The Hayes Notebook
The Anonymous Benefactor
In May of 1927, Williamsburg’s future was at a crossroads. But only a select few people knew it. Reverend Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin had an ambitious vision to restore the small town to its eighteenth-century appearance as the colonial capital of Virginia. After years of searching, he had found a potential financial partner in philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr.1
The previous November, Rockefeller had authorized Goodwin to have sketches of a proposed restoration created. But he made several points clear: He would fund this preliminary study but was not committing to anything else, and he wanted his involvement to be anonymous.2 The next month he authorized the purchase of the Ludwell-Paradise House, further signaling his interest in the project.3
Rockefeller’s anonymity was key. As Goodwin put it, if his involvement became public, it “would result in increasing values and raising opposition.”4 Goodwin’s secretary Elizabeth Hayes was one of very few people who was in on the secret.5
People of the Restoration
In May of 1927, Rockefeller’s involvement in the potential restoration was a secret. Learn about some of the few people who knew: W.A.R. Goodwin, Elizabeth Hayes, and Rockefeller himself.(6)
Reverend Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin
Goodwin was the visionary behind Colonial Williamsburg. He first moved to Williamsburg as Bruton Parish Church’s rector in 1902. He believed the city, with its many 18th century buildings, could be restored to its colonial appearance and be a valuable educational tool. He convinced Rockefeller to finance the dream.(7)
John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
The son of an oil magnate, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. was a noted philanthropist. Among the cultural and historical projects he funded were Versailles, Rockefeller Center, Teton National Park, and of course, Colonial Williamsburg.(8)
Elizabeth Hayes
Elizabeth Hayes was Dr. Goodwin’s secretary from 1921 until 1939. She was instrumental to the Restoration, managing the finances and correspondence related to the project. Rockefeller later praised her for her “ability and discretion.”(9)
The Pitch
As Rockefeller further considered whether to pursue the project, he asked Goodwin to prepare a document with photographs and historical information about Williamsburg’s colonial sites and buildings.10 Goodwin promised that “My secretary [Elizabeth Hayes], who is quite skillful with the camera, will take a new set of pictures, which we will have developed.”11 Hayes ended up having a “large part in the compiling of [the] volume.”12 In addition to photography, she spent part of her Christmas vacation in 1926 researching colonial Williamsburg by reading the Virginia Gazette at the Library of Congress.13
The Hayes Notebook included the original locations of historically significant buildings, like the Capitol. The capitol building had burned down in 1832. By the 1920s, its location was commemorated with a stone marker. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation completed reconstructing the Capitol in 1934.
Rockefeller planned a visit to Williamsburg in May of 1927. He met Goodwin on May 21 at the Wythe House, where Goodwin and Hayes had set up a “clear and attractive” display.14 Goodwin spent the day showing Rockefeller the materials and walking him through the town. They talked late into the night.15 Rockefeller still didn't commit, but he authorized Goodwin to have a blueprint of the restoration created and to start buying properties. His anonymity remained key. When he left Williamsburg, he took the notebook Hayes had compiled with him for further study.16
Rockefeller and the Hayes Notebook
I found this not only a most interesting volume, but one of the utmost helpfulness and importance in the consideration of the problems which are under review.
— John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
As Rockefeller continued mulling over his decision, he carefully studied the Hayes notebook. “I found this not only a most interesting volume, but one of the utmost helpfulness and importance in the consideration of the problems which are under review,” he wrote to Hayes. “The amount of time, thought, and painstaking effort which has been put into the book is enormous. It represents not only much patience, but profound interest in the subject under consideration.”17
Elizabeth Hayes, circa 1926.
