Finding Aid
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W. Ross Livingston Papers Access and Restrictions: This collection is open for research. Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections Department. Copyright: Please read The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use Unpublished Materials. Use of Collections: The University of Iowa Libraries supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery for reading, viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use of Manuscripts Statement. Acquisition and Processing Information: These papers were transferred to the University Archives from the Department of History in July 1979. Folders containing Iowa Unitarian Association Board of Trustees minutes dated 1950-1955 were transferred to the Unitarian Universalist Association in Boston in December 2009. Contents of box 24 were transferred from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, in September 2012. Guide created December 2009 and updated September 2012. Photographs: Box 23 |
W. Ross Livingston at Hyde Park in April 1945 |
Scope and Contents
The W. (Walter) Ross Livingston papers are comprised primarily of correspondence concerning his military service during both world wars, as well as his political aspirations. His tireless work as a professor of history to establish a collection of British documents at the University of Iowa Libraries is well documented. His personal and professional correspondence are inter-filed in chronological order. This collection also contains photographs and diaries, as well as Livingston's dissertation and writings regarding the U. S. Army Eighth Air Force.
Biographical Note
Walter Ross Livingston was born October 14, 1893, in Iberia, Missouri. He received the A. B. degree in 1919 from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. He took the A. M. degree at the University of Missouri in 1920 and his Ph.D. in history at the University of Wisconsin in 1927.
Livingston served in the U. S. Army during World War I. After earning his master's degree, Livingston was employed at Pomona College in California, from 1920 to 1923 before accepting a graduate fellowship at the University of Wisconsin, where he studied under Winfred T. Root. Root was appointed head of the History Department at the State University of Iowa in 1925 and recruited Livingston to join the SUI faculty that same year. Livingston taught Canadian history during his first semester and soon included courses in American history and foreign relations, as well as the British Empire and commonwealth. He was instrumental in building a collection of British government publications at the University of Iowa Libraries. During 1943 to 1947, he was on leave while serving as Captain, then Major, then Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army Eighth Air Forces in Europe. During this leave, he was promoted to full professor at SUI. He also served on the board of trustees of the Iowa Unitarian Association during the first half of the 1950s. Livingston retired from SUI in 1962 and was employed as a visiting professor at several colleges and universities over the next decade, including the University of California at Los Angeles during 1965-1966 and the California State College in Long Beach in 1968.
Livingston married Mary Zella Bear in 1920 and the couple had three daughters, Jean, Yvonne, and Irene. Jean served with the Women’s Air Service Pilots for 18 months during 1943 to 1944. W. Ross Livingston died December 30, 1978.
[D. Anderson; 12/2009]
Related Materials
Folder, "Livingston, Walter Ross," Faculty and Staff Vertical Files collection (RG 01.15.03)
Livingston, Walter Ross. Responsible Government in Nova Scotia; A Study of the Constitutional Beginnings of the British
Commonwealth. Iowa City, The University of Iowa, 1930.
Livingston, Walter Ross. Responsible Government in Prince Edward Island, a Triumph of Self-government Under the Crown. Iowa City, The State University of Iowa, 1931.
Livingston, W.R. "Oral History Interview." University of Iowa Oral History Project, 17. 44 pp. 1976.
Calkin, Homer L. "W. Ross Livingston, Curator of British Documents." Books at Iowa 35 (November 1981): 34-52
Box Contents List
Box 1
Correspondence
---. 1932
---. 1933
---. 1942-1943
------. A. Craig Baird
------. Senator Guy Gillette
------. Senator Clyde L. Herring
------. Nelson G. Kraschel
------. Thomas E. Martin (House of Representatives)
------. Professor Frank L. Mott
------. Professor Winfred T. Root
------. Dean Wiley Rutledge
------. Other correspondents
------. “Call for Liberals of Iowa to Unite,” political flier to announce a meeting in Des Moines on September 13, 1942
Box 2
Correspondence, cont.
