William Greenleaf Eliot Personal Papers (WUA00068), 1829-1937 | WUA University Archives

Papers and smaller items are housed in numbered boxes and larger materials are housed in the oversized drawers.

Organization and arrangement The papers have been organized into eight series.  Of these series, only the first represents an order imposed by Eliot himself. Series 01: Notebooks (1847-1878 [?]) (arranged chronologically) Series 02: Correspondence (1829-1937 and n.d.) (arranged chronologically) Series 03: Unpublished Works (1862-1885) (arranged chronologically) Series 04: Published Works by or about W.G.E. (1854-1885) (arranged alphabetically by last name of author or by title) Series 05: Newspaper Clippings of Articles Written by W.G.E. (1853-1885) (arranged chronologically) Series 06: Newspaper Clippings and Biographies about W.G.E. and other material written by others than William G. Eliot (1887-1935) (arranged alphabetically by last name of author then subject; writings by unknown authors are at the end of the series and are first arranged chronologically, then the articles with unknown dates are arranged alphabetically by title) Series 07: Photographs (arranged alphabetically by subject) Series 08: W.G.E. Professional Activities and Ephemeral Items (The first part of this series is arranged in the original order of the items.  Following this are added acquisitions which are arranged alphabetically by subject.)

The collection has been reproduced on microfilm (5 reels), however the order of the finding aid does not represent the order of the microfilm

Eliot, William Greenleaf

William Greenleaf Eliot (1811-1887) was born August 5, 1811 in New Bedford, Massachusetts.  His father, a merchant and ship-owner, suffered financial reverses as a result of the embargo that accompanied the War of 1812, and soon moved his family to Baltimore and then Washington, D.C. where he received an appointment as chief examiner in the auditing office of the Postal Department.   William, however, returned to New Bedford as a young boy in order to attend the Friends Academy, and later continued his education at Colombian College in Washington, D.C. from which he graduated in 1830.  For one year after graduation he was employed in the Postal Department, but in 1831 he entered the Cambridge Divinity School, and on August 17, 1834 he was ordained a Unitarian minister in Boston.  In 1834 he went to St. Louis as a missionary, and became the first Unitarian minister west of the Mississippi.  Eliot spent the remainder of his life in St. Louis, becoming one of the city's most influential and respected citizens.  Eliot was influential in the succeeding years in helping establish a good many Unitarian Churches throughout the Mississippi Valley.  Eliot quickly became interested in education.

Throughout the 1840's he led in the efforts to establish and strengthen the St. Louis Public School System, and in 1848 was elected president of the school board.  In 1853 Wayman Crow, a friend of Eliot's, secured a charter for a proposed college to be named Eliot Seminary.  In 1854 Eliot became president of the board of directors, and the name of the fledging University was changed to Washington Institute.  From that time Eliot was to become the most important figure in the development of the University.  In 1870 Eliot assumed the Chancellorship on an interim basis and in 1872 was officially installed in that post, which he held until his death.  When Eliot took over the post of Chancellor he resigned his pastorate in order to devote full-time to the University.  Prior to the Civil War Eliot had been a moderate abolitionist and when the war broke out he came out strongly in favor of union and emancipation.  During the war he was instrumental in the creation, together with his friend, James B. Yeatman, of the Western Sanitary Commission that mitigated to both the medical and spiritual needs of union and confederate soldiers throughout the Mississippi Valley.  After the war Eliot became increasingly active in reform and benevolent movements such as temperance and women's rights, and mounted a strong campaign against efforts to license prostitution in Missouri.  Eliot died in 1887, a figure of influence in the cultural and education development of St. Louis, and of national prominence in social reform and a man respected by his fellow Unitarians.