The portfolio cover was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2017 by Ann Cornell, the granddaughter of Henry A. Wallace.
Henry A. Wallace (1888-1965) was born in Orient, Iowa, to Henry Cantwell Wallace and May Brodhead Wallace. Henry C. served as secretary of agriculture under Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. During college, Henry A. created a strain of corn that had better disease resistance and produced better yields. He started a company manufacturing and selling his corn and became very wealthy. In 1932, he supported Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidential election. After Roosevelt’s win, he was appointed as secretary of agriculture and oversaw the development and creation of food stamps and school lunch programs. In 1940, Roosevelt chose Henry as his vice presidential running mate and easily won reelection. As Vice President, Henry chaired the Economic Defense Board, the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board, and the Board of Economic Warfare. He also traveled on several official international foreign relations trips serving as the president’s personal ambassador. For the 1944 election, Wallace was not chosen as Roosevelt’s running mate, but was appointed as secretary of commerce. After the war, Wallace held pacifist views and favored a conciliatory policy toward the Soviet Union. In 1948, Wallace ran as a third party presidential candidate for the Progressive Party, and after his defeat, he retired from politics. Wallace died on November 18, 1965, in Danbury, Connecticut. The Union des femmes françaises (UFF, now known as Femmes solidaires) was created by former members of the Union des jeunes filles de France and Comité mondial des femmes contre la guerre et le fascisme after both groups were dissolved in 1939. Actions during World War II include organizing demonstrations and publishing underground newsletters. The UFF was officially organized by a congress in December 1944 at the initiative of the French Communist Party by Eugénie Cotton (1881-1967), Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier (1912-1996, survivor of Auschwitz and Ravensbrück), and Yvonne Dumont (1911-2002), with the participation of women’s committees active in the Resistance. Their first Congress, in June 1945, paid homage to Danielle Casanova (born Vincentelli Perini, 1909-1943), a Resistance member who was deported to Auschwitz in 1943 and died of typhus, and to Berty Albrecht (1893-1943), a member of the Resistance who died by hanging in the Fresnes prison following her arrest by the German military.
Portfolio comprised of one large sheet of paper folded in half to form a front and back cover. Two sheets of paper with hand sewn trinkets attached with cord are inside. 1. Cream colored, heavyweight, rectangular paper folded in half to form a portfolio. The front has five centered lines of black script and three lines of slightly larger gold print below. The front left corner has a small crease and there are black smudges on the back. 2. Off white, heavyweight, rectangular paper with four small hand knit and sewn decorations attached to the page with white cord. The four items are arranged in a T shape on the paper. At the bottom, there are a pair of blue slippers with gray insoles decorated with red flowers and tassels. The slippers are attached to each other with a braided red white and blue string that hangs loosely off the top. Above them are a green pair of hand sewn booties with red trim and long red and green braided laces that extend up and are tied together. At the top, on the left, is a white hand knit boater hat with a blue thread tied around the brim. A red thread extends out from under the backside. To the right, is a pair of hand sewn multicolored, floral patterned slippers attached together at the heels by a long braided yellow string. On the back, four lengths of white cord are visible where they have been inserted through small holes in the paper and tied off to attach the decorations. The paper has a slight horizontal crease at the top. 3. Off white, heavyweight, rectangular paper with a small, handmade textile doll sewn onto the page with white cord. The doll wears a pink cloth gown with gray twisted cord sewn around the hem and a matching pink half hat. She has a cloth head with embroidered facial features. Her arms are composed of pink thread and her hair is black thread. Below are six lines of black script. The back has several small yellow stains on the paper.
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overall: Height: 12.750 inches (32.385 cm) | Width: 19.875 inches (50.483 cm) 1: Height: 12.750 inches (32.385 cm) | Width: 19.875 inches (50.483 cm) 2: Height: 10.625 inches (26.988 cm) | Width: 8.250 inches (20.955 cm) 3: Height: 10.625 inches (26.988 cm) | Width: 8.250 inches (20.955 cm)
Portfolio containing handmade cloth trinkets presented to former Vice President Henry A. Wallace by female French partisans when he visited the country in 1947. The portfolio was given to Wallace as a gift by the Union des femmes françaises (UFF) when he gave a speech at the Sorbonne in Paris, calling for international cooperation at a time of rising Cold War tensions. The UFF was a World War II resistance movement that was officially organized by a congress in December 1944, at the initiative of the French Communist Party and worked with the Front National, a major resistance organization. The UFF distributed newsletters, journals, newspapers, mounted demonstrations against restrictions, and assisted families affected by the war. Henry A. Wallace was an American agricultural business owner and politician. While in college, he invented a new strain of disease resistant corn that produced better yields. He started a business manufacturing and distributing the corn and was very successful. In 1932, he supported Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidential bid, and following his victory, was appointed as Roosevelt’s secretary of agriculture for eight years. He also served as vice president for Roosevelt’s third term, and later secretary of commerce for Roosevelt and then Truman.
Portfolio of handmade French Resistance mementos given to former Vice President Henry A. Wallace by female French partisans