Finding aid for the Myron T. Herrick Papers

Biography of Myron T. Herrick

Myron Timothy Herrick (1854-1929), was a businessman, banker, politician, and diplomat who served his city, state and nation in a number of capacities.

Born in Huntington, Lorain County, Ohio, Myron T. Herrick was the son of farmer Timothy r. Herrick and his wife Mary Hurlburt Herrick. The family moved when Myron was around twelve years of age to a farm near Wellington, also in Lorain County, and he attended district school both in Huntington and in Wellington. Around 1870, Herrick became a teacher at a district school in Brighton, Ohio. Traveling to St. Louis, Missouri, in search of business opportunities, he worked at various jobs, including correspondent for the newspaper Republic, covering the cattle camps of Kansas. He returned to Ohio within a year with sufficient funds to begin his college education at Oberlin Academy, Oberlin, Ohio. After studying there for a year and a half, he attended Ohio Wesleyan College, Delaware, Ohio, for approximately two years. Cutting short his college education, he left Ohio Wesleyan in his junior year to study law. In 1875, Herrick moved to Cleveland, Ohio. He studied law and worked as an office boy in the law offices of relatives G. E. and J. F. Herrick. He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1878 and set up his own law practice in Cleveland, Ohio.

After practicing law successfully for a number of years, Herrick became deeply involved in business and banking concerns in Cleveland. In 1886, he was named secretary-treasurer of Society for Savings, and in the same period he organized, and became a director of, the Euclid Avenue National Bank. He remained active in the banking sector throughout his life, serving as president (1894-1905 and 1908-1921) of Society for Savings and its chairman of the board (1905-1908 and 1921-1929) and also as the president (1901-1902) of the American Banking Association. His other local business interests included the construction of the Arcade in the 1880s and the building and promoting of the Cuyahoga Building on Public Square (1892-1893). His national business interests, which he served as a director and/or board chairman, included railroads, trust companies, and insurance companies. In 1914, he published his book, Rural Credits, which dealt with financial credits for farmers.

By 1885, Herrick had developed an interest in politics. elected to the Cleveland City Council in 1885, he served until 1890. By 1888, he expanded his political influence to include state and national Republican Party organizations. In 1888, he won control of the local district Republican Party convention from the politically powerful Marcus A. Hanna. When Hanna and he were elected by the convention as the two delegates to the National Republican Party of 1888, Herrick tactfully resolved his dispute with Hanna by naming him the first delegate to the National Convention, and the two became lifelong friends. Herrick also began a long association with the Ohio Governor, and later President, William McKinley in 1893, when he was appointed to McKinley's gubernatorial staff. Having played a significant role in the election of Mckinley to the presidency in 1896, McKinley offered him the posts of ambassador to Italy and Secretary of the Treasury, both of which he turned down. Throughout the 1890s and early 1900s, Herrick played a major role in state and national Republican Party politics, serving as a Republican National Convention delegate six times, and as a member of the Ohio Republican State Executive Committee and the Republican National Committee. His political career culminated in his election as Governor of Ohio in 1903, winning a landslide victory of Democrat Tom L. Johnson. Defeated for reelection in 1905, he remained involved in state Republican politics, serving in 1906 as temporary chairman of the Ohio Republican State Convention, and in 1909 as a member of the Republican National Committee. Also in 1909, Herrick again turned down the posts of ambassador to Italy and Secretary of the Treasury, choosing to remain active in banking and business.

Herrick's diplomatic career began in 1912 when he accepted President Taft's appointment as Ambassador to France. With the election of President Woodrow Wilson in 1913, Herrick submitted his resignation. Because of the escalating situation in Europe, however, Herrick remained at his post until November 1914, when the new ambassador, William G. Sharp, took over. Herrick played a key role in wartime France and the United States diplomatic relations with the combatants. He represented the interests of the German, Austrian, Japanese, and British governments at several points during 1914. In addition, he helped evacuate United States citizens stranded in Europe by the war and sought to protect historic French monuments, churches, and museums from destruction. He helped in the organization of the American ambulance Hospital at Neuilly, France, in 1914 and also established the American Relief Clearing House for war victims. In December 1914, because of his wartime efforts, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor by the French government. He continued his wartime efforts upon his return to Cleveland, where he became chairman of the Mayor's Advisory War Committee.

Herrick attempted to return to politics, running as the Republican candidate for United States Senator from Ohio in 1916. After his defeat by Atlee Pomerene, he concentrated on private and business concerns and received many honorary degrees and awards. When Republican Warren G. Harding was elected to the White House in 1920, Herrick was once again appointed to his post as Ambassador to France. He arrived in July 1921 to a tumultuous reception by the French people. His second term as ambassador lasted until his death in 1929. during these years, Herrick was involved in issues concerning war reparations, interallied debt, relations with the Soviet Union, and French politics. Herrick oversaw the acquisition of a new embassy building. In 1927, he was the first to greet transatlantic flyer Charles A. Lindbergh upon his arrival in Paris.

