Contents

Collection Overview

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Organization of the Collection

Search Terms

SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS (1881-1988),

SERIES II. CORRESPONDENCE (1883-1984, bulk 1930s-60s),

SERIES III. WRITINGS (1963-88),

SERIES IV. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES (1919-78),

SERIES V. PHOTOGRAPHS (1903-1980),

SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS (1881-1988),

SERIES II. CORRESPONDENCE (1883-1984, bulk 1930s-60s),

SERIES III. WRITINGS (1963-88),

SERIES IV. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES (1919-78),

SERIES V. PHOTOGRAPHS (1903-1980),

OVERSIZE MATERIALS

Katharine Edith Brand Papers, 1881-1988 (bulk 1965-1980)

Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by Amy Hague.

2005

Biographical Note

Katharine Edith Brand was born on March 18, 1900 in Huron, South Dakota. She was the only child of Phebe Relief Crafts and Charles Brand, a Congregational minister and journalist. In 1901 Charles Brand left the ministry to become editor for the Congregational publishing house in Winthrop, Massachusetts. In 1908 he became manager of a fruit ranch and the family relocated to Roseburg, Oregon. Brand's parents divorced in 1909 and she moved with her mother to Oberlin, Ohio to stay with her aunt and uncle, Katharine and Earl Adams. In 1911 Brand returned to Oregon. She began high school in Portland, Oregon, then when they moved again, continued in Milford (Connecticut) High School, and finally graduated from New Haven High School. She was graduated from Smith College in 1921 with a B.A. in English and History, and then attended the Katharine Gibbs School in Boston, receiving her secretarial certificate in 1923.

Brand held several short-term secretarial positions until 1925 when Ray Stannard Baker, journalist and author, hired her as a researcher and editorial assistant. She moved to Amherst, Massachusetts where Baker was working on his multi-volume biography of Woodrow Wilson. Brand remained with Baker, doing everything from the taking care of clerical details to interviewing Wilson associates, and basically being Baker's right hand until the project's completion in 1939. For the duration of his work on the biography, Baker had the bulk of Woodrow Wilson's papers in his possession. He convinced Edith Bolling Wilson, the President's widow, to deposit the Wilson Papers in the Library of Congress in 1939. Brand was hired by Wilson to be "Special Custodian" of the Wilson Papers, and in 1944 she became an Assistant in the Division of Manuscripts, specializing in contemporary manuscripts. During her tenure she wrote bibliographies, collection inventories, and articles on archival issues. Wilson scholars frequently consulted Brand for her expertise on both Wilson and his papers. While at the Library of Congress she devised the register system for handling large collections of contemporary manuscripts. In 1950 she was promoted to Head of the Recent Manuscripts Division. Brand experienced periods of illness, and a heart attack convinced her to retire in 1956, but she continued to correspond with Wilson scholars and remained involved in organizations such as the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace Foundation among others. She was also on the editorial advisory board of the Papers of Woodrow Wilson and was active in the Friends of the Library, Vienna, Virginia.

Shortly after moving to Washington, D.C., Brand met Carol Piper, a Federal government employee, who at that time worked for the Federal Reserve Board. The two shared an apartment beginning in 1941 until 1950 when they built a home in Vienna, Virginia. They remained there until they moved to a retirement home a few years before Brand's death.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Katharine Edith Brand Papers consist of 4.5 linear feet and contain subject matter related to her professional career, her personal life, and a small amount of material about family members. Types of materials include oral histories and other biographical materials, correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, manuscripts, published writings, printed materials, and memorabilia.

The Papers date from 1881-1988, but the bulk of them range from the 1920s through the 1960s and focus on Brand's work with Ray Stannard Baker and in the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress, though there is also significant documentation of her personal life, especially her adolescence. Major subjects found throughout these papers include Woodrow Wilson, Ray Stannard Baker, the Library of Congress, adolescent development, and family relationships. Correspondence comprises a little less than half the collection, the rest being fairly evenly divided among the other series.

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Search Terms

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into five series:

• I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL
• II. CORRESPONDENCE
• III. WRITINGS
• IV. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
• V. PHOTOGRAPHS
• OVERSIZED MATERIALS

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SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS , (1881-1988) .75 linear ft.

