A Social Archive of Invites, Photographs and other Materials of Robert Simpson Woodward

Washington, DC, c1905-1908. Robert Simpson Woodward was born on July 21, 1849 in Rochester, MI to Lysander Woodward (1817 - 1880) and Peninah Axford Simpson (1825 - 1894). Robert first attended Rochester Academy, graduating in 1868. He went to the University of Michigan to study engineering and graduated in 1872. He worked as a geographer for the US geological survey from 1884 to 1890. He became a Professor of Mechanics at Columbia University in 1893 and in 1904 left that post to become President of Carnegie Institute of Washington, DC, where he remained until 1921. He was also President of several societies, such as American Mathematical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Robert married Martha Gretton Bond (1851 -1937) on March 1, 1876 in Detroit, MI. He had four children, Alice Woodward (1876-1878), Robert Simpson Woodward Jr (1879-1849), Karl Wilson Woodward (1881-1962) and William Lysander Woodward (1885-1946). He died June 29, 1924 in Washington, DC after a long illness.. A collection of approximately 50 pieces of ephemera belonging to Robert Simpson Woodward who was a distinguished Professor of Physics and Mathematics at Columbia University and later President of Carnegie Institution. The majority of the collection consists of invitations, and their corresponding ephemera such as programs, RSVP cards, envelopes, and calling cards. Some of the invites were for Carnegie's various graduation functions, the German Ambassador Hermann Freiherr Speck von Sternburg, the American Institute of Architects, and the Literary Society. There are three large formal invitations, one from the Periodical Publishers Association of America, one from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the other was for a dinner with a select group of individuals: Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell, Secretary of State Elihu Root, Darius Ogden Mills, former US Assistant Secretary of State John L Cadwalader, President of Phelps Dodge Cleveland H. Dodge, Henry L Higginson (founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra) and John Billings. Additionally there are a few short letters, the subject of which is generally a lengthy invite to a dinner or meeting. The smallest of these items are 3 3/4" x 2" and they go up to 12" x 9". Lastly there are two photographs of Woodward. First, a small black and white one (4" x 3 1/4") inset on a larger piece of paper (11" x 8 1/2"). The second is a larger sepia toned photograph (10" x 8"), printed by Portrait Studios Underwood and Underwood. This photograph comes in a folder.