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Humanities and Social Sciences Library > Collections > Manuscripts > Finding Aids > The New Yorker Records Series Descriptions
1924-1984, 56 linear feet, Boxes 1-129 This series contains the files of the first two editors-in-chief (titled, simply, "Editors") of the New Yorker. Harold Ross's personal and professional papers make up the bulk of the series. The collection contains only a few of William Shawn's files but his role as editor is evident throughout the collection. The Editor series is arranged in three subseries: 1.1 Harold Ross / General Files 1.2 Harold Ross / Personal / Financial Records 1.3 William Shawn Harold Ross 1917, 1924-1957 51.5 linear feet, Boxes 1-118 Ross's general files (Boxes 1-69) are composed mainly of letters, telegrams, and interoffice memos. This correspondence documents Ross's daily work as founder and editor of the New Yorker. Other materials in this series include lists of ideas, possible writers, agents, and article assignments; advertising records; business and legal documents; scattered manuscripts; posters; photographs; periodical tear sheets; and clippings. The records dating from 1924 through 1927 are thin but provide detailed insight into the magazine's beginnings: they document Ross's earliest editorial and business decisions. Of special note is the 1925 "Prospectus," Ross's first and only detailed articulation of the magazine's goal and mission. Interoffice memos constantly passed between Ross, Raoul Fleischmann (the magazine's original financial backer), editors, and other staff. Ross did most of his text-editing by letter, memo, or notes which sometimes ran to pages of queries and suggestions. These memos, along with Ross's correspondence, reveal much about his personality, as well as his relationships with staff, contributors and business partners. Because of the New Yorker's great success, Ross became a public figure as his magazine became a nexus for writers and artists. His correspondence is not limited to those involved with the magazine, but includes correspondence with a considerable range of cultural figures and personalities; the correspondence documents the cultural milieu from which the magazine emerged and which it then helped to define. Arrangement note These files are arranged chronologically by year or groups of years and then in one alphabet which includes subjects and names. Some interoffice communication, such as that between Ross, Katharine and E.B. White are filed under general headings such as "Editorial," or "Interoffice Memos." Ross's papers are not confined to this series: through 1951, his memos appear throughout the collection. 1.2 Personal / Financial Records While the general files contain personal correspondence and other material relating to Ross's life outside the New Yorker, Ross's Personal and Financial Records (Boxes 70-118) more thoroughly document his relationship with his mother, wives, and daughter. There are also extensive records of Ross's investments and business ventures, such as his partnership in Chasen's restaurant in Beverly Hills, as well as bank ledgers, canceled checks and check stubs, monthly statements, and income tax returns. 1.3 William Shawn 1929-1984, 4.5 linear feet, Boxes 119-129 This series includes some "Interoffice Communications" between various editors (1937-1944, Boxes 121-122), Shawn's appointment books for 1979-1981, a few manuscripts, guidelines for editing and fact-checking, New Yorker Annual Reports for the years 1966 through 1985, some correspondence, and nine pieces Shawn wrote for "Talk of the Town" in 1935. This particular series represents a small portion of the material generated during Shawn's 46 years at the New Yorker (26 as Editor); however, since as Editor Shawn exercised final approval on everything: copy, art, and ads most of the other series in the collection contain correspondence, memos, and edited manuscripts which document Shawn's impact on the magazine, including "Editorial Correspondence" (series 3), "Editorial Business" (series 4), "Manuscripts: Run & Killed" (series 6), and "Magazine Make-Up: Copy & Source" (series 8). SERIES II: EDITORIAL STAFF/WRITERS 1939-1973, 2.2 linear ft., Boxes 130-134 This series contains some of the records of three individuals who were staff writers and editors: St. Clair McKelway, Lillian Ross, and Katharine White, arranged as three separate subseries. In all three cases, this material comprises only a portion of that generated by each individual, whose works are also present throughout the collection. 