John L. Gillin Papers, 1926-1949
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Scope and Content Note

The collection offers comprehensive documentation on Ely's long life and career including his research, writing, and teaching; personal life and family background; business interests; involvement in civic and patriotic organizations; and economic and social reform activities. The papers date 1812-1963 and are particularly strong for the years 1882-1939. The major portion of the papers is included in the microfilm edition and is described in detail, followed by a description of the six boxes of additions received in 1991. These 1991 additions and the folder of oversize certificates are listed at the end of this finding aid's contents list.

An extensive description of this collection appears in Guide to the Manuscripts of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Supplement Number One, by Josephine L. Harper and Sharon C. Smith (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1957). Also, a printed guide to the published microfilm edition of these papers is available; and an index to the correspondence is included in the microfilm.

MICROFILMED PAPERS

The major portion of this collection is available in both original paper form and on microfilm. These papers are organized in series and subseries as follows:

  • A. Correspondence, 1826-1957 (Reels 1-116 and Wis Mss MK, Boxes 1-120)
  • B. Diaries
    • Manuscript, 1902-1929 (Reels 116-117 and Wis Mss MK, Boxes 121-123)
    • Typescript, 1905-1930 (Reels 117-120 and Wis Mss MK, Boxes 123-125)
  • C. Teaching and Research Files
    • 1. Writings, 1876-1942
      • Bibliography (Reel 120 and Wis Mss MK, Box 126)
      • Articles and Addresses
        • Alphabetical File (Reels 121-132 and Mss 411, Boxes 1-14)
        • Scrapbooks (Reels 133-134)
      • Book Drafts (Reels 134-146 and Mss 411, Boxes 14-26)
    • 2. Reference Files, 1851-1879-1934
      • Card File (Reel 146 and Mss 411, Boxes 26-27)
      • Subject File (Reels 147-153 and Mss 411, Boxes 27-34)
    • 3. University of Wisconsin Departmental Files, 1894, 1902-1922 (Reel 153 and Mss 411, Boxes 34-35)
    • 4. Seminary Records, 1889-1930 (Reels 154-157 and Mss 411, Boxes 35-39)
    • 5. Lecture Notes and Course Materials (Reels 157-178 and Mss 411, Boxes 39-56)
    • 6. Student Research Papers, 1896-1930 (Reels 178-181 and Mss 411, Boxes 56-59)
  • D. Organizational Records
    • 1. American Association for Agricultural Legislation, 1918-1922 (Reels 181-182 and Mss 411, Box 60)
    • 2. American Bureau of Industrial Research, 1902-1916 (Reel 182 and Mss 411, Box 60)
    • 3. Book Publishing Company (Reel 182 and Mss 411, Box 60)
    • 4. Christian Social Union, 1891-1910 (Reel 183 and Mss 411, Box 61)
    • 5. League to Enforce Peace - Wisconsin Branch, 1918-1920 (Reels 183-184 and Mss 411, Boxes 61-62)
    • 6. Northern Wisconsin Land Settlement, 1916-1920 (Reels 184-185 and Mss 411, Boxes 62-63)
    • 7. Wisconsin Loyalty Legion - Madison Chapter, 1918 (Reel 185 and Mss 411, Box 63)
  • E. Personal Papers and Scrapbooks, 1812-1941 (Reels 185-190, 191 and Mss 411, Boxes 63-67)
  • F. Photographs, 1894-1941 (Reel 190)

Series A, Correspondence, 1826-1957, covers all facets of Ely's career. Virtually every late nineteenth and early twentieth-century leader in social and economic reform, and in education is among Ely's correspondents. Moreover, he had substantial correspondence with individuals prominent in business, religion, politics, publishing, and numerous other fields. Series A is also intimately connected with all the other components of the collection. Letters, for example, relating to the organizations and projects covered in series D, Organizational Records, and to research and publishing arrangements for works covered in series C, part 1, Writings, are found in series A.

For the most part the focus of the material in the other series and subseries is self evident. However, special attention should be drawn to several areas. Series C, part 3, Departmental Files, contains a transcript and other records of Ely's famed 1894 trial for encouraging radicalism through his teaching. Part 4 of that same series, Seminary Records, includes minutes and other records of academic seminars Ely led in his various fields of interest. These show not only his role in the development of the seminar method of graduate education, but also document his own thinking on a number of significant topics. Series D, Organizational Records, consists of minutes, reports, financial data, publicity files, and other materials Ely preserved from several research organizations and projects, and reform and educational groups with which he was involved. In Series E, Personal Papers and Scrapbooks, is found the most extensive information on Ely's family background, formative years, and education. The scrapbooks in that series are also comprehensive in their coverage of Ely's activities and career.

Series A. CORRESPONDENCE, 1826-1957 (Reels 1-116 and Wis Mss MK, Boxes 1-120) (This description of the correspondence draws heavily on a register to the Ely collection prepared by Alice E. Smith in 1944.)

The Richard T. Ely correspondence is so extensive and so varied in content that it defies description. Organized chronologically, the Ely letters measure fifty linear feet and total approximately 105,000 pages. It is a remarkably complete collection, consisting of professional, business, and personal letters. The vast majority of the letters fall within the years 1882-1939. Smaller numbers of letters document Ely's formative and student years and the last few years of his life. Until about 1898 the correspondence is primarily incoming with only occasional copies of outgoing letters. After 1898 carbons of Ely's outgoing correspondence seem to have been regularly preserved.

A key to the effective use of the Ely correspondence is the index on reel 191 of the collection. It shows the names of addressees and signers (except Ely himself) of all letters and documents and lists the dates of all items addressed to or signed by them. No entries have been made under Ely's name since he is either signer or addressee of virtually every letter in the series. Entries are primarily for personal names; they were made for organizations only when items had no individual as addressee or signer. No distinction is made in the index between incoming and outgoing letters. Further explanation of the content and format of the index is included at the beginning of the index on reel 191.

A select few individuals who were Ely's closest friends and advisors corresponded with him over long periods of time. It is to these people that Ely was likely to express himself most freely and completely. Among them were Mattie S.F. Bent, a friend since childhood; his sister, Francis Mason Ely; business man and diplomat Theodore Marburg; and former students and/or colleagues Charles J. Bullock, John B. Clark, Frank Fetter, John H. Finley, David Kinley, Edwin R.A. Seligman, Albert Shaw, and Henry C. Taylor.

