Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#4481
FRANK ARTHUR DANIELS PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Correspondence, reference material, financial and
legal papers, clippings, pictures, and other material
documenting business, civic, and personal life of
Frank Arthur Daniels, and the experience of his
father, Josephus Daniels, as U.S. Ambassador to
Mexico. Most of the material about Frank Daniels
dates from the early 1970s and relates to his business
and civic activities. The operation of the "News and
Observer," the activities of the News and Observer
Foundation, and Daniel's service on the Rex Hospital
board of trustees are among the most important topics.
The material that relates to Josephus Daniels's
service as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico consists
primarily of "letter-diaries" that he sent to his
family. These missives report on social activities of
the diplomatic corps and describe people and places in
Mexico, but only occassionaly refer to Daniel's
official duties as ambassador.
Online Catalog Terms:
Civic leaders--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Daniels, Adelaide Worth Bagley, 1869-1943.
Daniels, Frank Arthur, 1904-1986.
Daniels, Josephus, 1862-1948.
Mexico--Description and travel--20th century.
News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.).
News and Observer Foundation.
Newspaper publishing--North Carolina.
Raleigh (N.C.)--History.
Rex Hospital (Raleigh, N.C.).
Size: About 4000 items (4.5 feet)
Provenance: Received from Frank Arthur Daniels, Jr., of
Raleigh, N.C., in 1987.
Access: No restrictions.
Processing Note: This collection was processed with support
from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
Related Collections: Frederick Aunspaugh Papers (#4483);
Bagley Family Papers (#3457);
Jonathan Worth Daniels Papers (#3466);
Josephus Daniels Papers (#203);
Josephus Daniels Papers, Library of
Congress
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States
copyright law.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Biographical Note
Collection Overview
Series Descriptions
Series 1. Correspondence
Series 2. Subject Files
Series 3. Financial and Legal Papers
Series 4. Other Papers
Subseries 4.1. Clippings
Subseries 4.2. Miscellaneous Papers
Series 5. Pictures
Shelf List
INTRODUCTION
Biographical Note
The fourth son of Adelaide Worth Bagley and Josephus Daniels
was born 8 June 1904 and was named for his father's older
brother, Frank Arthur Daniels. Josephus Daniels was editor of
the Raleigh News and Observer; secretary of the Navy, 1913-1921;
and United States Ambassador to Mexico, 1933-1941.
Frank Daniels received an A.B. degree from the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1927. He married Ruth Aunspaugh
on 20 November 1929. They had two children: Frank Arthur
Daniels, Jr., born 7 September 1931, and Patricia (Patsy) Bagley
Daniels (Mrs. Robert M. Woronoff), born 21 July 1933.
Frank Daniels made his career with the News and Observer,
beginning in the pressroom. According to the News and Observer
of 6 May 1986, Daniels was made treasurer in 1937, general
manager in 1942, president in 1956, publisher in 1966, and
chairman of the board in 1970. (Note: Who's Who in the South
and Southwest, 1969-1970, gives a different set of dates:
treasurer, 1932-1956; general manager, 1942- ; president,
1956- ; publisher, News and Observer and Raleigh Times.) He
was active in professional organizations, serving as a member of
the board of directors of the Associated Press; president of the
North Carolina Publishers Association, 1948-1949; president of
the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, 1951; a director
of the American Newspaper Publishers Association, 1955-1964; and
treasurer of the American Newspaper Publishers Association,
1963-1964.
In addition to his business activies, Daniels was involved in
many civic activities. He was a member of the board of trustees
of Rex Hospital in Raleigh from 1937 until 1968 and was chairman
for the last eighteen of those years. He was president of the
Raleigh Community Chest and chairman of the group that organized
the United Fund in Raleigh. From 1948 to 1956, Daniels was
chairman of the North Carolina Board of Public Welfare. From
1956 to 1957, he was a member of the North Carolina Tax Study
Commission. He was also a trustee of the consolidated University
of North Carolina and a member of the executive committee of the
Research Triangle Institute.
Frank Daniels died in Raleigh, North Carolina, on 5 May 1986.
