Wells Family Papers

Relatives of Bess Wallace Truman

The papers of the Wells Family include photographs, correspondence, a diary entry, a memoir, and other items concerning the relationship between the family of William Gates Wells and the family of his first cousin, Bess Wallace Truman, and the Wells family's trip to visit the Truman family at the White House in June of 1947.

Size: 2.5 linear inches (about 75 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: Thomas W. White gave his copyright interest in this collection, and in any other collection of papers at the Harry S. Truman Library, to the U.S. Government. Documents created by U.S. Government officials in the course of their duties are also in the public domain. The copyright interest in other documents in this collection presumably belongs to the creators of the documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Mary Horn (2017) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and David Clark.

William Gates Wells, a first cousin of Bess Truman, was the son of Bess's aunt, Maud Gates Wells. He and his wife Annie were the parents of three daughters Ann, Helen, and Bess, and they lived in Platte City, Missouri.

Ann Wells's memoir of the family's trip to visit the Trumans in June 1947 was donated by her sister, Bess Wells Paris. The other items in the collection were donated by another family member, Thomas Wells White, an attorney in Washington D.C.

The papers of the Wells family include photographs, correspondence, a diary entry, a memoir, and other items concerning the relationship between the family of William Gates Wells and the family of his first cousin, Bess Wallace Truman. Most of these items focus on a trip that the Wells family took to visit the Truman family at the White House in June of 1947.

The correspondence in this collection includes letters dating from April 1945 to May 1949, written by Madge Wallace (Bess's mother), Bess Truman, and Margaret Truman, and addressed to members of the Wells family. The letters contain warm wishes and information about family member's lives and upcoming family events, such as the Wells family's trip to Washington. Along with this correspondence, there is a note from Truman's secretary, Reathel Odum, to the Wells family, a diary entry written by Annie Wells about her family's visit to the White House, and a memoir of the family trip written by Annie's daughter, Ann. These materials illustrate the close relationship between Bess Wallace Truman's family and the Wells family.

The collection includes photographs taken during the Wells family's visit with the Trumans in June 1947. The President and First Lady appear in the photographs, along with their daughter Margaret, Madge Wallace, and members of the Wells family, posing on the White House lawn and enjoying a cruise on the Presidential yacht, the Williamsburg. Other photographs feature General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Admiral William Leahy, and members of the Truman and Wells families at the Princeton commencement ceremonies in June 1947.

More information on the relationship between Bess Wallace Truman and her relatives can be found in the Family Correspondence File of the Bess W. Truman Papers.