Title: Susan Taylor White Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1937-1979

Creator:

• White, Susan Taylor, d. 1981

Call Number: Mss 983; Tape 1384A; PH Mss 983A

Quantity: 4.8 c.f. (12 archives boxes), 9 tape recordings, and 13 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 Susan Taylor White, a scriptwriter for radio, including scripts as well as a small amount of personal papers. The bulk of the collection consists of the scripts she wrote between 1943 and 1978 for Voice of America (1952-1979) including such series as Merlin the Storyteller, Eyewitness, and Let's Meet the Ladies. Filed with some of the scripts are notes, research, or memos relating to them. The personal papers include correspondence, cards/invitations, fan mail, poetry, a scrapbook relating to the charitable organization Bundles for Britain, teaching materials from a course White taught at Lenox School in New York, and newspaper clippings, some of which relate to Voice of America and the United States Information Agency. Additionally, there are a number of tape recordings from White's radio programs as well as photographs documenting Bundles for Britain and a wedding reception at her apartment, plus photographs of Ms. White.

Note:

There is a restriction on use of this material; see the Administrative/Restriction Information portion of this finding aid for details.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00983

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Susan Taylor White was married to Paul White, who was the head of CBS before Edward Murrow, and they had a daughter Toni. Later, she and Paul separated but never divorced. Susan Taylor White died in 1981.

She wrote radio soap operas for eight years including Backstage Wife, Lorenzo Jones at the beginning of her career. During World War II she began writing documentaries. In 1942, she researched and produced a series called Our Secret Weapon for CBS with Rex Stout. She then started writing war documentaries for ABC that included Dark Decade, The Fifth Year, Decline and Fall, The Beach and the Desert, The Ghost of Benjamin Sweet, and 12 Crowded Months. She also wrote for Cavalcade of America and war programs for CARE. Peter Straus, at WMCA, started a series of documentaries called New World A-Comin' and in 1951 White wrote a program for that series on the blackmailing of the Chinese in the U.S. by Chinese communists called Letter from Hong Kong. Voice of America later picked up the program and in 1952, they hired her for the Near East, South Asia, and Africa Division. At Voice of America, she wrote several series including Operation Escape, Eyewitness, Age of the Atom, Heroes of America, Merlin the Storyteller, Let's Meet the Ladies, and Blacks in American History. In 1956, Merlin the Storyteller won the Ohio State Award for Educational Radio-Television Broadcasting in the Children and Youth category. She “officially resigned” from Voice of America in January 1979 but continued to write the Blacks in American History series.

She was also involved in activities other then scriptwriting. From 1941 through 1942, she was the Executive Director of Branches for Bundles for Britain, an international charitable organization that sent aid to Britain during World War II. At one time, there were 730 chapters which sent clothing and medical supplies to relieve the hospitals that were bombed. In 1946, she accepted the position of Vice Chair of the Executive Board of the Women's Division of the Independent Citizens' Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions. This organization later came under suspicion during the McCarthy years. In addition she taught a radio scriptwriting class for Lenox School in New York in 1948.

The papers consist of two series: PERSONAL PAPERS and SCRIPTS.

The small amount of PERSONAL PAPERS contains incoming and outgoing correspondence, poetry, fan mail, invitations and cards, a Bundles for Britain scrapbook, teaching materials, and articles on the Voice of America. The incoming correspondence includes letters as well as some articles, and is arranged alphabetically. The remainder of the series is arranged chronologically with undated items at the end. The outgoing correspondence contains a few letters from White, and a few memos to staff of Voice of America, including Peter Straus. In addition, there is a speech written for Florence Eldridge March on Women in the Arts. The poetry file contains pieces White wrote while overseas in the 1930s. A separate folder contains letters and poetry between White and her husband, Paul White. The message of most of the fan mail is that the writers liked her program or they enjoyed being interviewed by her. The invitations and cards are for prestigious occasions such as the inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt or receptions for many African dignitaries. The Bundles for Britain scrapbook includes clippings about the organization, 1941-1942. The teaching materials consist of her lecture notes, assignments from pupils, and articles on radio criticism. Lastly, the articles about Voice of America from the 1970's focus on VOA's reorganization and accusations that it was a propaganda tool.

The SCRIPTS series forms the bulk of the collection. Some of the scripts are rough drafts, and others are studio copies. Merlin the Storyteller, Eyewitness and Let's Meet the Ladies comprise most of the scripts although not all scripts from these series are accounted for.

