Richard Henry Dana III

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Richard Henry Dana III (January 3, 1851 – December 16, 1931) was an American lawyer and civil service reformer.

Life[]

Dana was the son of Richard Henry Dana, Jr.; he married in 1878, Edith Longfellow (1853–1915), the daughter of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. They had four sons, and , , and Allston Dana. In 1922 he remarried to Helen Ford Mumford[1] (1865–1934).

Dana graduated from Harvard University. In 1874, he looked back on those years: "Days in college were happy-go-lucky times, even for the most studious and athletic."[2]

Career[]

Dana was the author of the Massachusetts Ballot Act of 1888, the first state Australian ballot (secret ballot) act passed in the US.

Dana wrote a substantial biography of his father, Richard Henry Dana, Jr. He became a friend and financial adviser to Hosea Ballou Morse,[3] whom he introduced to Theodore Roosevelt.[4]

He was a major leader of Mugwumps, especially through his editorship of the Civil Service Record. " His people took credit for passing the state's 1884 civil service law, which was a stronger version of the federal Pendleton Act of 1883. Both laws were enacted to limit the effect of political patronage, thus disrupting the spoils system. The goal were improved morality and increased efficiency. It was also designed to contain the rising political power of the Irish Catholics.[5]

Legacy[]

The papers and photographs of Dana, together with material relating to him collected by his son, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana, and his sister, Elizabeth, are held at the Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site. [6] Some family financial records are held at the Houghton Library, Harvard, these include correspondence between Dana and William Penn Cresson, relating to the Cresson's biography of Francis Dana.[7] A number of letters are in the at the Middlebury College library, though these may be by his father. [8] A substantial collection of family papers (including 293 bound volumes and 81 boxes) is held at the Massachusetts Historical Society.[9] Family papers are also found at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library.

References[]

  1. ^ Cambridge Tribune 4 March 1922
  2. ^ Fairbank, John King, Martha Henderson Coolidge, and Richard J. Smith. H. B. Morse: Customs Commissioner and Historian of China. University of Kentucky Press, 1995: 16. ISBN 0813119340
  3. ^ Fairbank, John King, Martha Henderson Coolidge, and Richard J. Smith. H. B. Morse: Customs Commissioner and Historian of China. University of Kentucky Press, 1995: 102. ISBN 0813119340
  4. ^ Fairbank, John King, Martha Henderson Coolidge, and Richard J. Smith. H. B. Morse: Customs Commissioner and Historian of China. University of Kentucky Press, 1995: 189. ISBN 0813119340
  5. ^ Edward H. Miller, "They Vote Only for the Spoils: Massachusetts Reformers, Suffrage Restriction, and the 1884 Civil Service Law." Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (2009): 341-363 online.
  6. ^ "Finding Aid for the Richard Henry Dana III (1851-1931) Papers" (PDF). Nps.gov. Retrieved 2013-10-22.
  7. ^ "Dana family. Dana family financial records: Guide". Oasis.lib.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  8. ^ "Abernethy Collections". Middarchive.middlebury.edu. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  9. ^ "MHS Dana Family Papers, 1654-1950:Guide to the Collection". Masshist.org. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
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