THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY RARE BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS DIVISION ACCESSION SHEET Accession # 39 M 12 Location Annex 5-a-1/2 (r) Title O'SHAUGHNESSY FAMILY. Papers. Approximate inclusive dates 1899-1937, bulk dates 1910-1930 Date of receipt March 1939 Received from Elim O'Shaughnessey Volume on arrival Number of boxes (after reboxing) 9 AB, 4 FB, 2 RC (7 linear feet) Condition good Restrictions removed, see memo to file Description see attached sheets Special Formats -Photographs -Maps -Audio Tapes -Films -Graphics -Artifacts -Machine-readable records -Other (list)___________ Temporary catalog card added entries See Attached Sheets O'Sha ughnessy Family Papers Biographies The O'Shaughnessy Family Papers contain materials relating to Edith, Nelson and Elim O'Shaughnessy. Edith O'Shaughnessy was a successful author of fiction and and autobiographical narratives concerning her life abroad, both as a young woman, and as the wife of diplomat Nelson O'Shaughnessy. Mrs. O'Shaughnessy was educated in the United States at a convent, and by private tutors, and her somewhat mannered fiction and autobiographical work reflected her narrow experience as a woman "in society" both in the United States and abroad. Edith O'Shaughnessy's literary output was in many ways motivated by her husband's relative lack of financial success. The life of a diplomat in world capitals seemed to the O'Shaughnessy family to require more disposable income than was provided by State Department salaries, and though comfortably reared, neither Nelson nor Edith possessed sufficient family wealth to meet the demands of diplomatic life. Edith O"Shaughnessy's published titles include: A Diplomat's Wife In Mexico (1916), Diplomatic Days in Mexico (1917), My Lorraine Journal (1918), Alsace in Rust and Gold (1919), Intimate Pages of Mexican History (1920), Viennese Medley (1924), and Other Ways, Other Flesh (1929). A devout Catholic, Mrs. O'Shaughnessy was active in many church related causes, spoke before Catholic schools and organizations, and was frequently a contributor to Catholic periodicals such as Commonweal. Nelson O'Shaughnessy (1876-1932) was a career diplomat born in New York City; he was educated by private tutors, and later studied at Georgetown University, St. John's College, Oxford University, and the Inner Temple in London, as well as privately in Europe. His earliest posts were at diplomatic missions in Denmark, Russia, Austria-Hungary, 1905-1911, and most notably in Mexico, 1911-1914, where his service gained him national notoriety. As charge d'affaires, O'Shaughnessy represented the interests of the United States in Mexico after the recall of the Ambassador following the coup of Victoriano Huerta in 1913. A Republican, O'Shaughnessy succeeded in alienating himself from President Wilson's Democratic admistration by his cordial relationship with a dictator not amicable to United States interests in Latin America. After a posting in Vienna in 1915-1916, O'Shaughnessy left the diplomatic service for a sporadic career in private industry, including private investment, and representing the Western Union Company in South America, and American investments on the Board of Autonomous Monopolies in Yugoslavia. He died in Vienna, having spent the last 16 years of his life separated from his family. Elim O'Shaughnessy (1907-1966)was born in Berlin, raised and educated in France, and at Yale and Columbia Universities. He joined the diplomatic service at age 30, and his career included postings in France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and Hungary. He died while posted in Budapest. Scope and Content The O'Shaughnessy Family Papers consist of five series: correspondence, both of Nelson, 1899-1928, and Edith, 1907-1935, O'Shaughnessy; the notes and diaries of Edith O'Shaughnessy, 1907-1935; writings of Edith O'Shaughnessy, photographs and printed matter. The correspondence of Nelson O'Shaughnessy is comprised of official and unofficial letters concerning his career as a diplomat. Included are his official letters of appointment, as well as other official communications, from the Department of State regarding his most of his postings. More common however are personal letters from other embassy and consular staff exchanging news and speculations on diplomatic service developments and career advancement. The period covered by the correspondence does include Nelson O'Shaughnessy's term as charge d'affaire in Mexico, 1911-1914, a period of extreme unrest and transition in United States- Latin American relations. Also included is correspondence relating to his career after leaving the State Department, a