Wrench, Jesse E. (1882-1958), Papers, 1871-1976 (C2509)

2 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

The papers of Jesse E. Wrench, a University of Missouri history professor, includes teaching materials, correspondence, and records of organizations with which Wrench was involved at the university and in Columbia, Missouri. The papers also include some family papers and photographs and two unpublished manuscripts from the Cornell Expedition to Asia Minor in 1907-1908.

DONOR INFORMATION

The Jesse E. Wrench Papers were donated to the University of Missouri by the Department of History of the university on 5 September 1961 (Accession No. 3489). Additions to the papers were made by an unknown donor in November 1975 (Accession No. 4003), Dorothy P. Holladay on 20 April 1978 (Accession No. 2140), and Carl Chapman on 15 October 1975 (Accession No. 3953), 14 April 1981 (Accession No. 4337), 12 January 1982 (Accession No. 4397), 27 September 1985 (Accession No. 4672), and 6 January 1986 (Accession No. 4694). The material about the Cornell University Expedition, donated from the University of Missouri Library on 31 July 1946 (Accession No. 2862), was added to the papers when they were re-processed.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Jesse Erwin Wrench was born in Afton, New York, on 10 September 1882, and spent his childhood on a farm in North Afton. He attended Cornell University where he studied for the ministry. In his junior year he went to the American School of Archaeology at Jerusalem with a professor and two other students from Cornell. They traveled throughout Israel and Syria and became the first people to circumnavigate the Dead Sea in a rowboat.

He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell in 1906 and was given a fellowship in European History from the University of Wisconsin. After one semester he left Wisconsin to take part in the Cornell Expedition to Asia Minor and the Assyrio-Babylonian Orient. Just prior to this trip he married Jane (Jennie) Shurter of Brookton, New York. Wrench returned home in 1908 and taught at Wisconsin for a year before accepting a job at Syracuse University as a history professor.

In 1911 he was hired by the University of Missouri to teach European History. He returned to Wisconsin for one more semester of teaching in 1912 but then spent the rest of his career at the University of Missouri.

At Missouri he was known as a friend and advocate of the students. He founded a pep squad called Wrench's Wranglers that became the nucleus of the Thundering Thousand and Wrench could often be found leading cheers at pep rallies and football games. He was a faculty advisor for several organizations on campus including the drama club (Harlequin Players) and the Turkish-American Society, Dostluk. He and his wife also served as house parents for the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity for several years.

Wrench was an unofficial advisor to foreign students and invited many of them to stay in his own home. He organized co-ops during the Depression so students could have affordable food and housing while attending school. In 1939 he founded the Independent Men's Association to prevent the Greeks on campus from controlling student politics.

In 1933 he organized an archaeological survey of Missouri and the following year founded the Missouri Archaeological Society. He served as the society's president for 25 years and is known as the father of Missouri archaeology.

He wrote two books: American Citizenship Practice in 1924, and The March of Civilization in 1931, which was used as a high school textbook for many years.

He was an honorary member of Lambda Chi Alpha and a life member of the Columbia, Missouri, chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Upon his retirement in 1953, the Missouri State Legislature stated he was “a symbol of the University itself,” and TIME Magazine called him “Mr. University of Missouri.”

He and his wife had one daughter, Helena (Ayesha) Wrench Heller. Wrench died on 15 October 1958.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Jesse E. Wrench Papers consist of teaching materials, records of student organizations, correspondence, photographs, family papers, and two manuscripts from the 1907-1908 Cornell Expedition, and document Wrench's work as a professor and student advisor at the University of Missouri. The papers are arranged into four series: University of Missouri, Correspondence, Personal, and Cornell Expedition.

The University of Missouri series contains syllabi, reading lists, and exams used by Wrench to teach various history courses at the university. Also included are correspondence, notes, and records of the many student organizations and activities with which Wrench was involved, and specifications for several campus buildings done by the M. Fred Bell architectural firm in 1892. This series is arranged alphabetically by topic and documents campus life from the 1910s to the 1950s.

The Correspondence series consists of letters written to and from Wrench and his wife and concern both university and personal matters. Many of the letters are from former foreign students who kept in touch with “Mother Wrench” after they had returned to their homeland. This series is arranged chronologically.

The Personal series contains a scrapbook of publicity clippings, photos, farm records, and other miscellaneous items, arranged alphabetically by topic. These miscellaneous items include Cub, a publication of Jefferson Junior High School in Columbia, Missouri, a cookbook from Hermann, Missouri, and excerpts from the memoir of Willard Heller, husband of Ayesha Wrench. This memoir describes Heller's impressions of the Wrench family and university life as a student in the 1910s.

