Skip to main content

Clay Judson Papers - Additions

 Collection
Identifier: Midwest-MS-JudsonC2

Scope and Content of the Collection

Correspondence, travel narratives, memorabilia, and photographs of Clay Judson, 1892-1960.

Includes correspondence, mostly with family members; travel narratives of camping trips taken by Judson and his friends, chiefly in Wisconsin and Minnesota; materials relating to Judson’s experiences with the A.E.F. in World War I; photographs of Judson and his family members, among which an album of snapshots made while his father was stationed in Panama during the construction of the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal is especially noteworthy.

Biographical Materials include a graduation certificate and wedding invitation, plus memorial books handed to mourners at the funeral services for Clay Judson and his father, William Voorhees Judson.

Correspondence contains letters exchanged between family members and friends, among them, messages from friends in France and soldiers in Judson’s military company. These papers include a charming pen & ink drawing in color by a French schoolgirl.

Miscellaneous materials contain notecards, postcards, a pamphlet published by the American Friends Service Committee, and a clay plaque presented to Judson on his 30th birthday.

Photographs are chiefly of Judson, his family, and friends. They include snapshots and photographs taken at an Army-Navy Game in 1923, of Clay with his elementary school and his Harvard classmates, and of the Panama Canal under construction.

The Scrapbook holds letters, clippings, snapshots, and memorabilia such as newspaper articles on the marriage of Clay’s parents, and about various incidents in his father’s career, as well as schooldays items as report cards and souvenir programs. The letters include some from Clay’s father stationed in Manchuria. There is also an At Home card from Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, a letter signed by Henry Clay, and a Confederate bond.

Travel and travel narratives include the itinerary of a European trip in 1930 as well as bound volumes with descriptions of the various camping trips which Clay and his friends took from 1906 to 1914 in the Upper Midwest and adjoining parts of Canada.

World War I Materials include military correspondence, pocket maps, a field message book, a University of Paris ID card, and military discharge papers, as well as rosters of personnel in Clay’s military company and regiment An interesting portion of the military correspondence concerns Clay’s efforts to obtain a transfer from the Motor Mechanics to the Tank Corps.

Photograph albums include snapshots of the family taken in Kentucky, Illinois, and Wisconsin; of scenes showing the locks and cuts made during construction of the Panama Canal, as well as of the buildings and surrounding countryside; and one showing scenes and people during a voyage to Ireland, England, and France. Many of the snapshots have annotations identifying the persons and places depicted.

Dates

  • Creation: 1839-1960
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1905 - 1926

Creator

Language

Materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

The Clay Judson Papers – Additions are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 5 folders at a time maximum (Priority II).

Ownership and Literary Rights

The Clay Judson Papers – Additions are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.

Biography of Clay Judson

Chicago lawyer and civic leader.

Born Sidney Clay Judson at Lexington, Kentucky, on February 6, 1892, to Alice Clay Judson and General William Voorhees Judson, Clay Judson earned his A.B. at Harvard and his law degree at University of Chicago. In 1917, he enlisted in the United States Army and served as a captain during WWI. He served in France and Germany for 17 months during 1918-1919, but saw very little combat. Instead, he took a law course at the Faculté de Droit at the Université de Paris. Following his return to Chicago, he taught at the University of Chicago and then worked at several law firms.

In 1921, Judson married Sylvia Shaw, a sculptor and the daughter of a prominent Chicago family. They had two children: Alice, born in 1922, and Clay, Jr. born 1924.

Judson served as a trustee or officer in many charitable and educational organizations, including the Francis W. Parker School, the Chicago Zoological Society, and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, among others. Prior to World War II, he was on the Executive Committee of the America First Committee, an organization dedicated to keeping the United States out of the war. During World War II, he was a member of the Price Adjustment Board of the Chicago Ordinance District.

Judson died on November 29, 1960.

Extent

2.4 Linear Feet (4 boxes and 1 oversize box)

Abstract

Correspondence, photographs, and memorabilia of Chicago lawyer and civic leader, Clay Judson, including correspondence, mostly with family members; travel narratives of camping trips taken by Judson and his friends, chiefly in Wisconsin and Minnesota; materials relating to Judson’s experiences with the A.E.F. in World War I; and photographs of Judson and his family members, among which is an album of snapshots made while his father was stationed in Panama during the construction of the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal.

Arrangement

The materials are arranged alphabetically under the following headings as: Biographical Materials, Correspondence, Miscellaneous, Photographs, Scrapbook, Travel, Travel Narratives, World War I Materials, and (in an oversize box) Photograph Albums.

Collection Stack Location

1 22 7

Other Finding Aids

See also: Clay Judson Papers finding aid.

Provenance

Gift of Susan Moon and Frances Shaw, March 20, 2009.

Processed by

Lenore Glanz, 2010.

Title
Inventory of the Clay Judson Papers - Additions, 1839-1960, bulk 1905-1926
Status
Completed
Author
Lenore Glanz.
Date
©2010.
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the The Newberry Library - Modern Manuscripts and Archives Repository

Contact:
60 West Walton Street
Chicago Illinois 60610 United States
312-255-3512