2.1 St. Clair McKelway 1939-1972 .5 linear feet Box 130 McKelway joined the magazine's staff in 1933; in 1936 he agreed to become managing editor only if Ross established a clear organizational line between fiction and non-fiction. By this arrangement he was responsible for all the journalism (Fact) while fiction, poetry, and art (Fiction) were handled by Katharine White. He remained Fact editor until 1939, when he became a staff writer. This material includes some correspondence with John O'Hara, S.N. Behrman, and H. L. Mencken, as well as a few personal letters, notes, and two manuscripts of screenplays on which McKelway was a collaborator. 2.2 Lillian Ross 1946-1973 .5 linear ft. Box 131 Lillian Ross came to work as a reporter for "Talk of the Town" during the 1940s and moved on to become a notable Fact writer. This sub-series consists almost entirely of photocopies of Ross's Fiction and Fact pieces published in the New Yorker. 2.3 Katharine Sargeant White 1943-19601.2 linear ft. Box 132-134 Katharine White (1892-1977) started at the magazine in 1925 as a part-time reader of manuscripts. Soon she became a full-time editor, and in 1936 became Fiction editor. Throughout her career with the magazine she was, next to Ross, the most consistent and thorough critic of the magazine. Her critiques and suggestions are spread throughout the collection. Married to Ernest Angell when she began her career at the magazine, she later divorced her husband and married E. B. White in 1929. The Whites lived in Maine from 1938-1943, during which time Katharine continued working as an editor for the magazine, although Gus Lobrano served as Fiction editor from 1938-1956. The Whites returned to New York during World War II and stayed until 1957. During this time she reviewed children's books for the New Yorker; compiled, with her husband, A Sub-Treasury of American Humor; and later wrote a series on gardening, "Onward and Upward in the Garden." She retired in 1961. These records relate mainly to White's work on A Sub-Treasury of American Humor (1941). It also includes White's list of potential writers, and a few personal letters. SERIES III: EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE 1928-1980 263 linear ft. Boxes 135-944 Until 1951, all correspondence concerning Fact, Fiction, Poetry, or Art (with a five year exception, 1929-1933) were kept together by year. Beginning in 1952, files for Fact and Fiction (including poetry) were kept separately. Therefore the Editorial correspondence is arranged in the following four subseries: 3.1: General Correspondence, 1928-1951, 162 linear ft., Boxes 135-516 3.2: Fact Correspondence, 1952-1981, 78 linear ft., Boxes 517-709 3.3: Fiction Correspondence, 1952-1980, 18 linear ft., Boxes, 710-931 3.4: Art Correspondence, 1929-1933, 5 linear ft., Boxes 932-944 This series is an extensive archive of correspondence between New Yorker editors and writers, artists, agents, publishers, organizations, and other New Yorker editors and staff. Other material in this series includes lists of potential articles, contributors, and art ideas and story "Reservations," which were internal memos reserving or "unreserving" certain subjects for particular writers (see also "Harold Ross" [series 1.1], "Louis Forster" [series 4.1), and "Ideas and Assignments" [series 4.5].) All of the material in this series illuminates the editors' roles in shaping the editorial content (including art and ads) of each issue of the magazine, the everyday operations of the magazine, the magazine's working relationship with other organizations, and the careers of the magazine's editors and staff. The editor/author correspondence documents the development of particular pieces, writer/editor relationships, and important periods in the careers of many major twentieth century authors. Notable writers with large files of correspondence in this series include Donald Barthelme, Elizabeth Bishop, James Dickey, Nadine Gordimer, H.L Mencken, W.S. Merwin, Marianne Moore, Vladimir Nabokov, John O'Hara, Anne Sexton, Robert Penn Warren, Edmund Wilson, John Cheever, Janet Flanner, Lewis Mumford, J.D. Salinger, Frank Sullivan, James Thurber, and John Updike. Substantial correspondence files exist for such artists as