Other items in this series include a publication entitled Mother Goose in War Time, which used familiar rhymes to encourage people to conserve food and energy during World War I, and a scrapbook of photographs taken on a grand tour of Europe from 1871 to 1873. The origin of this scrapbook is unknown.

The Cornell Expedition series contains a typewritten journal, two volumes of topographical notes, two unpublished manuscripts, a list of photographs taken on the expedition, and publicity notices in archaeological journals regarding the trip. Both the journal and manuscripts are missing some scattered pages as well as large sections. Only one publication came out of this expedition--The Hittite Inscriptions--in 1911. The other manuscripts were never published, much to the disappointment of archaeological scholars around the world.

FOLDER LIST

University of Missouri Series

f. 1Alumni Association
f. 2American History
f. 3American Ideals
f. 4Ancient History
f. 5Ancient and Medieval History
f. 6Archaeological Survey
f. 7-9Book Business
f. 10Christian Missions in Islam
f. 11Communism in China
f. 12Dostluk
f. 13Economic and Social History of the Middle Ages
f. 14Editorial Writing
f. 15English History
f. 16Europe and Asia
f. 17European History
f. 18European History Outline, 1500-1815
f. 19European History Outline, 1815-1942
f. 20Exams
f. 21Far East Exams
f. 22Far East Reading List
f. 23Far East Syllabus
f. 24-25Harlequin Players
f. 26Highway 63
f. 27Historical Interpretation
f. 28History I
f. 29History Course Descriptions
f. 30History of Persia
f. 31Independent Men's Association
f. 32Inter-American Committee
f. 33-34International Relations Club
f. 35Lambda Chi Alpha
f. 36Medieval Culture
f. 37Medieval France
f. 38Medieval and Modern History
f. 39Mid-Missouri Council for the Social Studies
f. 40Missouri Archaeological Society
f. 41Missouri Society for Teachers of History and Government
f. 42Missouri Valley Authority
f. 43Modern Civilization I
f. 44Modern Civilization II
f. 45Near East Exams
f. 46Near East Outline
f. 47-49Near East Reading List
f. 50Near East Syllabus
f. 51Oriental History
f. 52Phi Eta Sigma Record Book, 1929
f. 53Political Action Committee
f. 54Sources of Assyrian History
f. 55South East Asia
f. 56Specifications, Boiler House and Smoke Stack
f. 57Specifications, Chemistry Lab
f. 58Specifications, Engineering and Physics
f. 59Specifications, Law
f. 60Specifications, Manual Training
f. 61Student Fair Labor Standards Committee
f. 62Swallow Memorial
f. 63Triple Alliance
f. 64Twain Centennial
f. 65United States and China
f. 66University of Missouri Miscellany

Correspondence Series

f. 671890s-1914
f. 681915
f. 691916-1922
f. 701923-1924
f. 711925-1937
f. 721939-1945
f. 731946-1947
f. 741948-1952
f. 75-761953
f. 771954-1961
f. 781962-1965
f. 791966-1976
f. 801970s, n.d.
f. 81-82n.d.

Personal Series

f. 83Cub, October-December 1931
f. 84Cub, January-March 1932
f. 85Cub, April-May 1932
f. 86European Tour Scrapbook, 1871-1873
f. 87Farm Accounts, 1940-1942
f. 88Farm Account Book, 1937-1950
f. 89Heller Memoir
f. 90Hermann Cookbook
f. 91Housing
f. 92Miscellaneous
f. 93Mother Goose in War Time, 1918
f. 94-96Photographs, 1890s-1952
f. 97Publicity Clippings, 1953-1976
f. 98-102Scrapbooks
f. 103Survey Maps of Palestine, 1904

Cornell Expedition Series

f. 104Journal, 1907 July 16-August 31
f. 105Journal, 1907 August 31-October 7
f. 106Journal, 1907 October 7-November 8
f. 107Journal, 1907 November 8-25
f. 108Journal, 1907 November 25-December 12
f. 109Journal, 1907 December 12-1908 January 1
f. 110Journal, 1908 January 1-27
f. 111Journal, 1908 January 27-March 27
f. 112Journal, 1908 March 28-May 6
f. 113Manuscript I, pp 2-25
f. 114Manuscript I, pp 26-46
f. 115Manuscript II, pp 3-34
f. 116Manuscript II, pp 35-72
f. 117Manuscript II, pp 73-100
f. 118Manuscript II, pp. 101-137
f. 119Photograph Lists
f. 120Photograph Lists
f. 121Publicity Notices
f. 122Surveying Notes
f. 123Topographical Notes
f. 124Topographical Notes

INDEX TERMS

These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at The State Historical Society of Missouri-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.