A few themes and types of correspondence also appear throughout the series. Most voluminous are letters related to academic affairs. Ely served as a mentor to many of his former students and his advice and counsel were sought by many other college and university administrators and faculty, and government economists (especially in the Bureau of the Census and the departments of Agriculture and Labor). These letters deal with placement, recommendations, publishing, lectures, research, professional organizations, academic freedom, Wisconsin and national politics, personal matters, and other topics. The emphasis is on economics in its broadest sense (including forestry, highways, agriculture, labor, etc.) but there is also material on allied fields, mainly sociology, political science, and the other social sciences. In scope this correspondence contains information on hundreds of colleges and universities in the United States, and for the Middle West there are few colleges and universities that are not represented by correspondence with their presidents or professors.

The following list, which contains only a few of the most frequent and/or important academic correspondents, is intended to illustrate the breadth of this correspondence:

  • Adams, H.C.
  • Adams, T.S.
  • Baker, O.E.
  • Bemis, Edward W.
  • Bullock, Charles J.
  • Butler, Nicholas Murray
  • Carver, Thomas N.
  • Clark, John B.
  • Commons, John R.
  • Comstock, George C.
  • Dewey, Davis R.
  • Englund, Eric
  • Farnam, Henry W.
  • Fetter, Frank A.
  • Finley, John H.
  • Fisher, Ernest M.
  • Foreman, C.J.
  • Gilman, Daniel Coit
  • Gray, L.C.
  • Haney, Lewis H.
  • Harper, William R.
  • Hibbard, Benjamin H.
  • Kinley, David
  • Mead, Elwood
  • Meyer, Balthasar H.
  • Morehouse, Edward W.
  • Patten, Simon N.
  • Pound, Roscoe
  • Powell, Lyman P.
  • Pritchett, Henry S.
  • Reinsch, Paul S.
  • Ross, Edward A.
  • Scott, Walter Dill
  • Seligman, Edwin R. A.
  • Sellery, George C.
  • Small, Albion W.
  • Taussig, Frank W.
  • Taylor, Henry C.
  • Turner, Frederick J.
  • Urdahl, Thomas K.
  • Vincent, George E.
  • Vincent, John H.
  • Walker, Francis A.
  • Warner, Amos G.
  • Wehrwein, George S.
  • Wicker, George Ray
  • Wright, Carroll D.
  • Young, Allyn A.

Given Ely's long tenure at the University of Wisconsin it is logical that administrators, faculty, politicians, regents, and others associated with that institution are heavily represented in the academic correspondence. There is correspondence with University of Wisconsin presidents John Bascom, Thomas C. Chamberlin, Charles Kendall Adams, Charles R. Van Hise, Edward A. Birge, and Glenn Frank. Moreover, Ely corresponded regularly with influential regents including Ben F. Faast, Zona Gale, G.D. Jones, and Breese J. Stevens, and with countless faculty and administrative staff members. These letters describe in detail the University's workings during a period of great expansion.

Ely's German education influenced him greatly. Throughout the series a scattering of letters are found from German and other European economists and educators of renown. The sending of his children there in 1912-1913 kept alive these ties with German education and his earlier friendships. Following World War I and until about 1922, letters from that country deal mainly with the plight of friends caught by the inflation of the mark and with the purchase of books for the Ely library. A selection of Ely's correspondents among European economists and educators is as follows:

  • Ashby, Arthur W.
  • Ashley, W.J.
  • Conrad, Johannes
  • Gide, Charles
  • Hobson, John A.
  • Plunkett, Horace
  • Rew, R. Henry
  • Sinzheimer, Ludwig
  • Wallas, Graham
  • Webb, Sidney

At Johns Hopkins and later at Wisconsin Ely took special interest in a number of Japanese students. Some later became influential educators and also translated several of his books into Japanese. As a result Ely had a great influence on the study of economics in that country. Some of Ely's Japanese correspondents were G.S. Ishikawa, K. Ishizawa, T. Iyenaga, Shosuke Sato, and Massada Shiozawa.

Another common component of the series, closely related to the academic communications, is correspondence with publishers and editors. Ely himself was a prolific author. He also acted as editor of a number of major series of books and advised many people on their writing careers. Topics of this correspondence include publishing agreements, criticism, revision, royalties, selection of authors, and the development of topics for books and articles. For Ely's own works and those he edited after 1903 most of the correspondence was with George P. Brett and other representatives of the Macmillan Company. Other publishing companies represented include Arthur H. Clark & Company, Eaton & Mains, Edwards Brothers, Harper & Brothers, and Thomas Y. Crowell & Company. Among the editors and publishers from whom there are significant runs of correspondence are:

  • Abbott, Lyman
  • Alden, H.M.
  • Barton, Bruce
  • Brett, George P.
  • Brown, J. Franklin
  • Clark, Arthur H.
  • Colby, Frank Moore
  • Crowell, Thomas Y.
  • Devine, Edward T.
  • Edwards, J.W.
  • Gilder, R.W.
  • Holt, Hamilton
  • Latham, H.S.
  • Mabie, H.W.
  • Marsh, Edward C.
  • Nelson, A.H.
  • Page, Walter H.
  • Rockwell, Thomas S.
  • Shaw, Albert
  • Shaw, William B.
  • Spahr, Charles B.

Throughout the series there are family letters, especially of Ely's parents; siblings Francis Mason Ely and George S. Ely; children John T. A. Ely, Richard S. Ely, and Anna Ely Morehouse; and cousins including Laurence D. Ely, Mary Hamilton, Theodore Ely Hamilton, and Calvin N. Keeney. These letters contain family news, genealogical information, and show a continued interest in the Fredonia, New York area where Ely was born.

Finally there is correspondence with people who, because of the number of letters or importance of the individuals, should be listed:

  • Adams, Mary M.
  • Baker, Newton D.
  • Carnegie, Andrew
  • Douglas, A.W.
  • Garland, Hamlin
  • Hillquit, Morris
  • Holmes, Oliver Wendell
  • McCormick, Cyrus Hall, Jr.
  • Pinchot, Gifford
  • Rockefeller, John D.
  • Root, Elihu
  • Rosewater, Victor
  • Schaffner, Margaret
  • Shibley, George H.
  • Roosevelt, Franklin D.
  • Roosevelt, Theodore
  • Taft, William Howard
  • Thum, William
  • Wilson, Woodrow

Still other topics, types of correspondence, and individual correspondents fall within distinct time periods in Ely's career.

