Title: Theodore Pierce Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1867-1998

Creator:

• Pierce, Theodore, 1907-1999

Call Number: Mss 934; PH Mss 934; PH Mss 934 (3)

Quantity: 1.0 c.f. (3 archives boxes) and 201 photographs and 49 negatives (in 1 archives box and 1 oversize folder)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers, mainly 1925-1998, of an African-American resident of Madison,Wisconsin who served as messenger to several governors. The papers primarily document his family and relationships within the homosexual community. Included are biographical clippings; incoming personal correspondence spanning a 73 year period; outgoing correspondence, chiefly post-1985; photographs; writings; memorabilia; and additional correspondence, legal documents, and photographs documenting the family. The family papers primarily concern his uncle Samuel Pierce, who was also an executive messenger, and his grandfather John Pierce, a member of the Louisiana Legislature. Pierce's own correspondence contains details about the arts community in New York City in the early 1940s through correspondence with David Zellmer, as well as a few items from Merce Cunningham and Eric Hawkins, all members of the Martha Graham Dance Company. Other significant correspondents include Gordon Boardman, Donald Pryse Jones, and Harold Lindemann. The photographs and negatives include images of one of Madison's middle-class Black families primarily during the 1920s and candid photographs of friends, primarily 1960s through the 1980s. Among the photograph subjects are Gordon Boardman, Walter S. Goodland, the actor Canada Lee, Ruth Page, and Ted Shawn.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00934

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Theodore Pierce was a member of a middle class African-American family in Madison, Wisconsin and an associate of several Wisconsin governors. He was very interested in art, especially dance, and was a significant figure in the local homosexual communities.

Pierce was born in Chicago on March 18, 1907 to Omar Adams and Ida Pierce Adams Caire. In 1910, he went to live in Madison, Wisconsin with his mother's brother and his wife, Samuel S. and Mollie Pierce, who raised him as their own son. Samuel Pierce was a Pullman porter and an executive messenger to several Wisconsin governors. Also part of the family group was Theodore Pierce's grandmother, Hettie Pierce, who died in 1945 at the age of 115. Pierce had several sisters and brothers, including Edwina, Harold, Edgar, and Alyce who lived with their mother in New Orleans.

From 1913 to 1924, Pierce attended Marquette Elementary, Emerson Junior High, Central High schools, and he graduated from East High School in 1924. He attended the University of Wisconsin for two years, but did not graduate. Between 1926 and 1936 Pierce managed the tailor shop owned by Samuel Pierce in the Loraine Hotel. Following the elder Pierce's death in 1936, Theodore was appointed to fill his uncle's position of executive messenger by Governor Philip La Follette. He held this job for 11 years under four Wisconsin governors until Governor Oscar Rennebohm eliminated the position in 1947. In 1956 Pierce was hired by the Acquisitions Department of Memorial Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and he continued in that position until his retirement in 1972. Suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukemia, he moved to St. Mary's Care Center in August 1998 and died on January 2, 1999.

The papers provide a record of Pierce's associations with friends and family, primarily between the years 1925 and 1998. The most valuable material in this collection is the incoming correspondence, in which Pierce's associations detail their lives and sexuality, and his photographs, which provide a rare visual record of an African-American middle class family, during the 1920s and 1930s. Information about Pierce's own life is less prominent in the collection, and there is very little about Pierce's work among political leaders of Wisconsin in the state capitol. Instead his career must be gleaned from published reminiscences in the clippings, from inferences in the incoming correspondence, and from his writings. Also useful is the oral history interview with Pierce that is part of the Historical Society's Brian Bigler Papers.

The Pierce collection is arranged as BIOGRAPHICAL CLIPPINGS, CORRESPONDENCE AND WRITINGS, FAMILY HISTORY, MEMORABILIA, PHOTOGRAPHS.

The BIOGRAPHICAL CLIPPINGS include a series of rambling, reminiscent interviews that were published in the Mad City Renter's Rag in September-December, 1995. The CORRESPONDENCE AND WRITINGS include over one half foot of incoming letters from friends, outgoing correspondence, and one folder of writings. Some of the incoming letters are from individuals who were correspondents for fifty years, including Gordon Boardman, an abstract painter and lawyer, and Harold W. Lindemann, an electrician in Miami Beach. Many of the letters are from individuals who also were homosexuals and intimate relationships and sexuality are frequently discussed. Notable correspondents for researchers interested in sexuality include Harold W. Lindemann (who signed his letters “Linde”), Robert Andersen, Ronnie J. Olson, and Donald Pryse Jones. Some letters refer to Pierce's longing for the “Golden Age” of Madison homosexuality. The exact time of the Golden Age uncertain, but it probably refers to the late 1940s and early 1950s, and it probably centered around his friends Keith McCutcheon and Joe Koberstein. During that period many prominent ballet dancers were entertained in the homes of Pierce and his friends. Pierce's interest in and continued relationship with the ballet is evident in the correspondence and throughout the collection. Unfortunately, there are no letters from McCutcheon and Koberstein other than a postcard which Pierce saved in a scrapbook and a handmade 1941 Christmas card.

