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Popular Research Topics: Teapot Dome Scandal

The Teapot Dome Scandal occurred in 1922-1923 when U.S. Secretary of the Interior Albert Hall was bribed into leasing U.S. strategic oil reserves in Wyoming and California to private oil companies without competitve bidding. The events led to Senate investigations and criminal convictions. It is considered one of the greatest scandals in American political history.

The Teapot Dome Oil Field was located in Natrona County, Wyoming, and was named after a nearby rock formation.

Ralph O. Dietler Papers

Box 1 contains a transcript of interview with Ralph Dietler conducted on Feb. 26, 1970 by oil historian Dr. Paul H. Giddens that provides Dietler's account of his employment by Henry M. Blackmer, a Denver oil magnate who was embroiled in the Teapot Dome scandal.

John B. Kendrick Papers

John B. Kendrick was a Wyoming businessman. In 1914 he won the Wyoming governorship as a Democrat, serving until 1916 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he represented Wyoming during the Teapot Dome Scandal. Boxes 28 and 29 contain correspondence about the incident; boxes 60 and 64 contain some additional related material.

T. Blake Kennedy Papers

T. Blake Kennedy (1874-1957) served as the U.S. District Court Judge of Wyoming from 1922-1955. One of his most celebrated cases was the Teapot Dome Lawsuit, (United States vs. Mammoth Oil Company) in 1925. The collection contains his personal recollections about the case, as well as some correspondence related to it.

Frank W. Mondell Papers

Frank W. Mondell was a Republican politician who served as the mayor of Newcastle, Wyoming and then in the Wyoming Legislature. His papers contain correspondence which includes references to the Teapot Dome scandal (boxes 1 and 2).

Francis E. Warren Papers

Warren was a prominent Wyoming businessman and politician. He served as U.S. Senator of Wyoming for 37 years, and was the first Governor of Wyoming. He twice served as territorial Governor before Wyoming was given statehood. His business interests include the Warren Mercantile Company, the Warren Live Stock Company, and Wyoming Irrigation Company. The collection contains a brief amount of material about Teapot Dome in Box 288.

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