Scripts for Voice of America are arranged chronologically, with the undated scripts at the end. The first serial program White wrote was Operation Escape (1952-1953), a cold war series from personal reports of people who had fled from behind the Iron or Bamboo Curtains. The next series, Eyewitness, documented the evils of communism as related in books and articles from that time. The Billy Brown (1953-1954) series revolves around a real person who started a worldwide pen-pal exchange. A Woman's View (1954-1955) was an informative account of the American scene that White wrote and narrated. Merlin the Storyteller was a long running series of fairy-tales and folk tales from all over the world. Included with this material is a folder of correspondence from Japan and Rhodesia asking permission to use and translate the series. Also in this folder is documentation of the Ohio State Award for Educational Radio-Television Broadcasting in the Children and Youth category.

The Age of the Atom scripts contain dialogues on peaceful uses of atomic energy. The Heroes of America series showed the lives of American men and women who contributed to the growth of America. The series Let's Meet the Ladies is the most voluminous in the collection. There are hundreds of scripts and some folders of suggested lists of women to interview and articles or other research material about them. White interviewed women from all walks of life including business, politics, charities, and the arts. The last Voice of America series she wrote was Blacks in American History. There are only five scripts and little research fot this title.

The second segment of scripts contains the war documentaries. These are arranged chronologically, with undated scripts at the end. Most of these were written for ABC, although there are some from other stations.

The final set of scripts are those that do not fit into any particular category and represent a range of genres, including soaps and mysteries. These are arranged alphabetically by series title, with the date and broadcasting station indicated. While most have several examples of scripts and include notes, some are single scripts without notes.

Also included in the collection are tape recordings of some of her programs, and photographs. The tape recordings are listed under the program title. Photographs include images of Bundles for Britain activities, White in a flight suit while working on Cavalcade of America, and the wedding reception of her friend Kay McCormack to Justice Minister of Ethiopia Tesfaye Gebre-Egzy.

Use Restrictions

The scripts contained in this collection may be protected by copyright. The researcher must establish ownership and obtain permission before producing any scripts for publication.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Susan Taylor White, New York, New York, 1980. Accession Number: MCHC80-087

Processing Information

Processed by Alexis Ernst, May 2002.

