The Evans and Novak Papers consist of six joint series: CORRESPONDENCE; SPEECHES, WRITINGS, and REPORTING FILES; SUBJECT FILES; SCHEDULING FILES; POLLING RECORDS; and PHOTOGRAPHS; and one series, the ROWLAND EVANS FILES, that documents only Evans. The collection includes a large number of audio and videorecordings which are not described by genre in the contents list but are listed with the paper documents to which they relate. For convenience, separate tape and video lists are appendices to this finding aid.
The papers of Rowland Evans Jr. and Robert Novak were placed on deposit as a series of small accessions over the period from 1971 to 1974. Materials consisted of reader correspondence, 1965-1972; column drafts and releases, 1969-1973; drafts of the Johnson and Nixon biographies; transcribed interviews for the Nixon book; and election polling data. Except for the Nixon administration interviews, this part of the collection has been available for research since its deposit. No further material was received until 2007 when Novak, the surviving member of the team, converted the earlier deposits to an outright donation. In 2008 Novak began the transfer of almost 200 additional cubic feet of papers. During the shipping process Novak was diagnosed with cancer, and his office was closed shortly after the final shipment so that all existing papers are thought to have been transferred to the Archives.
Despite the volume of material received and the extent and importance of Evans and Novak's reporting and political contacts, the collection is disappointing because unique, primary documentation is less than researchers might expect. For example, there are virtually complete runs of “Inside Report” and transcripts of Evans & Novak, their CNN news program, but this information is not unique to the collection. It is, however, more accessible for research in the collection than from other sources. Part of the disappointment is attributable to Evans and Novak's deadline-driven reporting style. Both men did most of their reporting by telephone or over meals, and they seldom took notes on these conversations. During his early career, Novak, in particular, took pride in his ability to rely on his memory. Handwritten notes that he took later in his career are included in the papers, but they are undated and almost undecipherable. Other examples of Evans and Novak's close contacts with newsmakers, at their political forums, for example, were intentionally off-the-record events so no historical documentation was created. Fortunately, during the 1990s Novak began recording some of his interviews. Additionally, the collection includes videotapes of some broadcast interviews, especially those with opinion makers on the Insights television program.
The collection documents the careers of both men, although files pertaining to Novak alone are most extensive. In addition to the joint files, some distinct, early Evans files are included. It is possible that when he retired in 1993, Evans may have disposed of some separately filed papers. Except for a few items, the collection documents only the professional careers of the two men.
The CORRESPONDENCE consists of reader/viewer mail and general correspondence. The general correspondence is incomplete, and some years are virtually unrepresented. The mail from readers and viewers comprises approximately 10 cubic feet of the collection. During the early years of “Inside Report,” reader mail was filed alphabetically by subject. Later the arrangement was chronological, with the most extensively documented years being those from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s. The quantity of reader mail from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s is small, and it is possible that this type of correspondence was simply not retained. During the late 1990s, the majority of the reader/viewer communications arrived in the formal and general correspondence. The general correspondence is incomplete, and some years are virtually unrepresented. The mail from readers and viewers comprises approximately 10 cubic feet of the collection. During the early years of “Inside Report,” reader mail was filed alphabetically by subject. Later the arrangement was chronological, with the most extensively documented years being those from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s. The quantity of reader mail from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s is small, and it is possible that this type of correspondence was simply not retained. During the late 1990s, the majority of the reader/viewer communications arrived in the form of e-mails which were printed out by office staff. The e-mail files are extensive, although the individual communications are generally brief. Many e-mails comment on Novak's involvement in the Joe Wilson-Valerie Plame matter. Overall, the reader and viewer correspondence provides good documentation of public attitudes toward Evans and Novak's columns and the events they covered. Unfortunately, Evans and Novak seldom responded to communications of this type.
During the column's early history the staff filed the letters to which Evans and Novak did reply and letters from prominent individuals as “special letters.” In the Archives special mail that was extensive was removed to the Subject Files and described below. Also classed here are published letters to the editor that referred to Evans and Novak columns and mail labeled as “personal.” This mail is seldom truly personal; rather it consists of letters from congressional leaders, fellow journalists, friends, and other individuals about matters other than column content. Novak kept photocopies of some of his handwritten outgoing correspondence, but these are generally brief notes of a personal or social nature.
The SPEECHES, WRITINGS, and REPORTING FILES series is arranged alphabetically both by genre, such as articles, books, and book reviews, as well as by specific publication or program titles. This series contains journalistic products, with the Subject Files series, which is described later, containing supplementary information such as correspondence with publishers, royalty records, background research, and production information.
Evans and Novak
During their long partnership the Evans and Novak names provided the title for a variety of journalistic work. However, their long-running newspaper column, which was referred to by many as “Evans & Novak,” was actually entitled “Inside Report.” The column has been arranged by this title in the contents list. The collection includes a chronological run of the column as it appeared in print, together with over 50 cartons (approximately 1/3 of the collection) of duplicate columns arranged as a combined alphabetical name, subject, and place index. Draft and edited versions of the column are included, but they are very incomplete. The publication of “Inside Report” essentially dictates the chronological span of the collection, although there are some representations of the earlier newspaper work done by Novak for the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press.
