Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930

Overview

This collection consists of documents pertaining to and the hand-signed letters of prominent American figures of the early 1920s. Many concern explorer Henry Grant Bryant and the Melville-Bryant Drift Cask Experiment. Other notable persons associated with this collection include Martin van Buren, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Ulysses S. Grant, and James Buchanan. Additionally, there are two autograph books within the collection.

Abstract In 1883, Quakers Albert Keith Smiley and his brother Daniel Smiley organized the first annual conference to discuss assistance to Native Americans at their estate at Lake Mohonk in New York state. These conferences were widely attended by specialists in various fields, as well as important officials. Only later were Native Americans represented. The concern to "uplift" was also directed at Filipino, Hawaiian, African American and Puerto Rican peoples, though attention at the conferences was...