---. 1918-1919
---. 1920
---. 1921-1923
---. 1924
---. 1925
Box 3
Correspondence, cont.
---. January-June 1926
---. July-December 1926
---. January-June 1927
---. July-December 1927
---. January-June 1928
Box 4
Correspondence, cont.
---. July-December 1928
---. January-June 1929
---. July-December 1929
---. January-April 1930
Box 5
Correspondence, cont.
---. May-August 1930
---. September-October 1930
---. November-December 1930
---. January-June 1931
Box 6
Correspondence, cont.
---. July-December 1931
---. January-June 1932
---. July-December 1932
---. January-June 1933
---. July-December 1933
Box 7
Correspondence, cont.
---. January-March 1934
---. April-July 1934
---. August-December 1934
---. January-June 1935
Box 8
Correspondence, cont.
---. July-December 1935
---. January-April 1936
---. May-September 1936
---. October-December 1936
---. January-April 1937
Box 9
Correspondence, cont.
---. May-July 1937
---. August-December 1937
---. January-April 1938
---. May-August 1938
---. September-December 1938
Box 10
Correspondence, cont.
---. January-April 1939
---. May-August 1939
---. September-December 1939
---. January-April 1940
---. May-September 1940
Box 11
Correspondence, cont.
---. October-December 1940
---. January-June 1941
---. July 1941-entire year 1942
---. January-September 1943
---. October-December 1943
Box 12
Correspondence, cont.
---. January-June 1944
---. July-December 1944
---. January-June 1945
---. July-December 1945
---. January-June 1946
Box 13
Correspondence, cont.
---. July-December 1946
---. January-July 1947
---. August-December 1947
---. January-June 1948
---. July-December 1948
---. January-June 1949
Box 14
Correspondence, cont.
---. July-December 1949
---. January-June 1950
---. July-December 1950
---. January-June 1951
---. July-December 1951
Box 15
Correspondence, cont.
---. January-June 1952
---. July-December 1952
---. January-December 1953
---. January-December 1954
---. 1952-1955
Box 16
Correspondence, cont.
---. 1956-1959
---. 1960-1962
---. January -August 1963
---. September -December 1963
---. January -September 1964
---. October -December 1964
Box 17
Correspondence, cont.
---. January -June 1965
---. July -December 1965
---. January-May 1966
---. June-August 1966
---. September-December 1966
Box 18
Correspondence, cont.
---. January-June 1967
---. July-December 1967
---. 1968
---. 1969
---. January-July 1970
Box 19
Correspondence, cont.
---. August-December 1970
---. 1971
---. 1972-1978
---. Promotion to full professor at SUI
---. Retirement from Air Force
---. State Historical Society of Iowa, 1940
“U. S. Army Air Forces, Command Relations European War,” manuscript by W. Ross Livingston
“Military History as a Possible Field of Study,” manuscript by W. Ross Livingston
Membership cards and Rotary Club certificate of appreciation as guest speaker, April 1964
Livingston genealogy
Livingston’s education
Clippings, 1925
Box 20
Diaries
---. 1918
---. 1919
---. 1930-1931
---. 1933-1939
---. 1940-1949
---. 1950-1959
---. 1960-1969
---. 1970-1976
Box 21
Livingston Ph.D. Dissertation, 1927
Box 22
Records and writings on World War II Service
Photographs
---. Family
---. Trip to California and Grand Canyon, August 1931
---. Old Hamptonian Lodge Meeting in England, December 16, 1944
---. Europe
------. Livingston in uniform at Hyde Park, April 1945
------. Officers’ mess hall at Park Lane in London
------. Funeral procession
------. Street scenes
---. Unknown man, n.d.
Box 24
Manuscript materials and notes for Responsible Government in Novia Scotia:
Notes - Chronology
----. Chapter 2
Research notes. Chapter 6
Manuscript. Chapter 1, introduction
----. Chapter 1
----. Chapter 2
----. Chapter 3
----. Chapter 4