Collection Overview
This collection contains correspondence, reference material,
financial and legal papers, clippings, pictures, and other
material that document the business, civic, and personal life of
Frank Arthur Daniels and the experience of his father, Josephus
Daniels, as United States Ambassador to Mexico. Most of the
material about Frank Daniels dates from the early 1970s and has
to do with his business and civic activities. The operation of
the News and Observer, the activities of the News and Observer
Foundation, and Daniels's service on the Rex Hospital Board of
Trustees are among the most important topics. This material is
filed mainly in Series 2.
The material that relates to Josephus Daniels's service as
United States Ambassador to Mexico consists primarily of
"letter-diaries" that he sent to his family. These missives
describe people and places in Mexico, but only occasionally refer
to Daniels's work as ambassador. Most of this material is in
Series 1. Almost all of the material in Subseries 4.1 concerns
Josephus Daniels.
The file titles and order established by Frank Daniels were
retained in the subject files in Series 2. The remainder of the
material was loose when received at the Southern Historical
Collection and was placed in the following order during
processing:
Series 1. Correspondence: About 1200 items, 1894-1985.
Series 2. Subject Files: About 2000 items, 1958-1976.
Series 3. Financial and Legal Material: About 30 items,
1926-1946.
Series 4. Other Papers. About 250 items, 1926-1979.
Subseries 4.1. Clippings.
Subseries 4.2. Miscellaneous Papers.
Series 5. Pictures: About 138 items, ca. 1880s-1960s.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. Correspondence
1894-1985. About 1200 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Chiefly letters of Josephus Daniels and Adelaide Worth
(Bagley) Daniels to their son Frank and to Frank's wife and
children. There is also some other Daniels family
correspondence. Most of the correspondence dates from the years
1933-1941 when Josephus Daniels was United States Ambassador to
Mexico. These letters were in envelopes when received at the
Southern Historical Collection and were arranged in chronological
order during processing. There is also correspondence in Series
2; that correspondence remains in the files in which Frank
Daniels placed it.
1894-1932
A few letters from the years before Josephus Daniels went to
Mexico City as ambassador. The earliest is a copy of a letter
Josephus sent in 1894 to 100 Democrats asking each to invest $100
in the News and Observer. Letters in 1916 and 1917 from Josephus
and Addie to their 12- and 13-year-old son, Frank, give advice on
behavior, family news, and family plans. Three letters from 1919
describe Josephus and Addie's trip to Paris and Rome. There is a
1931 letter from A. Mitchell Palmer to Josephus asking for an
autographed letter to put in his copy of Daniels's Life of
Wilson. Also in that year, there are letters about an eastern
park-to-park highway. In 1932, letters from Addie to her sons in
Raleigh describe their father's condition after an accident in
Atlanta.
Folder 1 1894, 1916-1917
2 1919
3 1927-1930
4 1931
5 1932
1933-1941
Mostly letters from Josephus Daniels to his son Frank, with
some letters from Josephus to Frank's wife, Ruth Aunspaugh
Daniels, and to Frank's children, Frank, Jr., and Patricia, and
letters from Addie Worth Daniels to Frank's family. Some letters
are addressed to "Dear Boys" or "Dear Children" and were
apparently intended for all three of the Daniels's sons who lived
in Raleigh--Josephus, Jr., Jonathan, and Frank--and sometimes for
their families as well.
Much of the correspondence consists of carbon copies of
typed "diary-letters" that Josephus Daniels wrote while in Mexico
and sent to his family about once a week. (Note: the originals
of these diary-letters may be in the Josephus Daniels Papers in
the Library of Congress.) The diary described for his family the
people and places Josephus encountered in Mexico. Only
occasionally did it tell anything about his work as ambassador.
The diary did reflect Josephus's interest in understanding the
Mexican Revolution, in Mexican feeling toward the United States,
in the church-state controversy in Mexico, in education, and in
agrarian reform.
In the diary entries he sent to his children, Josephus
always described the Daniels's social engagements in Mexico
City--luncheons, dinners, and teas given and attended. He
mentioned many of their better-known guests, but seldom told
anything of substance about them. He also described the
Daniels's visits to other parts of Mexico--to Cuernavaca, Oaxaca,
Nogales, Mazatlan, Veracruz, Cozumel, and other places.
