The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Frances and James Parker Hall, Jr., Papers 1925-1994
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| Title: | Hall, Frances and James Parker Hall, Jr., Papers. |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1925-1994 |
| Size: | 9.25 linear feet (8 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | James Parker Hall, Jr. (1906-2000), University of Chicago student, worked in finance in securities, investment banking, and stock and bond brokerage businesses, served as University of Chicago treasurer (1947-1969), married to Frances Hall, née Ferris (1904-2007). University memorabilia and personal correspondence, including a sizeable collection of letters and cards from artist Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge (1888-1977). |
This collection is open for research.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Hall, Frances and James Parker Hall, Jr., Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
James Parker Hall, Jr. was born on February 26, 1906. His father, James Parker Hall, Sr., was an authority on constitutional law and was dean of the University of Chicago Law School from 1904 to 1928. Hall Jr. attended University High School and began at the University of Chicago in September 1923. He received a Bachelor of Philosophy on June 14, 1927. While at the University of Chicago, Hall Jr. was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. Hall left Chicago for Harvard University, where he received a master’s degree in finance from Harvard Business School.
Hall Jr. was president of the University of Chicago Alumni Club of New York and a member of the Alumni Foundation Board. He was appointed Treasurer of the University of Chicago after seventeen years of experience on Wall Street in securities, investment banking, and stock and bond brokerage businesses. He was head of research and statistical analysis at Clark, Dodge and Company, and was also associated with A. Iselin and Company from 1933 to 1935 and with J. Seligman and Company from 1929 to 1933.
Hall Jr. married Frances Ferris (1904-2007) in 1931. The couple had three sons: James Parker Hall, III, Ferris, and Bronson. They moved to Highland Park, IL, in 1947, at which time Hall Jr. assumed his role as treasurer of the University of Chicago. Hall Jr. died in Highland Park in 2000.
Frances (Ferris) Hall was born in Starkville, Mississippi, and graduated from Mississippi State College for Women in 1924. She was active in many organizations, including The Fortnightly Club and the Women’s Board of the University of Chicago. She was also a student and collector of art and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago.
The Frances and James Parker Hall, Jr. Papers consist of materials related to Hall, Jr.'s time as a student at University of Chicago as well as personal correspondence, particularly with artist Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge and his wife, Caroline Singer. The collection also includes a series of woodblock prints by Baldridge and personal, illustrated letters and cards from the artist. The bulk of the material dates from the 1920s to the 1970s.
This collection is organized into three series. The first is material related solely to James Parker Hall, Jr., with memorabilia from his time as a student at the University of Chicago High School and the University of Chicago. The second series is material that includes his wife, Frances, as well as Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge and his wife, Caroline Singer, with whom the Halls had a long and close relationship. There is also a group of woodblock prints and a dry point made by Baldridge. A gallery sale catalog of these works (and others) may be found in this series as well. Series three is a model oil tanker, the R.F. McConnell, a photograph of which may be found in Series two.
Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge Collection
Harold Swift Papers, 1897-1962
Series I: James Parker Hall, Jr. Collection |
This series contains two university sweaters, tie pins, personal correspondence, yearbooks and student handbooks, as well as other small volumes from Hall’s personal library.
| Box 1 Folder 1 | Sweater, Burgundy |
| Box 2 Folder 1 | Sweater, Gray |
| Box 3 Folder 1 | Cap and Gown, 1927 |
| Box 4 Folder 1 | Curtis, Atherton, How Prints Are Made, eighth edition, published by Frederick Keppel & Co., undated |
| Box 4 Folder 2 | Hopkins, Albert L., Autobiography of a Lawyer, hardcover, inscribed by the author, 1966 |
| Box 4 Folder 3 | Forest Trees of Illinois: How to Know Them, paperback, by Glen D. Palmer, Dir. of the Department of Conservation, 1955 |
| Box 4 Folder 4 | Thorne Smith, Ellen (compiled by), Chicagoland Birds: Where and When to Find Them, paperback, published by the Chicago Natural History Museum, 1958 |
| Box 4 Folder 5 | The Fortnightly, paperback yearbook, published by the Fortnightly of Chicago, 1994-1995 |
| Box 4 Folder 6 | Photograph, undated |
| Box 5 Folder 1 | Three student handbooks of the University of Chicago, 1923-24; 1924-25; and 1925-26. |
| Box 5 Folder 2 | Three University of Chicago tie pins, undated |
| Box 5 Folder 3 | The Correlator, high school yearbook, 1922 |
| Box 5 Folder 4 | The Correlator, high school yearbook, 1923 |
Series II: Frances and James Parker Hall, Jr. Collection of Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge. |
This series contains correspondence, some of it illustrated, between the Halls and artist Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge and his wife, Caroline Singer. It also contains newspaper clippings and other materials related to Baldridge as well as a series of Baldridge woodblock prints dated to 1925 and presumably gifted to the Halls.
| Box 6 Folder 1 | Personal correspondence, letters and holiday cards, between Frances and James Parker Hall, Jr. and Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge and Caroline Singer, 1940s-1960s |
| Box 6 Folder 2 | Personal correspondence, between Frances and James Parker Hall, Jr. and Baldridge and Singer, 1970s |
| Box 6 Folder 3 | Dust jacket, Ali Lives in Iran, by Baldridge and Singer, 1937 |
| Box 6 Folder 4 | Sharman, Henry Burton, Studies in Jesus as a Teacher, paperback, 1938 |
| Box 6 Folder 5 | Guy Mayer Gallery exhibition pamphlet, includes short essay on Baldridge, March 6-25,1939 |
| Box 6 Folder 6 | Framed sketch of cat, “Cyrano for Bronson – May 22, 1940,” 1940 |
| Box 6 Folder 7 | Newspaper clippings and photographs, 1942-68 |
| Box 6 Folder 8 | A Parable, The Fifty-First Chapter of Genesis, 1943 |
| Box 6 Folder 9 | Dust jacket, Time and Chance, by Baldridge, 1947 |
| Box 6 Folder 10 | Thurber, James, “Years with Ross,” clippings from the Atlantic Monthly, undated |
| Box 6 Folder 11 | Copy of last will and testament for Baldridge, 1977 |
| Box 6 Folder 12 | Hall, Frances, “Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge and Caroline Singer,” 1994 |
| Box 6 Folder 13 | Two wall calendars illustrated with Baldridge works, 2015, 2016 |
| Box 7 Folder 1 | Coal Hill, color woodblock print, 1925 |
| Box 7 Folder 2 | Peking, color woodblock print, 1925 |
| Box 7 Folder 3 | Peking, Evening, color woodblock print, 1925 |
| Box 7 Folder 4 | Peking, North Gate, color woodblock print, 1925 |
| Box 7 Folder 5 | Peking, Pailou, no. 271/300, color woodblock print, 1925 |
| Box 7 Folder 6 | Peking, Winter, color woodblock print, undated |
| Box 7 Folder 7 | Peking Hawker, dry point print, 1938 |
| Box 7 Folder 8 | Large envelope, stamped, addressed from Baldridge to Halls, undated |
| Box 7 Folder 9 | Photograph, Hall, Jr. standing next to the scale model of oil tanker, undated |
Series III: Oil tanker |
Scale model of The R.F. McConnell oil tanker, based on the real oil tanker of the same name purchased by the University of Chicago in 1949 and owned by the University until 1963. The model was held by Hall, Jr. at his home until 2017.
| Box 8 Folder 1 | Scale model of R.F. McConnell oil tanker, undated |