A. Correspondence

Scope and content:

Most of the letters in this subseries pertain to Dudley Mays Hughes, his wife, Mary Frances Dennard Hughes, and their three children, Daniel Greenwood Hughes, Jr. Hugh Lawson Dennard Hughes, and Henrietta Louise Hughes. A few letters extend back to the early 1800s and are included in the file entitled "Old Family Letters."

The correspondence reveals a close family, one which shared all of life's joys, experiences, and sorrows. The researcher can understand how the Hughes family loved, interacted, and occasionally disagreed. Dudley Hughes and his wife retained a powerful influence on their children, but allowed each child to grow into an independent individual with his/her own interests and contributions to the family, community, and state.

In addition to family affairs, the Correspondence subseries reveals other concerns of the Hughes family including the domestic and public activities of Mary Dennard Hughes and her daughter, Hennilou. The family belonged to the Southern Baptist Denomination and played a prominent role in the development of education and missions interests in their local church. The papers also contain information about the secular education of young girls and boys in nineteenth-century Georgia as well as the South.

Both Dudley and Mary Hughes gave advice about their farming methods in numerous letters to their children. Race and class relations of the period, as well as social, political, and economic events in Georgia and the nation are depicted. The Hughes family also noted their impressions of new ideas, inventions, and amusements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: the typewriter, the first automobiles, and moving pictures. Notable items concerning family events include:

• a) Letters/documents relating to the education of the Hughes family. Dudley M. Hughes matriculated as a member of the 1871 class at the University of Georgia, but left in 1870. Mary D. Hughes attended school in Petapso, Maryland, Daniel G. Hughes, Jr. graduated from the University of Georgia, and Hennilou attended the Lucy Cobb Institute in Athens, Georgia.
• b) Descriptions of Hennilou's trip to Europe in 1900, and her trip to the Midwest and Northwest in 1915, as well as a voyage taken by Dudley and Mary Hughes aboard the S.S. Panama to Europe in 1913.
• c) Social life in middle Georgia, ca. 1870-1925 and in Washington, D. C. 1909-1917 - includes a personal letter to President Woodrow Wilson, Aug. 14, 1914.
• d) Georgia politics c 1880s-early 1920s.
• e) The twenty-fifth and fiftieth anniversaries of Dudley and Mary Hughes.
• f) Letters from black servants to family members. (See particularly the correspondence of Henrietta L. Hughes). Also D.M. Hughes December 1904 correspondence to "Uncle Peter", a black minister.
• g) Activities in the Southern Baptist denomination; both Dudley and Mary Hughes were involved in starting local Sunday Schools in their church (Mount Zion). Mary and Hennilou Hughes were active in the Women's Missionary Union.
• h) Descriptions of the St. Louis World's Fair, 1904
• i) The illness and sudden death of Daniel G. Hughes, Jr. in 1916.
• j) Dedication of the Hughes Chapel, honorary FHA membership for Hennilou and Agnes Hughes (wife of Hugh L. Dennard Hughes) in 1967, and efforts to preserve Magnolia Plantation in 1962.

Dudley Hughes often corresponded with family members about various business and financial endeavors. He left the operation of his farming interests to his sons while serving in congress, and several letters give advice to them as well as to his wife. Mr. Hughes also advised his children about their own business interests. One letter from Mary D. Hughes to Daniel G. Hughes, Jr. expresses her opinions concerning work relations with black farm laborers.

The Correspondence subseries also contains much reference to political affairs. Dudley Hughes's congressional campaigns are discussed in letters to all his family members. Of note are the issues of Georgia politics and political leaders from 1890 to 1925, such as Hoke Smith, Tom Watson, E. B. Lewis, and Congressman Charles Crisp. A few personal references to and from Richard B. Russell, Sr. can be found in this series. (see M. D. Hughes papers). Dudley Hughes also maintained a heavy correspondence while he served as Georgia Commissioner to the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, and many of his letters describe events at the Fair. When Hughes served in congress, he wrote to his family and friends about issues and life in Washington, D. C. When his family visited, they also sent descriptive letters back home. Notable items relating to the nation's capitol include: Democratic and Republican activities; Hughes's descriptions and opinions of President William H. Taft and Booker T. Washington (For the latter, see Box 2, Folder 5); Pencil drawing and description of Admiral Togo of Japan in 1911 (See Box 3, Folder 6); The Wilson inaugurations of 1913 and 1917; Issues confronting Congress 1909-1917: agriculture, prohibition, vocational education, the coming of World War I, and political patronage.

Letters in this subseries are grouped according to the author of the correspondence and his/her main recipient. Folders entitled "General Correspondence" include letters from a variety of friends and relatives too scattered for an individual listing. The papers in each folder are arranged chronologically, beginning with the most recent date.

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