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The Fitzhugh Lee papers are made up of 77 unique documents (and 16 carbon copies) kept by Captain Fitzhugh Lee, aide-de-camp to Major General Frederick Funston during and following the Punitive Expedition into Mexico, 1916.

The Fitzhugh Lee papers are made up of 77 unique documents (and 16 carbon copies) kept by Captain Fitzhugh Lee, aide-de-camp to Major General Frederick Funston during and following the Punitive Expedition into Mexico, 1916. These papers were originally housed in a 154-page notebook, ordered roughly by date, beginning with Fitzhugh Lee's appointment as Major General Funston's aide-de-camp, dated February 24, 1916.

The majority of the collection consists of official military orders, telegrams, and other communications from the time of the Punitive Expedition. Many of these are between Major General Funston and the War Department; to General John J. Pershing; and between Major General Hugh L. Scott (U.S. Army chief of staff) and the War Department. Some of the communications are confidential or in code. A number of pre-coded transmissions are accompanied by their coded versions. Some of these documents are orders for attacks or retaliations. One such document, dated in 1916, reads: "Hostilities have begun period Take same action as if you had been attacked." Another contains information on Pancho Villa's background.

One of the most significant items in the collection is a 38-page document, handwritten by Captain Lee, which notes almost daily troop movements and other military activity, March 14-April 6, 1916. The following excerpt is typical in terms of its length and depth. It regards the news of George A. Dodd and the 7th cavalry's attack on Villa's forces at Guerrero:

"From Pershing- Mch 30-16 Re:75:1) Dodd struck Villa's com'd consisting 500, 6'o'clock-Mch, 29th (probably a.m.) at guerrero. Villa suffering from broken leg & lame Hip, was not present: Villa dead- known to be 30, probably others carried away dead: Dodd captured 2 mach-guns, large number horses, saddles and arms2) Our casualties, 4 enlisted men wounded- none seriously.3) Attack was surprise. Villa troops being driven in 10 mile running fight, retreated to mountains. N.E. of R.R. where they separated into small Bands. May assemble upper part Santa Maria Valley:4) Large no. of Carrangista troops being held for execution were liberated during fight.5) Dodd marched 55 miles in 17 hours & carried on fight for 5 hours (only 26 miles from Bachineva where Dodd was on 27th guerrero- Believe Dodd marched around west of town & attacked from south)6) now trying to locate Villa7) Elisie Hernandez- Villa commander, killed in fight also reports Lopez wounded (not known which Lopez this is - There was a Lopez reported killed at Columbus- Two brothers were with Villa, it is thought."

A selection of communications and documents regards an early May 1916 conference at El Paso, Texas, between General Alvaro Obregon, secretary of war of the Republic of Mexico; Major General Hugh L. Scott, U.S. chief of staff; and Major General Frederick Funston. Three photographs taken at this event depict General Hugh Scott, Col. R.E.L. Michie, Captain Fitzhugh Lee, and General Frederick Funston standing on and alongside a train.

The material dating after the Punitive Expedition relates to Colonel Fitzhugh Lee's work as a commanding officer of the 7th cavalry at Fort Bliss, Texas. Many of these are administrative documents pertaining to Lee's position, duties, and proficiency. Most of the official correspondence from this period is between Fort Bliss and Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and Washington, D.C.

Career military officer, served in the Philippines ca. 1900-1913, chief of the Philippine Constabulary, 1907-1913; papers include correspondence, constabulary reports, diaries, topical files, visual materials, and scrapbooks.

The Bandholtz collection, covering the period of ca. 1890 to 1925 (with some later papers of his wife Inez Bandholtz), consists mainly of materials accumulated while Bandholtz was stationed in the Philippines, 1900-1913. Except for this time in the Far East, Bandholtz was always on the move with ever changing assignments, and consequently his files covering his work on the Mexican border, for example, or the 1921 West Virginia coal miners strike (also known as the Battle of Blair Mountain) are substantially thinner. But in the Philippines, because he was a provincial governor and head of the indigenous military force, Bandholtz was at the center of affairs in this period of Philippine history. And beyond that, he made an effort to maintain and preserve as much documentation from his service here as he could.

The Bandholtz papers came to the library in three separate accessions in 1965, 1994 and 2005. The first accession includes the following series: Correspondence (1899-1913), Invitations, Miscellaneous, Published Materials, and Philippine Constabulary Reports (1906-1913). The second accession includes the following series: Biographical-Personal, Correspondence (1895-1925), Diaries (1900-1923), Topical Files, Visual Materials, Scrapbooks, and Inez Bandholtz papers. Although there is some overlap (especially in the two Correspondence series), the two accessions have been kept separate, and not interfiled, so that researchers who examined the first accession might read from the new material without having to go through the entire collection. This encoded finding aid treats the correspondence as a single series although it has not been interfiled. the third accession consists of correspondence (1903-1912), chiefly confidential letters between Bandholtz and Luke Wright and Leonard Wood, concerning major military an political issues in the Philippines.