Yager, Arthur (1858-1941) Papers, 1913-1921
Held by The Filson Historical Society
Creator: Yager, Arthur, 1858-1941
Title: Papers, 1913-1921
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Curator of Special Collections.
Size of Collection: 1.75 cubic feet
Locator Number: Mss. A Y13
Scope and Content Note
Collection includes the accumulated correspondence, speeches, reports, clippings and other materials of Arthur Yager during his service as Governor of Puerto Rico (1913-1921). Previously the president of Georgetown College in Georgetown Ky., Yager was appointed to the governorship of Puerto Rico by Woodrow Wilson in 1913. Yager and Wilson attended John Hopkins University together and maintained a relationship throughout both of their careers. Much of this collection has been digitized. To view PDF scans, click on the links provided in the folder list below.
The collection contains correspondence dealing with Yager’s activities as governor, specifically his appointments, proposed legislation, and handling of labor and economic issues on the island. Correspondence discusses in detail Yager’s efforts in formulating and passing the Jones Act of 1917, which replaced the Foraker Act of 1900 and granted U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans and reorganized Puerto Rico’s government and relationship to the United States.
Other topics of interest include: labor strikes, economic conditions, the coffee and sugar industries, prohibition, the 1918 earthquake, Puerto Rican elections and political parties, the court system, disease, tourism, race relations, World War I, administration of the draft, migrant labor, foreign relations, education, general social conditions of the island, and Kentucky politics.
Correspondents of note include: Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Warren G. Harding, and Herbert Hoover; Secretary of War Newton Baker; Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels; Resident Commissioners of P.R. Felix Cordova-Davila and Luis Munoz-Rivera; Samuel Gompers and Puerto Rican labor leader Santiago Iglesias; Senators William A. Jones, John F. Shafroth, Ollie M. James, and John W. Weeks; Secretary of Puerto Rico Martin Travieso, Jr.; and Frank McIntyre, Chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs.
Biographical Note
Arthur Yager was born on October 29, 1858 in Henry County, Kentucky to Franklin Jackson and Diana (Smith) Yager. He earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky. After receiving a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University, Yager returned to Georgetown College where he was a professor, then President from 1908-1913.
Yager married Estell Lewis, with whom he had four children. In 1913, Arthur Yager was appointed as Governor of Puerto Rico by President Woodrow Wilson, his former classmate at John Hopkins. Governor for eight years, Yager worked diligently to develop the island’s infrastructure, particularly in the areas of transportation and roadways, public health, and literacy. Yager was instrumental in the adoption of the Jones-Shafroth Act in 1917. With the passage of this act, Puerto Ricans officially became U.S. citizens for the first time, and they gained the right to freely elect members of the island’s legislative branches. When Wilson’s presidency expired, Yager was succeeded by Emmet Montgomery Reily, an appointee of President Warren G. Harding.
Yager returned to Louisville, Kentucky where he was a visiting lecturer on many topics. In 1928, he ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress in Kentucky’s fifth district. He died in Pewee Valley, Kentucky in 1941.
Folder List
Folder 2: Agriculture, Secretary of. (D.F. Houston). Correspondence, 24 March 1915 – 14 April 1915
Folder 4: Attorney General of the United States. Correspondence, 20 January 1915 – 13 February 1915
Folder 5: Auditor of Puerto Rico. Correspondence, 21 September 1916 – 12 May 1921
Folder 6: “B” Correspondence, 12 March 1914 – 17 December 1918 (click to access PDF)
Folder 7: “B” Correspondence, 11 January 1919 – 29 April 1921 (click to access PDF)
Folder 9: Boys Charity School. Correspondence, 13 January 1915 – 29 January 1915
Folder 10: Bureau of Labor. Correspondence, 2 February 1914 – 28 March 1916 (click to access PDF)
Folder 11: “C” Correspondence, 11 May 1912 – 17 January 1917 (click to access PDF)
Folder 12: “C” Correspondence, 9 March 1917 – 6 May 1921 (click to access PDF)
Folder 13: Candidates for the Attorney Generalship. Correspondence, 23 November 1913 – 17 November 1914
Folder 14: Candidates for the Treasurership and Secretary to the Governor. Correspondence, 22 September 1915 – 25 April 1917
Folder 15: Cantrill, J.C. Correspondence, 16 September 1914 – 21 November 1916
Folder 16: Carrell, Drew M. Correspondence, 10 February 1914 – 18 July 1917
Folder 17: Commissioner of Education (P.R.) Correspondence, 10 September 1914 – 17 May 1921
Folder 18: Commissioner of Health (P.R.). Correspondence, 25 March 1921
Folder 20: Coolidge, Calvin. Correspondence, 30 December 1919 (Photocopy)
