Waldo Gifford Leland
Encyclopedia
Waldo Gifford Leland was an American
historian
and archivist
whose work for the Carnegie Institution and the Library of Congress
was instrumental in the founding of the National Archives
. He was also served in leadership roles in a variety of historical and archival societies, including the American Council of Learned Societies
, National Park Service
, and the FDR Library.
where he received a B.A.
In 1900, he enrolled at Harvard University
, earning his M.S.
in history in 1901. In 1904, Leland married Gertrude Dennis, a Canadian-born violinist.
offered Leland, then a teaching assistant, the opportunity to assist Claude H. Van Tyne
in a survey sponsored by the newly founded Carnegie Institution of Washington. A six-month temporary assignment was the beginning of Leland’s twenty-four-year association with the institution. The Guide to the Archives of the Government of the United States in Washington (1904), coauthored by Leland and Van Tyne, was followed in 1907 by an edition revised and expanded by Leland, which established Leland as the nation’s leading authority on federal archives. During this time Leland joined the American Historical Association and served as the AHA secretary from 1909-1920, working closely with J. Franklin Jameson
to lobby Congress to establish a National Archive.
In his best-known archival-related activity he worked with J. Franklin Jameson
to provide documentation for the campaign to establish the National Archives. In 1926 Congress voted funds for the building’s construction.
In 1919, Leland acted as organizing secretary for a meeting of representatives from leading American scholarly societies in the social sciences and the humanities that led to the formation of the American Council of Learned Societies
(ACLS), a step taken to create an American organization eligible for membership in the newly reorganized UAI. In 1927 the ACLS received a major grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, enabling it to secure the services of a full-time administrative officer. Leland left the Carnegie Institution to take the position. Leland served as ACLS secretary from 1927 to 1939 and as director from 1939 until his retirement in 1946.
As the ACLS representative in the negotiation of the “1935 Gentleman’s Agreement for Fair Use in Education”, Leland was heavily involved in the first official policy statement concerning the use of copyrighted materials by researchers.
Leland oversaw both the ACLS’s international cooperative activities and its domestic programs, including publication of the Dictionary of American Biography (1927-1936) and the annual Handbook of Latin American Studies, begun in 1935. Through Leland’s efforts, the ACLS distributed money to individual scholars to support research and publications. Also, through fellowships and the sponsorship of scholarly conferences, the ACLS was able to encourage the development of area studies in the United States for Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Iranian, Slavic, Near Eastern, and Latin American culture and civilization.
After his retirement from the ACLS in 1946, Leland became active in the promotion and development of the FDR Library, testifying before Congress, giving speeches, and working with architects and designers. He served as Chair of the Executive Committee of the FDR Library Foundation of from 1946-1952.
Leland became chairman of the Advisory Board of the National Park Service in 1935 and remained in that position until the 1950s. The board had a strong influence in the development and management of the NPS. It not only advised the Secretary of Interior and the NPS director on policy, but it evaluated new areas proposed for addition to the system. It developed policy guidelines on matters related to historical sites and buildings and embraced the development and safeguarding of all parks in the system.
Congress passed an act in 1955 addressing the role of the NPS with regard to historic properties. There was particular concern that the integration of historic sites and buildings into the NPS, which had been authorized earlier in the 1950s, be appropriate. The act was stimulated by discussion over the Rockefeller family’s development of Williamsburg. A commission under Leland’s direction was sent to Europe to study the mechanisms for historical preservation used there.
Waldo Leland died on October 19, 1966, at age 87.
in 1949 for his service to the National Park System. The Society of American Archivists established a Prize in his honor in 1959. The American Historical Association
established a prize in his memory in 1981.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and archivist
Archivist
An archivist is a professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to information determined to have long-term value. The information maintained by an archivist can be any form of media...
whose work for the Carnegie Institution and the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
was instrumental in the founding of the National Archives
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents, which comprise the National Archives...
. He was also served in leadership roles in a variety of historical and archival societies, including the American Council of Learned Societies
American Council of Learned Societies
The American Council of Learned Societies , founded in 1919, is a private nonprofit federation of seventy scholarly organizations.ACLS is best known as a funder of humanities research through fellowships and grants awards. ACLS Fellowships are designed to permit scholars holding the Ph.D...
, National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
, and the FDR Library.
Early life
He was born in 1879 in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Luther Erving Leland and Ellen Gifford. His parents were both public school teachers. After graduating from Newton High School in 1896, Leland went to Brown UniversityBrown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
where he received a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
In 1900, he enrolled at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, earning his M.S.
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
in history in 1901. In 1904, Leland married Gertrude Dennis, a Canadian-born violinist.
Carnegie Institution and American Historical Association
In 1903, Harvard professor Albert Bushnell HartAlbert Bushnell Hart
Albert Bushnell Hart, Ph.D. , was an American historian, writer, and teacher. One of the first generation of professionally trained historians in the United States, a prolific author and editor of historical works, Albert Bushnell Hart became, as Samuel Eliot Morison described him, "The Grand Old...
offered Leland, then a teaching assistant, the opportunity to assist Claude H. Van Tyne
Claude H. Van Tyne
Claude Halstead Van Tyne was an American historian and a Pulitzer Prize winner. He taught history at the University of Michigan from 1903–1930, and wrote a number of books on the American Revolution...
in a survey sponsored by the newly founded Carnegie Institution of Washington. A six-month temporary assignment was the beginning of Leland’s twenty-four-year association with the institution. The Guide to the Archives of the Government of the United States in Washington (1904), coauthored by Leland and Van Tyne, was followed in 1907 by an edition revised and expanded by Leland, which established Leland as the nation’s leading authority on federal archives. During this time Leland joined the American Historical Association and served as the AHA secretary from 1909-1920, working closely with J. Franklin Jameson
J. Franklin Jameson
John Franklin Jameson was an American historian, author, and journal editor who played a major role in the professional activities of American historians in the early 20th century.-Early life:...
to lobby Congress to establish a National Archive.
