Administrative Information

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of the estate of Alexander Wilbourne Weddell in 1948. Accessioned 13 April 1985.

Preferred Citation

Alexander Wilbourne Weddell Papers, 1858-1955, (Mss1 W4126 b FA2), Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Va.

Biographical/Historical Note

Born in Richmond, Virginia, on April 6, 1876, Alexander Wilbourne Weddell was the son of Episcopal minister Alexander Watson Weddell and his wife, Penelope Margaret Wright. With the early death of his father and a large family of six siblings, Alex Weddell struggled to secure a rudimentary education and find a profession. A chance meeting while working as a clerk at the U. S. Copyright Office led to his first diplomatic post as secretary to the minister of Denmark. Stationed in Zanzibar, Catania, Athens, Beirut, Calcutta, and Mexico City, Weddell moved slowly up the foreign service professional ladder. His career in foreign service as a consul or ambassador would last for almost forty years, culminating in ambassadorships in Argentina and Spain. Virginia Atkinson Chase Steedman was born in Missouri in 1874 to Edwin E. Chase and Virginia Atkinson Chase. She was educated at Miss Brown's School for Girls in New York City. In 1900 She married James Harrison Steedman from a wealthy family, but he unfortunately he died in 1921 after serving in World War I. Steedman, was a wealthy widow from St. Louis, Missouri when she and Weddell were introduced by mutual friends in Calcutta during a around-the-world trip in 1922. Mr. Weddell accompanied Steedman and her companions back to the United States by cruise ship. The courtship on the ship resulted in the couple marrying four months later in New York. Virgina Weddell was an integral part of Alexander Weddell's success in the foreign service. Weddell retired, due to health, from foreign service in 1942. The Weddell's returned to Richmond and their historically rebuilt English priory home, Virginia House. The couple and their maid tragically died a train collision accident in rural Missouri on January 1, 1948.

Scope and Content

Papers concerning Alexander W. Weddell’s diplomatic and consular service. Papers were organized by Weddell for publication of a memoir of his life and career. Papers include correspondence with family, friends, foreign service officers, and politicians and miscellany from the various posts of service. Researchers should consult the other Weddell collections in conduction with research in this collection. Note that some subjects and correspondents may appear several locations, so this description and the guide which follows should be examined thoroughly.

Arrangement

The papers of Ambassador Weddell and his wife thoroughly cover their lives in the diplomatic community and as active civic-minded Richmonders. In the paragraphs which follow, attention is drawn to their various activities by describing important record groups within the collection and explaining the methods of processing these materials. An attempt has been made to maintain the ambassador’s own arrangement of his personal records, as nearly as possible, which occasionally means that papers covering a single subject, event, or organization may be filled in several locations. Such occurrences are cross-referenced fully. Also, since the Weddell’s were both interested in many of the same projects and organizations, some materials of Mrs. Weddell and those addressed to both are filed with Mr. Weddell’s records. Researchers should read this entire description and guide before actually examining the collection.

The collection has 4 series: Series 1. Weddell family papers 1858-1925; Series 1.1. James Weddell, 1865; Series 1.2. Alexander Watson Weddell; Series 1.3. Penelope Margaret Wright Weddell, 1895-1925; Series 2. Alexander and Virginia Weddell papers, 1907-1948; Series 2.1. Diaries/Calendars,1907-1947; Series 2.2. Correspondence, 1883-1947 (arranged alphabetically by year); Series 2.3. Correspondence, 1923-1946, with Virginia (Chase) Steedman Weddell; Series 2.4. Financial Records, 1897-1947; Series 2.5. Miscellaneous, 1899-1946; Series 2.6. Diplomatic Service files, 1908-1942 (arranged chronological by post); Series 2.7. Organization and Association files, 1923-1948, (arranged alphabetically by organization); Series 2.8. Speeches, Addresses, and publications,1930-1947,(speeches, and publications [arranged alphabetically]); Series 2.9. Virginia House; Series 2.10. Miscellaneous; Series 3. Virginia (Chase) Steedman Weddell papers, Series 3.1. Diaries, Series 3.2. Correspondence, Series 3.3. Financial and Philanthropy, Series 3.4. James Harrison Steedman; Series 3.5. Miscellaneous; Series 4. Family Miscellaneous.

