Lewis Sheldon Welch Papers

The Lewis Sheldon Welch Papers consist of correspondence, business records, printed matter, and photographs which document Welch's business, civic, and Yale activities. The papers, which date from 1870 to 1934, are most voluminous during the period 1901 to 1921 and nearly half concern Welch's investments in the Saddle Mountain Mining Company of Arizona. Welch's participation in New Haven civic affairs and Yale alumni matters, and his interests in World War I and the repeal of the prohibition amendment are also highlighted in the papers.

Series I contains the majority of material in the papers and all material on Welch's business affairs. Both series include correspondence, clippings, printed matter, and photographs, which are arranged by topic.

Series I includes a small quantity of Welch's incoming general letter files. These alphabetical files date from 1896 to 1898 and 1902 to 1904. Many letters in these files are from Yale classmates and other friends or concern the details of the construction and furnishing of the Welch house. Welch's general outgoing letters for the period 1903-1905 are included in letterpress copybooks in boxes 19 and 20.

These volumes also contain many of Welch's letters relating to the Saddle Mountain Mining Company. The chronologically arranged volumes supplement the large quantity of material on the company, which is arranged by correspondent or type of material, in folders 52-151. The company owned copper mines in Gila County, Arizona, and Welch invested heavily in its operations. He interested classmates, family, and friends in investing, and served on the company's board of directors. In 1906 Welch lost control of theYale Alumni Weeklyand, was almost forced into bankruptcy because of this investment. The files, ca. 1901-1907, contain correspondence with stockholders, officers, and other board members including George B. Chittenden, general manager of the mines; William W. Delano, treasurer; Z. Taylor Emery, president; Stuart Hotchkiss, director; and Story B. Ladd, secretary. Folders entitled "Financial records" and Miscellaneous" contain reports of the general manager, contracts, payrolls, balance sheets, executive committee resolutions, minutes, notices of meetings, lists of stockholders, stock certificates, receipts, furnace reports, and other records which detail company policy, management, and mine operations. Additional reports on conditions at the mines can be found in correpondence with Burnett Goodwin.

Most material under the heading "Yale University" in Series I relates to Welch's activities in behalf of the class of 1889. The files contain correspondence and programs for class reunions, drafts of obituaries for class members, and correspondence concerning financial support for classmates and their families. Only a small quantity of material reflects Welch's service on theYale Alumni Weeklyor the Yale-in-China executive committee.

Welch's civic activities are represented in files on Grace Hospital, the Military Training Corps Association, and the New Haven City Hall. Welch as a director of Grace Hospital participated in discussions of a proposed merger of the hospital with New Haven Hospital, and this topic is reflected in correspondence with Orville Pelty, Harry C. Knight, Isaac Ullman, and B. Austin Cheney. With Knight, Ullman, and Frederick W. Campbell, Welch also discusses a site and plans for a new New Haven city hall. The files also contain minutes of meetings of the City Hall Building Commission. Other discussions of New Haven matters are contained in Welch's correspondence with Norris Osborn, editor of theNew Haven Journal Courier. The files for the Military Training Corps Association relate to Welch's chairmanship of the association's Civilian Examining Committee.

Other files in Series I relate to Welch's insurance business and to his own and his friends' business investments. Folder 46 includes correspondence and royalty statements from the publisher ofYale: Her Campus, Class Room, Athletics.

Topics covered by material in Series II include Welch's participation in the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, the Sentinels of the Republic, and civilian activities during World War I. For both the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment and the Sentinels of the Republic there are speeches, correspondence, and association literature. The files for the Sentinels of the Republic, an organization opposed to perceived encroachment of the federal government upon the rights of states and individual citizens, include several issues of theWoman Patriot. The World War I files also include material which Welch collected as background for speeches on behalf of the Connecticut State Council of Defense. Folders 202-204 contain copies of theFour Minute Men News, which was issued by the federal government's Committee on Public Information. The correspondence in folders 207-208 includes Welch's reports to various persons in the Military Intelligence Section of the Army War College on activities of alleged German sympathizers at Yale and in the New Haven area.