RUTHERFORD B. HAYES AND
HAYES FAMILY COLLECTIONS

The Rutherford B. Hayes Papers, the heart of the Manuscript Collections, include President Hayes' diaries, his personal and political correspondence, speeches, news clippings, government records, legal notes, business papers, and military records (the collection occupies 170 linear feet of storage space). Extending from his school days until his death in 1893, the Hayes Papers offer a reflection of the nineteenth president's public and private life as well as his scholarly interests: politics, the presidency, American and Ohio history, education, prison reform, veterans' interests, genealogy, and literature.

The Rutherford B. Hayes Papers are accessible through a variety of ways. They are available on microfilm through InterLibrary Loan. The Hayes Presidential Center holds typed transcripts of Hayes' diaries and much of his outgoing correspondence. An exhaustive index of the President's letters, both incoming and outgoing, is maintained at the Center. The index lists each correspondent as well as every individual mentioned in each letter. The Diary and Letters of Rutherford B. Hayes, Nineteenth President of the United States, edited by Charles Richard Williams (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State Archeological and Historical Society, 1922) is available on the Center's web site. Although edited and not complete, the 3,000 pages of text provide the bulk of Hayes's diaries and letters and can be browsed or searched by volume and keyword.

The Hayes Family Papers include those of his uncle, mentor and benefactor, Sardis Birchard, one of Ohio's wealthiest land speculators. The papers of First Lady Lucy Webb Hayes provide insight into the public and family life of the Hayeses. Her letters to Rutherford during the Civil War and to her children at school are particularly noteworthy. Webb Cook Hayes' Collection is the largest and richest of the President's descendants. It documents the life of Hayes' second son, Webb, from his childhood until his death in 1934. Colonel Webb C. Hayes had many careers: private secretary to his father, businessman, Medal of Honor-winning soldier, world traveler, and philanthropist. But it is Colonel Hayes' role as the moving force behind the founding of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center for which he is best remembered. The diaries, letters, and photographs that make up the Lucy Elliot Keeler Collection offer a candid view of the Hayes family at Spiegel Grove. Papers such as those of Russell Hastings, Civil War comrade who later married Hayes' niece, and Lucy Scott West offer additional perspectives of the Hayes family. Titles designated with "MF" indicate the collection is on microfilm. They include microfilm of collections located at other institutions. They may be requested through InterLibrary Loan.