Charles Addams, Constantin Alajalov, Peter Arno, Ludwig Bemelmans, A. Birnbaum, Alan Dunn, Alfred Frueh, Helen Hokinson, Charles Saxon, Barbara Shermund, James Stevenson, and Gluyas Williams. Carbon copies of letters from editor to author accompany original letters in virtually every file. These are often long and detailed reactions to, and critiques of, authors' submissions, often in the form of lists of queries and suggestions for revisions. For authors closely associated with the magazine and with a particular editor, editorial exchanges often developed into personal correspondence, and professional relationships into friendships. While an editor's letters to an author (and his or her agent) are usually found under that author's name, this series also includes editor and staff member files, usually containing interoffice memos, correspondence regarding their own work as contributors and their professional lives, and communications with organizations and publishers. This series also contains voluminous files for literary agents and agencies which contain mostly letters of submission from the agent and editors' replies. Most of the replies are rejections which include criticism of the particular work or the author's output in general. Some are accompanied by reader's reports or memos between editors discussing the suitability of a given submission. Other correspondence in the folders discusses business matters such as terms of contracts and payment. (Two appendices to this inventory contain lists of prominent agents and agencies.) NOTE: Other author/editor correspondence may accompany manuscripts in either "Magazine Make-Up: Copy and Source" or "Manuscripts: Run & Killed." 1926-1984 57.2 linear ft. Boxes 945-1285 The Editorial Business files are arranged in ten subseries: 4.1 Administrative Files: Louis Forster 4.2 Administrative Files: Harding T. Mason 4.3 Administrative Files: Ik Shuman 4.4 General Files 4.5 Ideas & Assignments 4.6 Letters to the Editor 4.7 Log Books of Article Assignments (3) 4.8 News Clippings 4.9 Reprints and Permissions 4.10 Style Sheet: Word List, November 8, 1977 4.1 Louis Forster 1943-1975 6 linear ft. Boxes 945-959 Louis Forster Jr. began his career at the New Yorker in the Checking Department in 1937. As Assistant to the Editor, to both Ross and Shawn, Forster was responsible for tracking many details. His records consist of reports, lists, correspondence, interoffice memos, and clippings generated through his monitoring of the magazine's elaborate manuscript bank, reporting on the balance of each issue and of groups of issues over a given period of time, keeping lists of contributors, contributor payments, and story reservations (1940-1950), and overseeing complimentary subscriptions. 4.2 Harding T. Mason 1937-1952 1.3 linear ft. Boxes 960-962 Harding T. Mason handled most of the magazine's money matters. His records, mostly in the form of interoffice memos, document Mason's responsibilities for ordering office equipment, scheduling vacations, assigning office space, and calculating contributor payments according to the magazine's complex rules. Mason also monitored the submissions of authors under contract to the magazine; his reports to editors as to whether each author was fulfilling his or her obligations are located in this series under the name of the author's primary editor. 4.3 Ik Shuman 1936-1943 .8 linear ft. Boxes 963-964 Shuman began his career as managing editor; and was about the thirtieth of Ross's proposed "Jesuses," or administrative point men for the editorial department. Like previous victims, his messianic abilities fell short of Ross's ideal, but Shuman went on to serve an important role as liaison between the editorial and business sides of the magazine. In addition to compiling operational statistics and business expenses, Shuman was asked to handle legal problems such as libel threats. This subseries also contains Katharine White's critical commentary of each issue of the magazine published during this period (Box 964, f.19-20). 4.4 General Files 1927-1989 1.7 linear ft. Boxes 965-968 These files contain a miscellany of administrative record keeping, such as statistical compilations, and reports on the proportion of advertising to editorial space. 