Selected Digitized Correspondence from the Anna Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, General Correspondence Series, 1945-1947
| Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
Arrangement
Abstract
Administrative/Biographical History
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City on October 11, 1884. Her father was Elliott Roosevelt, President Theodore Roosevelt's younger brother and her mother was Anna Hall, a descendent of the Livingstons, a distinguished New York family. Both her parents died when she was a child, her mother in 1892, and her father in 1894. After her mother's death, Eleanor lived with her grandmother, Mrs. Valentine G. Hall, in Tivoli, New York. She was educated by private tutors until age 15, when she was sent to Allenswood, a school for girls in England, whose headmistress, Mademoiselle Marie Souvestre, had a great influence on her education and thinking. At age 18, Eleanor Roosevelt returned to New York where she resided with cousins. During that time she became involved in social service work, joined the Junior League and taught at the Rivington street Settlement House.
On March 17, 1905, she married her fifth cousin once removed, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and between 1906 and 1916, they became the parents of six children, all of whom are deceased -- Anna Eleanor (1906-1975), James (1907-1991), the first Franklin Delano, Jr. (1909-1909), Elliott (1910-1990), the second Franklin Delano, Jr. (1914-1988),and John Aspinwall (1916-1981). During this period her public activities gave way to family concerns and her husband's political career. However, with American entry in World War I, she became active in the American Red Cross and in volunteer work in Navy hospitals. After Franklin Roosevelt was stricken with polio in 1921, Mrs. Roosevelt became increasingly active in politics both to help him maintain his interests and to assert her own personality and goals. She participated in the League of Women Voters, joined the Women's Trade Union League, and worked for the Women's Division of the New York State Democratic Committee. She helped to found Val-Kill Industries, a nonprofit furniture factory in Hyde Park, New York, and taught at the Todhunter School, a private girls' school in New York City.
During Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency, Eleanor Roosevelt was an active First Lady who traveled extensively around the nation, visiting relief projects, surveying working and living conditions, and then reporting her observations to the President. She also exercised her own political and social influence; she became an advocate of the rights and needs of the poor, of minorities, and of the disadvantaged. In World War II, she visited England and the South Pacific to foster good will among the Allies and boost the morale of US servicemen overseas.
After President Roosevelt's death on April 12, 1945, Mrs. Roosevelt continued public life. She was appointed by President Truman to the United States Delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, a position she held until 1953. She was chairman of the Human Rights Commission during the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted by the General Assembly on December 10, 1948.
In 1953, Mrs. Roosevelt resigned from the United States Delegation to the United Nations and volunteered her services to the American Association for the United Nations. She was an American representative to the World Federation of the United Nations Associations, and later became the chairman of the Associations' Board of Directors. She was reappointed to the United States Delegation to the United Nations by President Kennedy in 1961. Kennedy also appointed her as a member of the National Advisory Committee of the Peace Corps and chairman of the President's Commission on the Status of Women. Mrs. Roosevelt received many awards for her humanitarian efforts.
Eleanor Roosevelt was in real demand as a speaker and lecturer, both in person and through the media of radio and television. She was a prolific writer with many articles and books to her credit including a multi-volume autobiography. In late 1935, she began a syndicated column, "My Day," which she continued until shortly before her death. She also wrote monthly question and answer columns for the Ladies Home Journal (1941-49) and McCalls (1949-62).
In her later years, Mrs. Roosevelt lived at Val-kill in Hyde Park, Dutchess County, New York. She also maintained an apartment in New York City where she died on November 7, 1962. She is buried alongside her husband in the rose garden of their estate at Hyde Park, now a national historic site.
Administrative Information
This digital collection includes Eleanor Roosevelt's correspondence, including both incoming and outgoing letters, memoranda, telegrams, postal cards, greeting cards, invitations, reports, articles, and newspaper clippings, arranged by year and alphabetically thereunder. These materials were microfilmed by LexisNexis for the micropublication released in 2004.
A large portion of Eleanor Roosevelt's post-White House correspondence consists of letters from the general public, although there are letters from personal friends, acquaintances, relatives, and associates. Mrs. Roosevelt had only a small personal staff to help her with the huge quantity of mail she received daily. With only her secretary Malvina C. Thompson, and later Maureen Corr, and occasional part-time or summer help, much of the filing was done in an inconsistent manner. Incoming correspondence was filed variously under name of correspondent or organization. Mrs. Roosevelt frequently referred letters to public official or agencies, as well as to private individuals and organizations, for assistance or information. Replies she received were often filed under the name of the original correspondent. Consequently, many letters Mrs. Roosevelt received from public and private official are scattered throughout the files. One cannot, for example, find all the correspondence with George Marshall for any given year filed under either "Marshall" or "State Department."
Often no carbon copies of most of Mrs. Roosevelt's replies were retained. Although on most of the incoming letters Mrs. Roosevelt indicated the nature of the reply she wanted drafted, her notations are sometimes illegible. There are some long-hand draft replies in a secretary's hand, and some typed carbons; the latter are most common in the first few years of this correspondence, becoming less frequent in later years.
The correspondence reflects Mrs. Roosevelt's myriad activities during these years. A considerable portion of the correspondence for each year consists of tributes and criticism regarding President Roosevelt; requests for photographs, autographs, stamps, and franked envelopes; requests for material assistance, employment, interviews, and advice on a great variety of problems; requests for statements, endorsements, and contributions; invitations to speak, attend dinners, meetings and other affairs; requests to write books and articles, as well as prefaces and introductions for other authors. Also included are a large number of public reaction letters concerning Mrs. Roosevelt's speeches and writings, especially her column "My Day." There are, moreover, assorted plans, projects, ideas, and proposals submitted to her for assistance or advice. Although much of the material is routine, it should be noted that Mrs. Roosevelt at times wrote significant responses on both domestic and international issues to non-prominent people. These responses were most frequent in the late 1940s and early 1950s, becoming less common in later years.
The topics under discussion in this correspondence are those that were generally of public concern during these years. For example, in the years just after World War II there are many letters relating to the problems of refugees and displaced persons, as well as the question of American relief efforts. The question of minority rights is a theme which reoccurs throughout the correspondence. There are some letters in almost every year concerning the plight of African Americans, Native Americans, and women.