Scope and Content Note

The papers of Ludwell Denny contain significant, though never complete, documentation of Denny's activities as a Unitarian minister, author, and journalist. The documentation is best for his years with Scripps-Howard. The papers are divided into three series: ministerial career, books and early writings, and newspaper career.

The MINISTERIAL CAREER series consists of newsclippings and miscellany relating to Denny's activities as a Unitarian minister, as well as copies of two of his sermons. The BOOKS AND EARLY WRITINGS series holds copies of some of his early published articles that appeared in The Nation and The Freeman, 1922-1923 and 1928; a synopsis of an unpublished book: The American Empire: An Economic Interpretation of United States Foreign Policy, ca. mid-1920's; and correspondence and reviews concerning his two published books, as well as copies of both books.

The NEWSPAPER CAREER series is notable for its variety and depth of documentation. Located here are newsclippings and related material about Denny, as well as correspondence, memos, notes, a speech, and editorials and columns by him. The collection of Denny's editorials and columns is fairly comprehensive for 1928-1935 and 1939-1958; the former period is made up entirely of editorials (on two rolls of microfilm), the latter is a combination of editorials and columns (with charts detailing their publication, 1946-1957) in the form of Scripps-Howard news releases to its newspapers. The correspondence and memos indicate Denny's role in editorial decision-making with Scripps-Howard and his relationship with many important figures of his era. There is a good deal of correspondence, throughout, with individuals associated with the Scripps-Howard chain (especially with Roy W. Howard). A selective index to his correspondents includes:

Barnes, Harry Elmer	1940, February 1 (copy)
	1944, May 3
	1950, May 3
Baruch, Bernard M.	1948, March 31
Bliven, Bruce	1930, February 2
Bowles, Chester	1940, May 24
Crane, Charles Richard	1935, April 23
Fischer, Louis	1930, March 28
Gratten, Clinton Hartley	1930, February 19
Hacker, Louis Morton	1930, November 22
Hull, Cordell	1942, November 18
	1944, April 8
Ickes, Harold L.	1940, June 6
Kiplinger, William M.	1941, July 31
Mencken, Henry Louis	1930, April 4
Murphy, Frank	1939, October 4
	1940, March 13
Norton, Mary Teresa	1939, June 7
Patterson, Ralph P.	1946, June 8
	1947, January 29 (copy)
Pyle, Ernest Taylor	1939, February 26
Rockefeller, Nelson A.	1955, December 29
Romulo, Carlos P.	1952, August 7
	1952, August 8
Swope, Herbert Bayard	1942, September 22
	1942, September 24
Sulzberger, Arthur Hays	1946, July 24
Villard, Oswald Garrison	1928, October 4
	1940, May 15
	1941, August 14
Wheeler, Burton Kendall	1939, November 27
	1940, February 13