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Woodrow Wilson: A Guide to Selected Resources at the Mudd Manuscript Library

This guide is designed to promote access to the records while simultaneously calling attention to related holdings on Wilson and his era held at the Mudd Manuscript Library.

Introduction

In late 2006, the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library began a project to better describe its holdings of "Wilsoniana" – collections on and relating to Woodrow Wilson, 13th President of Princeton University and 28th President of the United States. The collections came to Princeton from myriad sources and were donated or purchased for a variety of reasons. The motivations behind the acquisitions included Wilson's relationship to Princeton as an undergraduate student, professor, and university president as well as the connections between Princeton and many Wilson associates or colleagues. Additionally, the driving force behind the disposition of several of the collections was the key role played by Princeton University in the Papers of Woodrow Wilson editorial project.

This guide was designed to promote access to the records while simultaneously calling attention to related holdings on Wilson and his era held at the Mudd Manuscript Library. These holdings encompass over 1000 linear feet of archival, manuscript, visual and printed materials. While the guide illustrates the richness of Mudd's Wilsoniana collections, it is not intended to be a comprehensive list of every published title or collection at Princeton University with a Wilson or Wilson-era connection. A complete, digitized version of the Papers of Woodrow Wilson can be found online as of 2017; the digital database can be browsed and searched.

All of the archival and manuscript collections in the guide have been cataloged and are listed according to their title as given in the Princeton University online catalog and Princeton University Finding Aids. Nearly all of the collections listed in this guide have finding aids that provide additional detail about the scope and content of the collections, as well as complete folder listings. 

The entries in this guide are divided into four categories:

  • Collections on Woodrow Wilson

    • Includes Mudd Manuscript Library collections --both the Public Policy collection and the University Archives --whose contents are focused on Wilson. Entries in this section are arranged alphabetically by creator or collector.

  • Corollary Collections on Woodrow Wilson

    • Includes Mudd Manuscript Library collections that relate to Wilson or his era; while the collections may include Wilson correspondence or information about his administration, the focus of the collection itself was not Wilson. Entries in this section are arranged alphabetically by creator or collector.

  • Selected Other Resources in the Princeton University Library System

    • Includes lists of collections related to Wilson that are housed in other sections of the Princeton University Library System, including the Manuscripts, Graphic Arts, and Rare Books Divisions of the Special Collections Department. Entries in this section are grouped by repository and then arranged alphabetically by the creator or collector's last name, when pertinent.

  • Selected Holdings at Other Institutions

    • Includes a list of major collections of Woodrow Wilson papers held by institutions other than Princeton University. Entries in this section are arranged alphabetically by repository name.

Additionally, the guide provides access to an alphabetical listing of all Wilsoniana Collections held at the Mudd Manuscript Library, as well as a subject listing page giving suggestions to researchers regarding which collections to reference for different aspects of Wilson 's life.

Jennifer M. Cole
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
August 2007 [edited 2019]