Collection number: MC 156
Size: 2 boxes
(0.66 cu.ft.)
About Eliot Grant Fitch
Eliot Grant Fitch, son of Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, a well-known successful banker at the National Exchange Bank in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was born on March 12, 1895. He attended St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire between 1910 and 1913. While at St. Paul’s, Fitch wrote his mother on an almost daily basis. Although he was an enthusiastic young man who was involved in many extra-curricular activities, including football, hockey, and squash, Fitch was a mediocre student of Latin, Algebra, Geometry, English, German, and French.
He entered Yale, his father’s alma mater, in 1914 and trained in the Yale Battery of the National Guard. At Yale he studied anthropology, geology, and history with a GPA of around 2.5.
He left Yale in 1917 to serve as a lieutenant of field artillery in France, and returned to graduate from Yale in 1920. He received a master’s degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin in 1922. In 1923 he began his banking career in the National Exchange Bank founded by his grandfather in 1857; when he retired at the age of seventy-seven in 1972, he was chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the Marine National Exchange Bank and the Marine Corporation. Fitch was very active in Milwaukee’s civic, cultural, and financial affairs. He was a past president of the Citizens’ Governmental Research Bureau and a trustee for more than twenty-five years. As a member of the City Land Commission he headed the Milwaukee County Expressway expansion. He helped initiate the redevelopment of downtown Milwaukee in many ways including commissioning the architect Eliel Saarinen to design the War Memorial on the Milwaukee lakefront which housed the Milwaukee Art Museum, to which he contributed works of art from his own collections. From a long line of influential Milwaukee citizens, Eliot Grant Fitch continued the tradition of progress his family had practiced in the city since its pioneer days. He died in 1983 in Milwaukee.
About the Eliot Grant Fitch Papers
The Eliot Grant Fitch Papers contain over 265 manuscript letters, spanning the years 1910-1920. The majority of the correspondence is from Fitch to his “dearest little mother” Ida Eliot Fitch, and covers the years 1910-1913, though there are some to his father Grant Fitch. Also included are 21 letters to Fitch from his girlfriend, Esther, who was attending a finishing school in New York City, one letter from Ida Fitch to Eliot, a letter to Ida Fitch from “Ruth” and 2 miscellaneous letters.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
This collection is open
Copyright Notice
Contents of this collection are governed by U.S. copyright law. For questions about publication or reproduction rights, contact Special Collections staff
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], [Folder number], [Box number], Eliot Grant Fitch Papers, 1910-1920, MC 156, Milne Special Collections and Archives, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, NH, USA
Acquisitions Information
Purchased: Carmen Valentino, Philadelphia, PA, 1966 (Accession number: 96.019)
Collection Contents
| Box 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Box 1, Folder 1 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, July 10, 1910 - Oct 29, 1910 (5 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 2 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Nov 2, 1911 - Nov 12, 1910 (8 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 3 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Nov 14, 1910-Nov 17, 1910 (7 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 4 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Nov 21, 1910-Nov 28, 1910 (6 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 5 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Dec 1, 1910-Dec 7, 1910 (6 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 6 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Dec 8, 1910-Dec 20, 1910 (5 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 7 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Jan 14, 1911-Jan 21, 1911 (8 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 8 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Jan 24, 1911-Jan 31, 1911 (7 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 9 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Feb 4, 1911-Feb 16, 1911 (7 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 10 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Feb 17, 1911-Feb 28, 1911 (9 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 11 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Mar 1, 1911-Mar 11, 1911 (9 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 12 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Mar 13, 1911-Mar 20, 1911 (9 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 13 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Apr 12, 1911-June 19, 1911 (8 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 14 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Sept 21, 1911-Oct 10, 1911 (8 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 15 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Oct 13, 1911-Oct 21, 1911 (6 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 16 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Oct 22, 1911-Oct 30, 1911 (4 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 17 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Nov 1, 1911-Nov 24, 1911 (10 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 18 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Nov 27, 1911-Dec 10, 1911 (8 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 19 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Dec 14, 1911-Dec 18, 1911 (4 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 20 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Jan 9, 1912-Jan 19, 1912 (7 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 21 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Jan 20, 1912-Jan 30, 1912 (5 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 22 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Feb 2, 1912-Feb 11, 1912 (6 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 23 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Feb 12, 1912-Feb 22, 1912 (6 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 24 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Feb 24-March 5, 1912 (7 letters) | |
| Box 1, Folder 25 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Mar 6, 1912-Mar 14, 1912 (7 letters) | |
| Box 2 | ||
| Box 2, Folder 1 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Mar 15, 1912-Mar 26, 1912 (10 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 2 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Mar 28, 1912-Apr 4, 1912 (10 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 3 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Apr 5, 1912-May 6, 1912 (7 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 4 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, May 10, 1912-May 27, 1912 (6 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 5 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, May 28, 1912-Sept 26, 1912 (7 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 6 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Oct 1, 1912-Oct 28, 1912 (8 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 7 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Nov 6, 1912-Nov 22, 1912 (8 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 8 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Nov 29, 1912-Dec 17, 1912 (6 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 9 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Jan 9, 1913-Jan 29, 1913 (7 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 10 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Feb 3, 1913-Feb 7, 1913 (6 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 11 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Feb 24, 1913-Feb 28, 1913 (5 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 12 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Mar 1, 1913-Mar 16, 1913 (5 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 13 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, Apr 19, 1913-Oct 24, 1913 (3 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 14 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Apr 10, 1916-July 28, 1916 (5 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 15 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Aug 11, 1916-Dec 3, 1916 (8 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 16 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Mar 12, 1920-June 24, 1920 (6 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 17 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, undated (6 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 18 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, undated (8 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 19 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot Fitch, undated (7 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 20 | From Eliot Grant Fitch to Ida Eliot, Grant and Ruth Fitch, undated (3 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 21 | From Esther (girlfriend) to Eliot Grant Fitch, Mar 2, 1916-Apr 18, 1916 (7 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 22 | From Esther (girlfriend) to Eliot Grant Fitch, May 5, 1916-Dec 1, 1916 (8 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 23 | From Esther (girlfriend) to Eliot Grant Fitch, Feb 5, 1917-Apr 2, 1917 (6 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 24 | From Ida Eliot Fitch to Eliot Grant Fitch, undated; from Ruth Fitch to Ida Eliot and Grant Fitch, Mar 13, 1911-Dec 18, 1911 (3 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 25 | From Cousin Daisy to Grant Fitch, Aug 24, no year; Mayme H. Austin to her cousins, undated (2 letters) | |
| Box 2, Folder 26 | Miscellaneous: Letter from Dr. H.S. Patterson of New York City certifying that he had treated Eliot Grant Fitch for a cardiac condition resulting from scarlet fever, Aug 27, 1919; a luncheon invitation to Miss Fitch from Miss Ilsley; and a St. Paul’s School fourth form English exam from Apr 4, 1912 | |
