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Manuscript Collections - Marshall W. Tuthill Papers

MARSHALL W. TUTHILL PAPERS, 1917-1983
3 linear feet, 1 linear inch (7 LGA-S boxes)
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Marshall W. Tuthill was born September 24, 1897 to Thomas Howell Tuthill and Tilly M. Cathcart. He attended public schools and graduated from Navy Supply Officers School, Catholic University in Washington D.C. In 1922 Tuthill joined the American Relief Administration and began work with the unit in Russia. He served as the Chairman of the Russian Refugees Committee from 1924 to 1927. Tuthill joined Hoover’s Finnish Relief efforts in 1939.

In 1924 while working with the ARA, Tuthill began serving in military intelligence as a reservist, a position he would hold until 1938. This work involved in undercover classified intelligence and economic assignments in Europe. Tuthill served on the Army-Navy Munitions Board in 1938-1940.
 
 In 1927 Tuthill became the assistant to Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover and Chief of Minerals Division of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. Tuthill represented the United States in 1932 at the International Silver Conference in London.  He served as a consultant to the U.S. Bureau of Mines from 1936 to 1940. 

In 1936, Tuthill married Martha Pietzsch and they had two daughters Marica (Bridgman) and Sandra (Busby).

A different chapter in Tuthill’s life opened in 1950’s when he began his metal importing business, Tuthill &Company Inc.  The company was based and worked primarily in Guatemala under Compania Minera de Guatemala (CMG) and the East Indies.  At this time, Tuthill had close contact with the Hoovers, Allan and Herbert, as Tuthill & Co. worked as sales agents in marketing of the quicksilver from their mines in California and Idaho.  He mentioned this association when he was interviewed in 1971 as part of the NLHH Oral History Program.  Tuthill died on November 26, 1991.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The papers are arranged in two series: Tuthill and Company Business Records and Personal Papers. Tuthill’s business dealings are found in boxes one through six, the first box, however, does contain three folders on the Russian Unit of the ARA. The Business series’ primary emphasis is in Guatemala mining. This includes a large amount of operating data and various technical aspects related to CMG and the metals industry in general. The East Indies emphasis is more strategic, including an analysis and investigation of the tin industry and congressional analysis of the metal industries in general [pieces in Box 7, folder 15]. Starting at box 7 is the Military series with the first six folders containing records of his correspondence over many years with the Navy and Army.  This also includes a scrapbook of pictures during WWI mainly from the U.S.S Sierra.  The Personal series begins in the seventh folder in box 5.  This contains personal correspondence with both Allan and Herbert Hoover, but also other miscellaneous pieces relating to every series.  The last box  has autographed books given to Tuthill by Herbert Hoover, five of the books were penned by Hoover, himself, and the last book was a biography by George Nash.      

FOLDER LIST

TUTHILL AND COMPANY BUSINESS RECORDS

Box      Contents
1          Compania Minera de Guatemala (CMG), 1949-1952
                     Accounts Receivable, 1949-1952 (3 folders)
                     American Smelting Refining Company - Proposals and Contracts,
                              1949-1951
                     Assays – Correspondence and Analytical Discussions, 1947-1949
                     Bullion Contracts, 1950
                     Cables, 1950-52
                     Calcines - Contracts and Cables, 1951-52
                     Canadian Shipments, 1949-1950
                              SS Coulgarve, Dec 1949- April 1950
                              SS Aristotelis, Dec 1949- May 1950
                              SS Seaside, Jan 1950 – June 1950
                              SS Lake Babine, March 1950- Sept 1950
                              SS Seaside, June 1950- Dec 1950
                              SS Cape Wrath, Sept 1950- Jan 1951
                              SS George D. Gratsos, Nov 1950- April 1951
                              SS Cape York, Jan 1951- Aug 1951
                              SS Gunners Knot, June 1951- Oct 1951
                              SS Anchor Hitch, July 1951- Oct 1951
                              SS Paraguay, Nov 1951- March 1952

2                            SS Costal Nomad/Santa Lecnor, March 1952- May 1952
                              SS Los Angeles, May 1952- Aug 1952
                              SS Guayana, July 1952- Oct 1952
                     Contract Status, 1949
                     Correspondence
                              General, 1948-1951 (4 folders)
                              Requa, L. K., 1947-1949 (11 folders)
 
 3                           Requa, L. K. – Cables, 1949
                              Tuthill, Marshall, 1948-1952 (6 folders)
                     Lead Bullion Shipments, 1948-1950
                              SS Mabay, Oct 1948- May 1950
                              SS Avenir, April- Aug 1950
                              Lead Ores, 1950-1952
                              Lead Ore Sampling Techniques, 1949
                              Lead Sinter: Shipment and Analysis Data, 1950
                     Ore Samples, 1950-1951
                    
4                   Shipping Procedures, 1948-1949
                     Shipments, Sep 1948-Nov 1949 (8 folders)
                     Shipments, Sep 1949-Jan 1950 (2 folders)
                             
5                   Shipments, Sep 1949-Jan 1950 (5 folders)
                     Zinc Concentrates – Correspondence, 1951-1960
            Netherlands East Indies
                     Banka Tin. Book on tin mining in Dutch East Indies, undated
                     Negotiations to ship tin ore from Netherlands East Indies to US, 1944-1946

PERSONAL PAPERS

5          American Relief Administration – Russian Unit
                     Clippings, 1922
                     Documents, 1922
                     Scrapbook, 1922-1923
                              Contains letters, photos, clippings, passports and Tuthill’s report on
                              activities. Some materials in Russian
            ARA Association – Correspondence, 1947-1948
            Correspondence
                     Army, 1925-1935
                     Herbert Hoover Oral History Program, 1970-1971
                     Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association, 1977-1983

6                   Hoover, Allan, 1945-1962
                     Hoover, Herbert, 1940-1961
                     Navy, 1917-1965 (4 folders)
                     Tennant, Sons and Company, 1919
            Department of Commerce. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. Minerals
                     Division, 1927-1932
            Finnish Relief Fund 1939-1940 – Certificate, undated
            Lindbergh, Charles A., 1927, 1967
            Military organizations – Ephemera, 1925-1927
            Military Service – USS Sierra, 1918-1919, undated
            Mineral Advisory Committee. Army and Navy Munitions Board, 1939
            Republican National Committee. All American Division. Political Trend of Foreign
                     Language Press, 1944
            Scrapbook, 1919, undated
                     Contains postcards, photos, clippings and an ARA letter. Topics include the
                     ARA, Azores Islands, Reims France and theUSS Navy ships Sierra, Utah,
                     Leviathan, George Washington and HMS Vindictive.

7          Autographed Books, 1942-1983.
                     Five books by Herbert Hoover and the first volume of Nash