Digital Amherst

Ray Stannard Baker, son of Joseph Stannard and Alice Potter Baker, was born in Lansing, Michigan, on April 17, 1870. Baker was a pioneer in investigative reporting and journalism, the chronicler at first hand of turn-of-the-century labor battles. He married Jessie Beal in 1896 and in 1898 joined McClure's Magazine. In the first decade of the twentieth century, Baker's alter ego "David Grayson" appeared. In elegant and graceful essays tinged with Emersonian idealism, David Grayson's writing touched the hearts of millions. Baker moved to Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1910 and continued the David Grayson stories and essays that helped make him famous.

Baker became interested in politics and was a strong supporter of Woodrow Wilson during his campaign and tenure as President. He served Wilson at the Paris conferences after World War I and was involved in the foundation of the League of Nations. Baker later wrote several studies of the President and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 for his authorized, eight-volume edition of Wilson's life and letters. He died on July 12, 1946 and was buried in Wildwood Cemetery, Amherst, Massachusetts.

As David Grayson, Baker wrote nine volumes of fiction and essays. The Jones Library collection contains the work of David Grayson. There are approximately 4700 letters from all over the world, from adults and children, written to Grayson. The collection includes the manuscripts, typescripts and proofs of Grayson's books, essays and articles, an important collection of photographs, a complete set of Grayson's and Baker's writings, critical studies and a number of volumes from Baker's personal library. There are some 300 books and 9000 manuscript items in the collection. It is a large holding of an important essayist of the twentieth century who was widely known as a writer and a Presidential confidant. The collection, bequeathed to the library by Baker in 1946, has been added to substantially by Baker's descendants. Other major collections of Baker may be found at Princeton University Library and the Library of Congress.