Also bearing the Evans and Novak name was the Evans-Novak Political Report, a privately-circulated newsletter launched in 1967. For many years subscribers to the newsletter were invited to the Political Report forums at which many of the nation's political leaders spoke off-the-record. A complete run of the Political Report, as well as similar but shorter-lived publications such as the Evans-Novak Defense Report, the Evans-Novak Money Report, and the Evans-Novak Tax Report are available in the Historical Society Library. Another newsletter intended for a Japanese audience was first published as a joint venture association with Yoskiki Hidaka. It was known as the Hidaka Evans-Novak Japan Report and later as the Evans Novak Japan Report. This publication has been retained in the collection because it is out of scope for the Historical Society's library.
The Evans-Novak name was also applied to several television programs. The first, The Evans-Novak Report, was a television program broadcast from WTTG by Metromedia during 1969. Transcripts for that program document interviews with such notables as Art Buchwald, Ramsey Clark, James Farmer, Averell Harriman, Fred Harris, Walter Hickel, Harold Hughes, Henry Jackson, Melvin Laird, Jerris Leonard, John V. Lindsay, Russell Long, Allard Lowenstein, George McGovern, Ralph Nader, Charles Percy, Yitzhak Rabin, George Romney, Pete Rozelle, Donald Rumsfeld, John Volpe, George C. Wallace, and Theodore White.
Evans & Novak was also the name of a program televised by RKO from 1976 to 1978 that featured interviews with newsmakers. The collection includes transcripts and/or sound recordings that document appearances by Robert Dole, Ronald Reagan, George McGovern, Gaylord Nelson, and others, as well as a videorecording of their interview with Alexander Haig. The news duo moved to CNN in 1980, beginning Evans & Novak, the television program for which they were best known, in 1982. The format and title of this program changed to Evans, Novak, Hunt & Shields with the addition of Al Hunt and Mark Shields as permanent panel members in 1998. After Evans death in 2001, the program was known as Novak, Hunt & Shields for its final year. The collection includes fairly complete transcripts of this program. Unfortunately, there is no index.
Books and Articles
The book manuscripts in the collection variously include chapter drafts and galley pages bearing significant revisions. Correspondence with the book publishers, promotion, reviews, and research materials are filed in the subject files. The manuscripts are arranged chronologically by publication date and the majority of the files represent published titles. An exception is “After Reagan,” which may represent an early stage in the development of Completing the Revolution, and a fragment entitled “Anointing a New Leader” that may be part of a proposed book about President George W. Bush. Evans and Novak also planned a biography of J. Edgar Hoover but apparently never did any writing for that project. Research material gathered for the Hoover project is part of the subject files.
Except for Novak's autobiography, The Prince of Darkness, the book manuscripts contain little historical information that is not available in the published volumes. The original draft of Prince, however, was very long and, as a consequence, it contains much information that was not published. Completing the Revolution includes the unpublished interview of Novak by editor Paul Golub that served as the basis for the book.
Like the book manuscripts, Evans and Novak's free-lance articles are seldom represented by more than the published piece, the chief exception to that being the articles they wrote for the Reader's Digest.
Television
In addition to the previously described Evans and Novak programs, Novak was individually involved with several other nationally-known programs including Capital Gang, Crossfire, and the McLaughlin Group. Unfortunately, these programs are only sparsely represented. However, documentation for the little-known Insights interview program aired by America's Network is extensive and includes over 80 videorecordings of notable guests such as Pat Buchanan, William F. Buckley, Paul Gigot, Newt Gingrich, William Kristol, Lawrence Kudrow, Grover Norquist, Ron Paul, Mark Shields, Jude Wanniski, and George Will.
Speeches and Writings
Thanks to his strong television personality and his reputation for access to inside information on political and economic affairs, Robert Novak developed an active and lucrative career as a public speaker. Most of his speeches were delivered off the cuff, however, and only a few are documented in the collection in full written, audio, or video form. Information about arrangements and scheduling of these events are part of the Scheduling Files.
The alphabetical SUBJECT FILES are extensive and consist of research information and clippings, correspondence, and notes on topics much too varied to be described in detail in this finding aid. Some of the research material consists of information that Novak and Evans solicited, although the specific purpose for which the documentation was gathered is seldom documented. Other items were received unsolicited probably to suggest a story idea to them. Much of the research material originally received in the Archives consisted of newspaper clippings and printouts of online news stories. Information of this type that was widely available was not retained unless there was an indication of Evans and Novak's interest. Many of the subject files were poorly organized, suggesting that Evans and Novak's hard working staff had limited time for filing. Some of the material even arrived unfoldered, with individual papers bearing no apparent relation to the items with which they were packed. Even individual pages of a single faxed document were sometimes widely separated in the shipment. The office conditions which produced this disorder are suggested by several photographs in the collection.
