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Papers of Homer Stille Cummings, 1850-1956, Accession # 9973, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
The papers were a gift to the library from Professor Carl McFarland, School of Law, University of Virginia, on 14 December 1976. They were originally deposited in the library on 21 June and 26 July 1974.
The only son of Uriah and Audie Schuyler (Stille) Cummings, Homer Stille Cummings was born in Chicago, Illinois, on 30 April 1870. He received his early education at the Heathcote School in Buffalo, New York. In 1891, he graduated from Yale University with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy, and two years later, he took an LL.B. degre from Yale Law School. Subsequently, he received several honorary degrees in law, from Rollins College, Lake Forest Univesity, and Oglethorpe University, in 1934, Lincoln Memorial University and John Marshall College of Law, in 1935, and Pennsylvania Military College in 1938. Admitted to the Connecticut STate Bar, he commenced in 1895 a long legal career by practicing law in Stamford where he became a member of the firm of Fessenden, Carter, and Cummings. He practiced alone from 1900 to 1909, then organizing the firm of Cummings and Lockwood with Charles D. Lockwood.
In 1900, Cummings was elected mayor of Stamford, and subsequently twice re-elected. For two years, he was president of the Mayor's Association of Connecticut, and from 1903 to 1909, president of the Stamford Board of Trade. Elected delegate to the Democratic National Convention and Democratic National Committeeman for Connecticut in 1900, he held the latter position of twenty-five years. He was nominated by his party for the position of representative-at-large in Congress, but the Republican majority in Connecticut was such that there was little chance of election. From 1913 to 1919, he was vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Cummings was early on a strong supporter of Woodrow Wilson, and identified with the progressive wing of the Democratic party.
Cummings served as state's attorney for Fairfield County from 1914 to 1924. During this period, he was involved in the famous case of
In 1925, Cummings resigned from the Democratic National Committee to devote himself to the practice of law. He acted as special trial counsel in important cases in many jurisdictions, and gained further experience in the areas of monopoly, civil rights, and procedure. In 1930, Governor Trumbull appointed him head of an investigation of conditions at the Connecticut State Prison.
Cummings was a firm supporter of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932 and assisted in the organization of his campaign. A delegate-at-large to the Chicago convention of the party, he acted as one of the floor leaders for Roosevelt and made a speech seconding his nomination. He campaigned actively for Roosevelt in the months that followed. After the election, it was announced that Cummings had been offered the position of governor-general of the Philippines. But on the sudden death of Senator Thomas J. Walsh, who had been selected for the post of attorney general, Roosevelt drafted Cummings for this post. It was at first assumed that Cummings would serve only temporarily and that he would eventually assume the Philippines post, but his work as attorney general was so valuable that the president asked him to remain.
Cummings played an influential role in the Roosevelt administration. In the early days of 1933, he assisted the president by drawing up emergency legislation such as the Emergency Banking Act, and several executive orders relating to gold. He reorganized the Department of Justice, and greatly strengthened the power of the Federal Bureau of Investigation by proposing comprehensive anti-crime legislation relating to kidnapping, national bank robbery, extortion, and racketeering. Personally interested in the prison division of the department, hew as responsible for substantial improvements in the federal penal system. Many new institutions, including Alcatraz Prison, were constructed under his administration. Cummings attempted to break up monopolies, and directed the Justice Department to start proceedings against some of the large oil companies. In his own opinion, his most important accomplishment was the reform of civil procedure in the federal courts. He persuaded Congress to pass a law giving the justices of the Supreme Court authority to prepare and promulgate, in September 1938, uniform rules of practice in the federal courts. The purpose of this measure was the elimination of as much legal technicality and red tape as possible from the federal judicial system.