Josephus referred to his duties as ambassador only on rare
occasions. In August 1933, he reported that he had succeeded in
reorganizing the American Embassy, Consulate, and Commercial
Attache into one agency. In October 1933 and April 1934, he
remarked that negotiating a settlement of American claims arising
from the Mexican Revolution took a great deal of his time. On 17
August 1934, he sent a letter describing President Rodriguez of
Mexico to President Roosevelt. On 26 October 1934, he sent
Roosevelt another letter explaining the church-state controversy
in Mexico. He sent copies of these letters to his children with
his diaries. Throughout 1938, 1939, and 1940, Josephus wrote in
his diary about the difficulty of settling the oil problem and
the Mexican expropriation of land owned by American oil
companies.
Throughout his tenure in Mexico, but especially in the early
years, Josephus pursued an understanding of the Mexican
Revolution and the reforms that flowed from it. He reported many
conversations in which he questioned people who had been involved
in the Revolution about their motives and about what had really
happened in the Revolution. He was also interested in learning
how Mexicans felt about Woodrow Wilson's policy toward Mexico.
As he travelled in Mexico, he reported on the social and economic
changes that had come to Mexico since the Revolution. He was
especially interested in relations between church and state, in
education, and in agrarian reform.
Most of the letters that Josephus wrote in addition to the
diary were short and concerned personal matters or the business
of the News and Observer. In these letters, Josephus sometimes
commented on North Carolina politics and, in 1936, speculated on
the possibility that he might run for the United States Senate
that year. Occasionally he sent news items about himself or Mrs.
Daniels or copies of his correspondence with Franklin Roosevelt.
There are also letters from Addie Daniels to Frank and his
family.
Also included are letters written by Frank Daniels in the
summer of 1935 to his wife Ruth while she and their children were
at St. Simon's Island, Georgia, during a polio epidemic in
Raleigh. Frank also wrote to Ruth in the summer of 1937 when she
and the children were at Lake Junaluska with his mother, Addie
Daniels.
Folders 6-15 1933
16-28 1934
29-38 1935
39-52 1936
53-62 1937
63-72 1938
73-80 1939
81-89 1940
90-98 1941
1942-1985 and undated
Scattered family letters after Josephus and Addie Daniels
returned to Raleigh from Mexico. There are letters of sympathy
on Addie's death in December 1943 and a letter from Josephus to
Frank in 1944 about the christening of the ship Addie Bagley
Daniels.
The letters in the 1950s, in 1970, and in 1985 are letters
of the Frank Daniels family, including a group of letters to Ruth
and Frank Daniels when they were on a trip to Europe and a group
of letters of sympathy to Frank after Ruth's death in 1985.
Folder 99 1942-1944
100 1945
101 1946
102 1951-1954,1970
103 1985
104 Undated
105 Undated
Series 2. Subject Files
1958-1976. About 2000 items.
Arrangement: alphabetical by file title, then roughly
chronological.
Correspondence and reference materials concerning Frank
Daniels's business and civic activities. The majority of this
material dates from the early 1970s. Some of it pertains to the
operation of the News and Observer; more relates to Daniels'
contributions to charities and civic organizations, his service
on the boards of directors of local businesses and organizations,
and the operation of the Josephus Daniels Charitable Foundation
(later the News and Observer Foundation). Family and business
correspondence with his brothers, Jonathan and Worth Daniels, is
filed under "Daniels, Frank." Within each subject, material is
arranged roughly in chronological order. These files were
established and titled by Frank Daniels.
