Title: Arthur Wilson Page Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1908-1960

Creator:

• Page, Arthur Wilson, 1883-1960

Call Number: U.S. Mss 51AF; PH 2671

Quantity: 34.0 c.f. (81 archives boxes, 5 volumes, 1 package) and 14 photographs

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 a public relations and business consultant, including correspondence, articles and addresses, appointment books, some records of organizations which he served, and a Page family history. Correspondence, primarily 1918-1960, comprises the bulk of the collection and provides excellent material on his public relations work for educational institutions and foundations, his government service, and his work as a consultant to business. Continuing interest in education is revealed in material on the Farmers Educational and Development Fund and Harvard University. During the 1940's the letters include many references to his chairmanship of the Joint Army-Navy Committee on Welfare and Recreation, which culminated in the formation of the USO. Correspondence from the 1950's contains many references to the problems of big business and transportation and to the organizations which he served as public relations consultant including the American Telephone & Telegraph Co., the Employers Labor Relations Information Committee, Mayo Clinic, and Radio Free Europe. Between 1948 and 1960 work to improve the image of the railroad and steel industries figures prominently in the correspondence. Significant correspondents include William H. Baldwin, Bruce Barton, Omar N. Bradley, Thomas D'Arcy Brophy, Nicholas Murray Butler, James F. Byrnes, J. Lawton Collins, James Bryant Conant, Elmer Davis, Pendleton Dudley, Allen W. Dulles, John Foster Dulles, Dwight D. Eisenhower, James V. Forrestal, Christian Herter, Herbert Hoover, Estes Kefauver, David Lawrence, Trygve Lie, Walter Lippmann, George C. Marshall, Frank E. Mason, Earl Newsom, Richard Nixon, John J. Pershing, Theodore Roosevelt, Henry L. Stimson, Lowell Thomas, Sinclair Weeks, and Wendell L. Willkie. Additional files containing reports and related papers document his work as chairman of a Presidential advisory committee on transportation in 1955 and as project director for the New York-New Jersey Metropolitan Rapid Transit Survey in 1956-1957. The collection also contains minutes of the executive and finance committees of the Carnegie Corporation, 1951-1958; articles and addresses, 1927-1960; and appointment books.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0051af

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

Arthur Wilson Page was born in Aberdeen, North Carolina, on September 10, 1883, the son of Walter Hines Page and Alice Wilson Page. He graduated from Lawrenceville, New Jersey, School in 1901 and received his A.B. degree from Harvard University in 1905.

Upon graduation from Harvard, Page went to work for Doubleday, Page, and Company, publishers. He became a vice-president of the company and editor of World's Work in 1913 when his father left the company to become United States' ambassador to the Court of St. James under President Wilson.

In 1927, Page left Doubleday to become vice-president in charge of public relations for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. While with AT&T he also served as a director of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada, Continental Oil Company, the Chase National Bank, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Kennecott Copper Corporation, and the Prudential Insurance Company of America; as a vice-president and director of the Long Island Biological Association; as a trustee of the Teachers College of Columbia University, the Carnegie Corporation, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Farmers Federation (The James G. K. McClure Foundation); and as a member of the Harvard University Committees to Visit the Bussey Institute, the Department of History, and the Harvard University Press.

Page's government service during this period began when he was an advisor to the London Naval Conference in 1930. In August, 1942, he became Chairman of the Joint Army-Navy Committee on Welfare and Recreation, a position he held until the end of World War II, and reassumed when the committee was reconstituted in 1946. Page served as the Chairman of the Executive Committee, United Seamen's Service, Inc., 1942-1943, and went on special missions for the War Department to London in 1944 and to Paris in 1945. Also in 1945, he worked as a special public relations consultant to the Secretary of War, helping to break the news of the dropping of the first atomic bomb. For this and other wartime services, the War Department awarded him the Medal for Merit.