In his first four years in the cabinet, Cummings was asked to defend the constitutionality of many New Deal enactments. He was successful in the case of dollar devaluation, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other measures, as they were upheld by the Supreme Court. But Roosevelt was frustrated by the fact that the court did declare unconstitutional some important New Deal enactments including the National Recovery Administration. The president's dismay set the stage for the most controversial episode in Cummings' career, the Supreme Court Reorganization Bill, better known as the court-packing bill. Cummings suggested a plan by which the president could appoint a new justice or federal judge to the bench for each judge who had served at least ten years, who waited more than six months after his seventieth birthday to resign or retire. The president would be allowed to appoint up to six new justices to the Supreme Court, and forty-five new judges to lower federal tribunals. The result , of this plan, Cummings and Roosevelt hoped, would be the appointment of men of a more liberal attitude, better disposed toward the New Deal philosophy than the sitting justices. The president attempted to present the bill as a proposal designed to maximize efficiency, but his true intentions were obvious. Spring on an unsuspecting Congress and nation in February 1937, the court-packing bill aroused widespread opposition; many people interpreted the plan as an attack on the Supreme Court and the Constitution. The bill was ultimately defeated by the senate, but it destroyed Democratic unity and strengthened the anti-New Deal coalition in the process. Cummings was subsequently involved in a primary "purge" campaign, in which the administration attempted to unseat some of the Democrats in Congress who had assisted in the defeat of the court-packing measure.
In 1938, Cummings was chosen by Argentina and Chile to arbitrate the Beagle Channel Islands controversy. Cummings resigned his post on January 2, 1939, and practiced law in Washington with the firm of Cummings and Stanley, subsequently Cummings, Stanley, Truitt, and Cross. He personally argued many cases in circuit courts and in the Supreme Court.
He was the author of four books:
Cummings was a member of the First Congregational Church, Stamford, and a trustee of George Washington University. He belonged to many organizations, including the American Society of International Law, the American Law Institute, the American Judicature Society, the Yale, Metropolitan, and Burning Tree Clubs, the Masons, Old Fellows, Elks, Eagles, Phi Alpha Delta, and Omicron Delta Kappa.
Cummings married Helen Woodruff Smith in June 1897. They had one son, Dickinson Schuyler Cummings, born in June 1898. They were divorced in October 1907. In December 1909, Cummings married Marguerite T. Owings, from whom he was divorced in 1928. He married May Cecilia Waterbury in August 1929. She died in 1939. In 1942, he married Julia Alter, who died in February 1955. Cummings died of heart failure at his home on September 11, 1956, at the age of eighty-six.
The papers of Homer Stille Cummings consist of 171.2 feet (ca. 124,000 items) of correspondence, memoranda, diaries, speeches, articles, legal case files, daily schedules, photographs, daguerreotypes, engravings, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, films, phonograph records, memorabilia, and other items, for the years 1850 (1890-1956) relating to Cummings' long career as lawyer, Democratic Party leader, and attorney general in the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Family, legal, political, and official papers reflect Cummings' far-ranging activities and interests; the value of the papers lies in their unusual scope and breadth. The collection includes Cummings' correspondence, telegrams, and memoranda with Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and a group of papers that document his role in the historic court-packing struggle.
Cummings' political papers fall into two major categories, one group ranging from 1899 to 1933, and the second from the time he assumed a post in the Roosevelt cabinet until his death in 1956. There are few papers, unfortunately, relating to his tenure as mayor of Stamford, Connecticut. The bulk of the material in the first category was generated by his service with the Democratic National Committee; the corresponded between Cummings and Wilson, which resolves around party politics, national affairs, and various individuals, sheds light on Wilson and politician. In a number of interesting memoranda, Cummings discussed Wilson and described various meetings with him. In his capacities as vice-chairman and then chairman of the National Committee, Cummings corresponded extensively with Democratic party leaders and government officials, including Vance c. McCormick, William G. McAdoo, Cordell Hull, and Edwin M. House. His involvement in matters in his home state is documented by much material on Connecticut politics, the investigation of the Connecticut State prison at Wethersfield in 1930, and the Harold Israel case.
The second group of political papers primarily relate to Cummings' tenure as attorney general, and reveal his continuing interest in Democratic Party politics. He corresponded with many government officials, political leaders, members of Congress, and judges, such as Benjamin N. Cordozo, James A. Farley, David Fitzgerald, J. Edgar Hoover, Robert H. Jackson, and Harry S. Truman. The topics of the letters include national affairs, politics, Justice Department policy (FBI material has been reviewed and declassified by the FBI), judicial reform, and the international situation. Cummings' correspondence with Roosevelt reveals the close working relationship between the two men and highlights Roosevelt's political career. Their letters concern the administration of the Justice Department, the progress of New Deal legislation, and related juridical matters. Of particular interest are correspondence and papers concerning the reorganization, or court-packing, plan, and the gold cases. Memoranda, case files, circulars, press releases, and printed material supplement the correspondence of the attorney general.
