are interfiled with those of his son. Diaries, family and general correspondence, and numerous financial records document the elder Willard's Civil War experiences and ownership of the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. Miscellaneous items include a fare book for the steamer Niagara on which he served as second captain in 1845-1846. Willard Hotel financial accounts include a bill book entry dated February 23, 1861, recording the visit of Abraham Lincoln and his family on the eve of his first presidential inauguration. Additional Joseph C. Willard correspondence, spanning the years 1844-1891, is filed with the Antonia Ford Willard papers in the Family Papers series.

Of particular interest to students of the Civil War are the papers of Antonia Ford Willard, who was commissioned honorary aide-de-camp by Jeb Stuart, and was thought to have been instrumental in the capture of E. W. Stoughton by John Singleton Mosby's Rangers at Fairfax Courthouse in 1863. Antonia Ford was arrested for her purported involvement in the capture and escorted to Washington's Old Capitol Prison by Union army officer Joseph C. Willard, whom she married one year later. Her papers contain a child's cap and two collars made by her, one of which while she was in prison. Also included is her correspondence for the years 1844-1894 and numerous articles and other material of a biographical nature.

The papers of Belle Layton Wyatt Willard cover the years 1865-1955, with the bulk of papers dating between 1915 and 1953. Family correspondence includes exchanges with her husband and daughter, Elizabeth Willard Herbert, the wife of Mervyn Herbert, a relative of George Edward Herbert, the fifth earl of Carnarvon, who with Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922. Elizabeth's correspondence with her mother during that year contains references to the event. Belle Willard's correspondence with her other daughter, Belle Roosevelt, is located in the Kermit Roosevelt and Belle Roosevelt Papers in this division.

Belle Willard's papers also contain general correspondence that includes letters from Hilaire Belloc, Augusta and Homer Saint-Gaudens, and Elihu Root; a subject file consisting largely of family genealogies; and an article file recording childhood memories and descriptions of her travels, among other topics. A large financial file contains correspondence and other records pertaining to the Virginia Hotel Company, Willard Hotel, Fairfax Development Corporation, and various real estate properties, and correspondence with two of her business advisors, Thomas B. Love and her nephew, Joseph W. Wyatt.

Part II

Part II is arranged in four series: Family Papers, Business Records, Addition: Family Papers, and Oversize. Among other items, the Family Papers series features receipts found among Joseph C. Willard's papers for provisions sent to an army quartermaster depot in San Antonio, Texas, 1852-1853; a journal listing political endorsements for Joseph Edward Willard's candidacy for lieutenant-governor in 1901; and diary notes kept by Belle Willard during a trip to Europe in 1890.

The Business Records series forms the bulk of Part II. These records relate to the Virginia Hotel Company established by Joseph Edward Willard in 1899 prior to the construction of the "New" Willard Hotel. The Virginia Hotel Company operated as a real estate holding company and managed the Willard family's numerous properties, the majority of which were in Washington, D.C., with others located in Virginia and New York. Many of the family's Washington properties were located on Pennsylvania Avenue and Fourteenth Street, an area that developed into the city's main commercial district during the first part of the twentieth century. Although the Virginia Hotel Company functioned primarily as a real estate corporation, its correspondence, minutes, and reports contain references to many other Willard family business interests as well. Researchers interested in any facet of the family's business dealings should consult these records.

The Willards leased management of the Willard Hotel to various individuals and companies during most of their years of ownership. When the Capital Hotel Company relinquished its lease in 1929, the family participated in the founding of Willard, Incorporated, and became more directly involved in the hotel's management. Thomas B. Love, chairman of the Virginia Hotel Company, Kermit Roosevelt, and Joseph W. Wyatt served on the company's first board of directors. Belle Willard was elected president in 1932. As a result of this involvement, material concerning the hotel's operations is more extensive from 1929 until the sale of the hotel in 1946. The thoroughness of the records for this period provides insight into the impact of the Depression and World War II on the hotel industry.

The Willard family's business interests extended into Virginia. The Business Records series contains the records of the Richmond and Rappahannock River Railway and the Rappahannock Land Development Corporation founded by Joseph Edward Willard in 1912. Willard had hoped to entice industries to locate along the company's rail lines that extended from Richmond to Urbana. The railway company failed in 1917, and the Rappahannock Land Development Corporation leased or sold most of its land to farmers rather than industries. Willard established the Fairfax Development Corporation in 1923 to develop his land holdings in Fairfax County, Virginia, where he built his home, Layton Hall, soon after his marriage in 1891.

The Business Records series also contains files most probably maintained by the Virginia Hotel Company that pertain to members of the Willard family, including Elizabeth Willard Herbert, Kermit and Belle Roosevelt, Belle Layton Wyatt Willard, and Joseph Edward Willard. In addition to recording family involvement in business affairs, the files reveal much about their personal, social, and professional lives.

Joseph W. Wyatt's files relate to virtually every aspect of Willard business and private interests. Wyatt, a nephew of Belle Willard, served as legal counsel for the family and its companies. He was elected secretary and treasurer of the Virginia Hotel Company in 1935 and president in 1951. Among his papers are legal files relating to the 1937 sit-down strike by Willard employees. This material as well as other Willard Hotel records contain valuable information on labor issues.

The Additional Family Papers consist chiefly of family and general correspondence of Joseph Edward Willard and Belle Layton Wyatt Willard. Much of the correspondence dates from Joseph E. Willard's term as United States ambassador to Spain from 1914 to 1921. Other material from Spain includes invitations and visiting cards, menus, seating charts, event programs, and documents concerning the American embassy in Madrid. There is also a small amount of correspondence belonging to Joseph Clapp Willard, dating from 1854 to 1893. The remainder of the addition concerns the Willard's various properties, particularly their residence at 9 Sutton Place, New York, N.Y. Material includes blueprints, alteration plans, and photographs of furniture, architectural features, and objets d'art.