James Bruce papers
Collection
0065-MDHC
James Bruce (1892-1980) spent most of his life in the world of business and banking, working in both New York and Baltimore. He served variously as president of the Baltimore Trust Company, director of American Airlines, and vice president of the National Dairy Products Corporation. He and his family also had ties to diplomacy and early in his life, just prior to enlistment for World War I, Bruce served as private secretary to his uncle, Thomas Nelson Page, U. S. Ambassador to Italy. Several years later, from 1947 to 1949, Bruce himself served as U. S. Ambassador to Argentina. He subsequently served as the director of the Foreign Military Assistance Program, forerunner of NATO, before returning to his career in business in 1950. The materials in this collection focus on the years 1910 to 1960 and treat a variety of subjects such as Bruce's years at Princeton; his military and diplomatic service; and a 1958 campaign for a U. S. Senate seat. News clippings, publications, by Bruce and others, audio-visual materials, and correspondence are included. Letters from numerous prominent individuals, including Juan and Eva Peron, John F. Kennedy, Harry S. Truman, and Dean Acheson, form a significant portion of the collection. Also included is substantial genealogical information relating to the Bruce family.
This collection is open for research.
Photocopies of original materials may be provided for a fee and at the discretion of the curator. Please see our Duplication of Materials policy for more information. Queries regarding publication rights and copyright status of materials within this collection should be directed to the appropriate curator.
16.75 Linear Feet (16.75 linear feet, 1,730 photographs, 96 negatives, 37 three-dimensional objects, and 3 microfilm reels)
16.75 Linear Feet
1730 Photographs (1,252 loose photographs, 463 slides, and 15 photograph albums)
96 Negatives (Photographs)
37 Items
3 microfilms
The James Bruce papers cover the years 1734 to 2002, with the bulk of the material dating between 1910 and 1960. Document types represented in the collection include correspondence, interview transcriptions, manuscripts, publications, genealogical records, diplomas, newspaper clippings, photographs, diaries, paintings, and microfilm. The materials relate to a variety of topics, such as Bruce's years at Princeton University, his military service in World War I and his subsequent diplomatic service in Montenegro, his term as ambassador to Argentina, and his campaign in 1958 for a seat in the United States Senate.
The papers also contain a significant amount of documentation on the Bruce, Keyser, McHenry, and other related families. Materials pertaining to these prominent Maryland families include personal correspondence, genealogical information, memoirs, and scrapbooks containing letters, photographs, newspaper clippings, and memorabilia. Also included is information on the families' homes and properties, which include photographs of house exteriors and interiors.
A businessman, ambassador, and member of a prominent Maryland family, James Bruce was born on December 23, 1892 in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of lawyer, author, and U. S. Senator William Cabell Bruce and Louise Este (Fisher) Bruce.
After attending the Gilman School in Baltimore, Bruce entered Princeton University in 1910, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in literature in 1914. The following year, Bruce attended the training camp of the U. S. Army at Plattsburgh, New York. During 1916, he lived in Rome, working as private secretary to the U. S. Ambassador to Italy, his uncle Thomas Nelson Page. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Bruce enlisted in the U. S. Army, serving in France and Germany. In 1918, Bruce received a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Maryland in Baltimore. In early 1919, Bruce served as assistant military attache to the American Embassy in Rome and went to the Balkans as a representative of the Paris Peace Conference to investigate the conflict between Albania and Montenegro.
Bruce returned to the United States in 1919 and married Ellen McHenry Keyser on May 24 of that year. In 1920, their daughter Ellen was born, followed in 1924 by a second daughter, Louise.
Upon his return to the United States in 1919, James Bruce embarked upon a career in banking, working for the Mercantile Trust Bank of Baltimore and for the Atlantic Trust Company. In 1926, Bruce left Baltimore for New York, where he worked for several banks, including Chase National, until he returned to Baltimore in 1931 to become president of the Baltimore Trust Company.
In 1933, Bruce was appointed financial advisor to the Homeowners Loan Corporation in Washington, D.C. He ended this government service one year later to become vice president of the National Dairy Products Corporation. In addition, Bruce became the director of a large number of companies and corporations, which, over the course of his life, included American Airlines, the Maryland Casualty Company, Republic Steel, the American Shipbuilding Company, and Loew's Theatres, to name only a few.
In 1947, James Bruce accepted an appointment as United States Ambassador to Argentina, making his acceptance dependent on President Truman's promise to appoint him Ambassador to Great Britain upon the resignation of the present ambassador in London. Bruce spent two years as Ambassador to Argentina, returning to the United States on occasion, once to lead a fundraising campaign for the reelection of President Truman. In 1949, Bruce resigned from his position in Argentina and returned to Washington expecting to be named the new Ambassador to Great Britain. Due to various political circumstances, including consideration of Bruce's brother David for the post of Ambassador to France and the impossibility of having relatives posted to two of the nation's most important diplomatic positions, President Truman withdrew his offer from Bruce. In subsequent years, Bruce blamed a conspiracy by Secretary of State Dean Acheson for the denial of the ambassadorship.
Bruce accepted an appointment as director of the Mutual Defense Assistance Program, a forerunner of NATO, in 1949, but resigned in 1950 to return to a career in business. He spent the remainder of his professional life in the business world, entering politics only in 1958 to run, unsuccessfully, for the United States Senate and to conduct fundraisers for Democratic candidates during election campaigns.
Aside from his business and political careers, James Bruce authored the books College Journalism (with James Forrestal), Those Perplexing Argentines, and Memoirs. He was also a member of many social and patriotic organizations, including the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Brook Club of New York.
James Bruce died on July 17, 1980, in New York, New York, five months after his wife, Ellen Keyser Bruce, who died on February 5, 1980.
The collection has been divided into ten series:
The James Bruce papers were donated to the University of Maryland Libraries in September of 1990 by Ms. Louise Este Bruce, daughter of James Bruce. Louise Bruce donated additional materials, including correspondence, informational files, and books, between 1991 and 2004 and continues to donate material on a periodic basis.
Series 5: Clippings and Series 8: Scrapbooks are available on three reels of microfilm
The collection was originally processed in April 1991, at which time paper clips and staples were removed; the collection was arranged into five series; and materials were placed in acid-free folders and boxes. Original folder headings and content were maintained wherever possible. Duplicate copies of newspaper clippings, photographs, correspondence, and other paper materials were matched with originals and discarded unless the original no longer existed or was in deteriorated physical condition. Scrapbooks and newspaper clippings were microfilmed. Photographs and microfilm were removed from the collection and transferred to the photograph and microfilm collections, respectively.
Between 2002 and 2004, the collection was reprocessed. Again, original folder headings and content were maintained where possible, additional staples and paper clips were removed, and documents were re-foldered and re-boxed in acid free materials. The following major changes occurred:
Part of the Special Collections and University Archives