4.5 Ideas and Assignments 1928-1988 5 linear ft. Boxes 969-981 This series documents one method by which the magazine's editors and contributors generated and circulated ideas for features, shorter pieces, and art work. The bulk of the series consists of idea outlines of about a paragraph, sometimes accompanied by correspondence regarding the idea. The date and author are noted on each suggestion; other notations record the writer or artists reserving the idea, and whether the idea had been approved or killed. The rest of the series is comprised of two groups of ideas generated by Ross and Shawn, which clearly illustrate the immense influence of both editors on each issue of the magazine. 4.6 Letters to the Editor 1933-1939, 1962-1981 16 linear ft. Boxes 982-1021 Until Tina Brown became editor of the New Yorker in 1992 the New Yorker had never published letters to the editor; nevertheless, it answered many of them. This subseries consists of readers' letters and the carbon copies of the staff's typed responses. Letters are filed alphabetically within years, either by name of letter's author, name of the author of the article to which the letter reacts, or general subject headings such as "Advertisements." Of special note are the two large groups of letters in response to James Baldwin's "Letter from a Region in My Mind" (Box 1000) and Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" (Box 1000-1001). The subseries also includes letters to the editor which point out errors made in the magazine (1971-1985, Boxes 1012-1021). Letters to the Editor can also be found in "Harold Ross/General Files" (series 1.1), "Art Correspondence" (series 3.4), "Administrative Files," and "General Files" (series 4.1-4.4). 4.7 Log Books of Article Assignments 1940-1969 .2 linear ft. Box 1022 These log books contain the author, title, and date of assigned Fact and "Talk of the Town" pieces. 4.8 News Clippings 1944-1987 5 linear ft. Boxes 1023-1034 This series contains newspaper and magazine clippings about the magazine, its staff and contributors, and book reviews of work originally published in the magazine or of books written by staff members. It also contains clippings of advertisements for the New Yorker in other publications. 4.9 Reprints and Permissions 1930-1979 20.4 linear ft. Boxes 1035-1284 This collection of correspondence consists of requests from publishers, publications, institutions, organizations, and individuals for either a copy of a work published in the magazine, or permission to reprint articles or artwork. Three boxes of this series (Boxes 1075-1077) reflect the extraordinary worldwide interest in John Hersey's Hiroshima (in the August 31, 1946 issue). The New Yorker granted permissions for its republication for a low fee and donated the proceeds to the American Red Cross. "Reprints and Permissions" records can be found in other series including "Harold Ross/General Files" (series 1.1), throughout "Editorial Correspondence" (series 3), the Administrative files of Forster, Shuman, and Mason (series 4.1-4.3), and "Legal and Financial Files" (series 5). Arrangement note This series is a merging of several groups of files, including those of Daise Terry, and is therefore arranged in several different chronologies and alphabets. 4.10 Style Sheet: Word List November 8, 1977 .8 linear ft. Box 1285 This style sheet demonstrates New Yorker usage of a list of words. NOTE: Several groups of records that would have been included in this series were among the files that disappeared during the New Yorker's move to new offices in February 1991 (see Provenance Note). These include records of payments, advances, and royalties to authors and artists (1942-1949); directors' minutes and annual reports (1948-1949); and correspondence and memoranda relating to advertisers, advertising policy, and results of advertising (1973-1974). SERIES V: LEGAL AND FINANCIAL FILES MILTON GREENSTEIN / R. HAWLEY TRUAX 1943-1983 25.8 linear ft. Boxes 1286-1347 Milton Greenstein, editorial counsel to The New Yorker, also served as an intermediary between the editorial and business sides of the magazine; he later became Vice-President of the firm. Hawley Truax was the Treasurer of the magazine and later became Chairman of the board. Their files were merged in the late 1940s. Greenstein's and Truax's records document their handling of a variety of business and legal matters: their files contain contracts with authors and artists, such as fiction and art agreements with "First Reading" clauses that gave the magazine first right to reject or