An interesting subset is 43 incoming letters from David Zellmer that span the years from 1940 to 1947. During the time Zellmer corresponded with Pierce, he took classes with Martha Graham in New York City, served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and lived in New York City as a CBS News writer. His letters detail interactions between members of Martha Graham's Dance Company during the early 1940s and express his view that homosexuality had negatively influenced the dance world. During the war, Zellmer reflected on his concerns about losing his individuality. Also in the collection are a few letters from other associates of Martha Graham, including Merce Cunningham and Eric Hawkins.

Other prominent correspondents include the actor Canada Lee and the actress Rose McClendon, with whom he apparently had a close relationship. A few letters from Taliesin fellow Ralph James Drought, as well as a few items elsewhere in the collection establish the fact that Pierce was known at Taliesin, but provide few details. All of Pierce's correspondence with Willard Motley is held by the UW-Madison's Department of Special Collections. The SHSW collection includes a number of letters from prominent individuals such as Nelson Rockefeller and Marshall Fields. Pierce apparently initiated the correspondence with these people with whom he was unacquainted in order to recommend books, to offer condolences, etc. Their responses were generally in the nature of form letters.

The outgoing correspondence is a single folder. It includes letters to Gordon Boardman which detail Pierce's relationship with Milton Lee Winans II, the junior pastor at Shalom Christian Church. On the whole, however, the content of the outgoing correspondence folder is sketchy and incomplete. It is possible that these letters, which are noticeably affected by Pierce's advancing age, were intended as drafts or were letters that were never mailed. It is also possible that the letters were intended as a preliminary phase of an autobiographical writing project, as they are similar to the folder of writings which follow the correspondence. The chief distinction between the two folders is that the correspondence is addressed to specific individuals; the writings are not. The writings folder includes references to Pierce's family, an account of his dismissal by the governor, and a number episodes with “Mickey Willie” that were apparently modeled on Milton Winans II.

The FAMILY HISTORY series is material collected by Theodore Pierce, rather than an organic set of papers, concerning Hettie, John, Mollie, and Samuel Pierce. Most of the material in this series concerns his uncle and adoptive father, Samuel Pierce, who was executive messenger to several governors, after working as a Pullman porter for several years. Included are biographical clippings; an inventory and appraisal of his home and estate; an affidavit concerning the Freedman's Savings and Trust Co. that contains biographical information about Samuel and John Pierce; deeds and insurance forms; and formulae apparently used in his tailoring and dry cleaning business in the Loraine Hotel. Sam Pierce's correspondence is fragmentary, but one letter which alludes to his interest in establishing a community house for Madison Blacks is of special interest.

The material concerning John Pierce includes several documents from the Louisiana Legislature, in which Pierce served, including a copy of the Rules of Order (ca. 1867); an 1867 form certifying his status as an elector for Bophin Parish; a printed political appeal (ca. 1872) that was received by Pierce from a “country member;” and two letters concerning Theodore Pierce's search for a photograph of the Louisiana Legislature. The clippings on Hettie Pierce, who was born a slave in 1829, center on her advanced age, and the correspondence to Mollie Pierce is mostly from relatives. An exception is the Christmas card from the artist Marion Choinska apologizing for not having completed the portrait of Sam Pierce on schedule.

The MEMORABILIA is material collected by Pierce over his lifetime. Included are typed poems, autographs of ballet dancers, invitations and official Christmas cards from governors, an invitation from Taliesin, and sketches of actresses made by Pierce in the 1920s. From his childhood years are grade school assignments, a 1924 East High School yearbook, and a reunion program. The folder on Gordon Boardman includes material collected about his friend's artistic career, including programs and clippings. Also included are folders of clippings on Canada Lee and the Martha Graham Dance Company. Other clippings collected by Pierce on topics such as Black history were not comprehensive, and consequently they were discarded. The conscientious objector letter is a draft from Glenn L. Evans to Frank Clock, of the Ashland Selective Service Board. It presents the argument that Evans should be excused from military service because of the history of injustice to African-Americans. It is not known why Pierce owned this letter.

