Papers of Jessica Weis, 1922-1963

These papers yield almost no information about Jessica Weis' family or her personal life (childhood, adolescence, education, husband and children). There are, however, several letters to and from her mother, Jessie Martin Newhall, and some to or from other family members (see #1-2, 22, 40, 45, 62, 90-91). There is only a small amount of material about Weis' activities outside the Republican Party.

The papers do provide information about Weis' involvement in politics and the Republican Party. They document conventions and campaigns (1936-1956), the participation of women, requests for patronage, and her two terms in Congress. The congressional papers reveal Weis' and her constituents' stands on a variety of issues, and give some idea of the volume of mail and subjects dealt with by a congressional office.

Series I, Personal and biographical (#1-13), includes the following in the order listed: personal correspondence, calendars, clippings, photographs, and financial correspondence.

Series II, Non-party activities (#14-20), contains correspondence, lists, reports, publications, and other papers of some of the organizations to which Weis belonged and agencies to which she was appointed. Non-partisan political appointments are included in this series. The series is arranged alphabetically by name of organization or agency.

Series III, Republican Party (#21-97), is divided into four sections: Weis speeches and articles, political correspondence, presidential campaigns, and other party functions and organizations. The first and third sections are arranged chronologically, the second and fourth by subject or organization, and chronologically within most of these categories. The series includes correspondence, memorabilia, songs, printed material, reports, lists, press releases, programs, invitations, etc.

Weis often participated in campaigns simultaneously with other political activities. Researchers interested in a particular period should therefore look in all four sections and in Series IV.

Series IV, House of Representatives (#98-427), makes up the bulk of the collection and consists mainly of correspondence. The processor assumed that the arrangement was that of Weis' congressional office and has preserved it as much as possible.

The series is divided into five sections. The first consists of Weis' letters (carbon copies) to constituents, other members of Congress, government departments, consulates, non-governmental organizations, and the Republican Party. The arrangement is chronological by year, and alphabetical by name of recipient within each year.

Section two includes correspondence about military academy appointments, immigration and naturalization problems, and requests for employment assistance. The arrangement is alphabetical by name of applicant in each category.

The third section is correspondence with the executive branch and is arranged alphabetically by name of department.

Section four concerns legislation and includes the following in the order listed: correspondence, arranged alphabetically by legislative issue; Congressional bills and related correspondence, arranged mainly by date of legislative filing (correspondence on a subject may precede the actual bill); Weis' voting record in 1961, arranged chronologically; Weis' remarks about Susan B. Anthony for the Congressional Record; House Committee on the District of Columbia resolution about Weis; and some office records, including a visitors' book, supply records, and telephone bills.

Many prominent politicians and a variety of organizations wrote to Weis. Not all are included in the added catalog entries; researchers should therefore refer to the index in the printed guide. Letters found grouped by subject or by individual were kept together and placed chronologically on the basis of the earliest item in each group, even though not all letters on a particular subject or with an individual were filed in this way by Weis' staff.

In the case of government and organizational publications that did not contain information about or by Jessica Weis, only the covers and/or title pages were retained and microfilmed.

Most clippings were discarded after microfilming.