One hundred years ago today Herbert Hoover sent a telegram from Paris to his wife in Stanford, California that would establish the Hoover War Collection (now the Hoover Institution on War Revolution and Peace) at Stanford University, his alma mater. “Advise Wilbur [Stanford University President Ray Lyman Wilbur], Adams [Stanford history professor Ephraim D. Adams] that if they keep it entirely confidential we can find cost of their sending at once suitable mission to Europe to collect historical material on war provided it does not exceed fifty thousand [dollars] without further consideration. April 22, 1919, 10:14pm” What initially began as a way to house the records of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, which Hoover had helped create and led, evolved into one of the great research institutions of the Western world, now encompassing a library, archives and public policy think tank.
Herbert Hoover’s Telegram declaring the availability of funds to found what was then known as the Hoover War Collection, April 22, 1919 (Source: Hoover Institution Archives)
Further reading:
“Making Hoover History with a Telegram”“The Message”
