The major portion of the papers cover the years between 1951 and 1961. The collection offers information on media influence on popular opinion, on cultural trends, and on the socio-economic developments of the 1950s and early 1960s. Some of the interoffice correspondence, the speech files, and the internal affairs files present in a fragmentary manner the everyday life and activities of a large circulation magazine of the period, and the thoughts and philosophies of the people who ran the enterprise. The collection contains some information on the business activities of Look and hints at the role the magazine may have played in the political or social life of the United States but may frustrate researchers seeking a more comprehensive source of data. These records comprise the initial and perhaps the only installment of the Look collection. The collection is divided into seven record series: The Gardner Cowles papers; the Daniel Mich papers, the William Arthur papers; the William Attwood papers; Interbureau Correspondence; Internal Affairs Files; and Special Project Files. An appendix to this finding aid notes prominent correspondents.
The Gardner Cowles record series consists of a General Correspondence file of letters and memos written between 1953 and 1961. The subject matter is generally routine with relatively little insight into business activities.
The Daniel Mich record series is divided into five subgroups: General Correspondence; Executive Correspondence; Subject File Correspondence; Biographical Data; and Speech File. From the middle 1950s until the early 1960s, Mich served as editorial director for Look. The subgroups containing Executive Correspondence and the Speech File are the most interesting in terms of reflecting business activities and the state of magazine journalism during the 1950s.
The William Arthur series is arranged in seven subgroups: General Correspondence; Rejection Notices; Executive Correspondence; Subject File Correspondence; Legal Files; Speech Files; and Expense Accounts. From the early 1950s until cessation of publication Arthur served as managing editor of Look. The General Correspondence and Rejection Files tend to overlap in the sense that most of the General Correspondence concerns refusals to story ideas and social engagements sponsored by agencies and promotional groups. The Rejection File contains rejections which were given a higher priority than those in General Correspondence. The Executive Correspondence and Subject File Correspondence give a wide, if somewhat impressionistic, profile of the editor's activities. Legal Files contain documents including guild contracts which relate to wages, hours, and staff relations with the publication's management. Speech Files contain talks delivered by Arthur and others about Look in relation to American journalism. The Expense Account segment concerns William Arthur's business expenditures as editor. Subgroups are chronological.
William Attwood's association with the magazine as a writer dates from the early 1950s. In the late 1960s, he served as Look's editor in chief under Gardner Cowles. His Overseas Correspondence pertains to his accompanying Adlai Stevenson on a fact finding world tour in 1953. Of Special interest is Attwood's reflections on the Cold War and Asian resistance to Communism.
Interbureau Correspondence is divided according to city and arranged chronologically. The folders contain information on the business, editorial, and professional activities of Look's branch offices in the United States and around the world.
Internal Affairs Files are arranged alphabetically according to subject. This series is especially important because it contains article inventories, employment data, meeting minutes, and authorization list, promotion reports, readership reports, text analyses, research reports, and profit and loss statements. The records date from 1951 to 1966 but coverage is not complete or continuous in any category.
The Special Projects File series details story proposals. Subjects include Look's educational survey, the “Midwest package,” the “Mood of America package,” and “A Case for the American Woman.” The series dates from 1953 to 1960. The series gives a sample of story ideas considered topical during the period.
