Richard T. Crane Papers 2
Collection
Identifier: GTM-GAMMS99
The Richard T. Crane Papers, Part II primarily consists of correspondence, photographs and financial records arranged in 65 folders, placed in 4 boxes and 1 oversized container. This addition to the Richard Crane Papers consists mostly correspondence from the period that Crane was working in the State Department (1915-1918). An interesting theme in this addition is that of Russia and the Revolution of 1917, during which time Charles Crane was travelling in Russia. Charles Crane sent frequent telegrams to Richard giving details of what he saw and experienced. Correspondence from Richard Gottheil and Samuel N. Harper also discuss the Revolution in progress. A large amount of the correspondence also relates to the finances of his wife's family, the Bruces, and to the affairs of the Berry Hill Plantation and the Coonamessett Ranch Company, both in Virginia and belonging to Crane.
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Richard Teller Crane, II was born on August 12, 1882 in Denver, Colorado, the son of Charles R. Crane and Cornelia W. Smith. His grandfather was Richard Teller Crane, who founded the Crane Company of Chicago in 1855. Although his father, Charles Crane, had been formally educated to the age of fourteen, he became one of the most cultured men of his generation. He is most known publicly for the Crane-King report which he co-authored and for his years as American ambassador to China (1920-1922). Richard Crane attended Lawrenceville Preparatory School and received his A.B. degree from Harvard in 1904. In July, 1915 after an unsuccessful bid for congress, he was offered a position as private secretary to the Secretary of State, Robert Lansing. In April, 1919, Richard Crane was appointed by Woodrow Wilson as the first American ambassador to Czechoslovakia. For the next two years he was stationed in Prague, at a time when the new republic was just forming. Crane had previously known Thomas S. Masaryk, the president of Czechoslovakia, when he held the chair of Slavic Studies at the University of Chicago. The chair had been founded by Charles Crane. A letter from Masaryk during his trip to the U.S. in 1918 is in the collection. Crane's term as ambassador ended in 1921.
2.85 Cubic Feet (5 boxes)
English
Gift of Mrs. Bruce Crane Fisher, May 1990.
Part of the Georgetown University Manuscripts Repository