Arthur Family Papers
Catalog Record: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm76049577
General International Standard for Archival Description
Manuscript Division Library of Congress Washington, D.C.
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2011
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Arthur Family Papers 1817-1972 (bulk 1874-1972)
Arthur family
Biographical History for: Arthur Family Papers 1817-1972 (bulk 1874-1972)
Biographical Note Chester Alan Arthur II Date Event 1864, July 25 Born, New York, N.Y. 1885 Graduated, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J. 1887 Sailed for Europe 1900 Married Myra Fithian Andrews (divorced 1927) Moved to Colorado Springs, Colo. 1901 Birth of Chester Alan Arthur (1901-1972) 1934 Married Rowena Dashwood Graves 1937, July 18 Died, Colorado Springs, Colo. Chester Alan Arthur III Date Event 1901, Mar. 21 Born, Colorado Springs, Colo. 1920-1922 Attended Columbia University, New York, N.Y. 1922 Married Charlotte Wilson (divorced 1932) Served as Secretary to Irish Republican delegation in Lausanne, Switzerland 1922-1924 Lived in Ireland 1931 Moved to Oceano, Calif. 1931-1934 Founded commune near Pismo Beach, Calif. 1933-1934 Founded Dune Forum and published six issues 1934 Joined Utopian Society 1935 Married Esther Murphy Strachey (divorced 1961) 1940-1941 Secretary, Democratic State Central Committee of California 1949-1951 Taught at San Quentin prison, Calif. 1952 Graduated, San Francisco State College, San Francisco, Calif. 1962 Published The Circle of Sex. San Francisco: Pangraphic Press 1965 Married Ellen Janson 1966 Published enlarged edition of The Circle of Sex. New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books 1972, Apr. 28 Died, San Francisco, Calif.
Scope and Content Note The papers of the Arthur family span the years 1817 to 1972, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1874-1972. Although the collection consists largely of the papers of Chester Alan Arthur II (1864-1937) and Chester Alan Arthur III (1901-1972), it includes papers of President Chester Alan Arthur's sister, Malvina Ann Arthur Haynesworth; his brother, William A. Arthur, Jr.; Chester Alan Arthur II's first wife, Myra Fithian Andrews; his sister, Ellen Arthur Pinkerton; Chester Alan Arthur III's first wife, Charlotte Wilson Arthur, and his second wife, Esther Murphy Strachey Arthur. Other members of the Arthur Andrews, and Fifthian families are also represented in the collection. The papers are organized in ten series: Chester Alan Arthur II Papers, Myra Fithian Andrews Arthur Papers, Ellen Arthur Pinkerton Papers, Chester Alan Arthur III Papers, Malvina Ann Arthur Haynesworth Papers, William A. Arthur, Jr., Papers, Andrews Family Papers, Fithian Family Papers, Miscellany, and Oversize. After the death of Chester Alan Arthur (1829-1886), Chester Alan Arthur II withdrew from Columbia University School of Law and sailed for Europe where he remained for over a decade. His papers for this period reveal his interest in women, horses, and cuisine. His correspondence abounds with letters from female admirers, and his diaries, scrapbooks, and general correspondence disclose his frequent participation in driving horse-drawn coaches through the French countryside. In 1897, Alan ("A-lan," pronounced as in "plan"), as he liked to be called, unsuccessfully sought appointment as United States ambassador to the Netherlands. His marriage in 1900 to Myra Fithian Andrews raised his family's hopes that he would now choose a vocation or a profession, but he preferred to live on income from investments. He belonged to clubs in England, France, New York, California, and Colorado and mingled with the social elite of two continents. He maintained a home in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where for several years he was the major stockholder in a company owning the Trinchera Estate, a 250,000 acre ranch. The company cut timber, raised cattle, mined for gold, and established a game park reserve for the preservation of bison, elk, antelope, and other rare game animals. Chester Alan Arthur III was more interested in social and political causes than in elegant living. During the 1920s, as his correspondence documents, he joined the Irish Republican Movement. For four years, in Ireland, Paris, and New York, he contributed his services. During the years 1931-1934, under the adopted ancestral name of Gavin Arthur, he organized in the dunes near Pismo Beach, California, a commune devoted to art and literature. He founded a magazine entitled Dune Forum, designed to establish communication between the intellectuals and the masses; six issues of Dune Forum were published. In 1934, he joined the Utopian Society of America, and for several years thereafter he worked in its behalf. His correspondence for this period includes letters from Upton Sinclair and Herbert Agar. In the late 1930's Arthur became interested in party politics. In 1940, he accepted the post of secretary of the Democratic State Central Committee of California, but in 1941, convinced that the party had betrayed his principles, he resigned. According to autobiographical manuscripts in the papers, he served in the United States Army and the merchant marine during World War II. After the war, he lived in New York City, where he sold books, tutored, and drew unemployment compensation. In 1949 he went to California and for a time found employment as a teacher-counselor in the state prison at San Quentin. During the 1950s he sustained himself by selling newspapers on the streets of San Francisco. Feeling handicapped by his lack of a formal education, he earned a bachelor's degree at San Francisco State College. Ultimately he became a freelance writer, a professional astrologer, and a student of the occult and of sexology. Throughout his life, Arthur cultivated a wide variety of people, including political leaders, writers, entertainers, sexologists, and social misfits and outcasts. He was married successively to Charlotte Wilson, a dancer who was also a writer; Esther Murphy Strachey, an expatriate intellectual, the sister of Gerald Murphy, who had formerly been married to John Strachey, a leader of the British Labor Party; and, in his last years, to Ellen Janson, a longtime friend who had helped him launch Dune Forum. He wrote poetry and fiction for which he apparently found no market and began philosophical and historical works that he never completed. In 1962, he published The Circle of Sex, a study of male and female sexuality; in 1966, he published a revised and enlarged edition. Portions of the manuscript of the book and four containers of other writings are in his papers.
