Papers of Alice Hamilton, 1909-1987 (inclusive), 1909-1965 (bulk)

As indicated above, these papers came to the Schlesinger Library in two separate installments. The first was divided, probably by the processor, into three sections: biographical papers, "Non-Medical Controversies," and "Medical Investigations and Controversies." Published items were individually numbered, with folder titles giving only the numbers of the items they contained. The 1971 accession, consisting of Hamilton papers temporarily in the possession of her colleague Harriet Hardy, was simply added on to the original collection. In reprocessing the papers, the processor has integrated the two accessions, maintaining the distinction between medical and non-medical papers, but adding other categories to make a total of four series.

Series I, Biographical material, 1915-1987, undated (#1-9ao, Vt-34.1), consists of articles about Hamilton; letters written by Hamilton to her family from Europe, awards (with relevant clippings); and papers (correspondence, including letters of appointment, speeches, notes, clippings) concerning four of her professional appointments and affiliations (arranged in chronological order by content): Harvard professorship, Hull House, Health Committee of the League of Nations, and Herbert Hoover's President's Research Committee on Social Trends. This series also contains a few items of uncertain date or authorship.

Series II, Political and civil liberties issues, 1921-1953, undated (#10-21), documents Hamilton's interests or involvement in such political issues as the Equal Rights Amendment, the position of the Catholic Church on conscientious objection to military service, United States diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, and the trials of Sacco and Vanzetti and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. The series consists mainly of correspondence, clippings, letters to the editor, speeches, and includes letters from Albert Einstein (#13, #21), Felix Frankfurter (#18, #20) and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (#21).

Series III, Speeches and writings, 1916-1965, undated (#22-27), contains published articles by Hamilton in non-medical subjects, dealing with political and social conditions in Germany in the 1920's and 1930's; autobiographical articles; correspondence about and reviews of her autobiography; and speeches on non-medical. subjects Hamilton gave at secondary schools. Hamilton's speeches and writings also appear in other series, with papers to which they pertain (e.g., re: Jane Addams's death, in #6 and Sacco and Vanzetti in #14).

Series IV, Medical and professional papers, 1909-1955, undated (#28-84), is the largest series in the collection, and contains correspondence, notes, speeches, articles and reviews of publications, by Hamilton and by others. For the most part, these materials have been arranged according to the chemicals whose structure or effects they describe. Papers concerning simple chemicals have usually been filed with papers dealing with their derivatives or compounds, while papers concerning chemicals that are chemically related and used in the same industry are filed together (e.g., #39-43 concern benzene, aniline and diphenyl, all used in the manufacture of dyes). In other cases, materials have been combined because they deal with a specific factory, company, industry, disease or group of people affected by a chemical or a labor practice. Some folders deal with specific controversies stemming from industry protests of Hamilton's statements concerning the effects of a material or chemical employed by the industry. With the exception of #81-84 (which deal with various substances and industries and have been placed at the end of the series), the series is arranged chronologically according to the first item in a folder or group of folders.