Less than a year after he retired from AT&T, in 1947, Page began a new career as business consultant. He continued in public service. In 1955, the Cabinet report to President Eisenhower on national transportation needs was based largely upon work done by an advisory committee headed by Page. Then, in 1956, the New York-New Jersey Metropolitan Rapid Transit Survey engaged him as its project director. A year later, Page's commission recommended a program calling for a $400 million rapid transit loop which would link the New York subways with New Jersey's commuter railroad network. The plan failed to win approval of the legislatures of the two states.

Page married Mollie Hall on June 1, 1912, and they had four children: Mollie (Mrs. Anderson Hewitt), Walter Hines II, John Hall, and Arthur W. Page, Jr.

The Arthur Page Papers were organized and are described in three parts. Box 1-67 and Volume 1 comprise the original collection organized in 1963. Box 68-81 and 1 package comprise additional papers organized in February 1964; and Volumes 2-5 comprise a second group of additions organized at the end of 1964. All three parts overlap in date and are comprised primarily of correspondence, though each also includes a smaller quantity of other materials.

Part 1, Original Collection, 1908-1960

These papers contain no materials relating to Page's life until long after he graduated from Harvard in 1905. With the exception of a few letters, there is no material pertaining to his work for Doubleday, Page and Company, 1905-1927, or to his work for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1927-1947. This portion of the collection includes two major blocks of material: 1) Page's paid and unpaid work in public relations, his fund raising activities for educational institutions and foundations and other work of this type; and 2) from 1948 on, his paid consultant work for railroads, the steel industry, transportation surveys, and similar clients.

The designation of “correspondence,” which makes up the greatest part of the collection is somewhat arbitrary, especially for the later years. Beginning with 1942, when Page became chairman of the Joint Army-Navy Committee on Welfare and Recreation, many other types of material are interfiled with the correspondence. Among these materials are: reports of various types and lengths, pertaining to many phases of Page's work; press releases and publicity kits; background information; minutes of meetings; and pamphlets. These materials were retained with the correspondence to place them close to the letters to which they relate or which they supplement.

Arthur Page corresponded with many noteworthy persons, some of whom are listed below. In all cases, inclusive dates and the number of letters from a particular individual are given after his name. In the cases of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Herbert Hoover, and Theodore Roosevelt, dates of all their letters have been listed because of their particular importance.

Allen, Frederick Lewis

letter, 1947

Alsop, Joseph

1 letter, 1938

Baldwin, William H.

18 letters, 1939-1958

Barton, Bruce

11 letters, 1927-1956

Bradley, Omar

1 letter, 1948

Butler, Nicholas Murray

6 letters, 1940-1944

Byrnes, James

1 letter, 1945

Collins, J. Lawton

23 letters, 1946-1953

Conant, James B.

31 letters, 1934-1952

Clay, Lucius

3 letters, 1953-1956

Daniels, Josephus

1 letter, 1935

Davis, Elmer

1 letter, 1944

Dulles, Allen

6 letters, 1948-1957

Dulles, John Foster

2 letters, 1943 and 1954

Eisenhower, Dwight D.

18 letters: 1946 April 5; 1947 June 30, July 26, and December 5; 1948 July 9 and October 15; 1949 June 10 and August 10; 1950 January 6; 1953 September 25; 1955 January 5, April 19, and May 3; 1956 July 30; 1958 May 14 (2), August 1, and October 18

Farley, James

2 letters, 1950 and 1954

Forrestal, James

11 letters, 1946-1949

Grew, Joseph C.

3 letters, 1942-1956

Garrett, Paul

8 letters, 1943-1956

Herter, Christian

21 letters, 1943-1952

Hoover, Herbert

4 letters: 1941 April 4; 1949 August 18; 1953 December 14; 1956 September 4

Hoover, Lou Henry

1 letter, 1941

Ickes, Harold

1 letter, 1949

Kefauver, Estes

10 letters, 1944-1947

Knox, Frank

2 letters, 1942

Lawrence, David

4 letters, 1927-1951

Lie, Trygve

1 letter, 1946

Lippman, Walter

3 letters, 1927 and 1943

Lodge, Henry Cabot, Jr.