1826-1901 (Reels 1-22 and Wis Mss MK, Boxes 1-20)

The series contains copies of two items, dated 1826 and 1833, concerning Judah Ely, grandfather of Richard T. Ely, and then skips to 1872. Between 1872 and 1882 there are a few letters of Ely's father, some letters of recommendation for Richard T. Ely, and a letter or two written to him. The lack of information on Ely's family background, formative, and college years is partially offset by biographical compilations found on reels 186 and 187 of the microfilm edition. Prepared by Francis Mason Ely, these include biographies of Ezra Sterling Ely, George Stetson Ely (brother of Richard T. Ely), Harriet Gardner Ely, and Richard T. Ely. The biographies are composed largely of excerpts of family letters woven into a narrative. The work on Richard T. Ely, for example, excerpts hundreds of letters dating 1854-1931. Generally the letters on which these compilations are based are not in the collection.

Ely joined the Johns Hopkins University faculty in 1881. Although his correspondence during the first years there was not preserved as religiously as in later years, his interests in labor, socialism, and taxation are clearly discernible. Within a few years these fields broadened and included many liberal and experimental government and social reforms.

Characteristically, Ely joined with other young liberals in 1885 to form the American Economic Association. His secretaryship, 1885-1892; his presidency, 1899-1901; and his interest in the organization are reflected in his correspondence with its officers during the greater part of his career.

Ely was a member of the Baltimore and the Maryland tax commissions in 1885-1886 and 1886-1888, respectively, and there are letters at these times from numerous city and state officials relative to taxation. The New York Tax Reform Association also interested Ely as shown by correspondence, 1890-1900, with Bolton Hall. From 1901 to 1906 there is extensive correspondence with the Massachusetts Single Tax League through its secretary, C.B. Fellebraun. Between 1888 and 1893, Ely interested himself in municipal ownership, and there are many letters on this subject from municipal officials.

For seven years following 1887 Ely lectured at Chautauqua, and his friendship with John H. Vincent, the founder, is evidenced by a scattering of correspondence. Of more importance is the correspondence with Vincent's son, George E. Vincent, mainly concerning Chautauqua and subsequent mutual publishing interests. At Chautauqua Ely also formed a warm friendship with William Rainey Harper and the two men corresponded about their lectures, their writings, and the University of Chicago. The 1892 correspondence shows Ely's activities in a similar venture, the Bay View Assembly at Bay View, Michigan. In addition, from 1897 to 1902 Ely was interested in the University Association Inc., of Chicago, an adult education enterprise of which Samuel Fallows and W.E. Ernst were officers.

The combination of Chautauqua and the study of socialism and labor problems, together with Ely's innate religious convictions, apparently fused to form Ely's chief contribution to American thought. Many of his early publications were widely read in reform and religious circles. In this manner he attracted the attention of religious leaders and middle class society to the problem of the laboring classes, popularized the study of economics, and related economics to the social problems of the day.

In 1891 Ely helped found and became secretary of the Christian Social Union (CSU). In the early 1890s he corresponded regularly with CSU president Frederick D. Huntington and others active in the organization including W.D.P. Bliss, James Macbridge Sterrett, and Everett P. Wheeler. At about the same time Ely was also interested in the activities of the Sociological Group, a body of scholars devoted to a union of certain Protestant churches and to formulating a progressive public opinion (see letters of Seth Low and William Chauncey Langdon). In this period and later he also maintained an extensive correspondence with other reform minded religious leaders. Among them were Lyman Abbott, William L. Bull, John Carter (secretary of the English CSU), Washington Gladden, Edward Everett Hale, George D. Herron, Robert A. Holland, J.O.S. Huntington, I.L. Nicholson, Walter Rauschenbush, and John A. Ryan.

In the 1880s and 1890s Ely was especially involved with labor and working class reforms. His interest is evidenced by letters of labor leaders including Samuel Gompers, Robert D. Layton, and T.V. Powderly; socialists such as Robert Hunter, A.M. Simons, and John Spargo; and anarchists including Joseph Labadie and August Spies. The topics of socialism in England and the English Labor Party were also discussed with Sidney Webb and J. Ramsey MacDonald. A host of other reform figures including the following were among Ely's frequent correspondents:

  • Addams, Jane
  • Bates, Helen Page
  • Curtis, George W.
  • Darrow, Clarence
  • Fales, Imogene C.
  • Howe, Frederic C.
  • Kelley, Florence
  • Lloyd, Henry Demarest
  • Owen, Richard
  • Sayles, Lita Barney
  • Taylor, Graham
  • Willard, Frances E.

In 1892 Ely accepted the appointment to the head of the Department of Economics, Politics, and History at the University of Wisconsin. An interesting series of letters of University of Wisconsin president Thomas C. Chamberlin, historian Frederick Jackson Turner, and Johns Hopkins president Daniel Coit Gilman document Ely's decision to move to Madison. Upon arrival he immediately set about to make his department not only an important teaching and research center, but also to make it of service to various organizations and groups outside Madison. Exemplifying this type of activity are 1892 and 1893 letters of Robert C. Spencer and Fred W. Speir of the People's Institute of Milwaukee, concerning lectures, charities, and general policies.

Ely's interest in social reforms and his writings on socialism drew fire in 1894 from Oliver E. Wells, Wisconsin State Superintendent of Public Instruction, which resulted in Ely's trial and subsequent exoneration before the Board of Regents. The famous trial focused attention on Ely as a champion of academic freedom and was the topic of much of the correspondence in the summer of 1894. The letters of former Ely student David Kinley are particularly informative on the incident. Thereafter for 30 years much correspondence pertains to academic freedom, including especially the cases of Edward W. Bemis at the University of Chicago, 1895-1896, and Edward A. Ross at Stanford University in 1900. Moreover, from 1915 to 1923 Ely was interested in or was a member of the American Association of University Professors' Committee on Academic Freedom.

1902-1919 (Reels 22-69 and Wis Mss MK, Boxes 21-68)

During this period Ely was firmly established as one of the University of Wisconsin's most distinguished faculty members. In this role he had contact with numerous Wisconsin political figures concerning university and state government affairs, and other topics. These political contacts included:

  • Davies, Joseph E.
  • La Follette, Robert M., Sr.
  • Lenroot, Irvine L.
  • McCarthy, Charles
  • McGovern, Francis E.
  • Philipp, Emanuel L.
  • Rosenberry, Marvin B.
  • Spooner, John C.
  • Stevens, E. Ray
  • Whitehead, John M.

