Papers of Janet Wilson James, 1900-1999 (inclusive), 1940-1987 (bulk)

This collection documents Janet Wilson James's personal and professional life and contains information on other family members, including her parents Helen Peters Wilson and Willard O. Wilson, her husband Edward T. James, and her children Ned James and Lucy James Ordoobadi. Included are courtship letters, family and professional correspondence; speeches; lecture notes; book reviews; drafts and research materials for various writing projects; photographs; and an audiotape. Most of the folder headings were created by the archivist; those by Janet Wilson James appear in quotation marks. Financial material and information on the Wilson and James family properties in Michigan and Oregon was returned to the donor.

Series I, BIOGRAPHICAL AND PERSONAL, 1934-1988 (#1.1-11.12, F+D.1, Mem.1+, PD.1-PD.2), includes address and appointment books; articles about James, resumes; a camp diary; diplomas, papers, exams, and lecture notes from James's education at Miss Hockaday's School for Girls, Smith College, Bryn Mawr College, and Radcliffe College; James's marriage announcement and certificate (#5.8); James's personal correspondence, including Elizabeth Schlesinger (#10.6), condolences on James's illness (#7.9-8.8), and letters about school reunions (#6.7, 10.1); a diary (#3.1) and scrapbooks about James's experiences at camp (#2.10-2.12) and at school (#10.10-11.6m); and photographs. Of particular note is an interview (#2.8), in which James discusses her education and career. For James's correspondence with family members, see Series II. The series is arranged alphabetically.

Series II, FAMILY, ca.1900-1999 (#11.13-34.2, SD.1, PD.3-PD.8), includes correspondence, clippings, photographs, speeches, and lecture notes about members of the James and Wilson families. The series includes articles, speeches, and press releases about Lucy Wilson Benson's political career and her work with the League of Women Voters (#12.1-12.3); correspondence between Janet Wilson James and Edward T. James during their courtship and marriage (#15.6-16.7); Edward's correspondence with others, including condolences on the death of his wife (#13.7-13.12); his dog tags and other material regarding his service in the U.S. Navy (12.6-12.7m, 18.3-18.5); course notes from his studies at Harvard College (#14.10-14.13); and syllabi and lecture notes for classes he taught at Mills College (#16.12-17.6). The series also includes Janet and Edward's correspondence with their children Ned James and Lucy James Ordoobadi, including letters Ned and Lucy sent home from camp (#18.8-18.10); Christmas cards received and correspondence with friends, including congratulations on the births of Ned and Lucy (#24.3-24.6); and their wills (#24.7). Some correspondence about their work on Notable American Women 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary is also included here; for related notes and publicity, see Series II Subseries B. Additional material about Ned includes childhood drawings (#28.10) and articles regarding Ned's artwork (#29.4). The series also contains Edward and Janet's correspondence with his parents Sydney and Beatrice T. James (#13.4-13.5, 22.15-23.4, 23.6, 30.2), and his brother "Syd" James, and sister Elizabeth James Hagey (#22.6, 22.11-22.12, 29.8), with some letters discussing Beatrice T. James's increased confusion in her later years and the need to provide care for her (#13.4-13.5). Material regarding Willard O. Wilson and Helen Peters Wilson includes letters from their daughters Janet (#30.10-30.12, 32.1-33.4) and Lucy (#30.7-30.9); membership directories for societies to which Helen Peters Wilson belonged, including the Michigan Chapter of the National Society Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America (#29.14); Willard O. Wilson's will (#34.1), and his correspondence with his parents John Milton and Clara Connely Wilson (#31.3-31.7), his brother Robert (#31.8), and other family members and acquaintances as he sought to collect his mother's letters and compile a commemorative volume about her (#31.3-31.7). Some of Clara's letters are included. The series also includes letters from Lucy Wilson Benson to Janet Wilson James (#25.9-27.1), reflecting the sisters' close relationship--many letters are addressed to "Stinkbomb," "Stinko," or "Pewtrid"--and their concern for and frustration with their parents, particularly their mother. Also of note are a letter from Helen Peters Wilson to Janet Wilson James about riots in Washington, D.C., following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (#12.12), and a poignant letter from John Milton Wilson to Willard O. Wilson concerning his loneliness after the death of his wife (#31.5). The series is arranged alphabetically by family member, with family photographs and general material about the James and Wilson families appearing at the end.

