Title: Fred S. Siebert Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1934-1979

Creator:

• Siebert, Fred S. (Fred Seaton), 1902?-1982

Call Number: U.S. Mss 28AF; MCHC76-073; MCHC79-026

Quantity: 1.6 c.f. (4 archives boxes); plus additions of 0.6 c.f.

Repository:

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

Archival Locations:

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

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of Fred Siebert, a professor of journalism and communications at the University of Illinois and Michigan State University, consisting primarily of material used for a course on World War II communications and censorship. Included are lecture materials; student papers; and news releases, bulletins, and other printed matter issued by wartime agencies such as the Division of Information of the Office of Emergency Management, the Office of Censorship, the Office of War Information, and the Press Branch of the War Department's Bureau of Public Relations.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0028af

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Fredrick Siebert received his A.B. degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1923 and his J.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 1929. From 1930 to 1939 Mr. Siebert taught at the University of Illinois; in 1940-1941 he taught at Northwestern University. However, in 1941 he returned to the University of Illinois and served as director of the School of Journalism and Communications until his retirement, about 1958. Shortly thereafter Mr. Siebert accepted the position of dean of the College of Communication Arts at Michigan State University.

The relationship between government and the press and wartime communications are topics in which F.S. Siebert has displayed special interest, and he is the author of: Rights and Privileges of the Press, Freedom of the Press in England, and Four Theories of the Press, the last of which was a prize-winning book in 1956.

This collection was received in multiple parts from the donor(s) and is organized into 3 major parts. These materials have not been physically interfiled and researchers might need to consult more than one part to locate similar materials.

• Part 1 (U.S. Mss 28AF): Original Collection, 1934-1951
• Part 2 (MCHC76-073): Additions, circa 1930s-1940s, 1976
• Part 3 (MCHC79-026): Additions, 1976, 1979, undated

Acquisition Information

Presented by Fredrick S. Siebert, East Lansing, Michigan, July 8, 1960.

U.S. Mss 28AF Box   1	Part 1 (U.S. Mss 28AF): Original Collection, 1934-1951 Physical Description: 1.6 c.f. (4 archives boxes)  Scope and Content Note Although the inclusive dates for the Original Collection are 1934-1951, the bulk of the material falls within the years of the Second World War, 1941-1945. The focus of the collection appears to be the course on wartime communications and censorship (Journalism 48) which Mr. Siebert taught at the University of Illinois in 1941-1942 Therefore the collection's main divisions are (1) lecture materials and (2) papers collected for reference and example purposes for use in relation to the lecture materials or for private research in the field of wartime communications and censorship. The material collected by Mr. Siebert is entirely printed or mimeographed matter in the forms of news releases, bulletins, clippings, and pamphlets. There is a small amount of correspondence which relates almost entirely to Mr. Siebert's requests for copies of news releases and other printed matter, and routine acknowledgments of his requests.
	Correspondence, 1942 February-1943 December
Box   1	Lecture materials, 1941-1942 Physical Description: 2 folders  Scope and Content Note: Including an outline of the course (Wartime Communications and Censorship), reading lists, lecture notes, and some illustrative material.
Box   1	25 student papers, 1941-1942
Box   1	Orders, Board of War Communications, 1942 August-1947 February
Box   1	Summaries of news releases, Office for Emergency Management, 1942 February-June
	News releases
Box   2	Office of Censorship, 1942 January-1945 August
Box   2	Office of the Coordinator of Commercial and Cultural Relations between the American Republics, 1940 October-1941 July
Box   2	Releases, newsletters, and a summary of activities, Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, 1941 August-1943 January
Box   2	Office of War Information, 1942 June-1943 March
Box   2	Summaries, Office of War Information, 1945 April-September
Box   2	War Department, Press Branch, 1943 April-1944 January
Box   3	Navy Department, 1941 December-1942 April
Box   3	“A Week of the War,” news summaries distributed by the National Editorial Association Defense Advisory Committee, 1942 January-1943 January
Box   3	Miscellaneous news releases and bulletins, 1942-1943, 1947 Scope and Content Note: Includes those from the Defense Communications Board, the National Editorial Association, the Office of Facts and Figures, the Industrial Information Branch of the War Department, the Children's Bureau, and the Board of War Communications.
Box   3	Wire news dispatches relating to censorship regulations and ways in which censorship was applied to various topics and events, circa 1943-1945
Box   4	Clippings and pamphlets, circa 1934-1944
Box   4	Transcripts of a discussion on wartime communications presented at the Institute of Public Affairs, University of Virginia, 1942 July 9
Box   4	“Documents Relating to the Development of the Relations between Press and Government in England in the 16th and 17th Centuries” (mimeographed copy) collected and edited by Fredrick S. Siebert, 1951
MCHC76-073	Part 2 (MCHC76-073): Additions, circa 1930s-1940s, 1976 Physical Description: 0.4 c.f. (1 archives box)  Scope and Content Note: Seven notebooks in longhand taken by Siebert in preparation for his 1952 work, Freedom of the Press in England, 1476-1776. One typescript copy of commendation to Siebert regarding the Willard G. Bleyer Award, given August 1, 1976.	⇧
MCHC79-026	Part 3 (MCHC79-026): Additions, 1976, 1979, undated Physical Description: 0.2 c.f. (1 archives box)  Scope and Content Note: Copy of manuscript, “Documents relating to the development of the relations between press and government in England in the XVIth and XVIIth centuries”; copy of “My experiences with the first amendment”; and “A Belated Diary,” an account of Siebert's youth in northern Minnesota.	⇧