The PHOTOGRAPHS primarily consist of photographs of Pierce himself from childhood to old age; portraits and candid photographs of the Pierce family, their relatives, and their home at 1442 Williamson Street where Pierce lived from 1910 until his final illness in 1998; and numerous candid photographs of Pierce's friends, chiefly from the 1960s through the 1980s. Most of the friends whose images are included were not significant correspondents and consequently their relationship to Pierce is not defined. Among the notable photo subjects are Gordon Boardman, Walter S. Goodland, Canada Lee, Ruth Page, and the Ted Shawn Dance Company. The photographs were originally arranged as four albums. Because of their unstable format, the albums were disassembled and sorted and many poor quality photographs were discarded. Photocopies of the albums in their original order are included.

Other collections associated with Pierce include the Willard Motley papers and separately catalogued letters from Motley to Pierce, both located at the Department of Special Collections, 976 Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Theodore Pierce through his agent, Robert Davis, 1998. Copyright on file, October 20, 1998. Accession Number: M99-028

Processing Information

Processed by Georgen Gilliam, May 1999.

Mss 934 Box   1 Folder   1	Series: Biographical Clippings, 1936-1998
	Series: Correspondence and Writings	⇧
	Incoming correspondence
Box   1 Folder   2-10	1925-1974
Box   2 Folder   1-6	1975-1998, n.d.
Box   2 Folder   7	Outgoing correspondence, 1965-1996
Box   2 Folder   8	Writings, 1965-1996
	Series: Family history	⇧
Box   2 Folder   9	Pierce, Hettie (1829-1944), Clippings, 1931-1944
Box   2 Folder   10	Pierce, John, 1867-1935
Box   2 Folder   11	Pierce, Mollie, Correspondence 1936-1946
	Pierce, Samuel
Box   2 Folder   12	Clippings, 1928-1980
Box   2 Folder   13	Correspondence, 1912-1936
Box   2 Folder   14	Estate, 1924-1943
Box   2 Folder   15	Insurance, ca. 1932-1944
Box   2 Folder   16	Legal claim, 1920
Box   2 Folder   17	Williamson Street house, 1920-1925
Box   2 Folder   18	Miscellany
	Series: Memorabilia	⇧
Box   2 Folder   19	Boardman, Gordon
Box   2 Folder   20	Collected poems
Box   3 Folder   1	Conscientious objector letter, 1942
Box   3 Folder   2	Dance magazines, autographed, ca. 1936
Box   3 Folder   3	Graham, Martha, Clippings
Box   3 Folder   4	Gubernatorial invitations and Christmas cards
Box   3 Folder   5	Lee, Canada, Clippings
Box   3 Folder   6	School assignments
Box   3 Folder   7	School yearbook (1924 Tower Tales)
Box   3 Folder   8	Sketches, ca. 1920s
Box   3 Folder   9	Taliesin invitation, 1941
PH Mss 934	Series: Photographs	⇧
	Pierce, Theodore
PH Box   1 Folder   1-3	As child, young man, and older adult
PH Mss 934 (3)	, 1924 East High School Class (oversize)
PH Mss 934 PH Box   1 Folder   4	Pierce, Samuel
PH Box   1 Folder   5	Folder number not used
PH Box   1 Folder   6	Pierce, Hettie
PH Box   1 Folder   7-8	Pierce, Mollie
PH Box   1 Folder   9-10	Pierce Family
PH Box   1 Folder   11-15	Caire, Bass, Horton, McDermmond, and unidentified relatives
	Friends
PH Box   1 Folder   16	Friends of the family, General
PH Box   1 Folder   17	Boardman, Gordon
PH Box   1 Folder   18	“Cherokee”
PH Box   1 Folder   19	Drought, Ralph James
PH Box   1 Folder   20	Garsky, John
PH Box   1 Folder   21	Lee, Canada
PH Box   1 Folder   22	Lindemann, Harold
PH Box   1 Folder   23	Olson, Gene
PH Box   1 Folder   24	Page, Ruth
PH Box   1 Folder   25	Shawn, Ted and company
PH Box   1 Folder   26	Skinner, Glenn
PH Box   1 Folder   27	Thompson, Arnold Leonard
PH Box   1 Folder   28	Winans, Milton
PH Box   1 Folder   29	Unidentified (includes sexually explicit Christmas cards)
PH Box   1 Folder   30-31	Williamson Street house interior, exterior, and neighborhood
PH Box   1 Folder   32	Governor Goodland's birthday parties, with staff
PH Box   1 Folder   33-36	Photocopied albums