Dates: 1940-1962
The papers of Ellen Clayton Garwood consist primarily of correspondence from Will Clayton to his daughter Ellen regarding various personal and political matters, typed excerpts from newspaper and magazine articles covering Will Clayton's career, and transcripts of eleven oral history interviews conducted by Mrs. Garwood with officials involved in the genesis and development of the Marshall Plan. Also included in the collection are letters to Mrs. Garwood regarding her efforts to help the University of Texas acquire the Parsons Library. The collection also includes other correspondence, memoranda, newspaper clippings, a bibliography prepared for Mrs. Garwood's biography of her father, and other items.
Size: Less than one-half of one linear foot (approximately 800 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The Truman Library has received no donation of copyright interest in this collection. Documents created by government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents in this collection is presumed to remain with the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Willie L. Harriford, Jr. and Erwin J. Mueller (1966).
Updated by: Jamie Huff (2001) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
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1903 |
Born, daughter of Will and Susan Vaughan Clayton |
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1927 (July 11) |
Married W. St. John Garwood |
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1958 |
Published Will Clayton: A Short Biography |
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1993 (March 20) |
Died in Austin, Texas |
The papers of Ellen Clayton Garwood include research materials collected by Mrs. Garwood for her biography of her father, Will Clayton: A Short Biography, which was published in 1958. Clayton, a wealthy cotton merchant turned government official, played an important role in the development of the Marshall Plan while serving as Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs during the Truman administration. The date span of the collection ranges from 1940 to 1962. The papers are arranged alphabetically in a Subject File. Correspondence, interview transcripts, and typed excerpts from newspaper and magazine articles make up most of the collection.
Much of the correspondence in the collection consists of letters from Will Clayton to Mrs. Garwood addressing various subjects, both political and personal. One subject that appears often in the letters from Clayton to his daughter is the health of Mrs. Garwood's mother, Susan Clayton, who passed away in 1960 after a long illness. References to Mrs. Garwood's husband, the prominent attorney and judge St. John Garwood, and to efforts to promote greater European cooperation and closer ties between Europe and the United States (causes to which both Clayton and his son-in-law were devoted), are interspersed throughout this correspondence. The collection also contains letters to Mrs. Garwood from the diplomat Charles Bohlen and others, responding to her requests for information about her father and his career. Also of note are letters from Clayton's former State Department colleague, Alger Hiss, and from Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, regarding Mrs. Garwood's biography of her father.
The oral history interview transcripts in the collection cover the genesis and development of the Marshall Plan. The eleven interviews were conducted by Mrs. Garwood from 1947 to 1959, and the transcripts were subsequently given to Columbia University's Oral History Research Office. In addition to her father, Mrs. Garwood interviewed such notables as Dean Acheson, Emilio Collado, and Paul Nitze for this project.
The papers also include typed excerpts from newspaper and magazine articles dealing with Clayton's career, and correspondence relating to the efforts of Clayton and the Garwoods to help the University of Texas acquire the Parsons Library, a valuable collection of historical materials. Individual documents of interest include a bibliography prepared for Mrs. Garwood's biography of her father; a biographical sketch of her mother, Susan Clayton; a memorandum from Clayton to his daughters dealing with financial issues arising from their mother's death; and a 1947 memorandum describing discussions between Clayton and British officials on a new U.S. program of aid to Europe.
Other relevant materials at the Truman Library include the papers of Will Clayton and the office files of the Assistant Secretary of State and Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (Record Group 59: General Records of the Department of State).
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Container Nos. |
Series |
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1 |
SUBJECT FILE, 1940-1962 Correspondence, memoranda, typed excerpts from newspaper and magazine articles, newspaper clippings, handwritten notes, interview transcripts, and other items. Arranged alphabetically. |
Box 1
- Bibliography for Will Clayton: A Short Biography, 1958, by Ellen Clayton Garwood
- Correspondence of Mrs. Ellen Clayton Garwood
- Correspondence of W. L. Clayton and Mrs. Ellen Clayton Garwood, Etc. [1 of 2]
- Correspondence of W. L. Clayton and Mrs. Ellen Clayton Garwood, Etc. [1 of 2]
- Excerpts from Newspaper and Magazine Clippings, Etc.
- Gift of Parsons Library to the University of Texas
- Marshall Plan Project - Copies of Oral History Interview Transcripts: Dean Acheson, Will Clayton, Emilio Collado, Lewis Douglas, Livingston Merchant, Norman Ness, Paul Nitze, Arthur Stevens, James Stillwell, Leroy Stinebower, and Ivan White [1 of 3; copy 1]
- Marshall Plan Project - Copies of Oral History Interview Transcripts: Dean Acheson, Will Clayton, Emilio Collado, Lewis Douglas, Livingston Merchant, Norman Ness, Paul Nitze, Arthur Stevens, James Stillwell, Leroy Stinebower, and Ivan White [2 of 3; copy 2: duplicate]
- Marshall Plan Project - Copies of Oral History Interview Transcripts: Dean Acheson, Will Clayton, Emilio Collado, Lewis Douglas, Livingston Merchant, Norman Ness, Paul Nitze, Arthur Stevens, James Stillwell, Leroy Stinebower, and Ivan White [3 of 3; copy 3: duplicate]