Brown, Walter J. Walter J. Brown papers, 1879-1995, 1915-1995.
Title:
Walter J. Brown papers, 1879-1995, 1915-1995.
The Walter J. Brown papers consists of advertisements, articles, artifacts, audiovisual materials, campaign materials, cartoons, clippings, correspondence, a day book, editorials, executive orders, galley proofs, journals, laws and legal documents, a ledger, legislative bills, lists, maps, minutes, petitions, postcards, photographs, publications, reports, scrapbooks, speeches, telegrams, transcripts, and other items. The Walter J. Brown papers document his media career in and his government service with the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion during World War II and with the U.S. Department of State. There is also material relating to his personal life; his interest in politics; his role in the economic development of Spartanburg, S.C.; and the writing of his two books on J. J. Brown / Tom Watson and James F. Byrnes. Of particular interest are the journals Brown kept between April 1943 and November 1945. They include information on the day-to-day activities of the State Department and of OWMR; politics, especially the potential vice presidential candidacy of James F. Byrnes in 1944; and the London and Potsdam Conferences. The latter are supplemented by notes taken at both conferences filed with the journals and journal extracts in folders relating to Byrnes. There are also two sets of transcripts, denoted as "A" and "B," that were probably created in the 1970s or early 1980s. These are less word-for-word transcriptions of the journals than re-workings of them, probably for use in "James F. Byrnes of South Carolina: A Remembrance." Transcript "B" tends to be a little more detailed than transcript "A." There is extensive documentation of Brown's interest and involvement in politics in the papers. In addition there are political correspondence files and others materials related to elections. There are materials relating to political figures, presidential inaugurations, and political party conventions (attended by Brown). The papers include materials to specific political conventions are the Democratic National Conventions of 1944, 1948, 1956, 1976, and 1988 as well as the Republican National Conventions of 1976 and 1988. However, there are only a few documents concerning the election of 1960. Brown also acted as a public relations consultant to Burnet Maybank's 1941 Senatorial campaign; Strom Thurmond's 1948 presidential campaign and his 1950 and 1954 senatorial campaigns; and Donald Russell's 1958 gubernatorial campaign. All of these campaigns are fully documented in the collection. He also worked for, and was interested in, the career of Alabama politician J. Thomas Heflin. Brown helped arrange Heflin's lecture tours, although almost all of the correspondence in the collection is to and from Heflin's secretary, J. L. Thornton. The papers contain posters and other advertisements for Heflin's lecture tours as well as material related to his 1930 senatorial campaign, which Brown reported on. The collection also includes photographs of Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon as well as historic photographs and postcards of Thomson, Georgia. Other audiovisual materials include sound recordings of political advertisements, political commentary, and of eulogies given at the funeral of James F. Byrnes. Finally, there are a number of artifacts including convention delegate badges and press credentials, political buttons, and small pieces of rubble from Berchtesgaden, Germany in the papers. Other topics represented in the papers include anti-Catholicism; civil rights and segregation; the Leo Frank case; Georgia politics; Hickory Hill, Tom Watson's home; opposition to the relocation I-85 around Spartanburg, S.C., in the 1980s; prominent South Carolinians in Washington, D.C., including Leonore Fuller, Byrnes' sister; Spartan Communications, which include several letters referring to the long legal fight to build a broadcasting tower on Hogback Mountain for WSPA; travel to the Soviet Union; and opposition to American entry into World War I. Correspondents or other authors represented in the collection include Carroll Campbell, Turner Catledge, the Federal Highway Administration, Robert Figg, J. Thomas Heflin, Ernest Hollings, Burnet R. Maybank, Porter McKeever, Roger Peace, the State Department of Transportation, Donald Russell, Richard B. Russell, Jr., Strom Thurmond, and C. C. Wyche. The papers also include correspondence between various members of the Brown family; in particular between Walter J. Brown and his father, John Judson, and with his brother Sylvester V. Brown.
ArchivalResource:
41.25 cubic ft. (903 folders, 6 index card boxes, 57 volumes, 1,500 photographs, 6 oversize photographs, 37 slides, 18 phonograph records, 22 audiotapes, 5 audiocassettes, 5 rolls of microfilm, 153 oversize items, 27 computer disks ; 8 in., and 53 realia)
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/551158193 View
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