Title: Peter Edson Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1913-1974

Creator:

• Edson, Peter, 1896-1977

Call Number: Mss 730; Micro 559

Quantity: 2.4 c.f. (5 archives boxes and 1 flat box) and 4 reels of microfilm (35mm)

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 Peter Edson, an editor for the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) (1927-1941) and an award-winning Washington, D.C. political columnist (1941-1964). Included are correspondence and memoranda from NEA staff; copies of articles and columns covering pre-World War II conditions in the Pacific, Communism in the United States, the political careers of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard M. Nixon, and other national political events; material advertising his columns and series; and reference files. The extensively-weeded reference files primarily date from the 1930s and refer to his work for NEA Service, features offered by NEA such as their extensive coverage of the Dionne Quintuplets, and photographic and other technological advances made by Acme Telephoto Service in the distribution of the features. Additional files include biographical material, reporters' notebooks, a small quantity of personal correspondence, and information on his journalism awards.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00730

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Peter Edson was born in Hartford City, Indiana, on February 8, 1895, the son of Charles Bloomfield and Mary Drayer Edson. His journalism career began in high school with work as a correspondent for the Fort Wayne (Indiana) News-Sentinel. He later worked his way through Wabash College as a reporter/correspondent for the Crawfordville (Indiana) Journal and the Indianapolis Star. Quitting school prior to graduation, Edson was a first lieutenant with the American Field Artillery in France during World War I. He then returned to Wabash College, graduating in 1920 as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

From 1920 to 1921 Edson worked as a roustabout and apprentice tool dresser in the Ohio oil fields, returning to journalism to accept an $8-a-week job with the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. While at the News-Sentinel, Edson worked his way up to Sunday editor before leaving to become a sugar chemist on a plantation in Vera Cruz, Mexico. This profession was cut short by revolution, and Edson returned to the United States to enroll at Harvard University to work on an M.A. in English, with the intention of ultimately becoming a teacher. However, a part-time position with the Boston Sunday Post brought him back to journalism.

From 1924 to 1925 Edson was assistant Sunday editor of the Post and during the next few years held positions with the New Haven Register (1925) and the Pittsburgh Press (1927). In 1927 he became associated with the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) as editor of their Sunday Magazine. He was also editor, 1927-1931, of Every Week Magazine and editor-in-chief, 1932-1941, of NEA Service, Inc.

As an editor of NEA Edson was one of thirteen journalists who traveled by air clipper from America to New Zealand and Australia. This historic trip in 1940 caused a stir in Japan and resulted in a series of articles about the Pacific.

In 1941 Edson was named Washington, D.C. political columnist and head of the NEA's capitol bureau, and it was for this work that Edson is best known. On becoming a Washington columnist, Edson said that he would “like to try doing a very informal piece, going after the color and humor and the human interest of Washington....There is a gold mine of this copy which no one seems to have staked a claim on, and I'd like to work that mine.”

And work that mine Edson did. His columns appeared in more than 800 daily papers and were read by more than 13 million readers, making him the most widely read of the Washington columnists of his day. Edson was highly regarded for his knowledge of the capital scene and his thorough coverage of events, and he was popular with readers because of his ability to report complicated stories in an informal, humorous, and easily understood style.

In 1946 Edson won the Sigma Delta Chi award for outstanding capital coverage for his series “Atomic Power and Peace.” In 1949 he was chosen for the Raymond Clapper Award because of his general excellence in reporting on Washington. Edson then conducted his own awards, dividing his $500 prize among five other journalists whom he felt had done outstanding writing that year.

For his story on Richard M. Nixon's financial backing from wealthy southern California bankers, Edson won the National Headliners Club award in 1952. Edson's story, which reported a fund of $20,000, was published with Nixon's knowledge and permission; however, on the same day, the New York Post broke a similar story which charged that the secret fund totalled in the millions. Ultimately, the story resulted in Nixon's famous “Checkers” speech.

Edson is also known for his coverage of Dwight Eisenhower. In 1952 when Eisenhower resigned from his NATO command, Edson was the first with the story.

During his career, Edson belonged to several academic and professional organizations, including Phi Gamma Delta, Sigma Delta Chi, Cosmos, the National Press Club, and the Overseas Writers Club. He retired from the NEA in 1964.

Edson was married to Dorothy M. Schultze on October 13, 1936. Edson died on July 14, 1977, survived by his second wife Joyce, and three children.