Series 1. concerns Alexander W. Weddell’s grandfather, James Weddell (1807-1865); father, Alexander Watson Weddell (1841-1883); and his mother, Penelope Margaret Wright Weddell (1840-1901). The collection beings with a few items from the estate of Weddell’s grandfather, James Weddell of Petersburg. Then follow materials of or concerning his father, Rev. Alexander Watson Weddell. Most of these papers relate to pastorates in Harrisonburg and Richmond, Va., and include copies of summons, notes, and a scrapbook. Rev. Weddell took a particular interest in the Protestant Episcopal Home for Ladies in Richmond. His wife left an interesting reminiscence of the Fall of Richmond in 1865, as well as a few miscellaneous items. Also included are letters of condolence at her death, as well as records of Alex Weddell as administrator of his mother’s estate.

Series 2. Alexander W. Weddell's papers, 1883-1948

Series 2.1. includes his diaries/appointment books which start in 1907. The early books are written in French, and document his diplomatic post or place of residence for that year. Weddell's personal and professional correspondence

Series 2.2, starts in 1883, but bulk starts in 1927. It is organized alphabetically by year with separate folders for select correspondents within each year, as well as for other correspondents or subjects for which extensive material exists. Notable correspondents include: Viscountess Astor; Virginia senators Harry Flood Byrd; Carter Glass, and Claude Augustus Swanson; Virginia Governors Colgate W. Darden, Andrew Jackson Montague, and John Garland Pollard; Richmond author Ellen Glasgow; U.S. secretaries of state Cordell Hull, and Sumner Welles; and Eleanor Roosevelt. There is also a group of thirteen letters from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Specialized correspondence relating to these various interests and activities in many cases has been segregated unit separate files. Organizations that can be found in general correspondence are Richmond Community Council, Officers Club of Richmond (World War II), and the Young Men’s Christian Association. During Weddell’s absences as ambassador to Argentina and Spain, his secretary, Mrs. Elizabeth Cabell Dugdale, maintained his correspondence and took charge of Virginia House. Her files begin in 1931.

Series 2.3. is correspondence between Mr. and Mrs. Weddell, which is heaviest between 1923-1927.

Series 2.4. is Financial Records, 1897-1947, which are extensive. Series includes personal account and expense records, but detailed banking and investment records organized alphabetically by financial institution. These materials concern both Mr. and Mrs. Weddell’s account holdings.

Series 2.5. Miscellaneous, 1899-1946, is educational records, scrapbooks, which document the Weddell’s lives and careers throughly and serve as an important introduction to the succeeding diplomatic and organization files. Also documented is the Weddell’s marriage in 1923. Virginia Chase Steedman Weddell was a substantial heiress in her own right, and the financial security that occurred as a result of the marriage allowed Weddell to pursue many important interests, which the couple often shared.

Series 2.6. Diplomatic Service files, 1908-1942, supplement general correspondence and cover all of Weddell’s diplomatic and consular posts. The heaviest documentation is for his years as ambassador to Argentina and to Spain. These files include dispatches, speeches, programs, dinner invitations and menus, magazine articles and news clippings and a wide variety of interesting miscellany (see guide and also U. .S. State Department folders in general correspondence.) The Argentina files contain Weddell’s records of the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1936, which saw Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first visit to South America (file includes letter of Sumner Welles); the Seventh International Conference of American States in Montevideo, Uruguay, 1933 (files includes Cordell Hull letter); and a folder on the Chaco Peace Conference of 1935, for which Weddell won great honors as a key figure in negotiating a settlement between Bolivia and Paraguay (includes letter of John Garland Pollard to Mrs. Weddell). These files also contain several scrapbooks and journals kept by Weddell of his trips into the interior of Argentina. (Photographic materials and similar items have been transferred the museum photograph collection). Weddell’s most difficult post was Madrid, following the end of the Spanish Civil War and in the early days of World War II. His files are complete and informative and also include scrapbooks covering the entire mission.