Likewise he corresponded frequently with state and Madison area business and civic leaders:

  • Boyd, James M.
  • Ela, Emerson
  • Faast, Ben F.
  • Frame, A.J.
  • Hanks, Lucien M.
  • Hanks, Stanley C.
  • Hatton, William H.
  • Jones, G.D.
  • Jones, Richard Lloyd
  • Kohler, Walter J.
  • Levitan, Solomon
  • Owen, John S.
  • Proudfit, A.E.
  • Rosebush, Judson
  • Sensenbrenner, F.J.
  • Stark, Carl L.
  • Stark, Paul E.
  • Vilas, William F.

This correspondence covers numerous topics including university administrative matters; fund raising for library materials and scholarships; research projects, especially concerning utilization of Wisconsin's cut-over regions; and, occasionally, personal business and real estate ventures. During the war years, preparedness and the League to Enforce Peace - Wisconsin Branch are also frequent topics.

Also during the 1902-1919 period, the correspondence mirrors Ely's involvement in real estate and other investments. Beginning about the turn of the century, he was actively involved in promoting University Heights as a Madison residential section. Later he frequently acted as the agent for a number of former Madison residents in real estate and mortgage investments, and was interested in several Madison real estate companies and subdivisions, and in a State Street office building. Correspondence with Theodore Marburg, with several of Ely's University of Wisconsin colleagues, and with Madison banking and business leaders often concerns these real estate dealings. In 1909 is the onset of a long run of correspondence on another major real estate venture: a subdivision at Charlottesville, Virginia, called Madison Park. Ely's primary associates in the project were H.W. Hilleary and Samuel Marshall of Charlottesville. Other investors included Henry W. Farnam, V. Everit Macy, M.V. O'Shea, and Paul Reinsch. Noted landscape architect John Nolen was involved in planning the subdivision and is also a frequent correspondent. Between 1910 and 1915 correspondence with A.R. Hathaway pertains to the Northwestern Land and Improvement Company, a Tacoma, Washington concern speculating in irrigated orchard lands. Still another business venture covered in the period is an attempt to establish a publishing company in Madison to specialize in scientific and technical books. Correspondence between 1914 and 1916 with W.H. Lighty and Frank Sharp of the University of Wisconsin, and publishers Albert Shaw, George Barry Mallon, and Caspar W. Hodgson relates to this scheme.

Academics, research, and publishing, however, are still the topics of most of Ely's correspondence. From 1902 to 1905, partly on behalf of the United States Department of Agriculture, Ely made investigations of irrigation and water rights in Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, and Nebraska, and his papers contain correspondence with Elwood Mead and others, and reports bearing on these subjects. Between 1902 and 1906 there is material on the Wisconsin University Settlement Association of Milwaukee and on Ely's efforts to allow university credit for laboratory work in that and other social service organizations. Association director H.H. Jacobs was a regular correspondent and a copy of the Settlement's articles of association are filed under May 1902. In the period 1902-1913, Ely became interested in the economic aspects of Mormonism and the correspondence touches upon this field. An interest was also shown in the Amana Society of Amana, Iowa, and in the cooperative colony at Rugby, Tennessee. The Union Colony of Colorado at Greeley is touched upon in the letters of the founder's son Ralph Meeker and others in 1903.

Beginning about 1904, there is a great deal of correspondence concerning the American Bureau of Industrial Research, an organization headed by Ely and John R. Commons which collected and published source materials. The most important contribution made by the organization was the ten-volume Documentary History of American Industrial Society. Letters of associates and research workers such as John B. Andrews, Commons, Helen L. Sumner, and Ulrich B. Phillips; of the organization's treasurer, V. Everit Macy; and of financial contributors among whom were Macy, Stanley McCormick of Chicago, William H. Hatton of New London, Wisconsin, and Ellison D. Smythe of Pelzer, South Carolina, give a remarkably complete picture of this organization. A particularly interesting group of the Bureau papers is the correspondence of John B. Andrews and William E. Walling on gathering the source material which forms the basis for the State Historical Society of Wisconsin's famous labor and socialism collections.

In 1906 there is a collection of letters to Henry C. Taylor in reply to Ely's queries on southern land tenancy. Some of these letters enclose copies of tenancy agreements. In the same year the American Association for Labor Legislation was organized and Ely, as president, corresponded with the officers, especially secretary Adna F. Weber. From 1909 to 1914 the correspondence with president William F. Blackman reflects an interest in Rollins College at Winter Park, Florida where Francis Mason Ely was employed as a librarian.

In 1911, 1912, and again in 1913 Ely toured Europe and there is substantial correspondence concerning lectures and other arrangements for these trips. In the same period many letters concern the preparation of Property and Contract in Their Relation to the Distribution of Wealth. Included are letters relating to collecting examples of labor, theatrical, and baseball contracts; information on oyster culture which Ely used in his analysis of the concept of private property; and comment on the book from a number of colleagues and friends. Ely was a prime force behind the Wisconsin Commercial and Industrial Congress, which met in Madison in May 1916. Some of his early 1916 correspondence with Van Hise touches on the University's backing for this conference which was intended to demonstrate that the University was an asset to state businesses.

World War I brought bitterness to the University of Wisconsin campus and conflict over support for the war effort between many members of the faculty and Senator Robert M. La Follette. Ely considered running for Congress on a pro-war platform against incumbent John M. Nelson. The July 1917 correspondence contains assessments of his chances from Francis E. McGovern and others. Ely's stand on the war is further reflected by his presidency of the Madison chapter of the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion, and his chairmanship of the executive committee of the League to Enforce Peace - Wisconsin Branch. His correspondence growing from these posts is both state and national in scope. William H. Short, League to Enforce Peace secretary, and W.W. Powell, Graham H. Stuart, and John M. Whitehead of the Wisconsin Branch are frequent contacts. A large portion of the League correspondence deals with a national convention convened in Madison, November 8-10, 1918, with William Howard Taft as main speaker. Subsequent letters illustrate the vain fight to secure United States membership in the League of Nations and Ely's efforts to reorganize the Wisconsin Branch into a permanent patriotic and anti-bolshevist organization called the Wisconsin Society of Civic and Industrial Education (see especially letters of D.O. Kinsman). In addition to Ely's own letters, the series contains correspondence of Juliet C. Thorp and Janet Van Hise, successive chairpersons of the Wisconsin Branch's Speakers' Bureau, and Women's Organizations.