Folders 106-107 Advertising
108-109 American Newspapers Publishers Association
(ANPA)
110 ANPA Research Institute
111 Associated Press
112-113 Bowater
114 Branham
115 Branham Scholarship
116 Business Luncheons
117 Cablevision
118-119 Circulation
120-131 Contributions
132 Coosa River Letters
133 Cox Newsprint
134-159 Daniels, Frank
160 Daniels, Jonathan--Biography
161 Daniels, Josephus--Biography
162-163 Daniels, Worth
164 Demurrage Bills
165 Employees' Retirement Fund
166-169 "Family Affairs"
170-174 Foundation
175 Great Northern
176 Inman, Tom--Biography
177 Insurance
178-179 International Paper
180-181 Labor
182 Lawing
183 MacMillan
184-194 Miscellaneous Correspondence
195 Nash Square
196-198 NCNB
199 NC Press Association
200 News & Observer Biography
201-205 Pension
206 Purchase Orders
207-221 Research Triangle
222-225 Rex Hospital
226-227 Seaboard
228-233 "The Scene" Libel Suit
234 Sheriff, Seymour
235-236 SNPA (Southern Newspaper Publishers
Association)
237 Southern Letters
238 Southern Production Program
239 Stockholders
240 Telephone Bills
241 Urban League
Series 3. Financial and Legal Papers
1926-1946 and undated. About 30 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Financial and legal papers of Frank Arthur Daniels and the
Daniels family. Items include tax bills and receipts, cancelled
checks for taxes and charitable contributions, and other bills
and papers. Of particular interest are the Articles of
Incorporation of the News and Observer Publishing Company (1926)
and a copy of Josephus Daniels's will (1946).
Folder 242 1926
243 1929-1938
244 1939-1940
245 1946
246 Undated
Series 4. Other Papers
Subseries 4.1. Clippings
1926-1979 and undated. About 200 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
News clippings about members of the Daniels family and their
activities. Most of the clippings concern Josephus Daniels,
especially his appointment as United States Ambassador to Mexico
in March 1933 and his arrival in Mexico in April 1933.
Folder 247 1926-1932
248 March 1933
249 April 1933
250 May-December 1933
251 1934
252 1936-1939
253 1940-1979
Subseries 4.2. Miscellaneous Papers
1929-1965 and undated. About 50 items.
Arrangement: alphabetical by file title
Invitations, programs, speeches, mementoes and other
miscellaneous papers.
Folder 254 Daniels, Frank III, and Patricia
255 Daniels, Josephus
256 Daniels, Josephus--Speeches
257 Index to the News and Observer Editorial Page, 1
September 1934 through 31 December 1936
258 Mementoes
259 News and Observer
260 Presidential Inauguration, 1937
261 Rogers, Will. "What a Coach!"
262 U. S. Defense Savings Bonds
263 U. S. Navy
264 Wayne, Edw. "National Defense and Private
Chartered Banking," 1941.
265 Wedding Announcement--Robbins-Wilson
266 Wedding Invitation--Daniels-Aunspaugh
Series 5. Pictures
1880s-1960s. 138 items.
Mostly black and white pictures of members of the Josephus
Daniels family.
P-4481/1-3. Early photographs of Josephus Daniels taken in
Petersburg, Virginia, and Wilson, North
Carolina, ca. 1880-1895.
P-4481/4-26. Group photos of Josephus Daniels, while he
served as the Secretary of the Navy, with
Franklin D. Roosevelt (Undersecretary of the
Navy), naval and marine officers, Addie Worth
Bagley Daniels, President Woodrow Wilson, and
Wilson's Cabinet members, General John J.
Pershing, President Porras of Panama. Ca.
1916-1920.
P-4481/27-30. Group photos of Josephus Daniels, while he
served as the Secretary of the Navy, as the
reviewing officer on board United States naval
vessels. Ca. 1916-1920.
P-4481/31-36. Photos of Josephus Daniels, as the reviewing
officer for dress parades, two of which were
taken at the Great Lakes Training Station,
Illinois, July 1920 (4481/31-32). Ca.
1916-1920.
P-4481/37. Photograph of a painting that may have been in
Josephus Daniels's office.
P-4481/38. Photograph of an office, with a portrait of
Josephus Daniels in the background.
P-4481/39-43. Josephus Daniels as reviewing officer, and
decorating officers and men of the 2nd U. S.
Division in Vallendan, Germany.
P-4481/44-45. Photographs of Josephus Daniels and Franklin
D. Roosevelt.
P-4481/46-47. Josephus Daniels and King Albert of Belgium,
ca. October 1919.
P-4481/48-50. Josephus Daniels and staff officers in Brest,
France, 1937.
P-4481/51-53. Josephus Daniels speaking in Brest, France, at
the dedication of the monument to the American
soldiers of World War I, 12 August 1937.
P-4481/54-59. Josephus Daniels and other dignitaries,
including Senator Russell, Admiral Devin, and
the Senator-Mayor of Brest at Brest, France,
12 August 1937.
P-4481/60-61. Josephus Daniels, the Senator-Mayor of Brest,
and others on board a ship, August 1937.
