Jesse R. Grant and Elizabeth Chapman Grant papers

The Jesse R. Grant (JRG) and Elizabeth Chapman Grant (ECG) papers consists of correspondence from the son and daughter-in-law of President Ulysses S. Grant. The correspondence covers the period from 1880-1910 and focuses on the loss of President Grant's fortune in the Ferdinand Ward scandal, President Grant's death, the publication of Grant's memoirs, the sculpting of his death mask, and Jesse and Elizabeth’s (Lizzie or Babs) correspondence with their family members on both the Grant and Chapman sides. Correspondents include Jesse's mother Julia Dent Grant, his brothers Frederick Dent Grant and Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., as well as Jesse and Lizzie's sisters-in-law Fannie Chaffee Grant and Ida Honore Grant. It also includes correspondence from Lizzie's father, William S. Chapman, her mother, Sarah A. Chapman, and her sister, Mary Ellen Chapman Mason. Frequent correspondents also include Postmaster General John A. J. Cresswell, sculptor Karl Gerhardt, publisher Charles L. Webster, and friends of Lizzie, Mrs. Josie Deming and Effie, who invested her family savings in the firm of Grant and Ward.

The materials in this collection were donated by various Grant family descendants and originally was placed in the US Grant and Family correspondence collection. In the summer of 2020, the correspondence was separated from that collection and made into its own collection of correspondence relating to the family of Jesse and Elizabeth Grant. The collection also contains a few photocopy reproductions of correspondence donated by Grant family members.