| Quantity: | 1 box (0.25 cubic ft.) |
|---|---|
| Access: | Open to research |
| Acquisition: | Purchase from Charles Apfelbaum, Rare Books, Manuscripts, & Archives, December 2003 |
| Processed By: | Regina Berry, Student Assistant, State University of New York at Albany, February 2016 |
Walcott Duryea Bartlett, born April 22, 1882, was the only child of Reverend William Alvin Bartlett (1831-1917), who was originally from Binghamton, New York, and his second wife, Annah Louise Walcott (1857-1934). Walcott was born in Indiana, probably Indianapolis, where his father was a pastor. The family moved east in 1882, when Rev. Bartlett took up the pastorate of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. Upon his retirement in 1895, he placed Walcott at the Lawrenceville School, a prestigious preparatory school in New Jersey. He attended Yale University and is listed in the freshman class in 1902. Walcott registered for the draft in September 1918 but appears not to have served. He was listed at the time as being employed in the Food Administration for the U.S. Government.
On August 27, 1929, Walcott married Jane Sumter White in Higganum, Connecticut. She was the daughter of James Garland Lafayette White (1861-1935) and Jane Elizabeth Hood (1862-1910), both of South Carolina. Jane was born December 25, 1893, in Chester County, South Carolina, attended Winthrop College, and graduated from the School of Nursing at Bellevue Hospital, New York City. She served as a nurse during World War I with the American Expeditionary Force in France, from January 1918 to March 1919. Her three younger brothers served in the war as well.
The couple appears to have lived for a time in New York City, but by the 1930 federal census, where Walcott Bartlett reported being a bond salesman, their residence was in Vienna (Oneida County), New York. In the 1940 census, both Walcott and Jane were listed as "lodgers" in Kingstree, Williamsburg, South Carolina.
Between 1939 and 1942, Walcott served as a legislative assistant at the State Capitol in Albany to Republican New York State Senator Walter W. Stokes (1880-1960) of Cooperstown, New York. Walcott died on November 30, 1943, in Vienna, N.Y., at the age of 61. The couple had no children. In his will he bequeathed $50,000 to Hamilton College in honor of his father, who had matriculated there in 1852. Jane White Bartlett died on December 17, 1971, and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Chester County, South Carolina.
This collection contains mostly personal letters, a few family mementos, and a school essay written by Bartlett at a young age. Included are several letters Bartlett wrote from school in Lawrenceville, N.Y., to his parents; a few letters from Jane S. White while in France during World War I, and a few letters from other members of Jane's family. The majority of the letters were written by Walcott to Jane, and concern personal and family matters as well as conveying his affection for her.
The letters from 1939-1942 are written from Albany, New York, during the months that the state legislature was in session (January-March). They were usually addressed to Jane in South Carolina and on occasion in Florida. They include comments on the people and processes of Stokes's state senate office, and on the socializing and dining he did with his colleagues. Also included are political observations and comments on World War II. The letters reflect Bartlett's pro-Republican, anti-New Deal, anti-Roosevelt stance.
Of particular interest is his letter of March 13, 1942, when he wrote to Jane about the efforts of Pearl [S.] Buck and others in Washington who were urging the government to integrate the armed services, an idea he clearly opposed.
| Box | Folder | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Letters: Walcott Bartlett to his mother and father, Annah L. Walcott Bartlett and William A. Bartlett, from his school in Lawrenceville, N.J., 1895-1896 (17 items) |
| 1 | 2 | Letters: Jane S. White to her father James White, brother John Hood White and sister Mary E. White Whitlock (likely), from France, ca. 1918 (4 items) |
| 1 | 3 | Letters: Walcott Bartlett, Oneida, N.Y., to Jane Sumter White, New York City, October 1927-February 1928, n.d. (12 items) |
| 1 | 4 | Letters: Walcott Bartlett, "Bartlett Camp," Jewell, N.Y., to Jane S. [White] Bartlett, New York City, ca. 1932 (17 letters, 12 envelopes) |
| 1 | 5 | Letters: Walcott Bartlett, "Bartlett Camp," Jewell, N.Y., to Jane S. [White] Bartlett, New York City, ca. 1932 (7 items) |
| 1 | 6 | Letters: Walcott Bartlett, Albany, N.Y., to Jane S. [White] Bartlett, January-March 1939 (11 items) |
| 1 | 7 | Letters: Walcott Bartlett, Albany, N.Y., to Jane S. [White] Bartlett, January-March 1940 (7 items) |
| 1 | 8 | Letters: Walcott Bartlett, Albany, N.Y., to Jane S. [White] Bartlett, January 1941 (10 items) |
| 1 | 9 | Letters: Walcott Bartlett, Albany, N.Y., to Jane S. [White] artlett, February 1941 (10 items) |
| 1 | 10 | Letters: Walcott Bartlett, Albany, N.Y., to Jane S. [White] Bartlett, March-April 1941 (14 items) |
| 1 | 11 | Letters: Walcott Bartlett, Utica, N.Y., to Jane S. [White] Bartlett, December 30, 1941-January 3, 1942, regarding his medical testing and treatment (3 items) |
| 1 | 12 | Letters: Walcott Bartlett, Albany, N.Y., to Jane S. [White] Bartlett, January 1942 (13 items) |
| 1 | 13 | Letters: Walcott Bartlett, Albany, N.Y., to Jane S. [White] Bartlett, February 1942 (12 items) |
| 1 | 14 | Letters: Walcott Bartlett, Albany, N.Y., to Jane S. [White] Bartlett; also includes an invitation to Walcott Bartlett from Lithgow Osborne of the Senate Conservation Committee, March 1942 (11 items) |
| 1 | 15 | Fragments of letters from Walcott Bartlett to Jane S. [White] Bartlett, ca. 1939-1942 (11 items) |
| 1 | 16 | Letters to Walcott Bartlett, 1932, n.d. (5 items):
|
| 1 | 17 | School essay: "The Theory of Territorial Expansion," Third Form Oration of Walcott D. Bartlett, 6 p., plus a brief outline, n.d. (2 items) |
| 1 | 18 | Mementos, 1929, n.d. (5 items):
|
| 1 | 19 | White family correspondence, 1910, n.d. (3 items):
|
| 1 | 20 | Various newspaper clippings, 1942, n.d., likely concerning friends and local issues (8 items) |