Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of Oscar Wilder Underwood, Accession #9292-a, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Underwood family papers were loaned to the Library for scholarly use in April, 1972.

Biographical/Historical Information

Oscar Wilder Underwood was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 6, 1862. He attended the Rugby School in Louisville and later graduated from the University of Virginia in 1882. Admitted to the Alabama bar in 1884, he began to practice law in Birmingham.

Underwood's political career began when he was elected to the House of Representatives from the ninth district of Alabama. He served in this capacity from 1895 to 1915, having an outstanding record for the presidential nomination in Baltimore. He remained a contender until the 46th ballot when his name was withdrawn with neither his knowledge nor consent. Underwood went on to serve as the Leader of the House and the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee during the 62nd and 63 rd Congresses.

From 1915 to 1927 Underwood served as a United States Senator from the state of Alabama. Once again serving with distinction, he was elected Democratic leader of the Senate in 1920. In 1921 President Harding asked him to be of the American delegates to the International Conference on Limitation of Armament, instructing him to represent the views of the Democratic party.

In 1924 Underwood was once again a candidate for the presidential nomination. In this same year he is noted for publicly denouncing the Ku Klux Klan.

Just before his retirement from the Senate in 1927, Underwood was appointed a member of the International Peace Committee between the United States and France. On January 25, 1929, he died in his home in Woodlawn, Virginia.

Underwood was married twice. His first wife was Eugenia Massie of Charlottesville, Virginia, who died in 1900. They had two sons, John Lewis and Oscar Wilder, Jr. Underwood married his second wife, Bertha Woodward, in 1904.

Scope and Content

The Underwood family papers comprise seven boxes of materials and one oversized box. The first box contains correspondence and personal items of Oscar Wilder Underwood. The second box contains items belonging to the Underwood family, 1810-1955, especially related to family genealogy. In Box 3 are 45 pictures of Oscar W. Underwood, 1882-1928, followed in Box 4 by ca. 85 pictures of Underwood family members, ca. 1850- 1920. All printed items are contained in Boxes 5 and 6. Printed speeches and various newspapers, 1817-1945, are included. Items relating to Oscar W. Underwood, Jr. are in Box 7. Finally, fifteen family pictures, and certificates and diplomas of Oscar W. Underwood are grouped together as oversized items.