Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. All rights reserved.
© 2003 Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. All rights reserved.
Eli Whitney Debevoise (1899-1990) co-founded the New York law firm of Debevoise & Stevenson (later Debevoise & Plimpton) in 1931. During World War II he served as chairman of an Alien Enemy Hearing Board in New York City, where he ruled on the eligibility of aliens to remain in the country during the war. From 1950 to 1953 he was appointed deputy general counsel with the High Commission for Germany - Office of General Counsel (HICOG-OGC).
The papers of Eli W. Debevoise (EWD) document his position as the deputy general counsel with the High Commission for Germany-Office of General Counsel (HICOG-OGC) from 1950-1953 and his ongoing interest in US-German affairs. In addition to providing a picture of EWD's work at HICOG, this collection serves as an important adjunct to the papers of John J. McCloy, also held at the Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. McCloy was not only a friend of EWD, but also his superior at HICOG. While the Debevoise Papers include personal and professional correspondence, appointment calendars and other administrative material, memoranda, and speeches, the majority is published material relating to post-World War II Germany.
This collection is organized into five series:
In general, there is no restriction on access to the Eli W. Debevoise Papers for research use. Selected items may be restricted to protect the privacy rights of individuals or for other legal reasons. Particularly fragile or valuable items have been replaced with copies.
All copyrights held by Eli W. Debevoise or his heirs were transferred to Amherst College along with the papers. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of other copyrights. Requests for permission to publish material from the papers should be directed to the Archivist of the College.
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
[Identification of item], in Eli Whitney Debevoise Papers [Box #, folder #], Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library
SERIES 1: PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE includes personal correspondence relating to Debevoise' return to the US after his resignation from HICOG, requests for State Department reimbursement for moving expenses, as well as other correspondence, not directly related to any of EWD's offices or roles. Official correspondence can be found in series 2 and 3.
SERIES 2: HICOG-OGC ADMINISTRATIVE FILES details EWD's appointments and activities during his tenure as Deputy General Counsel. Includes personnel changes in the office hierarchy, some correspondence, memoranda and one court case.
SERIES 3: PROFESSIONAL contains material pertaining to EWD's continued professional interest in Germany after he left HICOG: his involvement in two German-American Conferences and his concern over the question of German war reparations. It includes a sub-series of public appearances on topics relating to Germany.
SERIES 4: PHOTOS includes five photographs taken during the board of directors meeting of the Ford Motor Co. at which they announced the sale of stock shares. John J. McCloy was a board member and is in these photos.
SERIES 5: PRINTED MATERIAL By volume, the bulk of the collection is in this series. It contains seven sub-series, three of which are further divided into English and foreign language sections. In addition to two sub-series of HICOG published material, the majority of this series is made up of national and international laws, treaties and conventions, and scholarly monographs about them. Most of the commentary is in German. State Department publications and non-HICOG serials make up the remainder of the series, along with two folders of unbound articles and clippings.