Signaling his growing interest in land economics, Ely, in December 1917, formed the American Association for Agricultural Legislation to study agriculture from an economic viewpoint. He served as secretary (other officers were Elwood Mead and Henry C. Taylor) until the organization folded about 1922. The series contains many letters concerning membership solicitation and other business of the organization. Also related to land economics was a 1918 study of vacant lands in northern Wisconsin conducted on behalf of the University and the state government. Anticipating widespread unemployment after the war and hoping that returning soldiers could settle the area, Ely concentrated on methods of attracting settlers, land companies, credit needs of settlers, etc. Important correspondents on this project were Donald W. Sawtelle, who assisted Ely in the study, land dealer Ben F. Faast, and E.G. Quamme, president of the Federal Land Bank in St. Paul.

1920-1931 (Reels 69-115 and Wis Mss MK, Boxes 69-119)

In 1920, at the age of 66, Ely organized the Institute for Research in Land Economics (IRLE), later renamed the Institute for Research in Land Economics and Public Utilities. This venture absorbed his energies and most of his correspondence for about the next twelve years. The Institute was established to perform basic research on a broad range of topics including urban and rural tenancy, land value, public and private ownership, conservation, public control over private land utilization, and public utilities. In addition to Ely's own letters, the series contains correspondence originating with IRLE staff, especially Arthur J. Mertzke and Dora E. Wallendorf.

Information on all facets of Institute activity can be found in Ely's correspondence with the organization's trustees and a few other individuals who assisted in planning and fund raising. Among these individuals were Henry S. Graves, William S. Kies, Frank O. Lowden, Marvin B. Rosenberry, and Albert Shaw. Much of the IRLE correspondence concerns attempts to secure financial aid from private sources, utility organizations, railroads, real estate trade associations, and foundations. There are runs of correspondence with the following organizations with which the Institute either had mutual interests or from which it sought financial support:

  • American Construction Council (Dwight L. Hoopingarner)
  • American Civic Association (Harlean James)
  • American Gas Association
  • Associated Mortgage Investors Inc. (Kingman Knott Robins)
  • Carnegie Corporation (Frederick P. Keppel)
  • Federated Societies on Planning and Parks
  • Farm Mortgage Bankers Association (E.D. Chassell)
  • Henry Strong Educational Foundation (Gordon Strong and S.C. Stallwood)
  • Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial (Beardsley Ruml)
  • National Association of Real Estate Boards (Nathan William MacChesney)
  • National Electric Light Association (M.H. Aylesworth and Carl D. Jackson)

Other important correspondents include public utilities officials Paul S. Clapp and Martin J. and Samuel Insull; real estate industry leaders George Harding and Herbert U. Nelson; and railroad executive Daniel Willard. In addition there are many small groups of routine letters of people important in the business world.

Much correspondence also pertains to the organization's research in its fields of interest such as city planning; housing, especially the City Housing Corporation of New York; highways and street railways; large land holdings in the United States; tax reforms, especially in Illinois; rural land problems; and public utilities. Research is covered extensively in the letters of the various economists who worked for the Institute including G.B.L. Arner, H. Morton Bodfish, Herbert B. Dorau, Martin G. Glaeser, Edward W. Morehouse, Mary Shine Peterson, Herbert D. Simpson, Henry C. Taylor, and George S. Wehrwein. For information on the City Housing Corporation and its planned community on Long Island see the letters of Alexander M. Bing. The Institute's work on rural and agricultural land issues is frequently connected with the Fairway Farms Corporation of Montana. Correspondence of Benjamin H. Hibbard, George Wehrwein, and M.L. Wilson is important in this corporation.

In 1925 the IRLE shifted its headquarters and its affiliation to Northwestern University ostensibly to improve its sources of funding. From that point there is extensive correspondence with Northwestern University administrative officers including Frederick S. Deibler, William A. Dyche, Ralph E. Heilman, and Walter Dill Scott over IRLE administrative and financial matters.

Other important topics of IRLE correspondence are public attacks on Ely and the Institute by Emil O. Jorgenson of the Manufacturers and Merchants Federal Tax League and the Education Protective Association, and night courses in real estate offered in conjunction with YMCAs.

Unrelated to the IRLE is a large amount of correspondence, 1920-1930, concerning the finances and administration of the Washington, D.C. School for Secretaries and it subsidiaries, the Washington Employment Exchange and the M.S. Ginn and Company retailers of office supplies. Ely was the main financial backer and his son, John T.A. Ely, and Louis B. Montfort were the administrative officers of these businesses. In the best of times the School and related enterprises were only marginally successful and they represented a constant drain on Ely's finances.

1932-1944, 1957 (Reels 115-116 and Wis Mss MK, Box 120)

Ely retired from the IRLE in 1931 and in 1932 moved to New York City and formed the Institute for Economic Research. A copy of this Institute's by-laws is enclosed with a letter dated June 20, 1935. The correspondence associated with the Institute for Economic Research shows its activities in land economics and real estate education, and in a few small research projects. By 1935 and 1936 there is also substantial correspondence related to research for a proposed “History of Economic Thought in the United States.” In 1937 William S. Kies and some other friends and admirers formed the Ely Economic Foundation to finance the completion of Ely's autobiography, the “History of Economic Thought,” and some other works. Kies and Robert H. Armstrong are the primary correspondents in the last years of Ely's life. Their letters reflect the progress on a few research and writing projects, and the management of Ely's modest financial resources, and generally give details of Ely's final years. Other correspondence during the final years touches on Ely's sale of his library to Louisiana State University and his efforts to sell his personal papers to various institutions.

The correspondence dating from after Ely's death consists primarily of responses to Henry C. Taylor's request of former Ely students and associates for recollections and memories of their mentor. The lone 1957 letter concerns the rededication of a plaque commemorating the 1894 trial before the University of Wisconsin Regents.

Series B. DIARIES, 1902-1930 (Reels 116-120 and Wis Mss MK, Boxes 121-125)

The diaries are subdivided into manuscript and typescript copies. Both sets cover roughly the same years and events, and organization within each set is chronological. Within both the manuscript and typescript sets there is sometimes more than one diary covering the same time period.