Series 2.7. Ambassador Weddell kept extensive files for the organizations in which he took an active part. These files include correspondence, minutes, reports, news clippings, and support materials.

Weddell served as chairman of the Richmond-Henrico Branch of the American Red Cross. The files include letters of Harry F. Byrd (13 Jan. 1943) and Colgate W. Darden (19 March 1943). He also served as a director of the Children’s Homes Society of Virginia, seeking homes for orphaned or abandoned children in the dark years of the Depression and World War II. He was a longtime finance committee member and later vice president (note letter of John Garland Pollard, 18 April 1931).

As president of the Richmond Branch of the English-Speaking Union and a director of the national organization, Weddell worked for mutual understanding among all people who share our common language. His files include letters from Colgate W. Darden (25 Feb. 1943), George Catlett Marshall (six letters between Dec. 1942-April 1943), John Garland Pollard (29 December 1932) and Lewis F. Powell, Jr. (seven letters between Oct. 1946-June 1947).

During World War II Mrs. Weddell was state chairman of the Women’s Council of the Navy League of the U. S., with headquarters at the Navy League Club in Richmond. Weddell himself served as a regional vice president of the League and a chairman of the local Navy Day Celebrations in October 1943. His files contain three letters of Colgate W. Darden between 7 Sept. 1943 and 15 Sept. 1944. Weddelll also chaired the Democracy Programs of the Richmond Office of Civilian Defense during the war. Note Letters of Harry F. Byrd (2 Oct. 1942) and Colgate W. Darden (17 Oct. 1942).

One of Weddell’s most important local activities involved his role as chairman of the board of trustees of the Richmond Academy of Arts. Intentionally modeled after Quesnay’s Academy of Richmond in the 1780s and 1790s (for which several research files exist), the Richmond Academy sought to establish a key center for the arts in Virginia. The movement eventually led to the founding of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, of which Weddell served a term as president. In 1936 a spilt developed between the two organizations, and very few Academy items appear in Weddell’s files after that date. Correspondence includes letters of Colgate W. Darden (eight letters between 12 Nov. 1942 and 11 July 1945), Cordell Hull (24 April 1944) and John Garland Pollard (twelve letters between 24 Dec. 1931 and 7 July 1935). Mr. Weddell was active in the Richmond Community Fund by 1929 and served as president 1932-1933. During the latter period he was also chairman of the Richmond Mayor’s Committee on Unemployment Relief. In 1942 the organization became the Richmond War and Community Fund and several postwar folders concern foreign relief during that period. See also letter of Nancy Astor (14 Nov. 1932) and John Garland Pollard (14 Sept. 1932, 18 March 1933). As president of the St. John’s Episcopal Church Foundation in Richmond, Weddell endeavored to secure gifts for an endowment fund and for restoration and preservation of the historic structure (note letter of Colgate W. Darden, 9 Oct. 1945), Cordell Hull (24 April 1944), and John Garland Pollard (twelve letters between 24 Dec. 1931 and 7 July 1935).

Mr. Weddell was active in the Richmond Community Fund by 1929 and served as president 1932-1933. During the latter period he was also chairman of the Richmond Mayor’s Committee on Unemployment Relief. In 1942 the organization became the Richmond War and Community Fund and several postwar folders concern foreign relief during that period. See also letter of Nancy Astor (14 Nov. 1932) and John Garland Pollard (14 Sept. 1932, 18 March 1933).

