Title: Roy L. Matson Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1903-1960

Creator:

• Matson, Roy L., 1908-1960

Call Number: Mss 238; PH Mss 238

Quantity: 1.6 c.f. (4 archives boxes) and 98 photographs

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers of Roy L. Matson, editor of the Wisconsin State Journal (1942-1960), in Madison, Wisconsin. Papers consist of correspondence, articles, speeches, memorabilia, and three subject files, including photographs. The subject files, which comprise the bulk of the collection, concern a Department of Defense-sponsored tour of Europe and the Near East in 1952, a 1958 seminar on the American press in India sponsored by the State Department, and a local controversy on the West Washington Avenue underpass. Included are correspondence, background information, newspaper clippings, and other related material.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00238

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

Roy L. Matson, former editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, was born June 26, 1908, in Cloquet, Minnesota, and spent his boyhood in Minnesota and Wisconsin. He attended high school in Minneapolis and started his newspaper work on high school publications. In 1925, he came to the University of Wisconsin, and the next year began haunting the Wisconsin State Journal for odd jobs of reporting. In the summer of 1927, he filled a vacation assignment as state editor. In 1929, he joined the staff as a full-time reporter and feature writer, and covered everything from murders to concerts. In 1931, at the age of 23, Matson became city editor, the key spot in a competitive newspaper field. When Daniel D. Mich, State Journal managing editor, left in 1937 to become associate editor of Look magazine, Matson was chosen to fill the vacancy thus created. In 1942, upon A. M. Brayton's retirement, Matson was placed in full charge of the editorial department of the newspaper.

It was his abiding conviction that editors should take a stand on the issues; his firm opposition to the West Washington underpass issue (1944-1948) is evidence of his action on this belief. From mid-1941 to 1944, Roy Matson's personal observations appeared daily on page one in a column entitled “This World of Ours.”

In 1952, Matson was one of fourteen newsmen who took a Department of Defense air tour of Europe and the Near East to become acquainted with the problems of European defense. He visited England, France, Germany, Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Libya, and Morocco. From each stop, Matson sent back articles describing the sights and commenting on particular defense problems.

Again in 1958, Matson accepted a similar assignment. He and Norman E. Issacs, managing editor of the Louisville (Ky.) Times, spent ten weeks conducting seminars on the American press in India. They worked under the American specialists branch of the International Exchange Service of the United States' State Department.

In the two years after his India trip, Matson found his schedule full of invitations to speak at city and area service clubs and other organizations. During this period he made more than 150 speeches on his experiences, and participated in foreign affairs seminars at several Midwest universities.

Matson was a director of Madison Newspapers, Inc., a director of the Badger Broadcasting Company, and owner and operator of Madison radio station WIBA. He also was a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and of Chi Phi and Sigma Delta Chi fraternities, served as president of the United Press Newspaper Editors of Wisconsin, and was a member of the University Club and the Rotary Club.

Matson died of a heart attack on December 3, 1960. He was survived by his wife, the former Helen Laird, whom he married on September 6, 1930; and his sons, David and Dan.

The Roy L. Matson Papers are concerned primarily with Matson's professional career. The bulk of the collection falls into three areas; the West Washington underpass issue (1944-19 8), Matson's European defense tour (1952), and his India tour (1958). In addition, the collection contains general correspondence (1903, 1947-1960), articles, speeches, personal memorabilia, and miscellany.

The files relating to the West Washington underpass issue consist of correspondence (1944-1948), specifically letters to Roy Matson and to and from Mayor Halsey Kraeger; speeches; documents from court cases; reports; statements; interviews; and newspaper clippings. These papers are arranged topically, and chronologically thereunder.

The papers concerning Matson's European defense tour are filed by country. These files contain general information and background on each country, including guides, briefings, programs, notations, correspondence, historical sketches, press and contact lists, and newspaper clippings.

The papers concerning Matson's India tour consist of newspaper clippings, itineraries, general correspondence, letters to Mrs. Matson, and reports. These papers are arranged by topics. Matson's descriptive accounts provide an understanding of the life and problems of the Indian people.

The articles file, arranged alphabetically, includes some newspaper clippings about Matson's son David; an article entitled “Love's Way” by Jessie Matson; a rather long report on the Indian press; and some articles, pamphlets, and surveys on socialized medicine.

The personal memorabilia file contains insurance forms, addresses, certificates, cards, announcements, invitations, and citations.

In addition, the collection contains information on the Foreign Leader Program of the International Educational Exchange Program (1959) and two miscellaneous folders of newspaper clippings, both foreign and domestic.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mrs. Roy Matson, Madison, Wisconsin, 1963. Accession Number: M63-196

Processing Information

Processed by JP (Intern), October 4, 1972.

Mss 238 Box   1 Folder   1	General Correspondence, 1903, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1960
	Articles
Box   1 Folder   2	A-L
Box   1 Folder   3	M-Z
Box   1 Folder   4	Speeches
Box   2 Folder   1-2	Personal Memorabilia
	West Washington Underpass Issue
	Correspondence
Box   2 Folder   3	General, 1947
Box   2 Folder   4	Roy Matson, 1944-1947
Box   2 Folder   5	Halsey Kraeger, 1944-1945
Box   2 Folder   6	Lists
Box   2 Folder   7	Reports, court cases' minutes, studies, interviews
Box   3 Folder   1	Resolution, speeches, statements
	Newspaper clippings
Box   3 Folder   2	1944
Box   3 Folder   3	1945
Box   3 Folder   4	1946
Box   3 Folder   5	1947
Box   3 Folder   6	1948
Box   3 Folder   7	Miscellaneous, 1944-1948 (?)
PH Mss 238	Photographs
Mss 238	European Defense Tour, 1952
Box   3 Folder   8	Background information before trip
Box   4 Folder   1	France, general information
Box   4 Folder   2	Italy, general information
Box   4 Folder   3	Yugoslavia, general information
Box   4 Folder   4	Greece, general information
Box   4 Folder   5	Turkey, general information
Box   4 Folder   6	Algiers, general information
Box   4 Folder   7	England, general information
Box   4 Folder   8	Germany, general information
	Newspaper clippings
Box   4 Folder   9	Wisconsin State Journal
Box   4 Folder   10	Mixed
PH Mss 238	Photographs
Mss 238	India Tour, 1958
Box   4 Folder   11	Letters to Mrs. Matson
Box   4 Folder   12	General information
	Newspaper clippings
Box   4 Folder   13	Wisconsin State Journal
Box   4 Folder   14	Mixed
Box   4 Folder   15	Unidentified
PH Mss 238	Photographs
Mss 238 Box   4 Folder   16	Foreign Leader Program of the International Educational Exchange Program, 1959
	Newspaper Clippings
Box   4 Folder   17	1930, 1948, 1959
Box   4 Folder   18	Unidentified