Walter George Smith papers MC 47

Last updated on April 01, 2016.

Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historical Research Center Walter George Smith papers

Table of Contents

Summary Information...... 3 Biography/History...... 4 Scope and Contents...... 5 Overview of Arrangement...... 5 Administrative Information...... 6 Related Materials...... 6 Controlled Access Headings...... 7 Other Finding Aids note...... 8 Provenance...... 8 Collection Inventory...... 9 Series I. Correspondence...... 9 Series II. Diaries, journals, and travel logs...... 9 Series III. Speeches, addresses, and unpublished writings...... 10 Series IV. Scrapbooks, memorabilia, and obituaries...... 11 Series V. Family correspondence...... 11 Series VI. Published writings...... 12

- Page 2 - Walter George Smith papers

Summary Information

Repository Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historical Research Center

Creator Smith, Walter George, 1854-1924

Title Walter George Smith papers

Call number MC 47

Date [inclusive] 1836-1933

Extent 2.8 linear feet (; 7 boxes)

Language English

Abstract Walter George Smith (1854-1924) was a prominent Philadelphia attorney. A devout Catholic, Smith worked and lectured extensively for the anti- divorce cause. Among other activities, he was involved in advancing the causes of uniform state laws, was an appointed member of the Board of Indian Commissioners, a Manager of the Drexel Institute, and President of the American Bar Association. The collection contains correspondence, including family correspondence; diaries, journals and travel logs; speeches, addresses, published and unpublished writings. Scrapbooks, memorabilia, and obituaries are also included.

Cite as:

Cite as [indicate cited item or folder here], Smith, Walter George papers, 1836-1933 (MC 47). Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historical Research Center.

- Page 3 - Walter George Smith papers

Biography/History

Walter George Smith was born in Mac-o-Cheek, Logan County, Ohio on November 24, 1854 to Thomas Kilby Smith, a Civil War general, and Elizabeth Budd McCullough. He moved to the Torresdale section of Philadelphia in the autumn of 1865, and received his primary education at the Protestant Episcopal Academy, which was located at the corner of Juniper and Locust Streets. Smith graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and began practicing law in 1879. At the onset of his legal career, Smith was often retained as defense counsel in homicide cases, including, for example, the case of Theodore J. McGuirk in 1880. His most notable legal work, however, was toward bringing about uniform divorce laws in various states, lessening the number of grounds for granting divorce, and generally fighting against laws that eased divorce restrictions. Smith also notably represented the widow of General U.S. Grant in a matter concerning the publication of General Grant's memoirs, and shortly thereafter represented Jefferson Davis in a similar matter (see Box 1 Folder 5). On January 9, 1890, Smith married Elizabeth Langstreth Drexel, sister of St. Katharine Drexel. Elizabeth died just 9 months later on September 26, 1890. Smith did not remarry and did not have any children. In 1891, Smith was elected as a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania as a representative of the Alumni Association and remained a member for 18 years until 1909, when he resigned over an opposition to the appointment of Dr. J.P. Lichtenberger as an associate professor at Wharton. Smith was vehemently opposed to Lichtenberger's stance on divorce and to his appointment, and the resignation made national headlines. (See Box 1 Folders 1-3). As a devout Catholic and philanthropist, Smith served on a number of boards and was awarded a number of honors. In 1896, he was elected President of the American Catholic Historical Societies for the state of Pennsylvania, and for 30 years was a Manager of St. Vincent's Foundling Asylum. In 1907, Smith became a member of the Board of Trustees of Catholic University and in 1916 a member of the Board of Public Education of the City of Philadelphia. In 1917, he was elected President of the American Bar Association, and in 1919 was appointed a Commissioner for Relief in the Near East. Smith sailed for Constantinople at this time, where he organized the distribution of food and clothing in stricken regions of Turkey. In 1923, he was appointed as a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners, and in May of that year embarked on a two-month inspection of Pueblo and Navajo tribes. Journals and travel logs from these trips are part of this collection. Smith's devotion to Catholicism was affirmed in 1923 when the University of Notre Dame awarded him the Laetare Medal, the highest order accorded to a member of the Roman Catholic laity. Smith died on April 4, 1924 in Philadelphia.