Most of the manuscript diaries are in Ely's handwriting, although some entries were apparently made by his wife, and still others by a secretary. In some volumes many days have no entries and these pages have intentionally been left off the film. Most entries are routine in character chronicling such things as appointments, speaking engagements, and deadlines for articles; or listing letters received and sent. Interspersed are more substantive remarks on both professional and personal topics. There are some important exceptions to the generally routine nature of the diaries. Volume 12, covering 1908, has details of Madison business ventures including Ely's role in organizing the First National Bank, the West End Realty Company, the West Lawn Heights Company, and the Joseph M. Boyd Company. Volumes 16 and 18 detail 1911 and 1913 trips to Europe, and volumes 19 and 20 relate impressions of Ely's travel to Vancouver, British Columbia, New Zealand, and Australia in 1914.

The typewritten diaries appear to be based on the manuscript volumes, but in some cases are more detailed. They were not written on a day to day basis. Rather they seem to have been compiled later, perhaps when Ely was preparing his autobiography. Two years where the typescripts offer much more information than the manuscript diaries are 1905, when Ely traveled in the South, and 1921, for which there is no manuscript diary.

Series C. TEACHING AND RESEARCH FILES

The Teaching and Research Files are subdivided into Writings, Reference Files, University of Wisconsin Departmental Files, Seminary Records, Lecture Notes and Course Materials, and Student Research Papers.

1. Writings, 1876-1942 (Reels 120-126 and Wis Mss MK, Box 126, and Mss 411, Boxes 1-26)

The Writings subseries includes a comprehensive card file bibliography, articles and addresses, and book drafts.

The bibliography contains a section on books and articles written by Ely, and a separate section covering works he edited and works for which he wrote introductions.

The Articles and Addresses consist of popular and scholarly articles and lectures as well as a few book reviews written by Ely. They are further subdivided into an alphabetical file arranged by title, and a set of topically organized scrapbooks. Included in the alphabetical file are drafts and manuscript copies of both published and unpublished works as well as some notes and published versions. The contents list below has a complete register of titles. Dates shown are frequently for the drafts and therefore may not be the actual date of publication. The journal in which the piece appeared, or the audience Ely was addressing are frequently noted on the documents. The scrapbooks contain copies of Ely's published articles. Arrangement of the articles within the volumes is topical. The contents list below shows the topics, and the table of contents in each individual volume lists the titles of articles contained under each topic. There is substantial duplication between the articles found in the scrapbooks and the alphabetical file. The volumes were microfilmed intact, however, because their method of organization provides an alternate means of access to Ely's writings.

Book drafts and files, as their name implies, include Ely's drafts, outlines, notes, revisions, reviews, and other papers for many of his published works, and for several manuscripts which never appeared in print. Among the latter are four substantial manuscripts: “The Evolution of Economic Society,” an undated study of economic history; a textbook entitled “A Guide to the Study of Economic and Social Problems,” circa 1889; and “The New Economics and the New World,” circa 1930, and “The Story of Economics in the United States,” circa 1935-1940, both dealing with the history of economic thought. Also included are files on books written or proposed for several series of which Ely was the general editor, and one, The Changing Character of Municipal Ownership in the Electric Light and Power Industry, which was published by the Institute for Research in Land Economics and Public Utilities, but in which Ely apparently had no direct hand.

The amount of documentation varies greatly among the works. Files on some books, such as Elementary Principles of Economics and The Social Law of Service, contain only a few notes, while others may contain multiple drafts and related research materials. Most thoroughly covered are Outlines of Land Economics and “The Story of Economics in the United States.” Files on the former, the first of Ely's three major works on land economics, contain variant versions of many chapters. For “The Story of Economics...” there are three distinct drafts and extensive research files.

2. Reference Files, 1851, 1879-1934 (Reels 146-153 and Mss 411, Boxes 26-34)

Included is a card file of miscellaneous notes, and a topically organized research file containing notes, clippings, copies of articles, and other materials on subjects in which Ely had a research interest. The contents list below has a complete list of file headings for the topical file. Some of the notes and materials closely resemble Ely's published writings. The majority of the material appears under subjects for which Ely is most well known; thus there is a large volume of material on labor and socialism dating from the 1880's and 1890s, and substantial files on trusts and monopolies, and on topics related to agricultural and land economics.

3. University of Wisconsin Departmental Files, 1894, 1902-1922 (Reel 153 and Mss 411, Boxes 34-35)

Ely served as the head of the Department of Economics, Politics, and History and its successors for nearly thirty years. These fragmentary records document only a fraction of his administrative responsibilities. Included are the transcript, exhibits, letters, and final report from the famous 1894 Board of Regents hearing on charges that Ely fomented socialism and labor unrest through his teachings; files on a proposed training school for public service; records of an educational survey of the University conducted in 1914-1915; and a departmental ledger. The survey, conducted by William H. Allen of the Bureau of Municipal Research of New York City, was intended to judge how well the University was meeting the needs of the state and how effectively it was managed. The resulting report was critical of some University programs initiated while Progressive Republicans controlled the state government. It spawned an intense controversy within the state and drew a good deal of national attention. Ely's files include questionnaires, plans, exhibits, criticism of the survey by Ely and others, and clippings of editorial comment from the New York Evening Post and New York Times. The ledger records receipts and expenditures of funds for various projects, 1916-1922. Arrangement is by account, and individual entries show the name of the individual or company paying or receiving funds and the purpose of most expenditures. Accounts include the American Bureau of Industrial Research, the Institute for Research in Land Economics, the University Appropriation for Research, and individual employees of the department.

4. Seminary Records, 1889-1930 (Reels 154-157 and Mss 411, Boxes 35-39)

At Johns Hopkins University and later at the University of Wisconsin Ely pioneered in the use of the seminary or seminar method of graduate education. Consequently, records of Ely's seminaries and roundtables document not only his own thinking on a number of significant topics, but also form an important record of the development of graduate education. A few miscellaneous notes, 1889-1891, are the only records in this series which date from the Johns Hopkins period. Ely's seminaries and roundtables at the University of Wisconsin and Northwestern University are both well covered. Seminary meetings generally consisted of reviews of recent literature, research reports by seminary participants, and discussions. The content of individual files varies; however, the records generally consist of minutes of the meetings and, especially in later years, outlines of papers delivered by students. In some instances all seminary members worked on facets of the same general topic, and in others they were allowed to pursue any topic related to economics. After 1895 Ely frequently supervised two seminaries a year, and in these cases separate records were maintained for each. Records dating 1889-1906 are in volumes in chronological order. Post-1906 records are arranged chronologically by academic year. The following seminaries had designated topics:

1890/1891 Ricardo's Writings
1893/1894 Railroad Transportation
1895/1896 English and German Socialism
1896/1897 Scope and Method of Political Economy
1897/1898 Scope and Method of Political Economy
1899/1900 Physiocrats
1900/1901 German Socialism
1908/1909 1. Ricardo; 2. Public Finance
1909/1910 Economic Theory
1910/1911 Economic Theory
1915/1916 1. General Economic Seminary; 2. Monopolies and Trusts
1916/1917 1. General Economic Seminary; 2. Land Problems; 3. Custom and Competition
1917/1918 1. Competition; 2. Land Problems
1918/1919 Land Problems
1919/1920 Tenancy
1920 (summer) Large Land Holdings
1920/1921 1. Land Problems; 2. Monopolies and Trusts
1921/1922 1. Land Problems; 2. General Economics
1922/1923 1. Land Colonization and Rural Planning; 2. Monopolies and Trusts
1923/1924 1. Land Utilization; 2. Theory of Rent
1924/1925 Land Problems
1926/1927 Economic Theory
1927/1928 Economic Theory
1928/1929 1. Economic Theory; 2. Cost and Income
1929/1930 Competition

5. Lecture Notes and Course Materials (Reels 159-178 and Mss 411, Boxes 39-56)

These records consist of lecture notes and transcripts of lectures for classes taught by Ely. Most consist of series of lectures for semester or year length courses at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Wisconsin, and Northwestern University. Also included are Chautauqua lectures and lectures for courses Ely occasionally gave at other institutions. The files frequently contain other related material such as outlines, syllabi, class rosters, and lists of suggested term paper topics. Organization of the series is alphabetical by course title. Many of the lectures were continually updated and re-used. Dates are employed in the titles only when necessary to distinguish between two substantially differing drafts of the same lectures.

Only a few of the course files predate Ely's arrival at the University of Wisconsin. Among those are a set of class rosters, 1882-1892, from Johns Hopkins, and files on courses entitled “Advanced Political Economy” and “Commerce - Its Historical Development.” Also from that early period are a number of Chautauqua lectures including “The Church and the World: The Church and the State,” “Economic and Social Problems,” and “Anton Ashley Cooper: Friend of the Laboring Class;” and a set of lectures on socialism delivered at Vassar College.

University of Wisconsin class materials make up the bulk of this subseries. Central among these are extensive lectures entitled “The Distribution of Wealth.” These lectures were designed for a two-year course and according to the table of contents were divided into five “books.” The collection, however, contains only “books” one and two (“The Fundamentals in the Existing Social Order” and “The Separate Shares in Distribution”). The other “books” may never have been completed. Segments of these lengthy lectures were also used separately for a number of different courses including “Custom and Competition” and “Monopolies and Trusts.” Included in the collection is a partial copy of an early version of “Distribution of Wealth,” circa 1899; a verbatim transcript (circa 3700 pages) of the lectures as they were delivered beginning about 1906; a revision of the segments on “Custom and Competition” and “Monopolies and Trusts” dating approximately 1915-1921; an abbreviated version of the lectures (notes and outlines rather than a transcript) which varies somewhat in organization from the complete transcript; and some miscellaneous notes and materials. Other well documented courses include “Evolution of Industrial Society,” “History of Economic Thought,” and “History of Political Economy.”

Ely's developing interest in land economics is also revealed in some of his Wisconsin courses. The files contain lectures entitled “Landed Property and the Rent of Land” dated 1911-1912 and “Urban Land Economics,” 1923. This emphasis continues after his move to Northwestern University. Files on courses from the Northwestern period include “Land Policies,” “Public Utility Operation,” and “Utilization of Land.”

6. Student Research Papers, 1896-1930 (Reels 178-181 and Mss 411, Boxes 56-59)

These papers represent only a small fraction of the term papers and seminar papers prepared for Ely in his many years of teaching. They date from 1896-1930, although most fall between 1914 and 1926, and are organized by topics (listed in the contents list below). Included are papers prepared for both graduate and undergraduate courses as well as some outlines and abstracts of papers. Some of Ely's more well known students whose papers are preserved here are John B. Andrews, Asher Hobson, Harry Jerome, W. I. King, Selig Perlman, Horace Secrist, and Allyn A. Young.

Series D. ORGANIZATIONAL RECORDS

Filed in this series are records of the following organizations: The American Association for Agricultural Legislation, the American Bureau of Industrial Research, the Christian Social Union, the League to Enforce Peace - Wisconsin Branch, and the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion - Madison Chapter. In addition, the series contains records related to a book publishing company proposed for establishment in Madison, and a research project on northern Wisconsin land utilization.

1. American Association for Agricultural Legislation, 1918-1922 (Reels 181-182 and Mss 411, Box 60)

The American Association for Agricultural Legislation (AAAL), an offshoot of the American Economic Association, was formed in December 1917. Its purpose was the study of agriculture from an economic viewpoint. Ely served as secretary from the founding of the organization until it disbanded about 1922 due to lack of interest and funds.

Included in the AAAL files are a number of articles and clippings about the organization; financial reports and a journal of receipts and disbursements; membership lists; and records of a land economics conference in May 1919 sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Farm Management. Organization of the files is by type of record and chronological thereunder.

2. American Bureau of Industrial Research, 1903-1916 (Reel 182 and Mss 411, Box 60)

Founded by Ely in 1904, the Bureau was funded primarily by private gifts (V. Everit Macy and Robert Fulton Cutting of New York and Stanley McCormick of Chicago were among the principal contributors) and was established to prepare a thorough history of American industrial society. Ely brought John R. Commons to the University of Wisconsin to run the Bureau in 1904. As years passed Ely had progressively less and Commons proportionally more control of Bureau affairs. Among the prominent historians and economists who worked for the Bureau were Commons, John B. Andrews, Helen L. Sumner, Selig Perlman, and Ulrich B. Phillips. The material collected by the Bureau forms the basis for the State Historical Society of Wisconsin's outstanding labor history resources. Moreover, the Bureau was directly responsible for the publication of the ten-volume Documentary History of American Industrial Society and indirectly responsible for the first two volumes of Commons' History of Labor in the United States, and for numerous related monographs.

American Bureau of Industrial Research records preserved in the Ely collection include a file of outlines and proposals concerning the Documentary History; financial ledgers (organized by account) and journals (organized chronologically); and two folders of reports and papers. The reports and papers consist of progress and financial reports; contracts with employees, publishers, and the University; and substantial documentation on a personal conflict between Ely and Commons which grew from a dispute over control of the Bureau.