The collection includes a number of family papers, ca. 1890-1956 of Cummings, his mother, wives, and son. Much of this material is of a financial and legal nature, relating to taxes, divorce proceedings, and estates. There is correspondence between Cummings and his wives Marguerite T. Owings Cummings, and Julia M. Alter Cummings, and his son Dickinson Schuyler Cummings. Letters about the annual Homer S. Cummings Golf Tournament, miscellaneous school notebooks and travel diaries, are also found here.
The many speeches and articles included in the collection reflect Cummings' own interests and official responsibilities, and cover such topics as national and Connecticut politics, criminal justice, judicial reorganization, and international affairs. There is also speech research material and related correspondence. A number of speeches by other individuals on a wide range of subjects, especially members of the Justice Department speaking on crime suppression, are in the collection.
In Cummings' personal and political diaries, 1919-1956, he recorded his daily activities and described meetings, trips, and his colleagues. These diaries are a very valuable source in themselves, because Cummings was a shrewd and seasoned commentator on political affairs. The drafts of his books
Cummings' flourishing law practice in Stamford, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C., is documented by correspondence, papers, and many legal case files.
The Cummings Papers contain a wealth of non-print material that is another valuable resource for students of twentieth-century America. There are many professional and personal photographs of Cummings, his colleagues and family, daguerreotypes, and ambrotypes, a series of engravings of the attorney generals, political cartoons, and miscellaneous certificates. Films, phonograph records, scrapbooks, and memorabilia round out the collection. Some of the scrapbooks contain correspondence and photographs as well as newspaper clippings.
This series includes correspondence and papers on the
following topics: politics in general, Connecticut politics in
particular, the Connecticut Women Suffrage Association, and
the Democratic Town Committee. Cummings' service on the
Democratic National Committee is amply documented by letters
concerning strategy, finance, publicity, campaigns, the
Speakers' Bureau, women's suffrage, and prohibition. He
corresponded with many political leaders and government
officials including Newton D. Baker, Josephus Daniels, Carter
Glass, H.T. Gregory, Edwin M. House, Cordell Hull, W.D.
Jamieson, William G. Madoo, Vance C. McCormick, J.C.
McReynolds, and Henry Morgenthau. There is later
correspondence, ca. 1931-1932, relating to the presidential
campaign of Franklin D. Roosevelt, with James A. Farley,
George H. Combs, Louis Howe, Daniel C. Roper, and Frank C.
Walker.
This group includes one box of Woodrow Wilson material,
including correspondence between Wilson and Cummings, and a
series of telegrams exchanged by the two when Cummings was
serving as chairman of the Democratic National Convention in
1920. The correspondence principally relates to Democratic
party affairs and the work of the National Committee. There is
also a draft of a speech by Wilson, and a number of
interesting and detailed memoranda written by Cummings about
Wilson.
In addition to the political correspondence, there are
papers relating to the Harold Israel case, and to the
investigation of the Connecticut State Prison at Wethersfield
in 1930.
The papers are arranged by topic, and the subject
groupings are placed in a chronological sequence. The material
within each folder is arranged chronologically.
This series consists of two groups of papers: 1) a
general correspondence file and 2) miscellaneous papers.
1.
This correspondence relates to Cummings' service as
attorney general, his active involvement in Democratic party
politics, and general interest in national and international
affairs. Cummings correspondence with a wide range of
government officials, members of Congress, judges, Democratic
leaders, personal friends, and associates. The letters cover
such areas as Justice Department policy and administration,
crime, judicial reform, the national political climate, New
Deal legislation, and foreign affairs, with a focus on Latin
America. The many persons with whom Cummings correspond
include Alben Barkley, Benjamin N. Cardozo, Tom C. Clark,
James A. Farley, David Fitzgerald, Felix Frankfurter, J. Edgar
Hoover, Robert H. Jackson, Jesse Jones, William A. Julian,
Brien McMahon, Harlan F. Stone, and Harry L. Truman. Cummings
maintained files on many organizations, including the American
Bar Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
There are some interesting files on the Dominican Republic,
including correspondence between Cummings and Generalissimo
Trujillo. In addition to the political and official material,
there are letters of a purely personal nature, largely
pertaining to Cummings' social life.
The researcher is cautioned that the very rich
correspondence in this group cuts across individual and
topical areas. Material relating to J. Edgar Hoover, or
judicial reform, for instance, is contained in many disparate
folders.