accept any work by that individual; accounts of payments (including royalties and "drawing account" payments given to writers with work in progress), salaries, cost-of-living adjustments, and staff benefits; income tax returns prepared for New Yorker staff and contributors; correspondence regarding author and artist rights, deceased contributors, reprints and permissions, legal matters, such as libel suits and trademark and copyright disputes, and "Reader's Complaints"; and reports on advertising, circulation, production, and printing. SERIES VI: MANUSCRIPTS: RUN AND KILLED 1926-1984 106.4 linear ft. Boxes 1348-1678 This series consists of original manuscripts, typescripts, and "retypes" (transcriptions made by the New Yorker's typing pool for editing purposes) of both published ("Run") and unpublished ("Killed") Fact, Fiction, Poetry, and shorter pieces, usually edited, revised by editor(s) and/or author, and sometimes accompanied by related correspondence and memos. Since rejected manuscripts were generally returned to their authors, most manuscripts in the archive were run. These manuscripts served as the working drafts of the editors and authors, and in some cases pieces are represented by three or four successive drafts. Manuscripts in this series include a 260-page extensively corrected typescript of Hannah Arendt's "Eichmann in Jerusalem" (Box 1437) published in five parts in 1963, and the typescript of Jonathan Schell's "The Village of Ben Suc" (Box 1517), an article published in 1967 that described the destruction of a Vietnamese village by American soldiers and which marked the beginning of the New Yorker's more politically engaged content throughout the Vietnam conflict. Arrangement note The New Yorker often bought and edited manuscripts, then held on to them for as long as 20 years before publishing, killing, reediting, or returning them. In this series each piece can be found in the year, or range of years, during which it was run or killed, and under the author's name. Unsigned work, such as "Talk of the Town" pieces, can be found under their New Yorker department headings. The manuscripts are arranged in fifteen subseries: 6.1: Fact & Fiction: Run & Killed 1926-1927 6.2: Fact: Run & Killed 1938-1958 6.3: Fact: Run & Killed 1959-1966 6.4: Fact: Run & Killed 1967-1969 6.5: Fact: Run & Killed 1970-1973 6.6: Fact: Run & Killed 1974-1976 6.7: Fact: Run & Killed 1977-1984 6.8: Fact: Lists of Killed Mss. 1943-1980 6.9: Fiction: Run & Killed 1951-1982 6.10: Fiction: Killed, Lists Only 1944-1982 6.11: Plays: Run & Killed 1952-1976 6.12: Verse: Run & Killed 1951-1973 6.13: Very Short Pieces: Run &Killed 1951-1980 6.14: Very Short Pieces: Killed, Lists 1952-1980 6.15: Miscellaneous Manuscripts n.d. SERIES VII: ART WORKS: RUN & KILLED 1944-1980 2.7 linear ft. Boxes 1679-1685 This series consists of drafts and tearsheets of published ("Run") and unpublished ("Killed") cover, cartoon, and spot art. It also includes memos from editors regarding specific pieces of art, memos accepting or rejecting cartoon ideas, and lists of killed art works. This series is arranged in two subseries: 7.1: Art Works: Run & Killed 1951-1980 7.2: Art Works: Killed, Lists Only 1944-1980 SERIES VIII: MAGAZINE MAKE-UP: COPY & SOURCE 1950-1981 304.7 linear ft. Boxes 1686-2425 This series contains the edited copy and art which made up each issue of the magazine. It is arranged chronologically by issue. Each issue's Copy is followed by a folder of Source material made up of clippings, press releases, photographs, brochures, and various "leads" in the form of letters from readers and staff, all of which served as background materials for "Talk of the Town" assignments and "Profiles," or as potential Newsbreaks (short pieces, used to fill the end of a column, consisting of unintentionally humorous items, primarily from American newspapers). While many original drawings are filed in "Non-Textual Materials" (series 9) or were returned to artists by the magazine, some are still located in this series. Many of the cartoons in this series are ideas proposed by outsiders or the magazine's "idea men" that were later redrawn by the more famous artists for publication. Most of the Copy is comprised of "retypes," but some original manuscripts, proof pages, and photocopies of originals are in the series; on the verso of the first page of each piece is a slip indicating who edited the