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Charles Robinson Smith papers

 Collection
Call Number: MS 455

Scope and Contents

The papers of Charles Robinson Smith sent to the Yale Library consist primarily of articles, letters, letters to newspaper editors of Charles Robinson Smith concerning the payment of Allied War Debts. Mr. Smith was a staunch advocate of forgiving the debts - especially those of France. Other material relates primarily to United States Tax laws.

Dates

  • 1890-1930

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of this collection are in the public domain. There are no restrictions on use. Copyright status for other collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Gertrude R. Smith, 1958-1959.

Extent

3.5 Linear Feet (5 boxes, 2 folios)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.0455

Additional Description

Abstract

Correspondence, writings and miscellanea relating to the issue of the allied nations payment of war debts incurred during World War I, and U.S. tax laws.

Biographical / Historical

Charles Robinson Smith, B.A. 1875

Born March 1, 1855 in Buffalo, New York. Died September 7, 1930, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Father, Edwin Smith, a banker; member of firm of Robinson, Smith, & Company, Buffalo; son of James and Sarah (Harmer) Smith, of Wethersfield, Conn. Mother, Jane Ownsend (Mather) Smith; daughter of Elias and Cynthia (Corning) Mather, of Albany, N.Y. Cousins: W. Snowdon Smith, '77S, and his sons, Gurney L. Smith, '14, and N. Jerome Smith, '20.

Buffalo Classical School. Second prize in English composition Sophomore year; dissertation appointment Junior year; first dispute appointment Senior year; member Kappa Sigma Epsilon and Delta Kappa Epsilon. Traveled in Europe 1875-1876; studied law at Columbia 1876-1878 (LL.B. 1878); admitted to practice 1878 and as counselor May 1879; corporation lawyer in New York City 1878-1906 (in partnership with Newell Martin, '75, under name of Smith & Martin from 1890); a founder (in 1899) of General Chemical Company of New York, of which vice-president 1920-1922, general counsel 1921-1922, and associate counsel since 1923; in 1920 helped in merger of that company (which, however, retained its corporate name and existence) with Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation, of which a director since 1922; director of Austen Fox Riggs Foundation, Inc. of Stockbridge (for free treatment of psychoneurotic patients) since 1919; member American and New York State Bar associations, Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and New York County Lawyers Association; awarded Legion of Honor April 1, 1927, for services in writing articles during the war.

Married April 29, 1879, in New York City, Jeannie Porter, daughter of William Porter and Elizabeth Wadsworth (Harris) Steele. Children: Elsa (died in childhood); Gertrude Robinson; and Hilda, the wife of Lyman Beecher Stowe, Harvard '04.

Death, due to myocarditis and arteriosclerosis, occurred at his summer home in 1930. Buried in Stockbridge. By the terms of his will a bequest of $2,500 was made to Yale University.

Other Finding Aids

For an inventory of selected materials in this collectionCollection Inventory.