Of particular interest is correspondence between
Cummings and Roosevelt, 1917-1945, which has been placed at
the end of the first group in the series. The principal topic
is Democratic party politics, with a focus on Roosevelt's
political career. The letters also touch on Justice Department
policy, pending legislation, legal cases, and appointments.
There is some material here on the court-packing struggle, but
the researcher is referred as well to the judicial
reorganization papers in the miscellaneous section of this
series. Some correspondence of a personal or social nature,
including invitations and thank-you notes, is contained here,
as are a few Roosevelt speeches. Finally there are several
letters from Roosevelt to Cecilia Cummings and a few written
by Eleanor Roosevelt to Cummings.
The "White House" Folders under "Correspondence with
Government Agencies," in the Miscellaneous section of this
series also contain correspondence between Cummings and
Roosevelt.
2.
a) Cummings' calendar of daily appointments, 1933-1938
b) Correspondence of the attorney general with various
government agencies, 1933-1938: In his official capacity as
attorney general, Cummings corresponded with staff members of
other government agencies about matters of mutual concern. Of
chief interest here is the correspondence with the White
House, primarily concerning Justice Department affairs.
Cummings corresponded with Roosevelt, his assistants, and
secretaries.
c) Department of Justice Papers, 1933-1938: (1) Case
Files: These legal case files are arranged by their designated
number; (2) "Unclassified" Circulars: These departmental
circulars were directed mainly to U.S. attorneys, clerks of
U.S. district courts, and U.S. marshals. They are in
chronological order; (3) Circulars, Press Releases, and
Papers: The items have been grouped by topic, such as crime
suppression, and war risk legislation, and arranged
alphabetically; (4) Memoranda: Memoranda to and from Cummings
with various divisions of the Justice Department, such as the
FBI, the pardon attorney, and subordinates such as Ugo Carusi
and Alexander Holtzoff, are found here. They are arranged
alphabetically. Of special interest are the F.B.I. memoranda,
between Cummings, J. Edgar Hoover, and their assistants. A
number of Hoover speeches are located in this sections; (5)
Miscellaneous Items, 1933-1939: A few lists, notes, and other
papers have been placed at the end of this group.
d) Supreme Court Papers: This important group covers the
gold cases which Cummings argued before the Supreme Court, and
the controversial Judicial Reorganization (court-packing)
Plan. (1) Gold Cases, 1933-1938: Correspondence, papers, and
printed material are included, and are chronologically; (2)
Judicial Reorganization, ca. 1787- 1952: [a] rough drafts of
the plan; [b] correspondence and memoranda are grouped by
subject, and arranged in a chronological sequence; [c]
hearings are arranged chronologically; [d] speeches are
arranged chronologically; [e] research material, including
lists, graphs, notes on historical precedents of the plan, and
printed material, in that order, chronologically; [f]
newspaper clippings are in chronological order.
1.
The speeches from 1886-1916, delivered at a variety of
civic and fraternal politics, bimetallism, and Robert Burns,
and evidence young Cummings' growing political maturity.
Speeches for 1916- 1932 include politics, America's role
in international affairs, and the World Court.
A number of national campaign speeches, 1932-1938,
including Cummings' address seconding the nomination of
Roosevelt at the Democratic National convention in 1936, are
contained here. Attorney General Cummings delivered many
speeches about crime control and the administration of
criminal justice, specifically on firearms control and police
training procedures. There are a number of addresses on
judicial reorganization.
A few speeches, 1938-1948, regarding the war effort and
public service, round out this group. The collection includes
some speech research material, 1914-1953, such as newspaper
and magazine clippings. Finally, there are a number of
speeches by other individuals, and quite a few by members of
the Justice Department on crime suppression, the New Deal, and
the presidential campaign of 1936.
Following Cummings' own arrangement, his speeches are
divided into two groups which are in chronological order by
date of delivery. The first group is a "pure" speech file, and
contains all his speeches for the years 1886-1948, the second
group has speeches for the years 1926, 1933-1938, 1950, paired
with related correspondence, usually letters in praise of the
topic and delivery requesting copies. The research should note
that the second series is not complete even for its year
range, but that it does contain many of the corrected drafts
of the addresses. The material is arranged as follows: (a)
"Pure" Speech File, arranged chronologically; (b) speech file
with related correspondence, arranged chronologically; (c)
speech research material, arranged chronologically; (d)
speeches by other individuals, arranged alphabetically by last
name; (e) speeches by members of the Justice Department,
arranged chronologically; (f) speeches by members of the
Justice Department re: crime suppression, arranged
chronologically.