National and international archival work
After completing the Guide, Leland’s next assignment from the Carnegie Institution was to travel to repositories throughout the eastern United States to collect letters of Continental Congress delegates. He then began work on his multi-volume Guide to Materials for American History in the Libraries and Archives of Paris. From 1907-1914 and 1922-1927, he served as the Carnegie Institution’s principal representative in France. Two volumes, on libraries and on the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were published in 1932 and 1943. Drafts for an additional three volumes are among the Leland Papers, archived at the Library of Congress. In an associated activity, he directed the foreign copying program of the Library of Congress for French manuscripts relating to the United States. He also initiated work on what became the institution’s two-volume Calendar of Manuscripts in Paris Archives and Libraries Relating to the History of the Mississippi Valley to 1803.In his best-known archival-related activity he worked with J. Franklin Jameson
J. Franklin Jameson
John Franklin Jameson was an American historian, author, and journal editor who played a major role in the professional activities of American historians in the early 20th century.-Early life:...
to provide documentation for the campaign to establish the National Archives. In 1926 Congress voted funds for the building’s construction.
Founding member and leader of ACLS and ICHS
In 1923 the International Congress of Historical Sciences (ICHS) appointed a committee that, under Leland’s guidance, led to the formation in 1926 of the International Committee of Historical Sciences. Leland initially served as the new group’s treasurer and in 1938 became its president, a position he held for ten years. During much of that period he also served as president of the Union Académique International (UAI).In 1919, Leland acted as organizing secretary for a meeting of representatives from leading American scholarly societies in the social sciences and the humanities that led to the formation of the American Council of Learned Societies
American Council of Learned Societies
The American Council of Learned Societies , founded in 1919, is a private nonprofit federation of seventy scholarly organizations.ACLS is best known as a funder of humanities research through fellowships and grants awards. ACLS Fellowships are designed to permit scholars holding the Ph.D...
(ACLS), a step taken to create an American organization eligible for membership in the newly reorganized UAI. In 1927 the ACLS received a major grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, enabling it to secure the services of a full-time administrative officer. Leland left the Carnegie Institution to take the position. Leland served as ACLS secretary from 1927 to 1939 and as director from 1939 until his retirement in 1946.
As the ACLS representative in the negotiation of the “1935 Gentleman’s Agreement for Fair Use in Education”, Leland was heavily involved in the first official policy statement concerning the use of copyrighted materials by researchers.
Leland oversaw both the ACLS’s international cooperative activities and its domestic programs, including publication of the Dictionary of American Biography (1927-1936) and the annual Handbook of Latin American Studies, begun in 1935. Through Leland’s efforts, the ACLS distributed money to individual scholars to support research and publications. Also, through fellowships and the sponsorship of scholarly conferences, the ACLS was able to encourage the development of area studies in the United States for Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Iranian, Slavic, Near Eastern, and Latin American culture and civilization.
Work in UNESCO, FDR Library, and National Parks Service
During the interwar years he worked with the League of Nations and served as a delegate to the 1945 London conference that led to the establishment of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and to the 1948 UNESCO General Conference in Beirut. From 1946 to 1949 he served as vice-chairman (under Milton Eisenhower) of the United States National Commission for UNESCO. He also served two terms during this period as President of the Society of American Archivists.After his retirement from the ACLS in 1946, Leland became active in the promotion and development of the FDR Library, testifying before Congress, giving speeches, and working with architects and designers. He served as Chair of the Executive Committee of the FDR Library Foundation of from 1946-1952.
Leland became chairman of the Advisory Board of the National Park Service in 1935 and remained in that position until the 1950s. The board had a strong influence in the development and management of the NPS. It not only advised the Secretary of Interior and the NPS director on policy, but it evaluated new areas proposed for addition to the system. It developed policy guidelines on matters related to historical sites and buildings and embraced the development and safeguarding of all parks in the system.
Congress passed an act in 1955 addressing the role of the NPS with regard to historic properties. There was particular concern that the integration of historic sites and buildings into the NPS, which had been authorized earlier in the 1950s, be appropriate. The act was stimulated by discussion over the Rockefeller family’s development of Williamsburg. A commission under Leland’s direction was sent to Europe to study the mechanisms for historical preservation used there.
Waldo Leland died on October 19, 1966, at age 87.
Awards, prizes, and memorials
Among the honors he received were honorary degrees conferred by Brown University in 1929, University of Rochester in 1939, Northwestern University in 1944, University of Colorado in 1943, and University of North Carolina in 1946. He had been named director emeritus of the ACLS in recognition of his years of service, and he received the Pugsley MedalPugsley Medal
The Pugsley Medal was created by Cornelius Amory Pugsley in 1928. The award honors champions of parks and conservation. Until 1952 there was a gold, silver, and bronze award, and in 1953 it was switched to national, state, and local.-Pugsley Medal winners:...
in 1949 for his service to the National Park System. The Society of American Archivists established a Prize in his honor in 1959. The American Historical Association
American Historical Association
The American Historical Association is the oldest and largest society of historians and professors of history in the United States. Founded in 1884, the association promotes historical studies, the teaching of history, and the preservation of and access to historical materials...
established a prize in his memory in 1981.
Primary sources
- Short biography of Leland
- Rodney A. Ross, "Waldo Gifford Leland: Archivist by Association," American Archivist, Summer 1983.
- "Waldo Gifford Leland and Preservation of Documentary Resources," Federalist, Summer 1986.
- Washington Post editorial, October 23, 1966.
- Waldo Leland, historian: obituary, New York Times, October 20, 1966.