John Skelton Williams Papers, 1884-1926

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
160 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Brenda Gunn
Phone: (434) 924-1037
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968

Summary

Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

The John Skelton Williams papers consist of ca. 26,000 items, (ca. 40 linear feet) 1884-1926, concerning Williams' varied career as a businessman and public servant in the administration of Woodrow Wilson. Including business, political, and family correspondence and papers, speeches, newspaper clippings, photographs, and other items, the collection in valuable in the study of American business and finance, particularly of railroads, 1899-1913, and of governmental, economic and financial policies, 1913-1921.

The bulk of the business correspondence related to Williams involvement with the Seaboard Air Line Railway and various smaller railways, investment banking interests, and stock ventures, such as controlling interests in fertilizer, sulphur-deposit mining, and oil companies. Williams G. McAdoo, Thomas Fortune Ryan, and Bernard M. Baruch. The business papers consist of pamphlets, circulars, lists and legal documents, many of them concerning the Seaboard Air Lin Railway. Williams' tenure of office, briefly as assistant secretary of the treasury, and for seven years as comptroller of the currency, provides the subject for the political correspondence. The controversial character of his public service is reflected in the amount of material related to his lawsuits against the Riggs National Bank of Washington, D.C. and his principal topics of interest in the correspondence in this period are Williams' work with the Federal Reserve Board, the administration of the railroads during World War I, and the American Red Cross. He was particularly concerned to keep the national banks in as sound and stable a condition as possible. Williams corresponded with other government officials and politicians, such as Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Carter Glass, Claude Swanson, William G. McAdoo, George Foster Peabody, Walker D. Hines, William J. Bryan, W. P. G. Harding and many others. The letterbooks for the years 1918-1919 and 1921-1922 have many memoranda, minutes of meetings, affidavits, and official reports. Many letters document Williams' efforts to draw public attention to abuses in the Federal Reserve system, 1921-1922, following his resignation from office.

The family correspondence includes letters written to and from Williams, his wife Lila, his brothers, Alfred B., Langbourne M., W. Berkeley, Ennion G., R. Lancaster, E. Randolph, father, John L., mother, Maria S., sons John, Jr. and Herbert and other relatives and friends. The bulk of the correspondence is between Lila and her sons.

The correspondence as a whole is sharply differentiated: there is virtually no political correspondence prior to Williams' appointment in early 1913, and since he held no directorships in any companies from this time on until 1921, the business correspondence from 1913-1926 is very sparse. There is virtually no material reflecting Williams' business activities, 1921-1926.

Biographical / historical:

Born in Powhatan County, Virginia, on July 6, 1865, John Skelton Williams was one of several children of John Langbourne and Maria (Skelton) Williams. He was educated in private schools in Richmond and briefly studied law at the University of Virginia. While he was still a very young man, he was taken into partnership with his father in the firm of John L. Williams and Sons. In 1895 he married Lila Lefebvre Issacs, by whom he had two sons, John Jr. and Hubert. In that same year he began the formation of the Seaboard Air Line Railway system, which was a short route between New York and Florida, out of a number of smaller railroads. Completing the merger in 1900, he became president of the new railroad at the age of thirty-four. In 1903, however, after a bitter struggle with Thomas Fortune Ryan and other New York financiers, he was forced out of the presidency. He struggled for many years to regain control of the railroad, while continuing to be heavily involved in investment ventures, especially in the South. He served as the president of several smaller railways, the Bank of Richmond, the Southern Investment Company, and as director of other banks, trust companies, railroads, and corporations. Williams' involvement in politics in this period appears to have been minimal, though he was a Democrat.

In March 1913, Williams was appointed assistant secretary of the treasury by Woodrow Wilson at the request of Secretary McAdoo, and in January 1914, he was named Comptroller of the Currency. As comptroller, Williams was a member ex officioof the committee which set up the new Federal Reserve system, and was also a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission's advisory board on valuation. When McAdoo became director-general of the railroads in December 1917, Williams became his director of finance and purchases, a position which he held until March 1919. Wilson appointed Williams to the Central Committee of the American Red Cross in October 1918, and he was subsequently elected its treasurer in December of that year.

Williams performed his official duties with zeal and efficiency, and his determination and inflexible sense of justice won him many powerful enemies. He attacked the concentration of banking power in the hands of a few and accused several national banks of usury. The officials of the Riggs National Bank in Washington, D.C. were found guilty of irregular practices after a series of law suits initiated by Williams.

Williams's last two years in office were embroiled in controversy as his opponents attempted to block confirmation of his reappointment to the controllership in the Senate. Neither the earlier recommendation to confirm nor a later recommendation to reject the nomination was acted upon by the Senate as a whole. In March 1921, Williams resigned his office due to the imminent accession of a hostile Republican administration.

Shortly after he left office, Williams charged that the Federal Reserve Board had by its deflationary policies caused the terrible decline in agricultural prices which began in 1920 and attacked several of the Federal Reserve Banks fro their expenditures for buildings and salaries. His accusations formed the basis of a congressional investigation which sustained some of his charges against the Board. Subsequently, Williams returned to Richmond and served as the chairman of the board of directors of the Richmond Trust Company until his sudden death in 1926.

Williams correspondence documents the striking continuity in his career; for both as investment banker and comptroller of the currency he displayed a love of justice and respect for the individual.

Acquisition information:
The Williams papers were a gift to the University by Hubert L. Williams, Hinsdale, Illinois, through John Skelton Williams, Jr., Richmond, Virginia, on February 3, 1975 and August 1, 1975.
Arrangement:
Arrangement

The main accession number of this collection (#10,040) and its addition (#10,040-a) have been interfiled. Some of the correspondence was roughly in alphabetical order by year, so it was decided to impose this order upon the business and political correspondence.

Organization

The collection is divided into five series:

Series I: 1899-1926 - Business and Political Correspondence.
Within each year, the letters have been arranged alphabetically by correspondent. There are several folders arranged by topics, such as the construction of "Paxton," Williams' home, Williams' confirmation.

Series II: 1884-1925-The family correspondence is in chronological order.

Series III: 1888-1926 - The business papers are in chronological order.

Series IV: 1913-1924 - Political papers have been arranged chronologically.

Series V: ca. 1900-1926- Family papers have been arranged by topic.

Series VI: 1892- 1926 - Miscellaneous
a: 1892-1921 -Speeches by Williams or his wife have been placed in chronological order.
b. 1899-1946 - Newspapers clippings are in chronological order.
c. ca. 1900-1926 - Photographs, Greeting Cards, Biological Sketches.
d. 1899-1922 - The letterbooks including business and political letters have been placed in chronological order.
3. 1914-1919 - Scrapbook of Newspaper Clippings

Physical description:
This collection consists of ca. 26,000 items.