2.
1.
2.
Two card indexes, listed by subject, contain acts about
the duties and powers of the attorney general. A card index to
Cummings' own library completes the literary papers.
The twenty-six diaries, 1919-1926, of Homer Stille
Cummings document a long career of public service and offer an
insider's perspective on politics and government during years
of great change in American life. By virtue of his position on
the Democratic National committee, and as attorney general in
the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Cummings
participated in historic events and associated with many other
powerful people. As his role in the famous court-packing
struggle indicated, his legal expertise made him a very
important member of the Roosevelt cabinet.
All but the first volume of the diaries pertain to the
period 1932-1956, and the most substantive are those for the
years 1932- 1939. Cummings labeled the diaries and "Personal
and Political," though there is very little personal material
before 1939. He recorded his daily activities - meetings,
conferences, official duties, speeches, telephone
conversations, and social events - and occasionally wrote in a
contemplative or analytical vein. The entries range from the
schematic to the highly detailed. Extremely loyal to both
Woodrow Wilson and Roosevelt, he described meetings with them
very thoroughly, sometimes quoting them verbatim. Reflecting
Cummigns' unique personality and strong sense of public
service, these diaries are a valuable source for the study of
an important but neglected figure. Researchers interested in
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the New Deal, and the Democratic party
would find them very useful.
The earliest dated diary (1919 April-1928 November)
principally describes Cummings' travels around the country on
behalf of the Democratic National Committee prior to the
election of 192. There are no entries for the period 1921
April through 1923, very few for 1924 October-November, none
for 1925-192, and a few for 1928 October- November. Some
sections of the diary are written in the third person,
probably by Cummings' secretary, Charles F. McGuire. The
entries are, in the main, brief and factual in nature,
recording Cummings' itinerary, speeches, meetings, and related
organizational matters; there is very little analysis.
Cummings did write at length about several interviews with
Wilson, in which the two men discussed party politics, the
Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, the campaign
and the election of 1920. At two points in the diary, Cummings
refers to other memoranda, which have been pulled from the
body of his papers and inserted in the appropriate places.
The diaries for the years 1932-1938 are much more
substantial than the first volume. Except for the second
volume (1932 January-1933 April 7) the volumes cover a
calendar year, and include, at the end, the attorney general's
calendar of daily appointments. The diaries document Cummings'
active involvement in Roosevelt's campaign for the presidency
in 1932; Cummings conferred extensively with Democratic
leaders including David Fitzgerald, Edwin M. House, Louis
Howe, and Roosevelt about the political situation in various
states, strategy, and the Democratic National convention. He
devoted many pages to the process of selecting Roosevelt's
cabinet, and described the transition between administrations.
From the time he became attorney general, Cummings wrote
extensively about his duties at the Justice Department,
conferences with colleagues and associates, legislation, legal
cases, appointments, testimony before Congressional
committees, speeches, and trips. Specific areas of emphasis in
the diaries included the judicial reorganization, or
court-packing, plan, the gold bills, crime bills, tax cases,
the N.R.A., and other "alphabet agencies." Cummings carefully
recorded the business transacted at Cabinet, Executive
Council, and National Emergency Council meetings, which rant
he whole gamut of New Deal concerns: unemployment, relief
efforts, labor and agricultural unrest, fiscal policy,
business trends, visits of foreign leaders, and international
affairs. Cummings described the views and behavior of
individuals present, especially the present, and expressed his
own opinions. Possessed of a ready wit, Cummings often wrote
about the jokes and humorous incidents that lightened
potentially grim Cabinet meetings. He devoted many pages of
the diaries to Roosevelt, describing their meetings, telephone
conversations, and social occasions in the White House. They
discussed politics, Justice Department matters, appointments,
domestic affairs, and especially the Supreme Court
controversy. Except for Roosevelt, Cummings did not stress
other individuals in the diary to any great extent, though
there are references to other persons, including Harold Ickes,
Cordell Hull, Henry Wallace, Raymond Moley, and Henry
Morgenthau.
Besides administrative matters, Cummings also discussed
strictly political subjects such as patronage, the Democratic
National Convention of 1936, and the campaign of that year.