This series provides a rather fragmentary overview of Katharine Brand's career and private life. Entries for biographical directories and newspaper clippings outline the bare bones of her career, and transcripts of interviews with a co-worker and family flesh it out, as well as providing anecdotal personal information. Her autobiographical writings provide some insight into the emotional life of her childhood and adolescence. Information here about her time at Smith College and at Katharine Gibbs School is very sparse and fragmentary. There are personal documents like address books and passports, as well as papers relating to her voluntary activities, especially with the Friends of the Library, Vienna, Virginia. The family information is exclusively about her father, Charles Brand, and his parents and siblings, except for material related to her mother's death and the genealogical material which is primarily about her mother's side of the family. Of note are a few writings about reform issues by her grandmother, Juliet Brand, and information about the family's connections with Oberlin College.

SERIES II. CORRESPONDENCE , (1883-1984, bulk 1930s-60s) 1.75 linear ft.

This series is organized into two subseries: Family and Friends and associates. Brand filed her correspondence with biographical materials about, and writings by, many of the individuals, and her organization has been maintained, with the additional items interspersed chronologically with the correspondence. Brand's cousin, Phebe Adams, who was the interim caretaker of the papers, sent portions of the correspondence to family and friends, so for instance, an extensive run of letters between Brand and one of her cousins is missing from these papers.

Much of the correspondence is rather sparse and consists primarily of incoming letters. The major exceptions are correspondence between Brand and the Adams branch of her family, and Ray Stannard Baker, both of which contain some outgoing letters from Brand. Besides Baker, other notable correspondents include: Jessie Baker, Millicent Todd Bingham, Josephus Daniels, Arthur Link, David Morton, and Ishbel Ross. The Baker correspondence, along with letters between Brand and colleagues during and after her time at the Library of Congress, provide an in depth look at Brand as a professional; and correspondence with the Adams branch of her family reveals her role in her extended family. There are a few folders of correspondence between Charles Brand and family members other than Katharine.

SERIES III. WRITINGS , (1963-88) .5 linear ft.

Brand's diaries from her youth, her years in Amherst, and her travels, make up the bulk of this series. The first two diaries are in a reflective narrative form that reveals Brand's thoughts and emotions, while the travel diaries tend to be terse, of the line-a-day variety. This series also contains drafts and final versions of Brand's articles and other writings such as letters to the editor. There are several folders of correspondence about various writing projects. In addition, there are a few examples of Charles Brand's writings saved by Katharine.

SERIES IV. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES , (1919-78) 1 linear ft.

The bulk of the papers in this series relate to Brand's multi-faceted employment with Ray Stannard Baker as he wrote his biography of Woodrow Wilson, and later in the Division of Manuscripts of the Library of Congress. It is divided into two subseries. Library of Congress contains records of Brand's employment there, from her years as "special custodian," to her official employment as Assistant in, and finally Head of the Division of Manuscripts, from 1939 to 1956. In the latter position, she continued to be the resident expert on the Wilson Papers, but was also in charge of all of the twentieth century manuscript collections in the Division. Subjects and organizations includes documents related to her long involvement as employee and friend of Baker (1925 until his death in 1946), as well as custodian of his and Wilson's papers. This subseries also consists of her pre- and post-retirement participation in Woodrow Wilson-related organizations.

SERIES V. PHOTOGRAPHS , (1903-1980) 1 linear ft.

This series contains a large number of photographs of Brand alone, with family and friends, and with colleagues at the Library of Congress; her family and other individuals; and family homes and other places. There are images from her childhood through the 1960s. The series includes photographs of friends and associates, from Smith College classmates to portraits of Ray Stannard and Jessie Baker, Millicent Bingham, and other notable friends and associates. There are also a few images of Woodrow Wilson and his first and second wives, Ellen Axson and Edith Bolling.

Contents List

SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS , (1881-1988) .5 linear ft.

SERIES II. CORRESPONDENCE , (1883-1984, bulk 1930s-60s)

SERIES III. WRITINGS , (1963-88)

SERIES IV. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES , (1919-78)

SERIES V. PHOTOGRAPHS , (1903-1980)

OVERSIZE MATERIALS