The Papers of John Ihlder are contained in 89 boxes and amount to approximately 34 cubic feet. They cover the period 1894 to 1958 and are arranged in five sections as follows: Washington, D.C. Housing and Development Matters [1920-1958] City and Regional Planning [1910-1958] Washington Activities Other Than Housing [1922-1958] Personal Correspondence and Writings [1897-1958] Personal - Financial Correspondence [1920- ]

This is the largest single section in the collection and clearly reflects Ihlder's 35 years of efforts in raising the level of housing and planning in the nation's capital. The papers revolve around the Alley Dwelling Authority and its successor agency, the National Capital Housing Authority. Especially interesting is an "attack file" which details the road blocks and in-fighting in the attempts to clear the Washington slums. Other files deal with the Ellen Wilson Memorial Homes (Mr. Ihlder, President - 1915-1924), Georgetown development problems, housing the aged, the racial integration issue, two Presidential committees on policy and administration of Alley Dwelling Acts, various investigations of the NCHA, zoning problems, and related matters.

These papers indicate Ihlder's life-long interest in town planning and contain files on developments in various cities at home and abroad; planning conferences; legislation, including much material concerning the origins of the Wagner housing acts; various associations in which Mr. Ihlder worked; an early (1925) highway study; the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Housing Associations, of which Mr. Ihlder was sometime chairman, secretary, etc.; reports concerning automobile parking, condemnation procedures, health, land policy, traffic regulation, trucking; and fullsome files on the National Association of Housing Officials and its successor group, the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials.

This section attempts to segregate Mr. Ihlder's professional from his other activities on the Washington scene, but as will occur, there are areas in which both appear, notably the files on the American Association of Social Worker's Housing Committee, the Georgetown Citizens Association Zoning file. Elsewhere in this section Mr. Ihlder's long time interest in social work, as it relates to town planning and rehabilitation, is to be found in files on the Washington Community Chest, the Council of Social Agencies, Committee on the Aging, the Washington Self-Help Exchange, and the United Community Service Conference on Health, Welfare and Recreation. Other community activities are reflected in files for the Cornell Club of Washington, the Monday Evening Club, various committee files, and others. Also included in this group is a draft of a history of Washington, D.C.

Included in this section are certain personal files, set up by Mr. Ihlder for some personal reason, and were the only correspondence files so labeled. A far larger portion of the section is devoted to personal correspondence, received at this library in complete disorder and rearranged in an alphabetical manner to facilitate its use. These letters are of a general professional nature. More intimate are Mr. Ihlder's diaries, kept in longhand over the years [1922-1951] and give the author's views on daily happenings, impressions, etc., of particular importance to him. Also in this section are personal letters of Mr. Ihlder to his wife during the period 1911-1913, and an interesting collection of Mrs. Ihlder's girlhood letters from a Swiss finishing school [1894] to her family. Mr. Ihlder's speeches [1897-1957] include not only his speeches and writings during his active professional life, but student notebooks from his days at Cornell [1897-1900]. The speeches and arcticles are arranged by years and include not only final copies and mimeographed releases, but his sketches, notes and early drafts for much of his total output.

This short section contains files on the settlement of the will of Mr. Ihlder's father [1920], as well as files on various companies and enterprises in which Mr. Ihlder had an interst.

Oversize envelope

Correspondence, Accounts, Legal Papers, etc.

Note: Prior to 1942, the Alley Dwelling Authority

1920-1928 and 1951

"Public Acquisition of Urban Land" "Public Acquisition in a National Land-Use Policy"

First of three folders

Second of three folders

Third of three folders

2 notebooks

Folder 1

Folder 2

Folder 3

Folder 4

590 matches returned.