piece. Besides proof-readers' and fact-checkers' marks, many manuscripts are substantially revised and corrected by editors and, in some cases, authors. Some manuscripts include letters between author and editor, and interoffice memos between New Yorker editors discussing the piece. A good example of the latter is the manuscript of Nadine Gordimer's "Out of Season" (Box 1781) which is extensively edited by Katharine S. White and is accompanied by memos between White, William Shawn, and Gus Lobrano. Other notable manuscripts in "Copy and Source" include those for Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" (Box 2005-2006); Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" with significant revisions and deletions by Shawn (Box 2070-2072); James Baldwin's "Letter from a Region in My Mind" (published in book form as "The Fire Next Time", Box 1999); many of Janet Flanner's "Letters from…", including several in original telegram; and formidable amounts of material by S. J. Perelman, Robert Graves, Vladamir Nabokov, John Cheever, J. D. Salinger, Elizabeth Bishop, Jean Stafford and John Updike, writers often associated with the New Yorker. NOTE: The Copy & Source files for issues published from 1925 through 1949 disappeared from the basement of The New Yorker's building in February 1991. Please see Provenance Note for more information on missing material. SERIES IX: NON-TEXTUAL MATERIALS ca.1917-1984 57.8 linear ft. Boxes 2426-2566 This series is arranged into eight subseries: 9.1 Cartoons, Published, Tearsheets 9.2 Drawings, Original Spots 9.3 Drawings, Original. Removed from Copy and Source, 1950-1961 9.4 Drawings, Original, Removed from Various Departments 9.5 Miscellaneous, Oversize, Mainly Printed Materials
9.8 Sound Recordings 9.1 Cartoons, Published, Tearsheets 1925-1959, 1974-1984 33.7 linear ft. Boxes 2426-2509 This series contains tearsheets of published cartoons pasted on cards, proofs of captions, written ideas, sketches for future cartoons, illustrations, cover drawings, and ad spots. Works published up to 1959 are arranged chronologically, each marked with a sequential code number; from 1974-1984 works are arranged alphabetically by artist's name. 9.2 Drawings: Original Spots 16.8 linear ft. Boxes 2510-2556 This is a large collection of spot drawings used over the years, often more than once, arranged by artist's name. 9.3 Drawings, Original, Removed from Copy and Source 1950-1961 3.7 linear ft. Boxes 2557-2559 Some oversize drawings were removed from "Magazine Make-Up: Copy & Source" and placed in oversize boxes. A photocopy has been substituted in the original position. Within each box drawings are arranged chronologically by the date of the issue from which they were removed. 9.4 Drawings, Original, Removed from Various Departments .6 linear ft. Box 2560 Some oversize drawings were removed from various departments and placed in oversize boxes. A photocopy has been substituted in the original position. 9.5 Miscellaneous, Oversize, Mainly Printed Materials 1.4 linear ft. Box 2561 This subseries consists of broadsides and posters. 9.6 Engraved Plates .2 linear ft. Box 2562 This subseries consists of two engraved metal plates of drawings by James Thurber and William Steig. 9.7 Photographs ca.1917-1984 1.2 linear ft. Box 2563-2565 Photographs have been separated from their original files and replaced with photocopies and a separation sheet. A large part of this subseries consists of 224 photos taken during the 1950 filming of "The Red Badge of Courage" (Box 2564). Lillian Ross wrote a five part article about the film (first part run 5/24/52). Other photos include a few personal pictures removed from the Ross series (Box 2563), and numerous product shots removed from "Editorial Correspondence." 9.8 Sound Recordings ca.1951; 1976 .2 linear ft. Box 2566 This subseries consists of tapes of a one hour radio interview of Woody Allen by Pauline Kael, The New Yorker'sfilm critic, on May 4, 1976, and recorded dictation by Harold Ross. Ross used an "Electronic Disc Dictation System," (see also Box 33, f.13) during the last months of his life while working from bed. On these discs Ross recorded comments on manuscripts (transcripts of which may be found in Boxes 39-42), critiques of the magazine, and letters and memos. Some of the discs in the collection have had the grooves shaved to make them ready for re-use at a later time. Forward to Box List |