The Howard Koch Papers are comprised of six main sections: records related to Koch's book The Panic Broadcast; motion picture screenplays; records of the 1938 Mercury Theater radio broadcast War of the Worlds; records of the television movie The Night that Panicked America; theater scripts; and Hollywood blacklist material.
The War of the Worlds section includes a letter from Koch describing the documents, along with some reminiscences; the “final script,” which differs in minor details from the actual broadcast; a working script containing a few pages in Koch's handwriting; and a related story and clippings. Note also that the Archives owns a recording of the original broadcast, catalogued as Disc Recording 47A.
By far the largest part of the collection is an assemblage of screenplays and related files. These are placed in alphabetical order, and the materials relating to each will be found in the following sequence: correspondence, the script for the production itself, photographs, and clippings. Non-general items, such as notes on the sets, are placed immediately after the corresponding manuscripts. Koch's reference notes about work and problems with The Fox are in folder 1 of box 4, and categorize the material for that film. Correspondence in this section includes letters and telegrams from actresses Ingrid Bergman and Margaret Sullivan, and producer Jack Warner. Koch wrote numerous plays for Warner Brothers until Jack Warner repudiated him at the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in 1946, stating that he “believed” Koch was a member of the Communist Party, a statement he later retracted.
A transcript of these hearings, in which several witnesses comment on Koch's film Mission to Moscow, together with other records of Koch's contact with the Hollywood Blacklist, make up the final section of the collection. Correspondence includes letters from former Ambassador to Russia Joseph E. Davies, and civil rights attorney Edward Bennett Williams. Since Koch's problems with the Committee stemmed primarily from Mission to Moscow, attention is called to the correspondence folder for that screenplay, which contains the author's notes on its preparation and his later difficulties with the Committee. Koch's additional notes on these matters are found in a letter filed with the Hollywood Blacklist material. Also in this section is a statement Koch has prepared regarding his past political activities and associations, and clippings.
