Stephen P. James Collection

The Stephen P. James Collection is a unique collection of personal materials centered on the development of road and highway education in the early and mid-20th century. Stephen P. James (1893-1971) was an activist in the promotion of highways and safety education, serving as director of organizations such as the Highway Education Board, the Pan American Highway Confederation, and the rural and education division of the Automotive Safety Foundation. Along with personal papers, the collection also contains materials from Stephen James’s colleagues.

The materials in the collection reflect Stephen James’s career in highway and safety work, mostly taking place in Washington D.C., and Pan American conferences taking place throughout Latin America. Later correspondence were sent to his home in Silver Spring, Maryland; and he supported research and education programs for universities and organizations all around the United States. A prominent university research program included in this collection is the Center for Safety Education at Michigan State University. The timespan of these materials ranges from 1920 to 1969. The collection is arranged into 5 series: four of them represent a transportation organization he was prominent in; one represents additional materials either not associated with a particular organization or created after his retirement in 1958. Materials include correspondence between colleagues and delegates, reports on organization activities and finances, programs for safety research, information and resolutions from conferences and congresses, essays submitted for contests, and others. The prominent language of the materials is English, but there are also documents in Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Of special interest are the materials related to Stephen James’s work regarding the Pan American Highway and the sponsored essay contests that include winning essays, correspondence with winners, photographs, and advertisements.