Title: Stanley R. McCormick Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1881-1945

Creator:

• McCormick, Stanley R., 1874-1947

Call Number: McCormick Mss 1G; McCormick Mss 2G; McCormick Mss 3G; McCormick Mss 4G; McCormick Mss 5G; M2002-052

Quantity: 6.0 cubic feet (15 archives boxes); plus additions of 0.8 cubic feet

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 of Stanley R. McCormick, youngest son of industrialist Cyrus Hall and Nettie Fowler McCormick, who became mentally incompetent at the age of thirty-two; consisting of correspondence, notes, minutes, financial accounts, medical reports and charts, legal documents, and transcripts of court hearings. These concern his early business interests, arrangements for his care, controversies between the McCormick's and his wife Katharine, whom he married in 1904, and reports of medical consultants.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mcc0001g

The papers contain business letters of 1899 and 1900, chiefly in the latter year when Stanley McCormick represented the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company at the Paris exposition and corresponded with his Chicago office, his brothers Cyrus Jr. and Harold, their competitor James Deering, and the Company manager in Hamburg, Germany, W.V. Couchman. A few letters and accounts appear relating to his Cimarron Ranch on the historic Maxwell Land Grant in New Mexico, acquired in 1898 with John W. Garrett but later developed by McCormick.

The bulk of the papers deal with the many problems concerning McCormick's care after his breakdown in 1906, and his progressive incapacitation due to a mental disease diagnosed as catatonia. In addition to letters of his wife, members of the McCormick family, and a few friends, correspondence of doctors and psychiatrists such as Frank Billings, Henry Baird Favill, C. G. Jung, Adolf Meyer, and George Tuttle is included, as is a special medical evaluation by August Hoch and Emil Kraepelin. Medical correspondence, reports by nurses and staff, minutes of the board of guardians, financial accounts, and arrangements for his care at the spacious California home provided him are all filed. Four volumes contain court proceedings of 1929-1930 regarding the question of guardianship and his multimillion-dollar estate. Guardians at various times included his wife, Dr. Favill, Cyrus Bentley, Anita McCormick Blaine, Harold Fowler McCormick, and Cyrus McCormick Jr.

These papers are arranged in six parts; the sixth was received in the Archives after the other parts were organized:

• Part 1: General Correspondence, 1881-1931 (McCormick Mss 1G)
• Part 2: Personal Care Board Correspondence, 1923-1929 (McCormick Mss 2G)
• Part 3: Reports of Board of Medical Consultants; Minutes of Meetings of Board of Guardians, 1930-1945 (McCormick Mss 3G)
• Part 4: Court Papers, 1928-1930 (McCormick Mss 4G)
• Part 5: Medical Reports, 1906-1933 (McCormick Mss 5G)
• Part 6: Additions, 1890-1909 (M2002-052)

For legal documents appointing administrators of Stanley McCormick's property in 1906 and 1909, see C. H. McCormick Jr. Papers, McCormick Mss 2C.

