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3. Provenance 5. Inventory 6. Subjects |
Johns Hopkins Congdon Papers
Papers, 1909-1957 Size: .25 ft. Catalog number: MSS 833 Processed by: Elizabeth Delmage, February 2007 ©Rhode Island Historical Society Manuscripts Division |
Historical note:
Johns Hopkins Congdon, Jr. was born 25 March 1885 to Johns Hopkins and Caroline (Buffum) Congdon in Providence, R.I. Congdon married Cecilia Robertson Cotton Briggs (1886-1973) on 11 January 1919 and had three children: Johns Hopkins (1920-1931), Charles Briggs (1922-1945) and James Buffum (c. 1924-2007). He died on 13 February 1965 in Fall River, Mass. and is buried in the Swan Point Cemetery in Providence, R.I.
Congdon had entered the oil business after his graduation from Yale University in 1907. In 1916, he began working for the Vacuum Oil Company and spent the next fourteen years working for that firm in Hong Kong and Cape Town, South Africa. By 1933, the Vacuum Oil Company merged with John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company and formed the Standard-Vacuum Oil Company and Congdon became a member of its first board of directors. He served as director of the Standard-Vacuum Oil Company until his retirement in 1947. Prior to his retirement he and his wife had been living in Hewlett, Long Island, New York and once he retired they moved to Little Compton, R.I. and he was active in community service until his death in 1965.
Bibliography:
Obituary of Johns Hopkins Congdon, Jr., Providence Journal, 14 February 1965, page N29.
R.I. Cemetery Database
Scope and content:
This collection is comprised of correspondence and records from the Congdon family dating from 1909 through 1957. Most of the correspondence belongs to Johns Hopkins and his wife Cecilia, with a few letters written by their children. The records from the Congdon family include legal documents like Johns Hopkins' passport, a customs declaration for South Africa, a dog license in Hong Kong, etc; their children's school records and birth and baptismal records. Also included is an illustrated manuscript book by Carolyn Chaffee that documents Johns Hopkins' courtship of Cecilia as well as two illustrations with Cecilia's maiden name on them.
Provenance:
George M. Stabler of Providence, R.I. donated the papers that make up this collection in October 1973.
Processing note:
This collection was rehoused into an archival box and folders in February 2007.
Inventory:
Box 1, Folder 1. Cecilia R. C. Briggs Congdon's Correspondence 1909-1957
Box 1, Folder 2. Johns Hopkins Congdon's Correspondence 1916-1942, n.d.
Box 1, Folder 3. Correspondence from the Congdon children: c. 1920s-1940
Johns Hopkins, Charles Briggs, James Buffum
Box 1, Folder 4. Birth and Baptismal Records 1920-1922
Box 1, Folder 5. Legal Documentation 1918-1929
Box 1, Folder 6. School Records 1929-1940
Box 1, Folder 7. Miscellaneous Records 1919, 1940
Box 1, Folder 8. "Boswell's Life of Briggs, Vol. I," an illustrated Jan 1919
manuscript book
Box 1, Folder 9. Miscellaneous Illustrations n.d.
Subjects:
Cape Town (South Africa)
Congdon Family
Congdon, Johns Hopkins, Jr., 1885-1965
Congdon, Cecilia R. C. Briggs, 1886-1973
Hong Kong (China)
St. George's School (Newport, R.I.)
Vacuum Oil Company, inc.
Standard-Vacuum Oil Company
Yale University
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RIHS1822