The diaries indicate that he continued to be involved in
Connecticut politics. By nature a very sociable man, he wrote
about the numerous dinners, receptions, and cocktail parties,
that he attended in an official and personal capacity, trips
at home and abroad, and his annual golf tournaments at
Pinehurst, North Carolina. Cummings also wrote a little about
his wife Cecilia and son Dickinson S. Cummings.
Following his retirement the cabinet in January 1939,
Cummings devoted himself to his law practice and personal
affairs. But he remained an interested observer of politics
and government, describing various Democratic National
Conventions, candidates, and elections. He was still
especially interested in Connecticut politics, and wrote at
length about the career of his friend Senator Brien McMahon.
Cummings met, advised, and socialized with many of his former
colleagues. The diaries also document his association with
diplomats from the Dominican Republic, and a memorandum
describing Cummings' visit to that country in 1946 has been
inserted in the appropriate place. In addition to recording
his activities in a schematic fashion, Cummings occasionally
reminisced about past experiences. The diary for 1944 in
particular contains several references to events in the years
1832-1937.
This group consists of a few legal papers, mainly
correspondence and documents, and many legal case files. They
fall into two groups, the Cummings and Lockwood material,
1909-1934, and the Cummings and Stanley (later Cummings,
Stanley, Truitt, and Cross) material, 1939-1953. Most of the
correspondence is between the partners and relates to various
cases and financial matters. The papers are grouped by subject
and then arranged chronologically; the legal case files are
arranged chronologically.
There are a few miscellaneous papers, arranged as
follows: (1) List of autographs of Cummings given out
1933-1939; (2) correspondence and papers regarding
biographical information about Cummings, 1933-1953, arranged
chronologically; (3) certificates, 1911-1956, arranged
chronologically; (4) U.S. dollar bills and German bank notes;
(5) programs, 1892-1950, arranged chronologically with bound
volumes placed behind the folders; (6) souvenirs and
mementoes, ca. 1922-1949; (7) first issue stamps, with related
correspondence, 1934-1938.
Many excellent photographs, of a personal and
professional nature, are found in this collection. Of the
approximately three thousand items, most date from the period
of Cummings' active involvement in national political life,
1919-1939. The professional group of photographs contains
portraits of Cummings himself, numerous autographed
professional portraits of such persons as Edwin Alderman, Hugo
Black, J. Edgar Hoover, Harry Hopkins, Charles Evan Hughes,
Robert M. LaFollette, Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, George Bernard Shaw, Alfred Smith, Adlai Stevenson,
Harry Truman, Gene Tunney, and Woodrow Wilson. There are many
group pictures of Cummings at work with colleagues and with
friends, 1919- 1953; and several formal portraits including
the 1904 meeting of the Mayor's Association of Connecticut,
and the 1912 Democratic National Executive Committee, and the
U.S. Supreme Court in 1933. The group pictures of Cummings
with his colleagues taken prior to 1933 consist largely of his
activities at the Democratic National Conventions of 1920 and
1924. The 1933-1939 portion of the professional photographs
show Cummings in a wide variety of activities in his capacity
as attorney general, including: participation in national
conferences and conventions, such as the 1936 Democratic
National Convention; visits to prison facilities; and
delivering speeches at occasions such as the 1936 Illinois
State Fair and the graduation of the Ninth Session of the
F.B.I. National Police Academy in 1938. There are several
portraits of Roosevelt's cabinet. The 1940-1953 group of
pictures includes shots from Pinehurst, North Carolina, golf
tournaments, the 1944 and 1948 Democratic National Convention,
and Cummings' visits with Dominican Republic President Raphael
Trujillo and other Latin American diplomats in the late 1940s.
The personal photographs in the collection relate to the
following subjects: parents and ancestors, including Cummings'
mother, father grandmother, cousins, aunt, and uncle; Cummings
as a child, dating from the late 1870s; his early
acquaintances, including persons of the Buffalo Unitarian
Church and Sunday school; friends and professors at Yale
University; interior and exterior views of buildings,
including the Chicago house where Cummings was born in 1870,
his parents' estates at Ruthven, Akron, New York, and
Cummings' own home in Stamford, Connecticut. Following the
early family photographs are portraits of Cummings' wives,
Helen Smith Cummings, May Cecilia Waterbury Cummings, and
Julia M. Alter Cummings, and then a large number of
photographs and postcards from the vacations which Cummings
took from 1926 to 1945. Among the places he visited were
Hawaii, Europe, Latin America, and the Mideast.