letter copy-book, 1907-1908, largely consisting of personal letters, and a small amount of family correspondence. The family correspondence centers on letters from his wife commenting on the hardship of their financial situation, and the problems caused by their long separations. Finally there is a small selection of financial papers: bills, statements of account, and stock certificates. Correspondents include: William Jennings Bryan, Victoriano Huerta, Kermit Roosevelt, Elihu Root and Henry Lane Wilson. The correspondence of Edith O'Shaughnessy contains a variety of letters pertaining to her personal and professional lives, The earliest letters, from friends and relatives, refer to the impending birth of her son Elim, and to the changing circumstances of her life as the wife of a career diplomat in various European capitals. After the departure of Nelson O'Shaughnessy from the diplopmatic service the correspondence begins to focus more heavily on her career as an author, and the publication of her earliest books relating to Mexico. Also included are letters concerning her involvement in the 1916 United States presidential campaign, and many Catholic causes. The correspondence follows Mrs. O'Shaughnessy's movements back and forth across the Atlantic from Paris to New York City to Rome to Bar Harbor; it documents her relationship to her husband, son and other family members, as well as her perception of her place in the American "upper class" before, during and after the First World War. Also included is a small amount of juvenalia of Elim O'Shaughnessy, retained by his mother, and a small selection of letters to and form Mrs. Jane Augusta McKinney Coues, Mrs. O'Shaughnessy's mother. There is also a small number of financial records included in the correspondence. Correspondents include: Averill Harriman, Mrs. Mary Harriman, Charles Evans Hughes. Countess Gloria Vanderbilt Szechenyi, Mrs. Alice Vanderbilt, and Henry and Emily White. The notes and diaries of Mrs. O'Shaughnessy are largely social diaries with annotations of events, parties, and concerts attended, as well as the other people attending. There are in addition fragmentary notes for literary works. The writings include annotated typescripts and manuscripts of published and unpublished works by Edith O'Shaughnessy, including among others: Life in the Viennese Court, 1907-1911, Bright Dark, and her translation of Charles de Brosses' "Letters on Italy", as well as speeches, poems, and short stories. The photographs are for the most part family snapshots, portraits, and photographic postcards, while the printed matter pertains to literary subjects, Catholicism, and Latin American politics. Also included is a scrapbook of clippings and reviews relating to the careers of both Nelson and Edith O'Shaughnessy. Container Listing Box Contents Correspondence 1 Nelson O'Shaughnessy 1899-1914 2 " " 1915-1928 3 Edith O'Shaughnessy 1907-1910 4 " " 1910-1915 5 " " 1916-1922 6 " " 1923-1927 7 " " 1928 8 " " 1929-1936 9 " " 1908-1936 (Financial records, and ephemera) Notes and Diaries 10 1907-1935 Writings 11 Bright Dark Life in the Viennese Court, 1907-1911 Other Ways, Other Flesh 12 Portrait of A Woman in Love Sea Without Fish "Letters on Italy"- translation of Charles De Brosses short stories speeches poems 13 Photographs 14-15 Printed Matter Correspondents Represented in the Nelson J.W. and Edith (Coues) O'SHAUGHNESSEY Papers Bacon, Robert, 1860-1919 Bryan, WM. Jennings, 1860-1925 Colum, Padraic, 1881- Conant, Isabel Fiske, Coues, Jane Augusta, 1845-1925 (McKinney) Demidov, Elim Pavlovich, Prince of San Donato Fabbri, Edith (Shepard) Festetics, Fanny Francis, Charles Spencer, 1853- Garrett, John W. Gizycha, Eleanor (Patterson), Countess Harriman, Mary W. (Mrs. E.H.) Hibben, Paxton Hill, David Jayne, 1850-1932 Hintze, Paul von, 1864-1941 Huerta, Victoriana, 1854-1916 Hughes, Charles Evans, 1862-1948 Hutchinson, Norman, 1875- Kemp, Marion, Le Faivre, Madame Logan, Edith Marburg, Theodore, 1862- Meyer, George von Lengerke, 1858- Moore, John Bassett, 1860-1947 O'Brien, Delia H. (Mrs. Thos. J.) O'Brien, Thomas James, 1842-1933 Penfield, Frederic Courtland, 1855-1922 Polk, Frank Lyon, 1871-1913 Rives, George Barclay, Roosevelt, Kermit, 1889-1943 Root, Elihu, 1845-1937 Scott, James Brown, 1866-1943 Speyer, Leonora (Mrs. Edgar), 1872- Stewart, William Rhinelander, 1852-1929 Szechenyi, Gladys (Vanderbilt), Countess Szechenyi, Laszlo, Count Tower, Charlemagne, 1848-1923 Tower, Helen (Mrs. Charlemagne) Tumulty, Joseph Patrick, 1879- Vanderbilt, Alice (Mrs. Cornelius) Watkins, Ann White, Emily V. (Mrs. Henry) White, Henry, 1850-1927 Wiley, Louis, 1869- Williams, Michael, 1877- Wilson, Henry Lane, 1857-1932