As president of the St. John’s Episcopal Church Foundation in Richmond, Weddell endeavored to secure gifts for an endowment fund and for restoration and preservation of the historic structure (note letter of Colgate W. Darden, 9 October 1945). Most of his records concerning St. Paul’s church involve his sponsorship of the Weddell Memorial Church located first in the Fulton area of East Richmond and later on Montrose Heights. The files also concern the acquisition of the painting “Conversion of St. Paul” by Benjamin West in 1943 and a memorial to Penelope (Weddell) Anderson in 1927. Files for St. Stephen’s Church in the Westhampton section of Richmond relate to furnishings for the Weddell Memorial Chapel in honor of Penelope (Weddell) Anderson.

Weddell was a longtime member of the Society of the Cincinnati in Virginia after his election in 1927. See letter of Harry F. Byrd (10 October 1928) and Colgate W. Darden (24 April 1947). His greatest interest, however, lay ini the Virginia Historical Society, on whose executive committee he served for many years. He confessed to a friend that his election as president of the Society “realized the ambition of my life.” Among these folders are letters from Nancy Astor (30 July 1945 portraits files; 10 June 1946 Charles Bridges file); Harry F. Byrd (26 Nov. 1945); Colgate W. Darden (23 July 1945 E. R. Williams portrait file); and John Garland Pollard (17 June 1932).

Series 2.8. Speeches, addresses, publications, 1930-1947, includes a general file of Weddell’s speeches, addresses, toasts, etc. The following box begins files of his various publications in alphabetical order. He wrote several books, most under the auspices or authority of theVirginia Historical Society, but with heavy personal investment.

A Description of Virginia House (Richmond, 1947) was paid for by the Weddells, but all revenue was to go to the Virginia Historical Society. The files include drafts, notes, proof, a list of prospective subscribers, and some correspondence, especially with architect William Lawrence Bottomley (9 Sept. 1946, 2 Dec. 1947)

Weddell’s Introduction to Argentina (New York, 1939), grew from his great love of that nation. The volume was originally entitled “Argentina: A Good Neighbor.” Correspondence includes letters of Ellen Glasgow (29 Dec. 1938), Cordell Hull (28 April 1939) and Sumner Wells (11 June 1938).

The Memorial Volume of Virginia of Virginia Historical Portraiture (Richmond, 1930), developed out of the “Exhibition of Virginia Portraits” held to commemorate the opening of Virginia House in the Spring of 1929. Early materials include correspondence of the Virginia Historical Society’s Committee on the Exhibition of Historical Portraits (George Cole Scott, chairman, Preston Davie, Earl Gregg Swem, and Weddell). Katherine Lyon Scott, Weddell’s personal secretary at the time, also figures prominently, and numerous letters are directed to Harry F. Byrd as honorary chairman of the exhibition. The files contain financial and subscription records, insurance materials, private viewing records, returned portraits, and portrait files (including correspondence, notes, biographical information, loan agreements, and some reproductions). A scrapbook is filed oversize following box 43. Correspondents include Lady Astor (21 Feb., 15 Oct., 13 Nov. 1928, files 33, 94, 135); William Lawrence Bottomley (file 142); Harry F. Byrd (28 March, 21 May, 6 June 1928; 11 May 1929; 4 Jan. 1930; files 15a-e, 15f-g, 33, 108, 127); Andrew J. Montague (file 72, three letters); and Claude A. Swanson (30 March 1929). Another important and frequent correspondent throughout these files in New York collector Thomas Benedict Clarke (1848-1931), who prepared a review of American portraiture for the Memorial Volume.

Files for Portraiture in the Virginia Historical Society (Richmond, 1945) contain correspondence, notes on artists and subjects, news clippings, drafts and miscellany. Richmond, Virginia, in Old Prints, 1737-1887 (Richmond, 1932) developed from an exhibit at the Richmond Public Library in 1931. The general files include a mixture of correspondence and accounts (see especially letters of Claude A. Swanson, 9-15 April 1931), while a separate prints file and news clippings file are maintained.