A final miscellaneous group of photographs includes
undated photographs of architectural monuments, paintings, art
work, scenes from South America, Great Britain, Pinehurst,
North Carolina and elsewhere in the United States, and a large
number of photographic negatives. Several photograph albums
relate to Cummings' family, acquaintances, and buildings of
his youth, his 1934 trip to Hawaii and the Rocky Mountains,
his 1938 trip to Minoqua, Wisconsin, and drawings and
photographs of prison facilities built in 1938 while Cummings
was attorney general.
The photographs are divided into three parts. The first
portion of the collection, comprising photographs from
Cummings' professional life, contains, first, autographed
professional portraits of Cummings' acquaintances,
alphabetically arranged, second, professional portraits of
Cummings, followed, third, by group pictures of Cummings and
his colleagues, arranged chronologically.
The second portion of the collection, the personal
photographs, is also chronologically arranged. These
photographs are grouped in the following order: primarily late
nineteenth century family photographs; photographs of family
residences, 1870-1935; portraits of Cummings' wives; a
chronologically arranged series of folders relating to
Cummings' travels abroad and his leisure activities
(especially from the period of his marriage to Julia
Cummings); and miscellaneous undated photographs.
The final portion of the collection contains
photographic negatives, followed in turn by artistic
reproductions, original drawings and poems, and photograph
albums.
A few ambrotypes and daguerreotypes round out the
collections. The subjects include Cummings' parents Uriah and
Audie Cummings, his maternal grandparents, great-uncle, and
other relatives.
Correspondence deals with capture of this dangerous criminal and attendant FBI investigation
includes long Russian paper re: 1937 treason show trials in Russia
Jeremiah Black (1857-1860)
Charles J. Bonaparte (1906-1909)
Benjamin H. Brewster (1881-1909)
Harry M. Daughtery (1921-1924)
Charles Devens (1877-1881)
William M. Evarts (1868-1869)
Thomas Watt Gregory (1914-1919)
John W. Griggs (1898-1901)
Judson Harmon (1895-1897)
Philander C. Knox (1901-1904)
Levi Lincoln (1801-1804)
Joseph McKenna (1897-1898)
James C. McReynolds (1913-1914)
Waynes McVeagh (1881)
William H.H. Miller (1889-1893)
William H. Moody (1904-1906)
Richard Olney (1893-1895)
A. Mitchell Palmer (1919-1921)
Edwards Pierrepont (1875-1876)
Edmund Randolph (1789-1794)
Richard Rush (1814-1817)
Edwin M. Stanton (1860-1861)
Alphonzo Taft (1876-1877)
George W. Wickersham (1909-1913)
George H. Williams (1872-1875)
Group I. Volumes 1-60, so labelled, of scrapbooks
of materials related to Homer Stille Cummings' professional
activities, including newspaper clippings, articles,
photographs, invitations, programs, cards, letters
and telegrams.
Vol. 1: 1896 September-1897 April
Vol. 2: 1897 April-1898 September
Vol. 3: 1898 September-1899 December
Vol. 4: 1900 January-1900 June
Vol. 5: 1900 July-1900 October
Vol. 6: 1900 October-1901 March
Vol. 7: 1901 April-1902 March
Vol. 8: 1902 May-1902 October
Vol. 9: 1902 October-1904 January
Vol. 10: 1904 January-1904 September
Vol. 11: 1904 September-1906 March
Vol. 12: 1906 March-1908 December
Vol. 13: 1909 January-1912 April
Vol. 14: 1912 April-1912 December
Vol. 15: 1913 February-1914 June
Vol. 16: 1914 May-1916 June
Vol. 17: 1916 June-1916 October
Vol. 18: 1916 October-1917 January
Vol. 19: 1917 March-1919 March
Vol. 20: 1919 March-1919 June
Vol. 21: 1919 April-1919 July
Vol. 22: 1919 July-1920 January
Vol. 23: 1920 January-1920 April
Vol. 24: 1920 April-1920 July