List of Correspondents

  1. Allen, Frederick H. (b. 1909), 1926(1 item)
  2. Andrew, Abram Piatt (1843-1936), 1926-1927(8 items)
  3. Auld, George P. (b. 1881), 1927(6 items)
  4. Baldwin, W.D., 1922(1 item)
  5. Barrelet, H.J., 1925(2 items)
  6. Bayne, Hugh Aiken (b. 1870), 1924(1 item)
  7. Bennett, Ira (b. 1868), 1926(1 item)
  8. Betts, Samuel Rossiter (1786-1868), 1926-1927(3 items)
  9. Bird, J. Malcolm (b. 1886), 1923(1 item)
  10. Bishop, George Riker (1841-1931), 1920(1 item)
  11. Bliss, Mildred, 1927(1 item)
  12. Borah, William Edgar (1865-1940), 1923(2 items)
  13. Bouvier, John Vernon, 1927(1 item)
  14. Brown, Joseph Barley, 1928(1 item)
  15. Carew, John F., 1916(2 items)
  16. Charpantier, John (b. 1880), 1924(1 item)
  17. Chew, Oswald (1880-1949), 1925-1928(17 items)
  18. Clarke, John Hessin (1857-1945), 1925(2 items)
  19. Collins, George E. (b. 1904), 1917(1 item)
  20. Cook, W. Hennessy, 1926(1 item)
  21. Cutting, Elisabeth (b. 1871), 1924(3 items)
  22. Dana, Arnold Guyot (b. 1862), 1926(1 item)
  23. Davis, Ben G., 1916(1 item)
  24. Davis, Norman H. (b. 1878), 1926-1928(2 items)
  25. Day, George Parmly (1876-1959), 1927-1928(2 items)
  26. Edmonds, Richard Hathaway (b. 1857), 1917(1 item)
  27. Evarts, Allen W., 1927(2 items)
  28. Fisk, Charles (b. 1843), 1927-1928(3 items)
  29. Fordney, Joseph W. (1853-1932), 1920(1 item)
  30. Fosdick, Raymond Blaine (b. 1883), 1917(1 item)
  31. Fraser, Leon (1889-1945), 1924(1 item)
  32. Frew, Walter E., 1926(1 item)
  33. Fullerton, Morton, 1925(1 item)
  34. Galloway, Lee, 1918(1 item)
  35. Garver, John Anson (b. 1854), 1927(1 item)
  36. Gottheil, Richard James Horatio (b. 1862), 1924-1926(2 items)
  37. Goulard, John, 1924(1 item)
  38. Graves, George H. (b. 1900), 1896(2 items)
  39. Grinnell, George Bird (1849-1938), 1924(1 item)
  40. Guggenheim, Daniel (1856-1930), 1918(1 item)
  41. Guthrie, William Dameron (1859-1935), 1924(1 item)
  42. Hallock, W.W., 1917(1 item)
  43. Harriman, Edward Avery (b. 1869), 1927(1 item)
  44. Henke, Charles W., 1917-1918(6 items)
  45. Hines, Walker Downer (1870-1934), 1921(1 item)
  46. Hoff, Whitney, 1926(1 item)
  47. Hoover, Herbert Clark (b. 1874), 1926(1 item)
  48. Hornaday, William Temple (1854-1937), 1923(1 item)
  49. Houston, Herbert Sherman (b. 1865), 1922(1 item)
  50. Johnson, Wayne, 1920(2 items)
  51. Joy, Henry Bourne (b. 1864), 1927(1 item)
  52. Jusserand, Elise, 1925-1929(3 items)
  53. Jusserand, Jean Adrien (1855-1932), 1923-1929(15 items)
  54. Kahn, Otto Hermann (1867-1934), 1921(1 item)
  55. King, Basil (1859-1928), 1926-1927(3 items)
  56. Knox, Samuel Lippincott Griswold (b. 1870), 1927-1929(12 items)
  57. Leavitt, John Brooks (b. 1849), 1927-1929(2 items)
  58. Leffingwell, Elmore (b. 1876), 1923-1926(12 items)
  59. Loesch, Frank J., 1927(1 item)
  60. Longworth, Nicholas (1869-1931), 1920(1 item)
  61. McAdoo, Francis H., 1927(6 items)
  62. MacRae, Hugh, 1917(1 item)
  63. Mangas, Lyman S., 1927(1 item)
  64. Marbury, William L., 1927(1 item)
  65. Martin, John (1817-1847), 1924(3 items)
  66. Martin, W.R., 1890(1 item)
  67. Mason, Augustus Lynch (b. 1859), 1924(2 items)
  68. Mercadier, Maurice, 1925(1 item)
  69. Mespoulet, Margaret (b. 1880), 1924(1 item)
  70. Meyer, Eugene (1875-1959), 1921(1 item)
  71. Miller, Nathan L. (1868-1953), 1923-1924(3 items)
  72. Myers, Charles, 1926(1 item)
  73. Newman, Jacob (1889-1941), 1927(1 item)
  74. Ogden, Esther G., 1924(1 item)
  75. Pell, Herbert Claiborne, 1920(1 item)
  76. Peabody, Frederick William (b. 1862), 1926-1929(45 items)
  77. Pierson, Charles Wheeler (b. 1864), 1927(1 item)
  78. Poor, Charles Lane (b. 1866), 1927(1 item)
  79. Poor, Horace F., 1921(2 items)
  80. Prendergast, William A. (1867-1954), 1924(1 item)
  81. Putnam, George Haven (1844-1930), 1917-1926(5 items)
  82. Putnam, Irving, 1923-1924(5 items)
  83. Rainey, Henry Thomas (1860-1934), 1920(3 items)
  84. Reed, Louis Schultz (b. 1902), 1927(7 items)
  85. Rogers, Henry White (b. 1853), 1923-1925(2 items)
  86. Scott, James Brown (1866-1943), 1926(1 item)
  87. Seligman, Edwin Robert Anderson (b. 1861), 1924-1927(4 items)
  88. Seymour, Charles (1855-1963), 1920(1 item)
  89. Sheffield, James Rockwell (1864-1938), 1917(1 item)
  90. Shouse, Jouett (b. 1879), 1920(1 item)
  91. Southall, James C., 1928(1 item)
  92. Speir, Louie Dean, 1925(1 item)
