Underwood, Oscar W. (Oscar Wilder), 1862-1929. Papers, 1876-1962.
Title:
Papers, 1876-1962.
NOTE: Unfortunately Underwood did not save copies of his letters until he was elected to the U.S. Senate; thus the papers in the House of Representatives series consist almost entirely of letters addressed to him. The first series, Personal Life, 1876-1962, includes biographical and genealogical material. The second series, which is mostly letters written to Underwood while he was in the U.S. House of Representatives (1895-1914), are extensive, and reflect a meticulous attention to his constituents' requests. A major topic of concern is the postal service. Other topics include Ala. banks and banking, the oleomargarine bill, the Philippine Islands, Ala. politics, labor legislation, railroad legislation, immigration and alien labor, the sale of public lands, patronage, good roads legislation, federal aid for agricultural schools in Ala. colleges, and the Panama Canal. Additional topics include the 1904 Democratic National Convention and presidential election, freight rates, the 1906 Senate election, the rivers and harbors bill, cotton trade, Negro disfranchisement, dams on Ala. rivers, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, and prohibition, as well as the tariff issue and free trade listings, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Esch-White Phosphorus Match Act, the Canadian reciprocity treaty, customs collection, pure food and drug legislation, the merchant marine, and currency issues. Correspondents prominent in this series include lawyers, bankers, politicans, businessmen, editors, and journalists, as well as corporate entities. Specifically, they are listed as added entries. The third series includes the correspondence and letters that document Underwood's years in the U.S. Senate, 1915-1927. NOTE: There is, however, a gap between 1915 Nov. and 1918 Apr. where there are no papers. Among the topics discussed are immigration and alien labor, prohibition, equal suffrage, good roads, Ala. banking, the Panama Canal, Lycurgus Breckinridge Musgrove, judgeships, labor legislation, the merchant marine, Ala. politics, the League of Nations, political campaigns, the Muscle Shoals dam, Woodrow Wilson, the Ku Klux Klan, tariff issues, railroad regulation, the federal income tax bill, Ala. Power Company, the Interestate Commerce Commission, and the 1928 presidential election. The final group of records in this series concerns the Muscle Shoals Project, 1921-1928, which was an unsuccessful attempt by the government to dispose of the Muscle Shoals hydroelectric power plant on the Tenn. River to private interests. Prominent correspondents in this series are listed in the added entries below. The fourth series, Speeches, 1907-1925, is a collection of Underwood's speeches, most of which are in pamphlet form. The fifth series, Political Campaigns, 1894-1924, contains correspondence, letters, photographs, financial records, scrapbooks, clippings, and, in the case of the 1924 presidential nomination campaign, lists of delegates, county chairpersons, and state Democratic Executive Committees. The material for the 1924 campaign is copious, and reflects the Underwood campaign throughout the country. Prominent correspondents are listed in the added entries below. Both presidential nomination campaigns have substantial publicity material. The sixth series is Retirement, 1927-1929, and it includes correspondence and letters, the Drifting Sands of Party Politics manuscript, clippings, scrapbooks, and printed ephemera. There are letters, reports, printed material and photographs documenting the Sixth International Conference of American States in Havana, 1928, to which Underwood was a delegate. The seventh and final series is a book entitled The Story of the Democratic Party (1928) by Henry Minor who inscribed it to Underwood.
ArchivalResource:
65 cubic ft. (88 archives boxes, 26 records center cartons, 11 oversize boxes, and 6 volumes).
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122547857 View
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