Vol. 25: 1920 June-1920 September
Vol. 26: 1919 November-1921 May
Vol. 27: 1920 June-1922 June
Vol. 28: 1922 June-1924 February
Vol. 29: 1924 February-1924 July
Vol. 30: 1924 August-1930 April
Vol. 31: 1930 April-1932 July
Vol. 32: 1932 July-1933 March
Vol. 33: 1933 March-1933 November
Vol. 34: 1933Dec-1934 January
Vol. 35: 1933 April-1934 May
Vol. 36: 1934 April-1934 June
Vol. 37: 1934 June-1934 September
Vol. 38: 1934 September-1935 January
Vol. 39: 1934 December-1935
Vol. 40: 1935 May-1935 October
Vol. 41: 1935 August-1936 February
Vol. 42: 1936 February-1936 July
Vol. 43: 1936 June-1936 November
Vol. 44: 1936 October-1937 January
Vol. 45: 1937 January-1937 April
Vol. 46: 1937 April-1937 June
Vol. 47: 1937 July-1938 January
Vol. 48: 1938 January-1938 April
Vol. 49: 1938 May-1938 October
Vol. 50: 1938 November-1939 December
Vol. 51: 1938 November-1939 January
Vol. 52: 1939 January-1940 January
Vol. 53: 1940 February-1942 September
Vol. 54: 1942 September-1944 November
Vol. 55: 1944 November-1945 July
Vol. 56: 1945 July-1946 September
Vol. 57: 1946 September-1948 December
Vol. 58: 1938 July-1950 November
Vol. 59: 1950 September-1952 August
Vol. 60: 1952 July-1956 June
Vol. 61 (1914 December-1916 December)
Vol. 62 (1917 January-1924 November)
Vol. 63 (1919 May-1919 June)
Vol. 64 (1933): Letters arranged alphabetically,
A-F, received by Homer Stille Cummings
Vol. 65 (1933): Letters arranged
alphabetically, G-M, received by Homer Stille Cummings
Vol. 66 (1933): Letters arranged
alphabetically, N-Z, received by Homer Stille Cummings
Vol. 67 (1938 November-1939 January): Letters arranged
alphabetically, received by Homer Stille Cummings
Vol. 68: 1936 February-1936 July
Vol. 69: 1936 July-1936 December
Vol. 70: 1936 December-1937 April
Vol. 71: 1937 April-1937 November
Vol. 72: 1937 November-1938 October
Vol. 73: 1938 October-1938 December
Vol. 74 (1933-1937): Scrapbook of photographs
Vol. 75a (1920-1942): Scrapbook of New York
newspaper clippings
Vol. 75b (1933 January-1934 January): Scrapbook of
newspaper clippings
Vol. 76 (1934 December): Scrapbook of materials re:
Attorney General's Conference on Crime
Vol. 77 (1935 February-1938 December): Autograph book
Vol. 78: 1933 March-1934 July Vol. 79: 1934 July-1935 March Vol. 80: 1935 March-1935 December Vol. 81: 1935 December-1936 November Vol. 82: 1936 December-1937 April Vol. 83: 1937 April-1937 September Vol. 84: 1937 April-1937 June (oversized scrapbook clippings and photographs from Nancy Randolph's columns) Vol. 85: 1937 October-1938 June Vol. 86: 1938 May-1939 June
Vol. 87: 1939 August (Letters "Alley" to "Cummings") Vol. 88: 1939 August (Letters "Daglish" to "Ickes") Vol. 89: 1939 August (Letters "Jackson" to "O'Connor") Vol. 90: 1939 August (Letters "Parker" to "Swope") Vol. 91: 1939 August (Letters "Walker" to "Zak," also sympathy cards)
Vol. 92: 1900-1903 (Scrapbooks of illustrations and newspaper photographs) Vol. 93: 1900-1904 (Scrapbook of poetry: Uriah Cummings) Vol. 94: 1901 December-1910 March (Scrapbook of newspaper clippings, stories, letters of Uriah Cummings)
"New York--A Rockefeller's prints go on record -- Attorney General Cummings, in Washington, urges public support."
"Dallas -- 22 nabbed by U.S. agents for aiding southwest desperado Clyde Barrow, slain in gunfight last May."
"New York -- Gangster income from policy racket shown to be 200 million yearly! Sensational expose uncovers nation-wide scandal."
[Ceremony establishing a "Univesity of Crime"]
"Washington -- President at dedication of Department's new $11,000,000 home! Attorney General Cummings and S[cott] M[arion] Loftin, Bar Association Head, Speak."
Installation of Edward A. Hayes as Commander of the American Legion