- Page 4 - Walter George Smith papers

Scope and Contents

Much of the material in this collection concerns Walter George Smith's career as an attorney in Philadelphia, and specifically his involvement working to maintain stringent divorce laws and to establish uniform state laws. In 1909, Smith made national headlines when he resigned from the University of Pennsylvania because the school appointed James P. Lichtenberger, with whom Smith strongly disagreed on the divorce issue, as an associate professor at Wharton. The correspondence contains communications between Smith and the Board of Trustees, and many letters from those who supported Smith's decision to resign. Other notable items within the correspondence include letters to and from Jefferson Davis regarding a legal matter resulting from the publication of Davis' memoirs, and a letter from Theodore Roosevelt. As a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners, Smith visited Pueblo and Navajo tribes, and the collection contains reports of those inspections. As a Commissioner for Relief in the Near East, Smith sailed to Istanbul, where he organized the distribution of food and clothing in stricken regions of Turkey. Travel logs and diaries from this trip, as well as from several European trips are included in the collection. Smith was a prolific public speaker, and made many speeches and addresses during his lifetime. The speeches and addresses covered a myriad of topics, notably divorce and uniform state laws. Other topics include Abraham Lincoln, the role of women in American society, and the Near East. Many of the speeches and addresses in this collection are in original form, as well as in published form. The Speeches, Addresses, and Unpublished Works series also contains an autobiography of Walter George Smith. The scrapbooks contain original newspaper clippings that detail Smith's work as an attorney, especially with regard to the issue of divorce and his resignation from the University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees. The scrapbooks also include obituaries and biographies of Smith, and memorabilia from various events and banquets that Smith attended. While W.G. Smith's writings and papers make up the majority of the collection, there is also material relating to other Smith family members, including his sister, Helen Grace Smith and Thomas Kilby Smith. The Published Writings series contains mostly journals from the late 19th and early 20th centuries that contain Smith's essays and speeches.

Overview of Arrangement

Series 1. Correspondence (1885-1924)

- Page 5 - Walter George Smith papers Series 2. Diaries, Journals, and Travel Logs (1905-1923) Series 3. Speeches, Addresses, and Unpublished Writings (circa 1899-1918) Series 4. Scrapbooks, Memorabilia, and Obituaries (1836-1930) Series 5. Family Correspondence (1857-1933) Series 6. Published Writings (1890-1930)

Administrative Information

Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historical Research Center

Access Restrictions This collection is open for research.

Processing Information note Some of the scrapbooks and their contained newspaper clippings are brittle.

Related Materials

Separated Materials Bryson, Thomas A. The Federal Career of Walter George Smith. Offprint from Prologue: The Journal of the National Archives. Washington D.C.: The National Archives and Records Service, Fall 1972. Call no. P008.717 Bryson, Thomas A. An Independent Armenia: The Counsel for the Defense. New York: Armenian General Benevolent Union of America, Inc., Spring 1969. Call no. P008.718 Bryson, Thomas A. Walter George Smith and General Grant's Memoirs. Offprint from the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, v. 94, no. 2. Philadelphia: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, April 1970. Bryson, Thomas A. Walter George Smith Papers and the Armenian Question at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. Philadelphia: The American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, March 1970.

- Page 6 - Walter George Smith papers Bryson, Thomas A. The Walter George Smith Papers in the Archives of the American Catholic Historical Society. Philadelphia: The American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, December 1969. Call no. P008.714 Hall, William H. Reconstruction in Turkey: A Series of Reports Compiled for the American Committee of Armenian and Syrian Relief. New York: American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, 1918. Call no. DR 418.A7 1918 Near East Relief. The New Near East. Vol. 5: No. 6-12 (Jan - Sept 1920) and Vol. 6: No. 1-5 (Oct 1920- Feb 1921). Call no. Per-N

Controlled Access Headings

Corporate Name(s)

• University of Pennsylvania. Board of Trustees.

Geographic Name(s)

• Torresdale (Philadelphia, Pa.)

Personal Name(s)

• Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889 • Lichtenberger, James Pendleton, 1870-1953 • Smith, Helen Grace, 1865- • Smith, Thomas Kilby, 1820-1887

Subject(s)

• Board of Indian Commissioners (U.S.) • Catholic intellectuals • Catholics--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia. • Divorce--United States--History • Uniform state laws--History

- Page 7 - Walter George Smith papers

Other Finding Aids note

This is a revision of an older finding aid located in hard copy at PAHRC.

Provenance

Accession number 1990.048.

- Page 8 - Walter George Smith papers Series I. Correspondence

Collection Inventory

Series I. Correspondence, 1885-1924. Box Folder 1 1-11 Box Folder

Correspondence re: resignation from University of Pennsylvania Board of 1 1-3 Trustees, 1909.

Correspondence A-C, 1887-1923. 1 4

Correspondence with Jefferson Davis, 1889-1890. 1 5

Correspondence D-E, 1886-1924. 1 6

Correspondence F-I, 1885-1923. 1 7

Correspondence J-M, 1896-1924. 1 8

Correspondence N-P, 1886-1924. 1 9

Correspondence R-T, 1865-1924. 1 10

Correspondence U-Z and unknown, 1890-1921. 1 11

Series II. Diaries, journals, and travel logs, 1905-1923. Box Folder 1-2 12-17, 1-4 Box Folder

Travel Logs, 1905. 1 12

Diary of European Tour, 1913 and undated. 1 13

- Page 9 - Walter George Smith papers Series III. Speeches, addresses, and unpublished writings

Travel Journals, Feb-June 1919. 1 14

Travel Logs, July-August 1919. 1 15

Travel Journal of a Journey to the Near East, 1919-1920. 1 16

Travel Logs, 1920-1921. 1 17

Letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, 1920. 2 1

Journal of Western Tour, 1923. 2 2

Travel Logs to Family Members, 1923. 2 3

Report of a Visit to Pueblo and Navajo Indians, 1923. 2 4

Series III. Speeches, addresses, and unpublished writings, circa 1899 - Box Folder 1918. 2 5-12 Box Folder