2 letters, 1939 and 1949

Marshall, George

4 letters, 1945-1949

Mason, Frank E.

8 letters, 1946-1955

Newsom, Earl

14 letters, 1954-1959

Peale, Norman Vincent

1 letter, 1943

Rockefeller, John D., Jr.

1 letter, 1943

Rockefeller, Nelson

1 letter, 1941

Roosevelt, Anna Eleanor

1 letter, 1948

Roosevelt, Theodore

9 letters: 1915 June 17 and October 22; 1916 August 4, August 28, and September 22; 1917 June 20, August 18, and October 26; 1918 June 19

Stassen, Harold

4 letters, 1951-1952

Stettinius, E. R.

1 letter, 1939

Stimson, Henry L.

34 letters, 1919-1949

Street, Julian

2 letters, 1943

Thomas, Lowell

1 letter, 1937

Weeks, Sinclair

1954

Willkie, Wendell

2 letters, 1941 and 1943

Also included in the Page correspondence for the 1950's are letters from Thomas D'Arcy Brophy and Pendleton Dudley, public relations and advertising men.

The Page correspondence is filled with evidence of his deep interest in all phases of education. As early as 1930, there are materials concerning the Farmers Federation (letter to the James G. K. McClure Federation), dedicated to practical education for Southern mountain families. Page worked with this organization until his death.

Page's interest in good higher education was concentrated primarily upon Harvard University, of which he was an active alumnus. Beginning in 1935, there are materials concerning Page's fund-raising activities for Harvard, and Harvard materials continue to appear until 1953 when they become more concentrated, and are joined with the corporate aid to education program materials. Page actively supported the latter program--an attempt to get corporations to donate to colleges for the tax benefits involved.

Then, from 1956 until his death, Page was active in the project, A Program for Harvard College. This was a huge project involving fundraising, building, and curricular changes, and Page worked particularly for the fund-raising phase.

There is also, in the correspondence, much material to do with Page's government service. The greatest concentration of this material occurs from 1942 to 1945 and, to a lesser degree, from 1946 to 1949, when Page was chairman of the Joint Army-Navy Committee on Welfare and Recreation, first under the auspices of the War Department and later, of the Defense Department. Members of this committee traveled around the country, inspecting army camps and reporting on what was needed in the way of troop welfare and recreational facilities. They also did this, to a lesser degree, for the troops overseas.

The one large result of the committee's work was the United Service Organizations (U.S.O.) which still provides recreational facilities and entertainment to U.S. soldiers all over the world.

During the administrations of Dwight D. Eisenhower, with a concentration in 1954, Page carried on much correspondence with Secretary of Commerce Sinclair Weeks, mostly having to do with transportation problems and the problems of big business. His work in transportation eventually led to a formal study.

By far the greatest portion of correspondence during the period 1948-1960 is made up of materials concerning his clients while he was working as a public relations and business consultant. Perhaps most important of these clients were the railroads, either singly or in the aggregate. Concentrations of materials concerning the railroads occur in 1948 and 1954, with most emphasis upon changing the “bloated monopoly” public image of the railroads and the attempt to take the changing of railroad rates out of the hands of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Page also worked for the steel industry during the steel strike of 1949, and there is much material concerning this. Here again, he had to fight a bad public image.

From 1955 to 1957, while he headed the New York-New Jersey Metropolitan Rapid Transit Survey, he accumulated many papers concerning city transportation problems. These are all included in the correspondence and in the miscellaneous materials at the end of the collection.

In addition, there are papers concerning his work for the Mayo Clinic, beginning in 1949, and for the Employers Labor Relations Information Committee, beginning in 1956.

Correspondence is arranged chronologically by days through December, 1929, and by months, January, 1930, to the end.

The balance of this portion of the Page Papers includes articles and addresses, 1923-1960, many of which are short items meant to be revised and incorporated into advertisements for companies for which he was consulting. There are also appointment books, records for the Carnegie Corporation and the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Survey, a Page Family History, and reminiscences. Photographs include portraits of Page, other business executives, and associates, 1930-1950.

