Rare Book & Manuscript Library
 

L. Hollingsworth Wood papers, 1910-1953

Summary Information

At a Glance

Call No.: MS#1373
Bib ID 4079496 View CLIO record
Creator(s) Wood, L. Hollingsworth (Levi Hollingsworth), 1873-1956
Title L. Hollingsworth Wood papers, 1910-1953
Physical Description 5 boxes (5 boxes)
Language(s) English .
Other Finding Aids

Legacy Finding aid

Access You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

The following boxes are located off-site: 2-5. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

This collection has no restrictions.

Arrangement

Arrangement

Cataloged and arranged. Collection is arranged in 2 series.

Description

Scope and Contents

There are substantial gaps for the years 1921-1939.

Correspondence, memoranda, and financial and legal papers of Wood. The papers chronicle Wood's role in the early history of the National Urban League. Among the major correspondents are Mary McLeod Bethune, Chester Bowles, Pearl S. Buck, Anna Lord Strauss, and Booker T. Washington.

Using the Collection

Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Other Finding Aids

Legacy Finding aid

Restrictions on Access

You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

The following boxes are located off-site: 2-5. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

This collection has no restrictions.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Readers must use microfilm of materials specified above.

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); L. Hollingsworth Wood papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Related Materials

Schomburg Committee of the Trustees of New York Public Library collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division

L. Hollingsworth Wood papers (HC.MC.1175) Quaker and Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

L. Hollingsworth Wood correspondence, Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

L. Hollingsworth Wood Prison Reform Papers, Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

National Urban League records, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Guichard Parris papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Accruals

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Alternate Form Available

Pearl S. Buck letters are on: microfilm.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Source of acquisition--Parris, Guichard. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--1976. Accession number--M-76.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

Cataloged Christina Hilton Fenn 09/--/89.

Revision Description

April 2020 PDF replaced with full finding aid, YH

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Subject

Heading "CUL Archives:"
"Portal"
"CUL Collections:"
"CLIO"
"Nat'l / Int'l Archives:"
"ArchivedGRID"
African Americans Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
African Americans -- History Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Baldwin, Roger N (Roger Nash), 1884-1981 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Bethune, Mary McLeod, 1875-1955 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Bowles, Chester, 1901-1986 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Buck, Pearl S (Pearl Sydenstricker), 1892-1973 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Civil rights Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
National Urban League Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Seligman, Edwin R. A (Edwin Robert Anderson), 1861-1939 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Sociology, Urban Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Strauss, Anna Lord, 1899-1979 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID
Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915 Portal CLIO ArchiveGRID

History / Biographical Note

Biographical / Historical

Levi Hollingsworth Wood was born into a Quaker family in Westchester County, New York, 1873. He was the son of James and Emily (Hollingsworth) Wood, and the brother of Carolena Morris Wood and Ellen Morris Wood. He graduated from Haverford College in 1896 and Columbia University Law School in 1899. He formed the Kirby and Wood law firm in New York. Wood was active in area of peace, social reforms, racial justice, and humanitarian causes. He served on the Trustee of Fisk University from 1917 to 1956. He was one of the founder and President of the National Urban League (NUL) for 26 years. He also supported the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), and Civil Liberties Bureau, later became the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in 1920. He was involved in the joint Peace Committee of the Hicksite and Orthodox New York Yearly Meetings, Peace Association of Friends and the Peace Committee of Associated Yearly Meetings, Haverford's Board of Managers, the American League to Limit Armaments (also known as the American Union Against Militarism), the American Commission on Conditions in Ireland (1920-1923), Board of International Rescue Committee (chairman, 1940s-1950s), Fellowship of Reconciliation, and so on. He died in 1956 at the Mount Kisco, New York. A more detailed biography about the Woods can be found in Barbour, Hugh. "The Woods of Mt. Kisco." Quaker History, vol. 87, no. 1, 1998, pp. 1–34.

After clicking 'Submit Request', users will login with their UNI and password (Columbia affiliates) or their special collections account (external users). Appointments are required and will be arranged according to each individual repository's policy.


Series I: Catalogued Correspondence



Box 1 Adams, Elbridge L.


Box 1 Alsop, Joseph W.


Box 1 Baldwin, Roger Nash


Box 1 Baldwin, Ruth Standish


Box 1 Bethune, Mary McLeod


Box 1 Bowles, Chester


Box 1 Buck, Pearl Sydenstricker


Box 1 Cravath, Paul D.


Box 1 Garrison, Lloyd K.


Box 1 Kellogg, Paul U.


Box 1 Keppell, Frederick Paul


Box 1 Myrdal, Gunnar


Box 1 Ovington, Mary White


Box 1 Peabody, George Foster


Box 1 Poletti, Charles


Box 1 Powell, Adam Clayton, Sr.


Box 1 Rousseau, Theodore


Box 1 Seligman, Edwin R. A.


Box 1 Spingarn, Joel Elias


Box 1 Stokes, Anson Phelps


Box 1 Strauss, Anna Lord


Box 1 Warburg, Felix M.


Box 1 Warren, Schuyler N.


Box 1 Washington, Booker T.


Box 1 White, Alfred T.


Box 1 Williams, Talcott

Series II: National Urban League


Chronological files



Box 2 1910


Box 2 1911


Box 2 Contributions, 1912


Box 2 1915, 3 folders


Box 2 1916, 2 folders


Box 2 1917, 2 folders


Box 2 1918-1920, 4 folders



Box 3 1939, 4 folders


Box 3 Letters Re. E.K. Jones, 1939


Box 3 1942-1944, 2 folders


Box 3 Minutes, Ex. Board of Trustees, 1948-1953


Box 3 1949


Box 3 1951



Box 4 By-laws


Box 4 Certificate of incorporation: New York Urban League


Box 4 Correspondence, 2 folders


Box 4 Arthur Curtiss James Estate


Box 4 Ella Sachs Plotz Fund


Box 4 Emlen J. T., Paper read at Roundtable Conference


Box 4 Estate of Elizabeth Walton-Anna L. Strauss


Box 4 Estate of Ruth Standish Baldwin


Box 4 Investments


Box 4 Itineraries: E.K. Jones and G.E. Haynes


Box 4 Memos, newspaper clippings, suggestions, 2 folders


Box 4 Office force


Box 4 Alfred T. White resolution


Box 4 Report of Mrs. M.E. Walker's fresh air home


Box 4 Seligman Bequest


Box 4 Walton, Elizabeth, Memorial meeting


Box 4 Washington Memorial Meeting



Box 5 Receipts


Box 5 Statement by National Urban League on race conditions


Box 5 Urban League re: war camp community service


Box 5 Budget, 1916


Box 5 Budget, 1917-1919


Box 5 [Black] Tenements


Box 5 Memo of the agreement between Eugene K. Jones (Eugene Kinckle Jones) and Martha Harris (Mrs. Harris)


Box 5 Conference agencies


Box 5 Accountants' report


Box 5 Finance committee


Box 5 List of lawyers


Box 5 Constitution and minutes and statements re: conferences


Box 5 L. Hollingsworth Woods papers (selection) photocopies


Box 5 Urban League application re-entering social work


Box 5 List of colored newspapers


Box 5 Annual meeting


Box 5 Minutes


Box 5 List of members reports of committees and director; and members of various committees