Lastly, Weddell became involved in a project to provide an adequate survey history of Virginia. The Virginia History Fund that he administered for the Virginia History Foundation financed Matthew Page Andrews’s The Soul of A Nation: The Founding of Virginia and Project of New England (New York, 1943). The general files contain lengthy correspondence with Andrews and letters from Harry F. Byrd (24 June 1942) and Colgate W. Darden (16 Aug. 1942).

Series 2.9. Virginia House, In 1925, the Weddell’s purchased an old English manor house, Warwick Priory, which was being demolished in England. In the midst of public outcry, they had the structure shipped to America and reassembled in the Windsor Farms area of Richmond. An addition, designed by architect Henry Grant Morse, intentionally coped the format of Sulgrave Manor, the Washington ancestral home in England. The Weddell’s deeded the structure to the Virginia Historical Society, retaining only a life interest in the building. Virginia House files include original construction and title folders, repair and maintenance records, servants and household employees files, garden plans and care. The “loggia” file contains extensive correspondence with and plans by New York architect William Lawrence Bottomley. The files marked “Household Employees, 1930-1933” contains two letters of Andrew J. Montague. (See also the photograph collection of the museum department, especially for photographs and additional Bottomley materials.)

Series 2.10. Miscellaneous. Note specifically the files on “Stardust,” an unpublished volume of poetry gathered by Mr. and Mrs. Weddell as an “anthology of things read and loved.” Correspondence includes a letter of Ellen Glasgow (27 May 1940). The estate files include numerous news clippings and letters concerning the deaths and funeral of the Weddells and of Mrs. Weddell’s personal maid, Violet Mary Andrews (Box 51). Series includes various Diplomatic Commissions which are notably signed by William H. Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt and John Garland Pollard.

Series 3. Virginia Chase Steedman Weddell, Some files of Mrs. Weddell are maintained separately.

Series 3.1. These include two diaries, 1922-1923, kept during the period when she first met and then married Alex Weddell. Her personal correspondence contains some early letters of the Chase and Atkinson families, including her father Edwin Elisha Chase (1850-1900), and her mother, Virginia (Atkinson) Chase (1854-1900), as well as letters from Harry F. Byrd (1932), Ellen Glasgow (1938-1939), Cordell Hull (1936), John Garland Pollard (1933), and Eleanor Roosevelt (1929, 1935-1936, 1941).

Virginia Weddell worked tirelessly among the victims of Civil War during her husband’s mission to Spain. She administered funds for the American Committee for Relief in Spain and helped to organize in New York City the Committee to Send Anesthetics and Medicines to Spain. Mrs. Weddell established her own private relief fund and also distributed monies for the American Red Cross and Quaker Relief Fund. Records Among her papers includes correspondence, accounts and account books (2 volumes), reports, a radio address and miscellany (box 53).

Box 54 contains complete files on the estate of industrialist James Harrison Steedman, (1867-1921) of St. Louis, Mrs. Weddell’s first husband. Beginning in 1898, the materials include records of Steedman’s naval reserve service during World War I, his subsequent illness and death, and the settlement of his estate. A trust fun was established for his widow, who was also his executrix and sole beneficiary. That trust also funded the Steedman fellowship in the School of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. The estate files contain Mrs. Weddell’s correspondence with attorneys, trust officers, and Steedman relatives; inheritance and income tax records; and materials concerning the Steedman’s California home, “Glen Arden,” in Santa Barbara.

Following Mrs. Weddell’s files are a very few items for each of Mr. Weddell’s sisters. The collection closes with information in the Weddell’s memberships in various hereditary patriotic organizations and the supporting genealogical research on the Atkinson, Chase, Cunningham, and Washington families (for Mrs. Weddell) and the Creecy, Gale, Ward, Weddell and Wright families (for Mr. Weddell). The Wright family folders include much information on Weddell’s grandfather, Dr. David Minton Wright (1807-1863), who was executed in Norfolk by Federal authorities during the Civil War. Primarily, these materials were collected to refute a 1907 article appearing in the Century Magazine.