3. Book Publishing Company (Reel 182 and Mss 411, Box 60)

Between about 1914 and 1916 Ely and some associates investigated the possibility of establishing a publishing house in Madison specializing in scientific and technical books. This small subseries contains only a few lists of suggested series, books, and authors related to the proposal.

4. Christian Social Union, 1891-1910 (Reel 183 and Mss 411, Box 61)

Richard T. Ely became secretary of the Christian Social Union in the United States (CSU) at the organization's initial meeting in April 1891. The Union was patterned after a similar organization in England and was intended to involve churches in social questions of the day. The CSU apparently flourished for a period of four to five years, became inactive, and was reconstituted in about 1907. As secretary, Ely was quite active in the early years of the organization. Although he was named to the executive committee of the reconstituted organization, he does not seem to have been a very active participant. Christian Social Union records include annual meeting and executive committee meeting minutes and some miscellaneous reports and papers.

5. League to Enforce Peace - Wisconsin Branch, 1918-1920 (Reels 183-185 and Mss 411, Boxes 61-62)

Like the national body, the League to Enforce Peace - Wisconsin Branch was dedicated to building support for the war effort and for a post-war League of Nations. Richard T. Ely was one of the founders of the Wisconsin Branch in the summer of 1918 and served as the chairman of its executive committee. Other leaders of the Wisconsin Branch included State Senator John M. Whitehead of Janesville and Milwaukee attorney Edward W. Frost.

Records here are organized alphabetically by type of record or topic. Included are activity reports, organizational material, speeches, membership lists, and financial records. Many of the records deal with a League-sponsored national convention held in Madison, November 8-10, 1918. Speakers at the convention included William Howard Taft, former socialist Algie M. Simons, and Harvard University President A. Lawrence Lowell. In addition to the Branch's general activities, the files cover its involvement in the Great Lakes Congress for a League of Nations held February 10-11, 1919, in Chicago, and accusations by Robert M. McElroy of the National Security League of widespread pro-Germanism on the University of Wisconsin campus. Also covered are Ely's postwar efforts to reorganize the Wisconsin Branch into a permanent patriotic and anti-bolshevist group under the name of the Wisconsin Society for Civic and Industrial Education.

6. Northern Wisconsin Land Settlement, 1916-1920 (Reels 184-185 and Mss 411, Boxes 62-63)

During and immediately following World War I, Ely worked with state and university officials to study settlement of Wisconsin's cut-over regions. The work was given impetus by the hope that returning soldiers would settle the area. It was also closely related to the establishment of the American Association for Agricultural Legislation and to Ely's growing interest in land economics.

Ely's papers contain an alphabetically arranged subject file from his Northern Wisconsin land settlement study. Among the records are outlines, drafts, and other materials from a bulletin published by Ely entitled Measures, Public and Private, Taken to Protect the Settlers in Northern Wisconsin and the Methods of Securing Their Protection; progress reports; information on a proposed state land settlement commission; a study of the credit needs of settlers; and information gathered in the course of the project such as annual reports of private land companies, survey data on individual settlers, and copies of soldier resettlement plans of several states.

7. Wisconsin Loyalty Legion - Madison Chapter, 1918 (Reel 185 and Mss 411, Box 63)

This small subseries consists exclusively of membership lists for this super-patriotic World War I era organization.

Series E. PERSONAL PAPERS AND SCRAPBOOKS, 1812-1941 (Reels 185-190, 191 and Mss 411, Boxes 63-67)

This series is a heterogeneous collection of files including early deeds and family legal papers; biographical and genealogical information; two studies written by Ely while he was a student in Germany in the 1870s; correspondence; a file concerning the sale of Ely's library and personal papers; and scrapbooks. The file headings shown in the contents list below are generally descriptive of the contents of the series.

Biographical and genealogical information appears in several forms. Most significant are biographies of Richard T. Ely, his parents, and his brother. Written by Francis Mason Ely, these biographies contain numerous excerpts from early family letters which are not part of the collection. The file on Ely's library and personal papers (“Personalia”) includes an extensive inventory of the Ely library purchased by Louisiana State University. The correspondence is ceremonial in character and deals with the celebration of Ely's 80th birthday (1934). The twenty-five volumes of scrapbooks, roughly topical in organization, contain newspaper and magazine clippings and some ephemeral matter such as invitations, programs, and announcements. Major categories pertain to Ely's biography and family, social and professional interests and activities, research interests, and commendation and criticism. The latter category includes a good deal of material on the 1894 investigation into Ely's teachings instigated by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Oliver E. Wells.

Series F. PHOTOGRAPHS, 1894-1941 (Reel 190)

Formal portraits and snapshots of Ely, his family, and his associates at various stages of his career make up the majority of this series. Also included are interior and exterior photos of the Ely home in Madison's University Heights.

1991 ADDITIONS

The small quantity of additions received in 1991 consist primarily of family correspondence and miscellaneous professional papers, found in the household of Ely's second wife, Margaret Hahn Ely. The six boxes of these materials are not included in the microfilm publication.

Included is Ely family correspondence covering the period from 1845 to 1963, chronologically arranged. It primarily consists of letters to Ely from his parents, Ezra Theodore Ely and Harriet Gardner Mason Ely, and his first wife, Anna Morris Anderson Ely. Also included are letters to Anna Ely from her mother, Susan Morris Anderson Crenshaw, letters to and from Richard Sterling Ely and daughter-in-law Caroline Minor Ely, as well as a few letters from other friends and family members such as half sister Octavia Crenshaw. There are only a few personal letters written by Richard T. Ely.

A good portion of the family correspondence deals with day-to-day family life, especially the ongoing health problems of Anna Ely and the education, travel and early career of Richard Sterling Ely.

The nature of the professional correspondence in these additions is not explained by its special provenance, and it contains letters from some of the same correspondents noted with the previously described Ely Papers. The professional correspondence is chronologically arranged and included in the index. Perhaps the most unique aspect of this section are letters received by Ely from students enrolled in his courses in the Chautauqua College during the late 1880s and early 1890s, and examination papers for his Political Economy course taught there. Only a few carbons of Ely's outgoing letters are included, although several interesting items of this type touch on his departure from Johns Hopkins and his support for the School for Secretaries in Washington, D.C. in behalf of his son John Ely. Also included is some correspondence pertaining to his second marriage and the impact of that event on the Institute for Research in Land Economics. At the end of the professional correspondence are additional undated materials pertaining to the Chautauqua, Ely's personal finances, and his land holdings in University Heights.