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.