Related Material

Virginia Historical Society: Mss1 W4126 a-e, Mss1 W4126 b FA2,

Index Terms

Persons:

• Anderson, Henry W. (Henry Watkins), 1870-1954
• Astor, Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, Viscountess, 1879-1964
• Bottomley, William Lawrence, 1883-1951
• Bruce, William Cabell, 1860-1946
• Bryan, John Stewart, 1871-1944
• Bryan, Jonathan
• Byrd, Harry F. (Harry Flood), 1887-1966
• Carr, Wilbur John, 1870-1942
• Coolidge, Calvin, 1872-1933
• Darden, Colgate W. (Colgate Whitehead), 1897-1981
• Dugdale, Elizabeth Cabell, 1902-1990
• Ellyson, Lora Effie Hotchkiss, 1848-1935
• Glasgow, Ellen Anderson Gholson, 1873-1945
• Glass, Carter, 1858-1946
• Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865-1923
• Hull, Cordell, 1871-1955
• Lane, Arthur Bliss, 1894–1956
• Montague, Andrew Jackson, 1862-1937
• Morrow, Dwight W. (Dwight Whitney), 1873-1931
• Morse, Henry Grant, 1884-1934
• Olds, Robert Edwin, 1875-1932
• Page, Thomas Nelson, 1853-1922
• Pollard, John Garland, 1871-1937
• Protestant Episcopal Church Home for Ladies (Richmond, Va.)
• Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
• Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945
• Sheffield, James Rockwell, 1864–1938
• Swanson, Claude Augustus, 1862-1939
• Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930
• Templewood, Samuel John Gurney Hoare, Viscount, 1880-1959
• Weddell, Alexander Watson, 1841-1883
• Weddell, Alexander Wilbourne, 1876-1948
• Weddell, Elizabeth Wright, 1878-1955
• Weddell, James, 1807-1865
• Weddell, Margaret Ward, 1869-1935
• Weddell, Penelope Margaret Wright, 1840-1901
• Weddell, Virginia Chase Steedman, 1874-1948
• Weddell, William Sparrow, 1874-1944
• Welles, Sumner, 1892-1961
• Williams, John L. (John Langbourne), 1831-1915
• Williams, John Skelton, 1865-1926
• Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924

Family Names:

• Weddell family--Genealogy
• Wright family--Genealogy

Subjects:

• American Red Cross
• Argentina--Diplomats--United States
• Argentina--Foreign relations--United States
• Autobiography
• Catania (Italy)
• Charities--Virginia--Richmond--History--20th century
• Copenhagen (Denmark)
• Denmark--Foreign relations--United States
• Diplomatic and consular service, American
• Diplomatic and consular service--United States--History--20th century
• Greece--Foreign relations--United States
• India--Foreign relations--United States
• Italy--Foreign relations--United States
• Mexico--Foreign relations--United States
• Richmond Community Fund (Richmond, Va.)
• Southern Churchman
• Spain--Foreign relations--United States
• United States--Diplomatic and consular service--History--20th century
• United States--Foreign relations--Argentina
• United States--Foreign relations--Denmark
• United States--Foreign relations--Greece
• United States--Foreign relations--India
• United States--Foreign relations--Italy
• United States--Foreign relations--Mexico
• United States--Foreign relations--Spain
• United States--Foreign relations--Zanzibar
• United States. Consulate (Athens, Greece)
• United States. Consulate (Calcutta, India)
• United States. Consulate (Catania, Italy)
• United States. Consulate (Mexico City, Mexico)
• United States. Consulate (Zanzibar, Zanzibar)
• United States. Department of State
• United States. General and Special Claims Commissions
• Virginia House (Richmond, Va.)
• Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
• Virginians--Argentina
• Virginians--Mexico
• Women's Council of the Navy League of the United States
• Zanzibar
• Zanzibar--Foreign relations--United States

Adjunct Descriptive Data