Douglas Family. Collection, 1859-1963

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Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas and the Civil War

This collection is open for research.

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Douglas Family. Collection, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Lawyer, judge and politician Stephen A. Douglas (1813-1861) married Martha Denny Martin (1825-1853) in 1847. Two children born to their marriage survived into adulthood, Robert Martin Douglas (1849-1917) and Stephen Arnold Douglas, Jr. (1850-1908). [See the Guide to the Stephen A. Douglas Papers for an account of Stephen A. Douglas's life and career.]

Robert M. Douglas was born in North Carolina in 1849. He graduated from Georgetown College in 1867, and later earned an M.A. and L.D. from the Washington D.C. institution. Douglas was active in the Reconstruction era Republican party, serving as private secretary to President Ulysses S. Grant from 1869-1873. He worked as a U.S. Marshal for North Carolina and was appointed to serve as Master in Chancery to the U.S. Circuit Court in 1888. In 1896, Douglas was elected to the North Carolina Supreme Court, on which served one eight-year term before retiring in 1904. Robert M. Douglas married Jessie Madeline Dick and had four children, Madeleine Douglas, Robert Dick Douglas, Stephen Arnold Douglas and Martin F. Douglas.

Martin F. Douglas was Robert M. Douglas’s son and worked as a lawyer in Greensboro, North Carolina. Douglas worked with researchers and to provide access to papers from his famous grandfather that remained in private hands.

The collection is divided into five series.

Series I: Correspondence, is sub-divided into three sub-series Robert M. Douglas Correspondence, Martin F. Douglas Correspondence, and General Correspondence. Each includes personal and business correspondence and is organized roughly by date Robert M. Douglas’s subseries include Presidents McKinley, Taft, and Theodore Roosevelt.

Series 2 contains legal and financial documents gathered by the family, including deeds, bonds, and documents concerning court cases.

Series 3: Printed Materials includes texts written by and about family members, including Stephen A. Douglas, as well as items collected by the Douglas family. It is divided into two subseries: Pamphlets and Books and Newspaper Clippings.

Series 4 is a collection of ephemera consisting of postcards, photographs, calling cards, invitations, currency, stamps, maps, envelopes, and two leather bound diaries.

Series 5 contains oversized items. This series is broken into three subseries: Legal and Financial, Printed Materials and Ephemera.

The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:

• Names
  • Douglas, Stephen A.
  • Douglas, Robert M.
  • Douglas, Martin F.
  • McKinley, William, 1843-1901
  • Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919
  • Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930
• SubjectEducation