Although a small collection, the Peter Edson Papers document well his career with the Newspaper Enterprise Association, with a small quantity of material pertaining to his professional career both before and after that employment. The NEA phase of his career is documented by copies of his daily column and articles about Washington, D.C. (1941-1953) and reference files containing information on his earlier editorial work for the service. These columns were received in the Archives as large scrapbooks of newspaper clippings. Because of their deteriorated condition the columns were removed, microfilmed, and the originals destroyed. The papers also contain supporting documentation on a number of individual articles and series, most notably his coverage of Richard M. Nixon.

The collection is organized as personal miscellany, correspondence, speeches and writings, and reference files. Except for a few items, there are no personal papers in the collection.

PERSONAL MISCELLANY consists of early correspondence, including three letters from Dorothy E. Schultze (later Mrs. Edson) accepting his proposal of marriage; correspondence with Wabash College concerning a bequest he made to the college; and biographical clippings and information.

The GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE contains chronologically-arranged letters and memoranda from readers, NEA colleagues, and other journalists concerning Edson's writings. Only a small amount of Edson's outgoing correspondence is contained here. Unfortunately, documentation of his career in this series is fragmentary, although there are memoranda to and from various NEA Service editors and executives including Boyd Lewis, Fred S. Ferguson, and Herbert W. Walker. Filed out of the chronological order is a compilation of readers' letters concerning Edson's columns. Some additional correspondence and memoranda may be found in the reference files and in the section of speeches and writings.

SPEECHES AND WRITINGS, which comprise the largest part of the collection, consist of his literary works--articles, columns, lectures, and series--arranged by genre. Also here is some information on the journalism awards he received. In addition to the completed piece, these files variously contain correspondence, drafts, notes, reprints, and related information. For the Nixon story there are also clippings about the impact of Edson's story. The majority of the writings are available only in microfilmed format.

Included as general writings are a small microfilmed scrapbook of notes and typed drafts of a few items including a radio interview with Edson for the Junior League of Washington and reporters notebooks containing handwritten notes on stories Edson covered after his retirement during the late 1960s. The stories for which these notes were intended are not included in the papers.

The awards file documents Edson's Raymond Clapper and National Headliners Club awards earned for journalistic excellence. These files contain correspondence, clippings, and two microfilmed award submission books. The lectures are texts of lectures presented to journalism students by Edson as a guest lecturer at American University as well as the proof for a published form of his remarks.

During his career Edson wrote two columns: an untitled daily column and “Washington News Notebook,” which seems to have appeared twice a week. Within this context he also wrote a number of special series. The two types of columns have been interfiled chronologically and microfilmed. However, because of the difficulty in using undated documentation, the undated columns have been Xeroxed and placed with the other paper format materials. The columns section includes a listing of topics discussed, statistics, loose clippings, and microfilmed chronological clippings. The series files include correspondence, some manuscript drafts, and notes on a few series: the Pacific, Communism in America, the United Nations San Francisco meeting, and atomic power. The printed articles themselves have been microfilmed as part of the NEA News Page proofs which are part of the Reference Files.

The REFERENCE FILES were weeded from a large body of secondary information pertaining to his professional activities and interests which Edson maintained on any subject that he felt might lend itself to a column or article. Originally included were files on personalities; journalistic processes and techniques; and local, national, and international incidents. Retained in the papers were only those files containing correspondence, memoranda, and other primary documentation and those files which pertained directly to Edson's writing and career. Especially notable are files collected while he was an editor for NEA during the 1920s and 1930s. These touch on advancements in journalism such as the use of carrier pigeons, the development of NEA's ACME Telephoto Service and other distribution technologies, and various features offered by the service such as its extensive coverage of the Dionne Quintuplets.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mrs. Peter Edson, Washington, D.C., November 15, 1977. Accession Number: MCHC77-81

Processing Information

Processed by Nancy J. Broughton (Archives student), 1987 and portions prepared for microfilming, 1988.

