Clarence C. Stetson Papers

The collection contains personal papers of Clarence C. Stetson. He was born in Bangor, Maine, in 1884, the son of Edward and Edith Stetson. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Mr. Stetson was involved in government and diplomatic affairs for most of his working life.

He began his career in a Wall Street law firm and in 1916 and 1917 was assistant to the European representative of the National City Bank, headquartered in London. During World War I he served with the United States Embassy in London in its Blockade Division. He later served as assistant to the War Trade Council representative in the Paris Embassy and in 1919 was general secretary of the Blockade Commission at the Paris Peace Conference.

In 1920 and 1921 he served on the European Relief Council under Herbert Hoover and became one of his assistants when Hoover became Secretary of Commerce. Stetson also served in 1923 as executive secretary of the Colorado River Commission, which wrote a treaty on water rights among the seven states through which the river flows.

After his return to Maine, Mr. Stetson managed his timberland holdings and became active in the civic affairs of the state. In 1926 he was made a director of the Port of Portland Authority. He was appointed Chairman of the Maine Development Commission, a forerunner of the Maine Department of Economic Development, at its creation in 1927. In 1932 he was defeated in his bid for the Republican nomination for Congress from Maine's Third District. He served as chairman of the Maine division of the Finnish Relief Fund campaign in 1939. This fund had been established by Herbert Hoover to raise money for food, clothing and shelter for Finnish civilians after the Soviet attack on their country in 1939.

Clarence Stetson died in 1950.