Folder 22: “D” Correspondence, 10 June 1914 – 26 December 1917 (click to access PDF)
Folder 23: “D” Correspondence, 31 January 1918 – 19 February 1921 (click to access PDF)
Folder 26: “E” Correspondence, 25 October 1913 – 12 May 1921 (click to access PDF)
Folder 27: Executive Council. Correspondence, 3 March 1917 (click to access PDF)
Folder 28: “F” Correspondence. 29 October 1914 – 8 April 1921 (click to access PDF)
Folder 29: F.H. Goodridge. Correspondence, 9 May 1918 – 21 March 1921
Folder 31: “G” Correspondence, 4 July 1914 – 25 April 1921
Folder 32: Greif, A.J. (Guanica Centrale Sugar Co.) Correspondence, 13 December 1913 – 20 June 1917
Folder 33: Guanica Centrale (Sugar Co. in Ensenada, P.R.) Correspondence, 3 October 1914 – 22 November 1917
Folder 34: “H-I” Correspondence, 20 February 1914 – 22 December 1916
Folder 35: “H-I” 30 March 1917 – 2 March 1921
Folder 36: Hathaway, E.S. (Post Office Inspector) Correspondence, 5 February 1914 – 28 March 1918
Folder 37: Hirsch, Leopold. Correspondence, 22 January 1921
Folder 38: “J” Correspondence, 25 March 1915 – 29 March 1921
Folder 41: “K” Correspondence, 24 April 1914 – 17 March 1921
Folder 42: Kenyon, William S. (U.S. Senator from Iowa) Correspondence, 28 April 1919 – 15 April 1921
Folder 43: “L” Correspondence, 4 February 1914 – 21 March 1921
Folder 44: Labor. Correspondence, 14 November 1914 – 25 May 1918
Folder 46: “M” Correspondence, 29 February 1913 – 5 December 1916
Folder 47: “M” Correspondence, 20 January 1917 – 2 March 1921
Folder 49: “O-P” Correspondence, 30 December 1913 – 21 March 1921
Folder 50: Police Department. Correspondence, 20 September 1914 – 20 September 1918
Folder 51: Postmaster General. Correspondence, 26 March 1914 – 5 June 1919
Folder 53: Provost Marshall General. Correspondence, 23 October 1917 – 8 March 1919
Folder 54: “Q-R” Correspondence, 28 November 1913 – 18 January 1921
Folder 55: Remington, Mortimer (Commercial Agent of Puerto Rico). Correspondence, 30 December 1913 – 29 July 1914
Folder 56: Roberts, F.C. Correspondence, 10 August 1915, 1 May 1919
Folder 57: “S” Correspondence, 14 November 1913 – 27 December 1918
Folder 58: “S” Correspondence, 3 April 1919 – 26 April 1921
Folder 59: Secretary of the Interior (U.S.) (Franklin K. Lane). Correspondence, 23 December 1916 – 21 December 1919
Folder 60: Secretary of Labor (U.S.) (W.B. Wilson). Correspondence, 18 December 1916
Folder 61: Secretary of the Navy (Josephus Daniels). Correspondence, 5 October 1914 – 9 December 1920
Folder 63: Secretary of State (U.S.). Correspondence, 20 June 1914 – 19 September 1914
Folder 64: Secretary of the Treasury (U.S.) (W.G. McAdoo). Correspondence, 14 April 1914 – 14 May 1921
Folder 65: Secretary of War. Correspondence, 6 July 1914 – 17 May 1921 (click to access PDF)
Folder 66: Shafroth, John F. Correspondence, 11 March 1914 – 3 April 1918 (click to access PDF)
Folder 68: “Strike.” Correspondence, 19 November 1914 – 29 March 1916
Folder 69: “T” Correspondence, 28 January 1914 – 3 February 1921
Folder 71: “U” Correspondence, 15 January 1915 – 8 July 1919
Folder 72: U.S. District Court of P.R. Correspondence, 14 December 1914 – 27 June 1917
Folder 73: “V” Correspondence, 17 January 1914 – 15 May 1920
Folder 74: “W” Correspondence, 25 November 1913 – 18 March 1921
Folder 75: War Department. Correspondence, 10 December 1913 – 17 May 1921 (click to access PDF)
Folder 77: Speeches, 20 November 1913 – 18 December 1918 (click to access PDF)
Folder 78: Reports, messages, proclamations. 25 January 1916 – 19 May 1921 (click to access PDF)
Folder 79: Clippings, miscellaneous, 1913-1921 (click to access PDF)
Subject Headings
Canal Zone
Caribbean National Forest (P.R.)
Citizenship – Puerto Rico
Coffee industry – Puerto Rico
Disease – Puerto Rico
Dominican Republic – Description and travel
Dominican Republic – Politics and government – 1844-1930
Draft – Puerto Rico
Earthquakes – Puerto Rico
Education – Puerto Rico
Foraker act, 1900 (Puerto Rico)
Georgetown College (Georgetown, Ky.)
Governors – Puerto Rico
Kentucky – Politics and government – 1865-1950
Labor disputes – Puerto Rico
Lake Mohonk Conference
Literacy – Puerto Rico
Migrant labor – Puerto Rico
Mona Island (Puerto Rico)
Presidents – United States – Election – 1916
Presidents – United States – Election – 1920
Prohibition – Puerto Rico
Prudential Insurance Company of America – Insignia
Puerto Rico – Economic conditions – 20th century
Puerto Rico – Politics and government – 1898-1952
Puerto Rico – Relations – United States
Puerto Rico – Social conditions – 20th century
Puerto Rico. Governor (1913-1921: Yager)
Puerto Rico. Insular Police
Religion – Puerto Rico
Speeches, addresses, etc., Puerto Rican
Suffrage – Puerto Rico
Tourism – Puerto Rico
United States – Relations – Puerto Rico
United States. Bureau of Insular Affairs
United States. Jones Act of 1917
Virgin Islands of the United States – Description and travel
Virgin Islands of the United States – Politics and government – 20th century
Wages – Sugar workers – Puerto Rico
Watterson, Henry, 1840-1921 – Public opinion
World War, 1914-1918
Yager, Arthur, 1858-1941
Yellow fever – Puerto Rico