Mss 730	Series: Personal Miscellany
Box   1 Folder   1	Correspondence and biographical miscellany, 1913-1959
Box   1 Folder   2	Wabash College, 1949-1974
	Series: General Correspondence	⇧
Box   1 Folder   3-8	1935-1952
Box   2 Folder   1-5	1953-1964, undated
Box   2 Folder   6	Readers letters-to-the-editor about Edson, 1952-1957
	Series: Speeches and Writings	⇧
	General writings
Micro 559 Reel   1 Segment   1	Scrapbook of miscellaneous speeches and writings, 1940-circa 1960
Mss 730 Box   3 Folder   7-12	Notebooks, 1965-1959, undated
	Articles
	Miscellaneous topics
Box   2 Folder   7	Uncertain authorship, circa 1920-1930, 1950
Micro 559	NEA News Page proof sheets
Reel   1 Segment   2	1940
Reel   1 Segment   3	1941-1949, January
Reel   1 Segment   4	1949, November “America's Thirty-Year War Against Crime”
Reel   1 Segment   5	1949, December-1961, March
Mss 730 Box   2 Folder   8	Loose pages, circa 1943-1957
	Nixon
Box   2 Folder   9	Correspondence, 1952-1958
Box   2 Folder   10	Edson articles and drafts, 1952-1953
Box   2 Folder   11	Notes, 1952
Box   2 Folder   12-13	Items about Edson's article, 1952
Box   2 Folder   14	Ceylon oil seizure, 1962
	Awards
	Raymond Clapper Award
Box   3 Folder   1	1949, 1951
Micro 559 Reel   1 Segment   13	Award submissions, 1953-1954
Mss 730 Box   3 Folder   2	National Headliners Club Award, 1953
	Columns
Box   3 Folder   3	Statistics about Edson columns, circa 1940s
Micro 559	Column scrapbook
Reel   2 Segment   14	1941-1947
Reel   3 Segment   14	1958-1954
Reel   4 Segment   14	1955-1963
Mss 730 Box   3 Folder   4	Miscellaneous undated and loose columns, 1943-1952, undated
Box   3 Folder   5	Miscellaneous drafts and comments, 1955-1956
Box   3 Folder   6	Column subject lists, 1956-1953
Box   4 Folder   1	Lectures at American University, 1964-1965
	Series
	Pacific Series, 1940
Box   4 Folder   2	Correspondence, notes, and miscellany, 1940
Box   4 Folder   3	Article drafts, 1940
Micro 559 Reel   1 Segment   2	NEA Service news page proof sheets, 1940
Mss 730 Box   4 Folder   3A	United Nations conference, 1945
	“America's Thirty-Year War Against Communism,” 1949
Micro 559 Reel   1 Segment   12	Typescript draft of chapters 1-18, 1949
Reel   1 Segment   4	NEA News Page proof sheets, 1949
Mss 730 Box   4 Folder   4	Correspondence and miscellany, 1949-1950
Box   4 Folder   5	“Atomic Power and Peace,” 1954, 1949-1950
	Series: Reference Files	⇧
Box   4 Folder   5A	Advertising about Edson
Box   6	Oversize material
Box   4 Folder   6	American Newspaper Guild (Cleveland), 1934
Box   4 Folder   7	Associated Press, 1933-1934
Box   4 Folder   8	Camera equipment, 1936-1940
Box   4 Folder   9	Carrier pigeons, 1937-1939
Box   4 Folder   10	Color film, 1935-1936
Box   4 Folder   11	Commission on Money and Credit (Notes), 1961
	Dionne Quintuplets
Box   4 Folder   12	Correspondence and miscellany, 1937-1939
Micro 559 Reel   1 Segment   9	NEA Service promotions, 1936-1937
Mss 730 Box   4 Folder   13	Engravings, circa 1930
Box   4 Folder   14	Ethics, 1930, 1936
Box   4 Folder   15	Ethiopia, 1935
Box   4 Folder   16	Facsimile, 1938
	Features
Box   5 Folder   1	Booklets, 1933-1935
Box   5 Folder   2	Book reviews, 1939
Box   5 Folder   3	Farm page, 1932-1939
Box   5 Folder   4	General features, 1925-1952
Box   5 Folder   5	Puzzles, 1935-1940
Box   5 Folder   6	Quilts, 1934
Box   5 Folder   7	Radio, 1932-1936
Box   5 Folder   8	King George's visit to the U.S., 1939
Micro 559	National Enterprise Association
Reel   1 Segment   6	NEA Every Week Magazine, 1934-1936
Reel   1 Segment   7	NEA Magazine, 1928
	NEA Service
Reel   1 Segment   8	1925-1936
Reel   1 Segment   9	1936-1937
Reel   1 Segment   10	1937-1940, undated
Mss 730 Box   5 Folder   9	National Press Club, Speeches with Edson notes, 1964-1958
Box   5 Folder   10	Reader surveys, 1932-1940
Box   5 Folder   11	Scripps-Howard editors' conference, 1948
Box   5 Folder   12-13	Sunday circulation, New Haven Register, 1925-1926
	Telephoto service
Box   5 Folder   16-17	Correspondence and miscellany, 1929-1963, undated
Micro 559 Reel   1 Segment   11	NEA Service Telephoto proof sheets, 1927-1937