Family life was important to Herrick, and he maintained close ties throughout his life with both his immediate family and his larger circle of relatives. He married Carolyn ("Kitty") Parmely, and they had one son, Parmely Webb Herrick (1881-1937). During her husband's first term as ambassador to France, Kitty Herrick served as hostess for diplomatic events; during the war years she was a tireless worker for the American Ambulance Hospital and the American Relief Clearing House. All members of the Herrick family were deeply affected by the death of Myron T. Herrick II, son of Parmely and Agnes Blackwell Herrick, in an automobile accident in Cleveland in 1917. This loss was followed by the death of Kitty Herrick in 1918. during Herrick's second stint as ambassador to France during the 1920s, Agnes Blackwell Herrick (d. 1956), his daughter-in-law, served as hostess at the American Embassy. Myron T. Herrick died in Paris on March 31, 1929, and was buried in Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.

Scope and Content

The Myron T. Herrick Papers, 1827-1941 and undated, consist of correspondence, speeches, articles, memoirs, newspaper clippings, memoranda, notes, receipts, deeds, programs, memorabilia, passports, reports, appointment books, bound visitors' and engagement books, luncheon and dinner records, diaries, and scrapbooks.

The microfilm version MS 2925 Myron T. Herrick Papers contains an addenda of related materials housed at the Western Reserve Historical Society and microfilmed but not part of the manuscript collection. These include a bound volume of letters from Myron T. Herrick to Frederic Hoey, a scrapbook of caricatures drawn by Herrick, selected letters from the David Z. Norton Family Papers, material concerning Herrick's first stint as ambassador to France (1912-1914) contained in MS 3371 Laurence Harper Norton Papers, and photographs that are stored apart from the collection.

Researchers will find that this collection touches upon a wide variety of international and domestic events in the decade following World War I. As ambassador to France during this period, Herrick was in constant contact with the Secretary of State and with the President of the United States. Accordingly, there exists extensive correspondence between Herrick and Charles E. Hughes, Frank B. Kellogg, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover (Series I). During the course of his term, Herrick grappled with such crucial postwar issues as German reparations, the interallied debt, the rebuilding of French institutions such as the University of Louvain, and official relations with the Soviet Union (Series I and Series II). Herrick necessarily interested himself in French politics of the period, and thus maintained correspondence with Aristide Briand, Georges Clemenceau, and especially Raymonde Poincare (Series I). During his service as ambassador, Herrick oversaw the acquisition of a new embassy building, an accomplishment from which he derived immense personal pride and satisfaction, and he greeted Charles A. Lindbergh in Paris upon conclusion of the pilot's celebrated transatlantic flight. Regarding Lindbergh, the researcher will find a substantial amount of material in Series I and Series V.

Domestic issues documented in his collection include materials relating to anti-communism, Prohibition, the Teapot Dome scandal, and the Sacco-Vanzetti trial (Series I and Series II). Herrick was a close friend of many prominent personalities of the period, including positivist philosopher Henri Bergson, former presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, and Cleveland notables Andrew Squire and Samuel Mather. A large body of personal correspondence between Herrick and William McKinley can be found in Series I. In addition, Herrick's wife maintained extensive correspondence with both William and Ida McKinley (Series VII). A glimpse into the workings of the United States Embassy in France during the 1920s can be found in Series IV. Finally, a window into Herrick's private life, and especially his close relationships with his son Parmely and his grandson, Parmely Jr., is provided by Herrick's family correspondence (Series I) and other personal material such as family history and memorabilia (Series III). In the letters to his son, Herrick often gave summaries and personal insights into his work at the embassy.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Access

While there are no access restrictions on this collection, researchers will be asked to use the microfilm of this collection.

The researcher should also consult MS 2849 Myron T. Herrick Scrapbook; and MS 3371 Laurence Harper Norton Papers.

All photographs have been removed to PG 12 Myron T. Herrick French Photographs; and PG 39 Myron T. Herrick Photograph Album.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Preferred Citation

[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 2925 Myron T. Herrick Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Acquisition Information

Gifts of Agnes Herrick and parmely Webb Herrick, Jr., 1942-1957.

Processing Information

Processed by John J. Large, Jr. in 1962. Reprocessed for the microfilm edition by Deborah R. Shell and Todd M. Michney in 1994.

Other Finding Aid

A detailed chronology of key events in the life of Myron T. Herrick is available at the Reference Desk of the WRHS Research Library.

Detailed Description of The Collection