Oscar Terry Crosby

A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress

Prepared by Maarja Krusten
Revised by Patrick Kerwin

Manuscript Division
Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

2005

Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html

Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2005

Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms005003

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

Names:

Subjects:

Occupations:

Administrative Information

Provenance:

Processing History:

Transfers:

Copyright Status:

Preferred Citation:

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

Organization of the Papers

Description of Series

Container List

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by genres and listed alphabetically therein.

Administrative Information

The papers of Oscar Terry Crosby, assistant secretary of the treasury, public utilities executive, explorer, and author, were given to the Library of Congress by his daughters, Celeste Crosby Miller, Juliette Crosby Hornblow, and Miriam Carracciolo di Castagneta, 1955-1958.

The Oscar Terry Crosby Papers were processed in 1978. The finding aid was revised in 2003.

Items have been transferred from the Manuscript Division to other custodial divisions of the Library. Photographs have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division. Maps have been transferred to the Geography and Map Division. A Tibetan manuscript has been transferred to the Asian Division. Two Abyssinian manuscripts have been transferred to the African and Middle Eastern Division. All transfers are identified in these divisions as part of the Oscar Terry Crosby Papers.

Copyright in the unpublished writings of Oscar Terry Crosby in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Oscar Terry Crosby Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Oscar Terry Crosby (1861-1947) cover the period 1878-1947, with the bulk of the collection concentrated between 1900 and 1938. Series organized as Diaries, Correspondence, Subject File, Speeches and Writings, Clippings, Printed Matter, and Miscellany cover Crosby's public activities in several fields.

Although Crosby was known in his business career as a public utilities executive and electrical engineer, these papers chiefly reflect his activities as an explorer, official in the Treasury Department, and proponent of an international peace tribunal. Early correspondence files and some of the writings indicate Crosby's interest in electrical engineering, as does a patent application in the Miscellany series.

In 1909 Crosby was considered for the position of minister to China, and the Correspondence series contains letters of recommendation for this position. His activities in Belgium as the director of the Commission for Relief of Belgium in 1915 are reflected in the correspondence files for 1915-1916, which include correspondence with Herbert Hoover. The 1917-1919 correspondence documents Crosby's service as assistant secretary of the treasury and special commissioner of finance in Europe. The Speeches and Writings and the Clippings series indicate that Crosby remained actively concerned with world financial questions after the end of his public career. The questions of Allied debts and German reparations were of particular interest to him during the 1920s.

Crosby's concern for world peace was a persistent theme in his career after the First World War. The Correspondence, Subject File, Speeches and Writings, Clippings, and Printed Matter series reflect his interest in the establishment of an international peace tribunal with an international police force. His work with Lord David Davies of England in the establishment of "The New Commonwealth" is documented in the Subject File, which also includes material on Crosby's efforts to provide for a peace tribunal through legislation or constitutional amendment in 1916 and again in 1932.

Crosby's papers also detail his many journeys and explorations. The Speeches and Writings series includes travel notebooks as well as manuscripts of books and articles. Passports and travel documents in the Miscellany series also show evidence of Crosby's extensive travels.

The Miscellany series also includes Crosby's West Point account book, 1878-1882, and photocopies of documents related to the 1917 loan of $200 million by the United States to Great Britain.

Correspondents include Austen Chamberlain, Herbert Hoover, Edward Mandell House, John Maynard Keynes, Philander C. Knox, Robert Lansing, Andrew Bonar Law, R. C. Leffingwell, William Gibbs McAdoo, Manuel Luis Quezon, and André Tardieu. Correspondence with Woodrow Wilson includes discussion of Crosby's plans to publish his book, International War, Its Causes and Its Cure (1919).

Organization of the Papers

The collection is arranged in seven series:

• Diaries, 1917-1931
• General Correspondence, 1889-1946, n.d.
• Subject File, 1905-1944, n.d.
• Speeches and Writings File, 1890-1938, n.d.
• Clippings, 1904-1947, n.d.
• Printed Matter, 1900-1931, n.d.
• Miscellany, 1878-1937, n.d.

Description of Series

Container List