Part 2, First Additions, 1918-1960

The designation of “correspondence” which makes up practically all of these additions to the Arthur Page Papers is, as it is in the original collection, somewhat arbitrary. Here also reports and various other materials have been interfiled with the regular correspondence in order that they may be near materials which they supplement.

Noteworthy persons appearing in this section of the correspondence are:

• Sherman Adams
• William H. Baldwin
• James B. Conant
• Thomas D'Arcy Brophy
• Dwight D. Eisenhower
• “Jim” Farley
• Marshall Field
• Henry Ford II
• Joseph C. Grew
• Herbert Hoover
• Richard Nixon
• John J. Pershing

This section of the Page correspondence is concerned almost exclusively with the organizations for which Page served as a director. Organizations and inclusive years for which materials appear are:

• American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1939-1959
• Bennington College, 1940-1958
• Chase National Bank (later Chase Manhattan Bank), 1932-1959
• Committee for Free Asia, Inc., 1950's
• Crusade for Freedom (Radio Free Europe), 1952-1960
• Kennecott and Braden Copper Companies, 1943-1959
• Long Island Biological Association, 1931-1959
• National Committee for a Free Europe, 1950's

The most material appears concerning the Crusade for Freedom and Radio Free Europe. An interesting group of papers in 1957 and 1958 concerns the Crusade's altercation with Fulton Lewis, Jr., who attacked the organization in his newspaper column and radio broadcasts as Communist-ridden.

The few other items in the Additions to the Arthur Page Papers include the certificate and citation which accompanied his Medal for Merit, January 12, 1946 (both items are signed by Harry Truman, and the certificate is also signed by Dean Acheson); his designation as advisor to the United States Delegation to the London Conference, December 13, 1929; and a certificate from Athens, Georgia, April 1, 1959.

One address was interfiled with the original papers.

A number of medals, including Page's Medal for Merit and The Order of St. George awarded to Walter Hines Page, have been deposited in the Historical Society Museum.

Part 3, Second Additions, 1927-1946

A second group of additions to the Arthur Page Papers was received in 1964. These include three volumes of personal correspondence, 1934-1938, and one volume of articles and addresses, 1927-1946. The correspondence consists of outgoing letters only. It is generally routine in nature, relating to personal and family financial affairs, real estate, social engagements, and the like. The articles and addresses include “company talks”, and other speeches and articles relating to business and public relations. Each volume contains an index or table of contents.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mrs. Arthur W. Page, New York, N.Y., 1963-1964.

Processing Information

Processed by Janice O'Connell, June 10, 1963 and February 25, 1964; and by Emily Al-Khazraji, December 28, 1964.

	Series: Part 1, Original Collection, 1908-1960
Box   1-62	Correspondence, 1908, 1914, 1918-1960
Box   62-65	Articles and addresses, 1923-1960, n.d.
Box   65	Appointment books, 1952-1955
Box   65	Carnegie Corporation
Box   65	Minutes of Executive and Finance Committees
	Metropolitan Rapid Transit Survey
Box   66	Conferences, 1955-1957
Box   66	Consultant's approvals
Box   67	Record of toll calls and letters, 1955-1957
Volume   1	Financial records, 1955-1957
Box   67	Page Family history
Box   67	Reminiscences of Arthur Page
PH 2671	Photographs
	Series: Part 2, First Additions, 1918-1960	⇧
Box   68-81	Correspondence, 1918, 1925, 1930-1960
Box   81	Citation and certificate for the Medal for Merit, 1946
Package   1	Annual report, Continental Oil Company, 1951
Package   1	Certificate: honorary citizen, Athens, Georgia, 1959
Package   1	Designation as advisor to the U.S. Delegation to the London Naval Conference, 1929.
	Series: Part 3, Second Additions, 1927-1946	⇧
Volume   2-4	Correspondence, 1934, February - 1938, March
Volume   5	Articles and addresses, 1927-1946.