Title: Ernest G. Fischer Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1941-1966

Creator:

• Fischer, Ernest G., 1902-1997

Call Number: U.S. Mss 79AF

Quantity: 7.6 c.f. (19 archives boxes)

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 Ernest Fischer, an Associated Press correspondent and journalism educator, consisting of press releases, dispatches, notes, and correspondence pertaining to various United Nations agencies, the 1948 Olympics, the World Council of Churches, and other organizations and events which Fischer covered. Also included are personal materials on his experiences during World War II: a brief recollection of his internment at Bad Nauheim, 1941-1942; two longer unpublished works on the same subject (a book and a play); copies of the Bad Nauheim internees' newspaper; a brief manuscript on Nazi propaganda; and three wartime diaries. The diaries concern the internment, his service as a European war correspondent in 1945, and his assignment in Vienna and London in 1946.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0079af

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Ernest G. Fischer was born October 7, 1902, on a farm near Bartlett, Texas. He began his association with newspapers early, working as a printer's devil on the Bartlett Tribune while still in high school. After graduation in 1921, he attended the universities of Missouri and Texas and in 1925 received his Bachelor of Journalism degree from Missouri. This launched Fischer into a reporting career with a series of newspapers in New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and the state of Texas. A change of pace came when he worked as a seaman in 1934, but he soon returned to reporting, and by 1936 was Associated Press editor in Dallas, Texas.

In 1940, Fischer entered the international scene with his appointment as an Associated Press correspondent in Germany. This led to his internment at Bad Nauheim as an enemy alien after Pearl Harbor. Repatriated in May 1942, he returned to Dallas for two years and then was back in Europe, again as a correspondent to serve in London, Vienna, and Switzerland. He was United Nations correspondent, 1947-1948, and was head of the Associated Press bureau covering the Winter Olympics in Switzerland in 1948. In 1949, he returned to the United States and positions as editor and newsman with the Associated Press in New Orleans until his retirement in 1967. He also pursued a second career, education which he began on a part-time basis in 1954. He lectured in journalism at Tulane University, 1954-1963; and at West Texas State University, Canyon, Texas, from September 1967 to May 1968. Fischer died in 1997.

The Ernest Fischer Papers are organized into two categories designated as PERSONAL MATERIAL and EVENTS AND ORGANIZATIONS MATERIAL.

The PERSONAL MATERIAL consists of Fischer's papers from World War II, together with a single post-war item, a diary kept while working in London and Vienna in 1946. The section includes two other journals, 1941-1942 and 1945. The earlier diary deals with Fischer's experiences while interned at Bad Nauheim; the latter with his service as an AP war correspondent in Europe. Other material concerning his internment includes a short unpublished narrative, circa 1943, and two longer works, neither of which has been published: “The Other Shore” (1966), a play, and “The Kibitzers” (1957), a book. Use of the diaries, the book, or the play requires the permission of the director of the State Historical Society. Also part of the personal section are two chapters from an unpublished manuscript on Nazi war propaganda, several issues of the Bad Nauheim Pudding, and miscellaneous press passes and credentials. Some of Fischer's World War II stories are included in a “bureau journal,” November 1940 to November 1941, which is part of the Louis P. Lochner Papers.

The EVENTS AND ORGANIZATIONS MATERIAL, which totals 17 boxes, relates to Fischer's press coverage of the United Nations, 1946-1948; the 1948 Olympics; and several other international organizations during the post-war years. Included for each organization or event are press releases, dispatches, notes, and letters. The folders marked press releases contain documents used by Fischer, while those denoted as notes, dispatches, and/or letters contain materials he prepared. Occasionally, an agency is represented only by its own press releases.

The section on the 1948 Olympics includes dispatches by Fischer and other AP correspondents. These are located primarily in a file of stories on participants entered in the competition. There is also one folder of correspondence relating to the wire service's preparations for the game. In sum, this portion of the collection offers an extremely detailed description of events.

The third part of the events and organizations section is concerned with various other organizations with which Fischer came in contact as the result of his work as a reporter. Included are several clippings labeled “Rumanian Events” and a file of correspondence pertaining to the World Council of Churches.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Ernest G. Fischer, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1967, 1968. Accession Number: MCHC67-023, 025, 045, and 061; MCHC68-089

Processing Information

Processed by R. Wilkinson, C. Voss, Karen Baumann, and Carolyn Mattern, February 1, 1968 and August 30, 1978.

