Title: Temple Bodley and Minnie G. Cook: Research Papers Concerning George Rogers Clark
Inclusive Dates: 1614-1888

Creators:

• Bodley, Temple, 1852-1940
• Cook, Minnie G.

Call Number: U.S. Mss AE

Quantity: 2.0 c.f. (18 volumes in 5 archives boxes)

Repository:

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

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

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

Abstract:

Papers including correspondence, 1906-1927, of Minnie G. Cook, primarily from Temple Bodley; and research materials gathered by them during their research on George Rogers Clark, American Revolutionary frontier leader and Indian commissioner, which culminated in the publication by Bodley of the biography George Rogers Clark: His Life and Public Services (Boston, 1926). The correspondence includes letters written by historians, writers, and descendants of Clark. Research materials include extensive notes and photostats containing copies of papers, 1614-1888, relating to Clark and his forebears from the Draper Collection of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and other manuscript and archival collections, particularly those in the Virginia State Library and the Library of Congress.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0000ae

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Most of the letters (about 100) were written to Mrs. Cook by Mr. Bodley during the first two decades of the 20th century. Both were interested in Clark and the correspondence pertains to their individual and cooperative efforts in collecting information on that subject. The Bodley letters are dated from June 2, 1906 to January 1, 1927. The last letter covers the mailing of a presentation copy of Mr. Bodley's book on Clark to Mrs. Cook.

Mrs. Cook regarded the publication of this book as a breach of agreement between the two and apparently sued Mr. Bodley. The collection contains a file of photostat copies of the Bodley letters apparently gathered as court exhibit material. Many of these have Mrs. Cook's manuscript notations regarding information pertinent to the suit.

The remainder of the letters (about 40) are generally responses to questions pertaining to Mrs. Cook's historical research and include among their writers George Rogers Clark descendants William Hancock and John O'Fallon Clark; historians R.G. Thwaites, Louise Phelps Kellogg, C.W. Alvord, R.T. Durrett, and R.C. Ballard Thruston; and author James Branch Cabell.

The George Rogers Clark research materials consist of 18 volumes. Fifteen of these are a part of three duplicate sets of material prepared at Mr. Bodley's expense. A statement prepared by Mr. Bodley in 1937 (or 1913?) lists as belonging to the set 11 items (of one or more volumes each) and a “General Index” of two volumes. (See letter: Mabel C. Weeks to Clifford Lord, February 14, 1957.) The 15 volumes mentioned above constitute the Index and first five items on Bodley's list. These volumes were sent to Mrs. Cook for her personal use. A second list by Mr. Bodley infers the identity of the volumes sent to Mrs. Cook.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mrs. Thomas K. Givens, Louisville, Kentucky, and her aunt, Mrs. Henry L. (Minnie G.) Cook, of Milwaukee, and then of Chicago, Illinois.

U.S. Mss AE Box   1 Volume   1	Commercially bound, spine stamped “Alpha Index” Scope and Content Note: No title page; legal size thin sheets, typewritten carbon; typed on one side; occasional handwritten annotations on righthand side. The index is arranged alphabetically by subject, under which the documents are listed chronologically. The entries include: date of item, brief statement of content, and Bodley's volume of notes in which the original statement is recorded, i.e. those listed below as volumes 3-11, 14-16.
Box   1 Volume   2	Complete Chronological Index Scope and Content Note: Paper perforator binder, no title page, top of first page headed “---Complete Chronological Index---”; legal size yellow bond, typewritten carbon; few insertions in ink. The entries are arranged chronologically, 1614-1888. The entries include the same information as Volume 1.
Box   1 Volume   3	Selections from collections of the Virginia State Auditor's Office Scope and Content Note: Legal size, paper perforator binder; typed carbon on yellow and white bond. Contains selections from collections of the Virginia State Auditor's Office stored in the basement of the State Library Building including the Pollock Papers, Dodge Papers, Nathan Papers, Shannon Papers, Barbour Papers, John Todd Papers, and other sources.
	Richardson Notes (of Bodley's inventory) Scope and Content Note: The primary source of this material appears to be the collections in the Virginia State Library: they include such collections as Governor's Letterbooks, Patrick Henry's Letterbook, Executive Papers, Papers of the Continental Congress, Virginia State Papers.
Box   2 Volume   4	Pages 1-112 Scope and Content Note: Standard size paper perforator binder, manuscript on bond paper.
Box   2 Volume   5	Pages 113-287 Scope and Content Note: Description same as Volume 4, typed carbon on yellow copy paper.
Box   2 Volume   6	Pages 288-591 Scope and Content Note: Description same as Volume 4, manuscript carbon on yellow copy paper. Indexed.
Box   2 Volume   7	Pages 592-915 Scope and Content Note: Description same as Volume 4, manuscript carbon.
Box   2 Volume   8	Bodley Miscellany (of Bodley's inventory) Scope and Content Note: Legal size paper perforator binder; typewritten carbon on bond; not labeled, but “Miscellaneous Index” within indicates probable identity of this volume. Contains also a “Selections Index”; 172 pp. of data unlabeled; and 46 pages labeled “Mayes Copies, Br. Museum”.
	Selections (from Bodley's inventory) Scope and Content Note: Chronological arrangement of important notes (including most of those in the other volumes enumerated above. These selections also contain a good deal [from the Virginia Calendar of State Papers particularly] not in the others.) Each volume is legal size paper perforator binder; typewritten on bond.
Box   3 Volume   9	Pages 1-99a, 1763-1780 December 30
Box   3 Volume   10	Pages 100-271, 1781 January-1783 December 23
Box   3 Volume   11	Pages 273-457, 1784 January 2-1867 September 24
Box   3 Volume   12	Photostat reproductions of Clark items Scope and Content Note: Legal size binders. Pollock papers, also a few dealing with the dollar sign ($).
Box   3 Volume   13	Photostat reproductions (continued) Scope and Content Note: Miscellaneous papers, containing material from the Library of Congress, Draper Collection, etc.
	Madison Copies (of Bodley's inventory) Scope and Content Note: Each volume is a legal size binder; typewritten on bond paper. This material is from the Draper Collection and printed works in the Wisconsin State Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin.
Box   4 Volume   14	Pages 1-209, 1620-1779 March 19
Box   4 Volume   15	Pages 210-423, 1779 April 9-1783
Box   4 Volume   16	Pages 424-611, 1782 December 20-1883 May 22
Box   4 Volume   17	French and Spanish papers Scope and Content Note: Legal size binder, ink and pencil manuscript and typewritten originals. These notes apparently were made by Mrs. Cook at the Library of Congress.
Box   5 Volume   18	Cook Notes (of Bodley's inventory) Scope and Content Note: Commercially bound, legal size; typed carbon on bond; 520 pp. Bound in back is a “Comparative Table” correlating the Cook volumes with the Richardson and Bodley volumes. Internally divided into 12 volumes (volume 6 is missing), each devoted to a single source or related group of sources of information, such as Fleming, Collot, Trabue, Brown, Innes, McAfee, Doolan papers, Beatty's diary, etc.