Early in his career, Richard T. Ely began not only to preserve his personal papers, but also to acquire a large library of related books, pamphlets, newspapers, manuscripts, and documents. A portion of the library consisting of works on labor and socialism was sold to the John Crerar Library of Chicago in 1902. In 1952 when the Crerar Library revised the scope of its collections, most of these works were given to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin on the condition that they be microfilmed and that the film be made available to other libraries. The balance of the library and the personal papers moved with Ely to Northwestern University in 1925. When he relocated in New York City in 1932 the collection remained in storage in Chicago. In 1938 Louisiana State University (LSU) purchased the Ely library (excluding personal papers) of 7500 books, 10,000 pamphlets, 70 shelves of unbound periodicals and documents, and 200 boxes of manuscripts. The vast majority of the manuscripts at LSU are items collected by Ely as opposed to correspondence and manuscripts produced by him. The largest category of manuscripts consists of deeds, leases, rent rolls, court documents, and other materials on the topic of land tenure in England. However, LSU holds a small amount of correspondence and manuscript material which originated with Ely. These consist chiefly of correspondence with book dealers concerning the purchase of books and manuscripts, notebooks for courses taken at the University of Heidelberg, and notes for revisions of several of Ely's published works. In addition the LSU collection contains sketches, bids, deeds, correspondence, notes, specifications, contracts and other papers of Ely's father relating to his business interests and career as an engineer. A complete description and inventory of the LSU collection is contained in the file headed “Personalia and Library” (in Box 65 and on reel 187 of the microfilm).
The Ely personal papers (referred to as “personalia”) were shipped to Baton Rouge along with the library in 1938. A year later Ely began offering the personal papers for sale to a number of libraries. In 1942 the University of Wisconsin agreed to purchase the “personalia” and the papers were packed and shipped to Madison. However, in February 1943 the arrangement was vetoed by the Board of Regents. Shortly thereafter Ely agreed to donate the “personalia” to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, and in consideration of the donation a group of his former students agreed to raise a fund of money for the Ely Economic Foundation. The agreement was signed in April 1943.
The “personalia” thus acquired forms the bulk of the Ely papers in this collection. In summer 1943, the correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, and a few other items were separated from the balance of the “personalia”. The correspondence and diaries were organized and cataloged under the direction of Manuscripts Curator Alice E. Smith and the scrapbooks were transferred to the Society library. Portions of the correspondence had been badly damaged by water and mildew previous to their acquisition by the Historical Society, so much so that some of the papers were a compact mass that crumbled into bits when an attempt was made to separate the sheets. Whenever possible, the top sheet of such material was photostated, peeled or scraped off and discarded, and the next sheet photostated, and so on until the bottom of the pile was reached. Due to the condition of the originals some of these photostats are only semi-legible. At the same time duplicates of printed and mimeographed publications, letters too badly mildewed to be deciphered, or of such routine character as not to be worth preserving, and other miscellaneous materials such as Christmas cards, unidentified photographs and prints, negatives, etc., were set aside and later destroyed. The unorganized balance of the Ely personal papers were then put into storage.
Over the years several additions were made to the collection. Shortly after Ely's death in October 1943 his widow, Margaret Hahn Ely, added papers primarily covering the period after 1931; his daughter, Anna Ely Morehouse, donated a few items including a manuscript on Oliver Wendell Holmes; and Henry C. Taylor sent a group of posthumous tributes to Ely written by former students and colleagues, correspondence between Ely, G.B.L. Arner, and William S. Ries, and page proofs for the irrigation study Ely authored for the Department of Agriculture about 1905. In 1949 Anna Morehouse donated a small amount of correspondence and eight volumes of seminary records. In 1959 Margaret Ely presented a substantial addition including seminary records, 1893-1896, two volumes of letters commemorating Ely's eightieth birthday, photos, manuscripts by Ely, and student papers. Between 1962 and 1972 Edward W. Morehouse, the husband of Anna Ely Morehouse and himself a former Ely student and colleague, made several donations including a biography of Ely compiled by Francis Mason Ely. Finally in 1981 two Ely grandchildren, Nancy Morehouse Gordon and Richard E. Ely, sent a small number of pictures and letters.
The segments of the collection left unorganized in 1943 were finally arranged and cataloged with all these additions in 1977-1978. Prior to that time they had been repacked at least twice and one carton (described only as “material re: land economics, mss. for books, and lecture notes”) was lost. Also in 1977-1978 the scrapbooks originally sent to the Society library were returned and incorporated with the Ely papers. A set of administrative records, 1905-1933, of the Institute for Research in Land Economics and Public Utilities was removed from the Ely papers and organized as a separate collection.
The materials organized in 1943 (bearing call number Wis Mss MK) and those organized in 1977-1978 (call number Mss 411) were microfilmed in 1982 in a publication project sponsored by the National Historical Records and Publications Commission and most of the narrative above and below is drawn from the published guide to that microfilm publication. The publication project addressed papers of Wisconsin Progressives, individuals who were connected with the University of Wisconsin or the Wisconsin state government and were intellectual leaders of the Progressive era. Other editions in the series are the Richard T. Ely Papers, Charles R. Van Hise Papers, Charles McCarthy Papers, and John R. Commons Papers. All of these individuals had leading roles in the ideological changes which led to the demise of Social Darwinism, the abandonment of laissez faire economics, the democratization of the electoral process, and the assumption by government of a positive role in furthering the cause of reform. Moreover, several of them had a direct hand in the design and implementation of major Progressive era reforms.
Finally, in 1991, a relatively small quantity of additional papers were purchased by the Historical Society from Gene Povrik. These consisted of papers from the household of Ely's second wife, Margaret Hahn Ely. The six boxes of these materials were assigned call number Mss 806; they are not included in the microfilm publication. Also not on the microfilm publication is one folder of oversize certificates bearing call number File 1875 June 25 Oversize.