	Series: Personal Papers
Mss 983	Incoming Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1	Calmer, Ned, 1973 July 18
Box   1 Folder   1	Casey, Richard Gardiner and Maie, 1942-1943, 1976, undated
Box   1 Folder   1	Commager, Henry Steele, undated
Box   1 Folder   1	Corwin, Norman, 1943
Box   1 Folder   1	Daly, John Charles, 1956, 1976, undated
	Gebre-Egzy, Kay McCormack, 1958, 1974
Box   1 Folder   1	Correspondence, 1956, 1976, undated
PH Mss 983 Item   1-5	Photographs of wedding reception
Mss 983 Box   1 Folder   1	Green, Bernard, 1948, 1950
Box   1 Folder   1	Groger, Joe, 1976 November 11
Box   1 Folder   1	Kai-Shek, Madame Chiang, 1956, 1979
Box   1 Folder   1	March, Fredric, and Florence Eldridge, 1945, 1975, undated
Box   1 Folder   1	Rennie, Sir John Ogilvy and Monica, 1973, undated
Box   1 Folder   1	Reston, James, 1974 January 22
Box   1 Folder   1	Sherman, Natalie, 1946
Box   1 Folder   1	Simon, Paul, U.S. Congressman, 1976 January 21
Box   1 Folder   1	Straus, R. Peter, 1977, 1979
Box   1 Folder   1	White, Paul, 1936, 1953, undated
Box   1 Folder   1	Wylie, Max, 1969 May 6, and 1975
	Outgoing correspondence
Box   1 Folder   2	Voice of America, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1977, undated
Box   1 Folder   2	Gross, Ben, 1943
Box   1 Folder   2	Notes, undated
Box   1 Folder   2	Speeches, undated
Box   1 Folder   3	Poetry, 1930's
Box   1 Folder   4	Fan mail, 1937-1979, undated
Box   1 Folder   5	Invitations/cards, 1941, 1944, 1961, undated
	Bundles for Britain
Box   1 Folder   6	Scrapbook, 1941-1942
PH Mss 983 Item   6-12	Photographs from scrapbook
Mss 983	Teaching materials, 1948
Box   1 Folder   7-8	Lectures notes
Box   1 Folder   7-8	Assignments
Box   1 Folder   7-8	Articles on radio criticism
Box   1 Folder   9	Articles on Voice of America, 1972-1978
	Series: Scripts	⇧
	Subseries: Voice of America
Box   2 Folder   1	Operation Escape, 1952-1953
	Eyewitness
Box   2 Folder   2	1953 December-1954 April
Box   2 Folder   3	1954 April-1954 August
Box   2 Folder   4	1954 August-1954 December
Box   2 Folder   5	1954 December-1955 March
Tape 1384A No.   1	Recording of program #50, 1955 April 29
Mss 983 Box   3 Folder   1	Billy Brown, 1953 October-1954 April
Box   3 Folder   2	Woman's View, 1954 June-1954 July
	Merlin the Storyteller [John Merlin]
Box   3 Folder   3	Correspondence, 1956, 1965, 1977
	Scripts
Box   3 Folder   4-7	1955 April-1956 September
Box   4 Folder   1-2	1956 September-1957
Tape 1384A	Recordings
No.   2	“The Queen of Sheba” and “Solomon's Judgment,” prize-winner, 1956
No.   3	“The Gift of the Magi,” 1957 January 10
Mss 983 Box   4 Folder   3	Age of the Atom, 1955 September-December
Box   4 Folder   4	Heroes of America, 1956 April 14
Tape 1384A	Recordings
No.   4	Program #19, 1957 January 9
No.   5	Program #20, 1957 January 9
Mss 983 Box   4 Folder   4	Diary of Julia Patterson, 1957, scripts 1-2, notes
Box   4 Folder   4	Hometown U.S.A., 1957, scripts 1-2
	Let's Meet the Ladies
Box   4 Folder   5-6	Undated
Box   5 Folder   1-2	Undated, continued
Box   5 Folder   3-5	1968 January-1969 December
Box   6 Folder   1-3	1970-1972
Box   7 Folder   1-5	1973 January-1975 June
Box   8 Folder   1-5	1975 July-1977 December
Box   9 Folder   1-2	1978
Box   9 Folder   3-5	Lists of women and articles, 1972-1973
Box   10 Folder   1-2	Lists of women and research, 1974-1979
Box   10 Folder   3	Blacks in American History, undated, 5 scripts
	Subseries: War Documentaries	⇧
Box   10 Folder   4	Christmas at Berchtesgaden, ABC, 1942
	Dark Decade, ABC, 1943
Box   10 Folder   5	Script
Tape 1384A No.   6	Recording, with Tallulah Bankhead, Frederic March, and Florence Eldridge; special musical score
Mss 983 Box   10 Folder   6	Decline and Fall, ABC, 1943
Box   10 Folder   7	Fifth Year, ABC, 1943
Box   11 Folder   1	Beach and the Desert, ABC, 1943
Box   11 Folder   2	I Pledge America, ABC, 1943
Box   11 Folder   3	For Women Only, ABC, undated
Box   11 Folder   4	The Saints Came Down, undated
Box   11 Folder   4	War and Children, undated
	Cavalcade of America, undated
Box   11 Folder   5	Script, undated
PH Mss 983 Item   13	Photo of White in a flight suit
Mss 983	Subseries: Other	⇧
Box   11 Folder   6	Adventure of Falcon, 1943
Box   11 Folder   7	Appointment with Life, 1943
Box   11 Folder   8	Backstreet Wife, undated
Box   11 Folder   8	Blue Scarf, undated
Box   11 Folder   8	Blood for Patriots, undated
Box   11 Folder   8	Broken Engagements, undated
Box   11 Folder   8	The Collaborator, undated
Box   11 Folder   8	Case of the Over Praised Season, undated
Box   12 Folder   1	Digby the Gorilla, undated
Box   12 Folder   1	Digby's Footnote to the Christmas Story, undated
Box   12 Folder   1	Double Life of Abbie Keith, undated
Box   12 Folder   1	The Enchanted Donkey, undated
Box   12 Folder   2	The Ghost Who Sneezed (only one produced for NBC)
Tape 1384A No.   7-8	Recording, Parts 1 and 2
Mss 983 Box   12 Folder   2	Guests at Alice Marbles, undated
Box   12 Folder   3	House of Mystery, 1947-1948
Box   12 Folder   4	Joyce Jordan, undated
Box   12 Folder   4	Kate Smith Speaks, undated
Box   12 Folder   5	Letters of Congresswoman Adams, undated
Box   12 Folder   5	The Mercy Mix-up, undated
Box   12 Folder   6	New World A-Comin', WMCA, 1951-1952
Box   12 Folder   7	Out of the Shadows, 1944
Box   12 Folder   7	Sybil...Against the World, undated
Box   12 Folder   8	A Star in the Making, undated
Box   12 Folder   8	Surrender, undated
Box   12 Folder   8	The Taxi Driver and the Baby Doll, undated
Box   12 Folder   8	Things to Come, undated
Box   12 Folder   8	We Care, 1948
Tape 1384A No.   9	Women's Features #77-8, African Field Service Recording