U.S. Mss 79AF	Series: Personal Material
Box   1 Folder   1	Press passes and credentials, undated
Box   1 Folder   2	Bad Nauheim Pudding,1942
Box   1 Folder   3	Bad Nauheim manuscript, circa 1943
Box   1 Folder   4	“Chapters X and XII,” unpublished chapters and manuscript on Nazi war propaganda
	Diaries
Box   1A Folder   1	, 1941-1942 (Bad Nauheim)
Box   1A Folder   2	1945 January 17-February 1, February 4, September 10 (war correspondent)
Box   1A Folder   3	, 1946 March 8-November 3 (“Assignment in Vienna”)
Box   1A Folder   4	“The Kibitzers,” manuscript, 1957
Box   1A Folder   5	“The Other Shore,” manuscript, 1966
	Series: Events and Organizations	⇧
	United Nations
Box   2 Folder   1	Transitional Material, 1944-1947
Box   2 Folder   2-6	Economic and Social Council Press Releases, 1948
	Economic Commission for Europe Press Releases and Dispatches
Box   2 Folder   7-9	1947 April-May
Box   3 Folder   1-4	1947 June-1948 April
	Food and Agriculture Organization Press Releases
Box   3 Folder   5-6	1946-1947 May
Box   4	1947 June-1948 December
	World Conference on Freedom of Information Press Releases and Dispatches
Box   5	1947 May-1948 April
Box   6 Folder   1-6	1948 April-August
	Commission of Investigation concerning Greek Frontier Incidents Press Releases and Dispatches
Box   6 Folder   7-10	1947 February-May
Box   7 Folder   1-5	1947 May
	International Refuge Organization Press Releases, Dispatches, and Notes
Box   7 Folder   6-9	1946-1947 February
Box   8	1947 February-December
	International Trade Organization Press Releases, Dispatches, and Notes
Box   9	1946-1947 July
Box   10 Folder   1-7	1947 August-1948
Box   10 Folder   8-12	World Conference on Passports and Frontier Formalities Press Releases, Dispatches, and Notes, 1946
	Relief and Rehabilitation Administration Press Releases, Dispatches and Notes
Box   11	1946 January-August
Box   12 Folder   1-2	1946 September
Box   12 Folder   3-7	Transport and Communications Commission Press Releases, 1947 November-1948 April
	World Health Organization Press Releases, Dispatches, and Notes
Box   12 Folder   8-22	1946 October-1948 May
Box   13 Folder   1-3	1948 June-July
	Olympic Games
Box   13 Folder   4	Correspondence, 1947-1948
	Dispatches
Box   13 Folder   5-9	1947 May-1948 January
Box   14	1947 January-February
Box   15 Folder   1-5	1947 February
	Participants
Box   15 Folder   6	Argentina, Austria
Box   15 Folder   7	Belgium, Bulgaria
Box   15 Folder   8	Canada, Chile, Czechoslovakia
Box   15 Folder   9	Denmark, England
Box   15 Folder   10	Finland, France
Box   15 Folder   11	Greece, Hungary, Italy
Box   15 Folder   12	Korea, Liechtenstein
Box   15 Folder   13	Netherlands, Norway
Box   15 Folder   14	Palestine, Poland, Portugal
Box   15 Folder   15	Rumania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
Box   15 Folder   16	Turkey, United States, Yugoslavia
	Press Service Releases, Background Information, and Miscellaneous Notes
Box   15 Folder   17	Background Information
Box   15 Folder   18	Daily Team Standings
Box   16 Folder   1-8	Events
Box   16 Folder   9	Medal Winners
Box   16 Folder   10	Schedules
Box   16 Folder   11-12	General
Box   17 Folder   1-3	International Chamber of Commerce Press Releases and Dispatches, 1947 May-June
Box   17 Folder   4-8	International Civil Aviation Organization Press Releases, Dispatches, and Notes, 1947 October-1948 November
Box   17 Folder   9-12	International Labour Office Press Releases, Dispatches, and Notes, 1947 March-1948 July
Box   18 Folder   1	Rumanian Dispatches, 1947
Box   18 Folder   2-7	World Council of Churches Press Releases, Dispatches, Notes, and Letters, 1945-1948 September