Series III, PROFESSIONAL, 1935-1990 (#34.3-69.5, FD.1, F+D.2, T-478.1), is arranged in two subseries and includes professional correspondence; syllabi, lecture notes, and other teaching material; speeches and speech notes; an audiotape; and articles, drafts, and notes for various writing projects.

Subseries A, Academic, 1935-1990 (#34.3-59.10, FD.1, F+D.2, T-478.1), includes correspondence, speeches and conference material, course descriptions, syllabi, exams, lecture notes, and course planning materials. The subseries includes letters of recommendation and letters regarding James's efforts to find work and her tenure and promotion at Boston College (#50.5); correspondence with the Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing and other nursing organizations; with professional organizations, such as the Organization of American Historians, and with fellow historians, colleagues, and students. Correspondence topics include upcoming conferences, research projects, and invitations to serve on committees; correspondents include Joan Brumberg (#36.9), Gerda Lerner (#37.14), Mary Oates (#38.12), Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (#39.12), Anne Firor Scott, (#39.13), and Barbara Sicherman (#39.14). The subseries also includes course descriptions, notes, syllabi, exams, course evaluations, and course planning materials for James's Boston College classes American Social and Cultural History, History of Women in the United States, Society and Health Care in the United States, Social and Cultural History of the United States, and Women's Experience in America. Folders labeled "Finished" or "Disuse" include notes that James ceased using as she revised her courses. Exams, notes, assignments, and reading lists for classes James taught at Mills College and Wellesley College and for classes at Smith College and Harvard University for which she was a teaching assistant. are also included, as well as correspondence and notes regarding her involvement with Boston College's Affirmative Action Council's Committee on Women's Role and Image and Boston College's women's studies program and the memorial fund and essay prize established at Boston College in James's name (#48.7-48.8).

The series also includes correspondence, speeches, and conference materials for several Berkshire Conferences on the History of Women (James was a session chair for the 1974, 1978, and 1980 conferences), and for conferences on the history of medicine and of nursing. An audiotape of James's talk at a National League for Nursing Convention and a speech about the Schlesinger Library are also included. The subseries is arranged with chronological correspondence appearing first, followed by an alphabetical arrangement. For lecture notes and outlines for classes Edward T. James taught at Mills College, see Series II.

Subseries B, Writing and research, 1942-1986 (#59.11-69.5), documents James's interests in the history of nursing and women in religion. The series includes correspondence with authors (#60.5-61.1), editors (#60.2-60.4), and publishers (#60.2-60.3) of a special "women in American religion" issue of the American Quarterly edited by James; book reviews and manuscript evaluations by James (#61.11, 64.3-64.4); correspondence about the publication of James's thesis Changing Ideas about Women in the United States, as well as reviews (#62.4) and James's introduction to the book (#62.1); correspondence (#62.5) and drafts (#62.7) regarding "American Women's Contributions to American Culture," which James wrote for a series of 8th grade American history booklets published by Rand McNally; correspondence and notes about A Lavinia Dock Reader (#63.7-64.1); and notes (#64.10, 65.1, 65.3-65.6) and publicity (#65.7) regarding Notable American Women 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary. (For additional correspondence about this work, see Series II.) The series also includes notes for various writing projects (#65.11-67.2), and several articles by James, including "History and Women at Harvard: The Schlesinger Library" (#63.2), "The Early Anti-Slavery Propaganda" (#62.12), "The Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College" (#67.8), and "Nursing Education in Historical Perspective" (#67.3). The series is arranged alphabetically.

Most of the photographs in this collection are or will be cataloged in VIA, Harvard University's Visual Information Access database. Others, referred to as "uncataloged" photographs, are not of sufficient research interest to warrant cataloging and are simply treated as part of the documents they accompany; they are marked on the back with an asterisk in square brackets [*].