series
Chester Alan Arthur II Papers, 1874-1937
subseries
Diaries, 1887-1913
file
Family Correspondence, 1877-1937
Oct. 1897-Oct. 1907
Nov. 1907-Dec. 1911
1912-1937, undated
General Correspondence, 1874-1935
Jan. 1894-Feb. 1898
Undated
Financial Papers, 1882-1937
1906-1937, undated
Miscellany
Address books
Calling cards
Fragments
Invitations
Legal papers
Lists
Menus
Newspaper clippings
Notebooks
Political material
Programs
Related correspondence
Travels and itineraries
Writings
Myra Fithian Andrews Arthur Papers, 1882-1935
Diaries, 1902-1935
Family Correspondence, 1891-1935
1891-June 1911
July 1911-1919
1920-June 1923
July 1923-June 1928
July 1928-1931
1932-1935, undated
General Correspondence, 1882-1935
1931-1935, undated
Address books.
Ellen Arthur Pinkerton Papers, 1879-1914
Family correspondence.
Chester Alan Arthur III Papers, 1853-1972
Diaries, 1900-1966
Family Correspondence, 1904-1971
1938-1971, undated
General Correspondence, 1909-1972
June 1909-1922
Jan.-June 1939
July 1939-1942
1970-1972, undated
Politics, 1936-1942
Primarily correspondence.
1936-1942, undated (2 folders)
Charlotte Wilson Arthur, 1921-1966
Correspondence and writings.
Correspondence, 1920-1966, undated
Esther Murphy Arthur, 1924-1961
Correspondence and cancelled checks.
Correspondence, 1929-1961, undated
Canceled checks, 1924-1929
Edith L. DeSavary, 1924-1962
Correspondence.
Correspondence, 1946-1962, undated
Writings, 1916-1972
Chronological file
Alphabetical file
"Aspirations at Thirty"
Astrology
The Circle of Sex
"Full Circle"
"Notes on Freedom"
Poetry
"Priscilla"
Miscellany, 1853-1972
Books, The Voice of the Silence and the New Testament
Correspondence (copies), President Chester A. Arthur
Correspondence related to Chester Alan Arthur III
Drawings
Financial papers, 1930-1971
Greeting cards
Invitations and announcements
List of dates copied from notebook courses
Memorabilia, Ireland, 1920s
Notes relating to "Full Circle"
Pamphlets, The Circle of Sex
"People I Have Known"
Reeves, Thomas C., manuscript copies of articles
San Quentin prison, San Quentin, Calif.
Typescript of Ellen Herndon Arthur correspondence, 1877-1879
Writings by others
Copies of family letters and notes, 1853-1933
How a British Subject Became President of the United States (1884), by A. P. Hinman (heavily annotated)
Malvina Ann Arthur Haynesworth Papers, 1853-1869
Diaries.
Diaries, originals and typescripts
1869 (2 copies)
William A. Arthur, Jr., Papers, 1853-1914
Diaries, correspondence, military papers, and miscellany.
Diaries, 1858-1881
Correspondence
1853-1914 (2 folders)
Copies (1843-1917)
Military papers, 1862-1891
Andrews Family Papers, 1903-1957
Correspondence and miscellany, including writings of Loring Andrews.
Fithian Family Papers, 1882-1960
Correspondence, 1882-1960, undated
Miscellany, 1817-1967
Printed matter and scrapbooks.
Printed matter
Books
Books and journals
Postcards, clippings, and related items removed from notebook covers
Scrapbooks
Chester Alan Arthur II
1876-1883, undated
Andrews, Loring, 1930
Arthur, Alan Arthur, III
1897-1916, coaching clippings
Connolly, R. B., 1856
Oversize, 1817-1971
Account book, guest book, literary notes, scrapbooks, and miscellaneous oversize material relating mainly to Chester Alan Arthur, II.
Account book, 1817-1846, with literary notes by Chester Alan Arthur III, 1965-1967
Guestbook, Myra Arthur, 1910-1969
Scrapbooks, Chester Alan Arthur III
1960-1971, undated