Leon E. Truesdell papers (Ms. 2011.004)

The Leon E. Truesdell papers, date from 1882 and 1973 with the bulk of the materials dated from 1902 to 1972. They contain correspondence to and from Truesdell, his personal and professional writings, and other related material such as newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and several photographs of Truesdell.

Series 1. Inventory by Leon E. Truesdell is a typewritten inventory of Truesdell's papers that he compiled between 1971 and 1973.

The next three series contain correspondence. The letters written by Truesdell are copies of the originals. Most of the correspondence is related to his career as a statistician and demographer at the United States Bureau of the Census.

Series 2. Correspondence regarding published works contains material dated between 1923 and 1967. Each subseries in Series 2 concerns a book written by Truesdell with the exceptions of Subseries D. Proposed farm census of Puerto Rico and Subseries E. Puerto Rico correspondence after 1940. Truesdell included this correspondence in the "published works" section of his papers because it was so closely related to his work on the Census of Puerto Rico in 1935.

Series 3. Professional correspondence is arranged by topic and includes letters written between 1912 and 1971. Most of this correspondence is between Truesdell and other demographers and statisticians.

Series 4. Personal correspondence contains letters written between 1905 and 1967. The letters regarding pronunciation and the Latin requirement for college admission were originally in the section of Truesdell's inventory labeled "minor activities". The remaining correspondence is between Truesdell and several Brown University faculty members after his graduation in 1907.

Series 5. Education contains material dated between 1899 and 1972. It includes papers written for high school and college courses, material for classes in short story writing and personal efficiency, and material for a class in religious studies called "Delta class". Most of this material is from "List X. Miscellaneous items" and "List H. Early manuscripts" in Truesdell's inventory.

Series 6. Manuscripts contains both professional and personal writings for publication. This material is dated between 1911 and 1972. Truesdell's arrangement of the numbered manuscripts, which are all on statistical topics, has been retained. Other material in this series is arranged by topic. Truesdell's list of his published works is also included here.

Series 7. Reprints contains reprints of some of Truesdell's early writings when he was a student at the Leland and Gray Seminary as well as some of his professional publications. A complete list of these titles as well as his notes on their contents is in the section of Truesdell's inventory labeled "Reprints and minor publications on official business".

Series 8. Personal and biographical consists mostly of biographical material regarding Truesdell and his family, his employment history, and several photographs of Truesdell. Also included are papers from his service on the finance committee of the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. and several cards and pamphlets about the Buff Wyandotte chickens he raised on his farm in Vermont before entering Brown University in 1903.

Four monographs that were originally included with the papers have been removed and catalogued separately. They may be found under the search entry "Leon E. Truesdell papers" in the Brown University Library's online catalog.