Her work had convinced Rockefeller that Hayes would be an asset to the Restoration. If he decided to move forward with it. He wrote her a check to show his “appreciation of this particular piece of work, as well as of the valuable service which you have rendered.”18 According to Rockefeller, this financial compensation was an acknowledgement of her current and future role in the project.19
Hayes had another interpretation: “The check enclosed was so much larger than the work done could have suggested, that the difference must have been for the hard time experienced in keeping the ‘secret’!”20
Rockefeller Commits
On November 21, Goodwin and Rockefeller held another pivotal meeting, where Goodwin presented a full proposal for the restoration. The next day, Rockefeller committed “to carry out this enterprise completely and entirely.”21 The restoration of Colonial Williamsburg was officially under way. Rockefeller‘s involvement remained anonymous until June of 1928 when his identity was revealed at a Williamsburg town meeting.22 Elizabeth Hayes was an integral part of the early restoration, managing finances and correspondence for the project.23
Restoration Planning Meeting
At a pivotal meeting in New York City in November 1927, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. agreed to fund the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg.
Preserving and Conserving the Notebook
The original Hayes notebook is housed in the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library in Colonial Williamsburg’s Corporate Archives. The notebook was conserved in 2018 by Colonial Williamsburg’s paper conservation lab with funds provided by a generous donor. The photographs were removed from their original acidic paper backings and reattached to a similar looking non-acidic paper. The pages were then encapsulated in mylar sleeves and housed in archival binders. Researchers interested in viewing the original should contact [email protected].
The Elizabeth Hayes Notebook
Sources
Cover Image: “Historical Notes and Tentative Suggestions Relative to the Restoration of Colonial Williamsburg Capital of Colonial Williamsburg by W.A.R. Goodwin,” March 1927, Corporate Archives, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
- Among his efforts to find a financial backer for the plan, Goodwin wrote to the Ford family twice in 1924. Elizabeth Hayes, “The Background and Beginnings of the Restoration of Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia,” 1933, 16-17, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
- John D. Rockefeller to W.A.R. Goodwin, November 29, 1926, in Hayes, “The Background and Beginnings of the Restoration of Colonial Williamsburg,” 40.
- John D. Rockefeller to W.A.R. Goodwin, December 12, 1926, Colonial Williamsburg Archives. See also Dennis Montgomery, A Link Among the Days: The Life and Times of the Reverend Doctor W.A.R. Goodwin, the Father of Colonial Williamsburg (The Dietz Press, 1998), 173.
- Quoted in Montgomery, A Link Among the Days, 183.
- Montgomery, A Link Among the Days, 178.
- Montgomery, A Link Among the Days, 178. Image: Philip Flournoy, “Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin and John D. Rockefeller Jr. meeting on October 4, 1928...” Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
- See Montgomery, A Link Among the Days. Image: “A Portrait of W.A.R. Goodwin,” Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
- Montgomery, A Link Among the Days, 162; “John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 1874-1960,” Rockefeller Archive Center, https://rockarch.org/resources/about-the-rockefellers/john-d-rockefeller-jr/.
Image: “Portrait of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. by Underwood and Underwood,” Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. - Rosanne Butler, “Elizabeth Hayes: ‘Always… Your Help Has Been Unfailing,” CW Interpreter 22, no. 2 (Summer 2001): 31-36. Image: “Elizabeth Hayes, Dr. Goodwins secretary. c.1930,” Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
- John D. Rockefeller to W.A.R. Goodwin, November 29, 1926, in Hayes, “The Background and Beginnings of the Restoration,” 48.
- W.A.R. Goodwin to John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in Hayes, “The Background and Beginnings of the Restoration," 44.
- John D. Rockefeller, Jr. to Elizabeth Hayes, June 8, 1927, in Hayes, “The Background and Beginnings of the Restoration," 88.
- W.A.R. Goodwin to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., January 11, 1927, Dr. Goodwin Personal Papers, folder Rockefeller, John D. Jr. 1927, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
- Hayes, “The Background and Beginnings of the Restoration," 88.
- Montgomery, A Link Among the Days, 182.
- Montgomery, A Link Among the Days, 182.
- John D. Rockefeller, Jr. to Elizabeth Hayes, June 8, 1927, in Hayes, “The Background and Beginnings of the Restoration," 88.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Hayes, “The Background and Beginnings of the Restoration," 89.
- John D. Rockefeller to Arthur Woods, November 22, 1927, quoted in Montgomery, A Link Among the Days, 194.
- Montgomery, A Link Among the Days, 209-211.
- Butler, “Elizabeth Hayes,” 33.
