A Guide to the Papers of Hampson Gary, ca. 1893-1943 #4108

Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
USA
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Reference Request Form: https://small.lib.virginia.edu/reference-request/
URL: http://small.library.virginia.edu/

Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Processed by: Sharon Defibaugh

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of Hampson Gary, Accession #4108 , Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These papers were given to the University of Virginia Library by Mrs. English Gordon, Palm Beach, on December 16, 1952.

Biographical/Historical Information

Gary was born in Tyler, Texas, the son of Franklin Newman and Martha Isabella (Boren) Gary, and educated at Bingham School, North Carolina, and the University of Virginia. He was a captain in the U.S. Volunteers in the Spanish-American War and a colonel in the Third Infantry regiment of Texas. In 1901-1902, Gary served in the Texas House of Representatives on the Judiciary and Finance Committees. He was married to Bessie Royall (d. 1943) in 1901, at Palestine, Texas, and they had two children, Franklin Gary and Helen Gary Moran.

In 1914, he was made special counsel to the Department of State and later became a solicitor there. President Wilson appointed Gary a Diplomatic Agent and Consul-General when the United States entered the Great War. He served at Cairo, but was also in charge of American interests in Palestine, Syria, and Arabia, accompanying Lord Allenby at the front beyond Jerusalem for awhile in 1918.

The next year, he was called to Paris for technical work with the American Commission to Negotiate Peace. Following that work, he was nominated and confirmed as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Republic until his retirement from diplomatic service in 1921. He practiced law in Washington, D.C. and New York City, until 1934, when he was appointed by President Roosevelt to the Federal Communications Commission. In 1938, Gary became a solicitor of the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists of about fifty items, ca. 1893-1943, all pertaining to Hampson Gary (1873-?) and his career, including printed material, notices in the UVA Alumni News, and many news clippings concerning his years as a student at the University of Virginia, and his diplomatic service, 1919-1920; invitations and acceptances; and correspondence, including letters from Franklin D. Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson (copy), Henry T. Allen, John W. Davis, and John Finley.