Arthur Compton Jr./ Trailsend Club Collection

The collection documents the early organization of the Club through meeting minutes, member bulletins, finances, scrapbooks and photographs, as well as maps and blueprints. Of particular interest are the records concerning the purchase that led to the transformation of former Ohio Governor James Cox's mansion, known as Trailsend, into an exclusive social club.

Series I Administrative

This series contains information related to the operations of the Trailsend Club. The areas covered in the series are the board of trustees, rules and bylaws, meeting minutes (trustee and membership meetings), employee matters, and correspondence. The series is strongest in its complete collection of meeting minutes and the rules and bylaws covering the first five years of the Club. The information concerning the board of trustees and employee matters consists of mostly correspondence regarding Club administration and procedures. The correspondence file has only a few letters of a personal nature to and from Arthur Compton.

Series II Financial

This series contains materials regarding the Club's financial statements, insurance, and bonds. The strongest aspect of this series is its nearly complete collections of financial statements mainly covering the years 1958 through 1960. The Bonds file also has some interesting materials concerning the Club's use of bonds to finance itself.

Series III Committees

This series contains materials on the following Club committees: organization, athletic, house, entertainment, membership, publicity, and finance. The most interesting aspect of this series concerns the organization and membership committee papers. These two files contain a wealth of information regarding the Club's origins and matters dealing with its membership. The entertainment committee papers also give a lot of insight into the activities and events held at the Club. The series contains reports and meeting minutes of some of the committees. The weakest aspect of this series is with the athletic committee papers, which are few.

Series IV Membership

This series contains information regarding membership bulletins, rosters, and reciprocity. The series has a nearly complete collection of rosters and bulletins for the Club's first several years of existence. The reciprocity papers are also interesting. They detail the Club's efforts to develop mutually beneficial relationships with clubs in other cities so that traveling members from one city's club may take advantage of member benefits in another city's club and vice versa.

Series V Scrapbook and Photographs

This series contains mostly newspaper clippings about former Governor Cox's mansion and Trailsend Club people and events. There are also a number of undated photographs of the mansion's exterior and interior.

Series VI Maps and Blueprints

This series contains plat maps of the Trailsend Club's property as well as blueprints for converting the garage into a pool house.