  93. Spragus, Henry Ware, 1926(1 item)
  94. Stimson, Joseph W., 1923(1 item)
  95. Stokes, Anson Phelps (1875-1958), 1929(1 item)
  96. Sullivan, Mark (1874-1952), 1923(1 item)
  97. Sumichrast, Frederick Caesar de (b. 1845), 1926(1 item)
  98. Swan, Thomas Walfer (b. 1877), 1923(1 item)
  99. Tittman, Edward D., 1924(3 items)
  100. Townsend, R.D., 1917(1 item)
  101. Treadway, Allen T. (1867-1947), 1920(1 item)
  102. Tumulty, Joseph Patrick (1879-1954), 1920(1 item)
  103. Van Dyke, Henry (b. 1852), 1917(1 item)
  104. Waley, Philip S., 1915-1929(75 items)
  105. West, Henry Litchfield (b. 1859), 1917(2 items)
  106. Whiteford, Cameron, 1924(1 item)
  107. Wickersham, George Woodward (1858-1936), 1917-1929(12 items)
  108. Williams, Dickerman, 1923(3 items)
  109. Williams, John Sharp (1854-1932), 1916(1 item)
  110. Wilberforce, Robert Isaac (1802-1857), 1925(1 item)
  111. Wood, Kenneth S., 1927(1 item)
  112. TITLES OF SOME OF THE PAPERS NOW IN BOXES 3-5 (NOT IN ORDER)
  113. *LEGAL PAPERS AND PRINTED ARTICLES
  114. Smith, C.R., "Retroactive Income Taxation (So-called)," 1923(3)
  115. Smith, C.R., "Reparations and Sanctions," 1924
  116. Smith, C.R., "America's Debt to the Allies,"
  117. Smith, C.R., "War Loans and War Services," 1926(2)
  118. Smith, C.R., "The Ruhr and Treaty Rights," 1923(2)
  119. Smith, C.R., "Industrial Corporations,"
  120. Smith, C.R., "The Viewpoint of Belgium," 1923(2)
  121. Smith, C.R., "Some of the Reasons...," 1918
  122. Smith, C.R., "Taxation of Stock Dividends…Corporate Surpluses," 1928
  123. Keynes (Lord), "Legality of the Ruhr Occupation," 1923
  124. Rothermere, "France Is Winning," 1923
  125. Smith, C.R., "Why We are at War With Germany…," 1917(2)
  126. Smith, C.R., "Democracy…July 4, 1776-1917…Peril," 1917(2)
  127. " The Neech," "Proposal for a Twentieth Amendment Prohibiting Women," 1923(typescript)
  128. Smith, C.R., letter to the New York American, 1923
  129. Martin, Newall, some articles
  130. *TYPESCRIPTS OF ARTICLES BY CHARLES ROBINSON SMITH
  131. " Estonpel and the State"
  132. "History Studies"
  133. " Sursum Corda," 1917-1918
  134. "Treaty and its Compliance with the Armistice," 1920
  135. Untitled (on Spain)
  136. "Dr. William H. Nicholis," 1923
  137. "Hoover and Smith," 1928
  138. "Of Hughes and Wilson"
  139. "Representations and Sanctions," 1923
  140. "A Very Curious Ancient Law" (children's story), 1925 (and printed copy)
  141. "Geography: Herodotus to Richard Hakluyt and Richard Byrd," 1929
  142. Untitled (on Middle Ages)
  143. "Europe in General"
  144. "Milestones of American Liberty"
  145. "The Government of Ours"
  146. "Retroactive Income Taxation," 1923
  147. "Taxation of Accumulated Property"
  148. "Retroactive Taxation"
  149. " Macomber v. Eisner"
  150. "Implied Contracts"
  151. "If Justice Be Law, Quantum Meruit," 1926
  152. Stowe, Lyman Beecher, "Why Hate the British?"
  153. "Debt of America to the Allies" (2, and manuscript notes, 1 printed copy)
  154. "La Dette de 1'Amerioue envers les Allies" (1, and 1 printed copy)
  155. "What America Owes to the Allies"
  156. "Retroactive Income Taxation"
  157. " Quantum Meruit," 1925(typed and manuscript)
  158. Memo for Mr. Boyden, 1923 Feb 27
  159. "Reparations et Sanctions," 1924(2, and 1 manuscript)
  160. "N.Y. Women, then First Vote and the War," 1918
  161. "The Federal Constitution" (manuscript)
  162. "2 Memoranda on Goodwill," 1921 Jul 8, 18
  163. Clippings
  164. "The Reaction of France to a Program of World"
  165. J.F. Dulles, "Reconstruction" (typescript)
  166. Scheider, "Situation in Europe Today" (advance release)
  167. Pershing (General), speech, 1924(Denver typed exerpts)

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the Charles Robinson Smith Papers
Status
Under Revision
Author
compiled by John Espy
Date
November 1980
Description rules
Finding Aid Created In Accordance With Manuscripts And Archives Processing Manual
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository

http://www.library.yale.edu/mssa/
Contact:
Yale University Library
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven CT 06520-8240 US
(203) 432-1735
(203) 432-7441 (Fax)

Location

Sterling Memorial Library
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120 High Street
New Haven, CT 06511

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