McCormick Mss 1G	Series: General Correspondence, 1881-1931; undated Physical Description: 2.0 cubic feet (5 archives boxes)  Scope and Content Note: This series includes handwritten originals, typescript originals, and typescript carbons of letters to, by, and about Stanley R. McCormick. The papers are arranged chronologically by year, and under a given year correspondence is filed alphabetically by author. The papers include: personal correspondence relating to Stanley McCormick by members of his family (Mrs. Stanley McCormick [Katharine Dexter McCormick], Nettie Fowler McCormick, Cyrus H. McCormick Jr., Harold Fowler McCormick, and Anita McCormick Blaine); medical correspondence by and to Drs. Frank Billings, Henry Favill, George Tuttle, Adolf Meyer, and C. G. Jung, and an extensive report by Prof. Dr. Emil Kraepelin and Dr. August Hoch; and some correspondence by family friends. Included also are notes taken by members of the family on medical reports concerning Stanley, and a petition to the State of California by Mrs. Katharine Dexter McCormick by which she, Cyrus Bentley, and Dr. Henry Favill were to be appointed guardians of the person of Stanley McCormick.
Box   1	1881-1900
Box   2	1900
Box   3	1901
Box   4	1902-1915
Box   5	1916-1931
McCormick Mss 2G	Series: Personal Care Board Correspondence, 1923-1929 Physical Description: 1.6 cubic feet (4 archives boxes)  Scope and Content Note: By order of the Superior Court of the County of Santa Barbara, California, a board of guardians of the person of Stanley McCormick was appointed in 1909, consisting of Katharine Dexter McCormick, Dr. Henry Favill, and Cyrus Bentley. In 1916, after the death of Dr. Favill, Anita McCormick Blaine was appointed to take his place, and with the resignation of Cyrus Bentley in 1927, Harold Fowler McCormick and Cyrus H. McCormick Jr. were added to the board. Series 2G consists of copies of the correspondence of members of the board, among themselves, with doctors employed or consulted for Stanley's benefit, and with lawyers concerning legal problems arising among the guardians. Included with the correspondence are medical reports submitted to the board, the most complete reports being those of Oct. 30, 1927, Feb. 3, 1928, June 23, 1928, Sept. 24, 1928, Jan. 18, 1929, and Sept. 5, 1929. Due to the conflict between Katharine Dexter McCormick and other members of the board, correspondence from Mrs. McCormick is minimal after 1926. The series is arranged chronologically by months.	⇧
Box   1	1923-1927 December
Box   2	1927 December-1928 April
Box   3	1928 May-August
Box   4	1928 September-1929 October
McCormick Mss 3G	Series: Reports of Board of Medical Consultants; Minutes of Meetings of Board of Guardians, 1930-1945 Physical Description: 1.2 cubic feet (3 archives boxes, including 2 volumes)  Scope and Content Note: Series 3G is primarily composed of the minutes of meetings of the Board of Guardians, including letters and reports officially submitted to the Board, for the period from May 1930, to April 1945. The minutes for the meetings of Nov. 8, 9, and 10, 1933, and Feb. 14, 15, and 16, 1934, are in two bound volumes in Box 3. Series 3G also includes the reports of the board of medical consultants appointed by the Board of Guardians from July 1932, to July 1934. The series is arranged chronologically by months.	⇧
Box   1	Board of Consultants, 1932-1934
	Board of Guardians
Box   1	1930 May 10-July 26
Box   2	1930 July 27-1932 July
Box   3	1933 July-1945 April
Box   3 Volume   1	1933 November 8, 9, and 10
Box   3 Volume   2	1934 February 14, 15, and 16
McCormick Mss 4G	Series: Court Papers, 1928-1930 Physical Description: 0.8 cubic feet (2 archives boxes, including 4 volumes)  Scope and Content Note: Series 4G consists entirely of digests of court proceedings on the question of guardianship and care of the person of Stanley R. McCormick. The series covers the period 1928-1930, but materials are concentrated in November and December of 1929. Most of the court transcripts are bound, but unbound materials are included at the beginning and end of the series. The series is arranged chronologically by months.	⇧
Box   1	1928-1929 December 5
Box   2	1929 December 6-1930
Box   1 Volume   1	1929 November 21-26
Box   1 Volume   2	1929 November 27-December 5
Box   2 Volume   3	1929 December 6-10
Box   2 Volume   4	1929 December 11-14
McCormick Mss 5G	Series: Medical Reports, 1906-1933 Physical Description: 0.4 cubic feet (1 archives box)  Scope and Content Note: Series 5G consists of medical reports on Stanley R. McCormick for the years 1906-1930, and a medical chart for the years 1930-1933. The series is arranged chronologically by year.	⇧
Box   1	Medical reports, 1906-1930
Box   1	Medical chart, 1930-1933
M2002-052	Series: Additions, 1890-1909 Physical Description: 0.8 cubic feet (2 archives boxes)  Scope and Content Note: Business papers of Stanley McCormick, including correspondence, memoranda, notes, and reports documenting the organization of International Harvester Company, his work as comptroller of the company, and various other business matters. This material was separated from M2001-125.	⇧
Box   1 Folder   1-2	Acquisitions: offers, studies and proposals (#199), 1902-1908
Box   1 Folder   3	Amalgamation into IH, synopsis of effort (#200-B), undated
Box   1 Folder   4	Amalgamation with William Deering Co., proposals, discussions, legal advice (#200-A), 1890-1902
Box   1 Folder   5	Annual Statement: Trustees for Mary V. McCormick (#206), 1906
Box   1 Folder   6	Arkansas Anti-Trust Suit (#198), 1906
Box   1 Folder   7	“Black Book” adjustments to awards made in the International Harvester Organization (#203), 1903-1906
Box   1 Folder   8	Tax Dodge Claims Against IH and Principal Stockholders clippings (#197), 1907 September 3
Box   1 Folder   9	Deering Harvester Company profit and loss adjustment account(#204), 1901-1902
Box   1 Folder   10	Resume of first four years of IH Co., 1902-1906
Box   1 Folder   11	McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. balance sheets and statements (#202), 1880-1902
Box   1 Folder   12	Organization of IH Company, 1901-1909, undated
Box   2 Folder   1-6	Organization of IH Company (continued), 1901-1909, undated
Box   2 Folder   7	Raw Material Properties, organization of (#201), 1904 July 19
Box   2 Folder   8	Stockholders as of November 10, 1905, (#196)
Box   2 Folder   9	Walker, Robert, “IH Sales Methods in England, France, Germany, and Russia:” report (#208), 1903
Box   2 Folder   10	Warder, Benjamin H., Last Will of (Champion) (#206), 1893