Speeches and Addresses, circa 1900-1924. 2 5-7

Speeches and Addresses A-F, undated. 2 8

Speeches and Addresses G-O, undated. 2 9

Speeches and Addresses P-Z, 1910 and undated. 2 10

Speeches and Addresses, undated fragments, undated. 2 11

Autobiography of Walter George Smith, 1909. 2 12

- Page 10 - Walter George Smith papers Series IV. Scrapbooks, memorabilia, and obituaries

Series IV. Scrapbooks, memorabilia, and obituaries, 1836-1930. Box 3-5 Box

Newspaper clippings re divorce issue, 1909-1910. 3 1

Obituaries and Biographical Materials, undated. 3 2

Obituaries and Biographical Materials. 3 3

Memorabilia. 3 4

Scrapbooks. 4

Scrapbooks. 5

Series V. Family correspondence, 1857-1933. Box Folder 6 1-6 Box Folder

Poems of Helen Grace Smith, 1893-1919. 6 1

Helen Grace Smith Correspondence, 1888-1926. 6 2

Helen Grace Smith Correspondence, 1899-1933. 6 3

Adrian Worthington Smith drawing, undated. 6 4

Article by Charles W.A. Smith, 1857. 6 5

General Thomas Kilby Smith and Thomas Kilby Smith Esq. 6 6 correspondence, 1866-1887.

- Page 11 - Walter George Smith papers Series VI. Published writings

Series VI. Published writings, 1890-1930. Box Folder 6-7 7-21, 1-34 Box Folder

The Messenger of the Sacred Heart, July 1890. 6 7

The Pilgrim of Our Lady of Martyrs, January 1890. 6 8

The Messenger of the Sacred Heart , July 1891. 6 9

The Messenger of the Sacred Heart, August 1891. 6 10

An Address on Memorial Day, May 30, 1896. 6 11

The Irish Monthly, Feb. 1899. 6 12

Roger Brooke Taney, March 10, 1899. 6 13

The American Law Register, April 1899. 6 14

American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia Presidential Address, 6 15 1899.

Education and Morality in America, June 15, 1899. 6 16

Rosary Magazine, Vol. XVI, No. 4, April 1900. 6 17

George Allen LL.D: An Address, June 13, 1900. 6 18

American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia's President's Address, 6 19 1900.

Mosher's Monthly Magazine, Vol. XXI, No. 2, November 1902. 6 20

The Alumni Register, Vol. VI, No. 8, May 1902. 6 21

- Page 12 - Walter George Smith papers Series VI. Published writings

Mosher's Magazine, Vol. XIX, No. 6, March 1902. 7 1

The Alumni Register, Vol. VI, No. 8, May 1902. 7 2

The Alumni Register, Vol. X, No. 3, December 1905. 7 3

The Messenger, Vol. XLVII, No. 3, March 1907. 7 4

Religion and the Scientific Spirit, June 10, 1908. 7 5

St. Francis of Assisi, November 1909. 7 6

Uniform Marriage and Divorce Laws, July 7, 1909. 7 7

Uniform State Laws, August 29, 1912. 7 8

Rhode Island Bar Association, December 2, 1912. 7 9

Central Law Journal, Vol. 74, No. 1, July 5, 1912. 7 10

ABA Chairman's Address, 1913. 7 11

Uniform Social Laws, March 10, 1913. 7 12

Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation, Vol. XVI, Part 2, circa 7 13 1914.

Medical Professional Secrecy in the Courts, March 19, 1914. 7 14

Abraham Lincoln, February 12, 1917. 7 15

Proceedings of a Meeting to Protest against Deportation of Belgian Citizens 7 16 into Servitude in Germany, January 7, 1917.

The Judicial Power in the United States, June 8, 1918. 7 17

- Page 13 - Walter George Smith papers Series VI. Published writings

Civil Liberty in America, August 1918. 7 18

Democracy under Constitutional Limitations, May-June 1918. 7 19

The Proposed Amendments to the National Constitution, March 30, 1918. 7 20

Democracy under Constitutional Limitations, Feb 22, 1918. 7 21

Abraham Lincoln, Feb 13, 1918. 7 22

War Legislation, January 2, 1918. 7 23

Victorious Peace, April 1918. 7 24

The Catholic World, Vol. CVIII, No. 648, March 1919. 7 25

Joseph Percy Keating, circa 1920. 7 26

Disarmament Conference in Washington, circa 1921. 7 27

A Religious Weekly Review, Feb 19, 1921. 7 28

The New Armenia, Vol. XVI, No. 1, Jan-Feb 1924. 7 29

The Signet, October 1930. 7 30

Correcting the Divorce Evil, undated. 7 31

Educational Legislation as it Affects Catholic Interests, undated. 7 32

Woman's Responsibility in Modern Life, undated. 7 33

Progress, undated. 7 34

- Page 14 -