Mysterious Enigma Surrounding the Tully Archive

The Discovery of the Grace Tully Archive: A Trove of Roosevelt-Era Documents

The Grace Tully Archive, a fascinating collection of documents from the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt, has finally found its rightful home at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York.

The story of the archive begins on June 4, 1941, when Marguerite A. "Missy" LeHand, Roosevelt's personal secretary, confidante, close friend, and adviser for 21 years, suffered a debilitating stroke and collapsed at the end of a White House dinner. Tully, who had been assigned to assist Eleanor Roosevelt and later went to work on Roosevelt's secretarial staff, filled the void left by LeHand as Roosevelt's personal secretary after her stroke.

The Tully Archive, which was purchased from Horowitz by Hollinger International Corporation for $8 million in 2002, really consisted of three collections: FDR's papers, Missy LeHand's papers, and Grace Tully's papers. A closer examination led to the discovery in the Tully Archive of LeHand's 1935 Testamentary Instructions witnessed by FDR, making Tully the administrator of LeHand's estate and instructing Tully to dispose of LeHand's personal papers as she saw fit.

Each document in the Tully Archive was read, reviewed, and sorted into groups comprising the Tully Papers, LeHand Papers, and FDR Papers. The collection was acquired by Glenn Horowitz Bookseller in New York for approximately $3.5 million in 2001.

However, the journey of the Tully Archive had many mysterious twists and turns. The papers remained in Tully's possession until her death in 1984, and then disappeared for several years. It was obvious that Tully had decided to keep LeHand's papers herself, even to the point of denying to Eleanor Roosevelt that she had any of LeHand's papers following LeHand's death in 1944.

The collection passed into the hands of two people-perhaps Larrabee's caregivers-who offered the collection for sale in Atlanta in 1999. After FDR's death in 1945, Grace became executive secretary of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving the memory and legacy of FDR.

In April 2000, the collection was again put up for sale through Guernsey's Auction House in New York, New York. The collection was halted and it was unclear how the ownership of the Tully Archive would be resolved, as it was believed that at least a percentage of the documents were actually FDR's own papers, which should have come to the Roosevelt Library with the rest of his papers in accordance with the President's directions prior to his death.

The legislation (SB 692) passed the House of Representatives on November 16, 2009, and the Senate on January 13, 2010, and President Obama signed the bill into law on February 1, 2010, facilitating the donation of the entire Tully Archive to the National Archives and Records Administration. The Chicago Newspaper Liquidation Corporation and Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero executed the deed of gift transferring ownership of the Tully Archive to the National Archives and Records Administration on June 30, 2010.

The Tully Archive includes a handwritten letter from Benito Mussolini to Roosevelt in June 1933, expressing gratitude and admiration to the President. The FDR Papers within the Tully Archive contain drafts of correspondence, handwritten notes or "chits" from FDR, and first and intermediate drafts of speeches and messages. One such chit directed Tully to prepare a memorandum to the Secretary of War asking that a certain Army colonel be put on the next list for promotion to brigadier general. The colonel in question was George C. Marshall, who was subsequently promoted to brigadier general in October 1936.

The Tully Archive contains new Franklin Roosevelt Papers that make up about a fifth of the collection, described as a "first draft of history". The Roosevelt Library's website now hosts a finding aid for the Tully Archive, serving as a researchers' gateway to the collection. The Tully Archive was officially opened to researchers at the Roosevelt Library on November 15, 2010, and the entire collection was digitized and made available online in early 2011.