P-4481/62-64. Photographs with Christmas greetings--Mr. and
Mrs. Josephus Daniels at the American Embassy
in Mexico, undated and 1940; cross in front of
volcanoes Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl, 1939.
P-4481/65. Mrs. Josephus Daniels and Mrs. Rodriguez, wife
of the president of Mexico, at the Castle of
Chapultepec, 26 April 1933.
P-4481/66. Josephus Daniels standing in front of
caricatures of himself.
P-4481/67-68. Josephus Daniels, October 1941.
P-4481/69-73. Josephus Daniels at United States Navy
Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill, North
Carolina.
P-4481/74-81. Josephus Daniels.
OP-P-4481/82. Engraving of portrait of Josephus Daniels.
OP-P-4481/83. Photograph of Josephus Daniels by Robert
Davis, 1935.
P-4481/84. Photograph of three boys in front of a bust of
Josephus Daniels.
P-4481/85. Cloth picture of Josephus Daniels.
P-4481/86a. Mr. and Mrs. Josephus Daniels with Embassy
staff and children, Christmas Day, 1934.
P-4481/86b. Mr. and Mrs. Josephus Daniels with four
unidentified young men, undated.
P-4481-87. Mrs. Josephus Daniels, Nan Lockett, Mary
Aguirre, and two others, May 1939.
P-4481/88-89. Josephus Daniels, Jr.
P-4481/90. Worth B. Daniels.
P-4481/91-98. Jonathan Worth Daniels.
P-4481/99-104. Jonathan Worth Daniels.
P-4481/105-110. Photographs of Jonathan Daniels with others
including Eleanor Roosevelt, Ladybird Johnson,
Paul Green, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy
P-4481/111. Bridal photograph of Ruth Aunspaugh (Daniels).
P-4481/112. Elizabeth Daniels Squire.
P-4481/113. "Adeleade" (possibly Jonathan Daniels's
daughter Adelaide).
P-4481/114. Lucy Daniels.
P-4481/115. Mary Cleves Daniels.
P-4481/116. Worth B. Daniels, Frank A. Daniels, Jonathan
Daniels.
P-4481/117. Group photograph of the sons of Josephus
Daniels with their wives, children, and
children's spouses.
P-4481/118. Jonathan Daniels family.
P-4481/119. Color photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Frank
Daniels, Jr., and two children.
P-4481/120. Color photograph of Patsy Daniels Woronoff and
four children.
P-4481/121. Color photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Frank
Daniels, Jr., Patsy Daniels Woronoff, and six
children.
P-4481/122. Color photograph of Frank Daniels, Sr., and
six children.
P-4481/123. Governor John G. Richards of South Carolina
operating steamshovel at groundbreaking for
industrial city development at Calhoun Falls,
South Carolina.
P-4481/124. Unidentified man with William Fox Sunshine
Comedy Bathing Girls.
P-4481/125-127. Unidentified man, boy, and girl.
P-4481/128-129. Unidentified group.
P-4481/130. Worth B. Daniels, Josephus Daniels, Jr., Frank
A. Daniels, Herbert North Jackson, Jonathan
Daniels at Morehead City, North Carolina,
1911.
P-4481/131-132. House under construction, 1935.
P-4481/133. Coblentz from Ehrenbreitstein (1937?).
P-4481/134-136. Monuments and plaque to Confederate dead,
Chicora Cemetery.
P-4481/137. Monument erected by the North Carolina
Daughters of the American Revolution to mark
Andrew Jackson's birthplace.
P-4481/138. "Lebannon," home of Eugene Smith. Known during
Civil War as Farquard Smith home.
SHELF LIST
Box 1. Series 1. Correspondence (folders 1-80)
Box 2. Series 1. Correspondence (folders 81-105)
Series 2. Subject Files (folders 106-140)
Box 3. Series 2. Subject Files (folders 141-200)
Box 4. Series 2. Subject Files (folders 201-241)
Box 5. Series 3. Financial and Legal (folders 242-246)
Series 4. Other papers
Subseries 4.1. Clippings (folders 247-253)
Subseries 4.2. Misc Papers (folders 254-266)
Items separated:
P-4481/1-138