In the absence of meaningful context the loose material was arranged in the most objective manner in the Archives. As a result, much of the loose material, particularly documents that were faxed to the Evans-Novak office, were arranged by source. Generally this was a legislative office, a lobbyist, or a public policy organization.
Taken together, the Subject Files cover a variety of topics ranging from important national political issues to material of less value such as the arrangements for the Evans-Novak forums. The content is largely professional, although there are files on Novak's charitable interests, his participation in the Gridiron Club, and his devotion to capital-area professional and collegiate sports.
The most comprehensive coverage in the Subject Files dates from the second half of the Evans-Novak partnership, and the files are particularly strong on the politics and scandals of the Clinton presidency. Preliminary research for an unpublished book about President Jimmy Carter produced some important interviews that are included here. Although the books on Presidents Nixon and Johnson were largely based on their columns, the team also interviewed individuals such as Walter Hickel, John Mitchell, and William Safire, and transcripts of these interviews are filed here. The team also investigated Democratic presidential candidates such as John Kerry and Michael Dukakis. On the other hand, there is comparatively little information on President Ronald Reagan, whom the duo greatly admired, or on other Republican presidents. At the congressional level, many important leaders from the 1990s, primarily Republicans, are represented here by taped or transcribed interviews, press conferences, and speeches. They include Dick Armey, David Boren, James Carville, Tom Delay, Newt Gingrich, Phil Gramm, Dennis Hastert, Henry Hyde, Jack Kemp, Steve Largent, Trent Lott, Mark Neumann, Karl Rove, and Donald Rumsfeld. There are also recordings of George W. Bush as governor. However, other individuals such as Melvin Laird, Henry Jackson, and Wilbur Mills, who are often cited as Evans and Novak's chief informants during the 1970s are barely documented.
Also prominent is the network of conservative intellectuals with which Novak associated: William F. Buckley, Eliot Janeway, William Kristol, Lawrence Kudlow, Lewis Lehrman, Lawrence Lindsey, Paul Weyrich, and, in particular, Jude Wanniski. Among the public policy organizations are Empower America, Judicial Watch, Media Research Center, the National Right to Work Committee, the Phillips Foundation, and U.S. Terms Limits.
In addition to the previous categories, the Subject Files contain correspondence and information from individuals whom Evans and Novak appear to have regarded more as friends than sources. These men include William Bagley, Joe Cerrell, Richard F. Hohlt, Robert McCandless, Robert W. Selle, and Kenneth Tomlinson.
Although the United States was the focus of Evans and Novak's reporting there are files about their interest in foreign affairs, particularly events in Columbia, Haiti, Greece, and the Middle East. These files include interviews, either transcribed or oral, with leaders such as Ferdinand Marcos, Golda Meir, Gamal Abdul Nasser, Park Chung-Hee, and Yitzhak Rabin. The activities of Greek expatriate Elias Demetracopoulos were another significant interest.
The Subject Files also document Evans and Novak's entrepreneurial approach to their journalism careers. Extensive correspondence concerns the syndication of “Inside Report” by Field Newspaper Syndicate, the News American Syndicate, the Publishers Hall Syndicate, the Chicago Sun-Times, and, eventually Richard S. Newcombe's Creators Syndicate. Development of their television work is less thoroughly documented, although there are some exchanges with CNN executives such as Ed Turner and Rick Davis. Production information for their news programs is, unfortunately, fragmentary and incomplete. Additional files document the management of their newsletters, their online news service, and their association with Japanese journalists and Japanese news outlets managed by Yasuo Takayama and John Carbaugh. Although the files on the Evans-Novak forums contain virtually no information about what was said, there is detailed information on arrangements and the corporate executives who took part.
The ROWLAND EVANS FILES series is a distinct file of correspondence and subject files that covers the early years of his partnership with Novak. Of interest are oral history interviews concerning his relationship with the Kennedy family, typed or handwritten interview notes, and information on travel to the Middle East. It is not known why some Evans papers were filed jointly and others individually.
Public speaking was also a prominent aspect of Evans and Novak's journalistic empire. This is best presented in the SCHEDULING FILES series. This series contains schedules and related correspondence with the agencies that represented them, information on payments, office telephone logs, and desk calendars. Some of the desk calendars document their joint schedules, while others relate to Novak alone. The telephone logs and desk calendars indicate individuals with whom the two men had contact on a particular day, but not the subjects of the conversations.
During the 1960s and 1970s Evans and Novak enhanced the quality of the political information in their columns by financing private public opinion polls. The POLLING RECORDS series includes individual polling sheets and summary data for polls carried out for them by Anthony Quayle in selected cities between 1971 and 1976. Wisconsin is among the states that were surveyed.
PHOTOGRAPHS consist of formal and informal portraits of Evans and Novak, publicity photographs, and candid shots of various events and tributes. Among the notables with whom Evans and Novak were photographed are Pat Buchanan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Jack Kemp, Melvin Laird, Ronald Reagan, Carl Rove, Teng Hsiao-Ping, Yashiro Nakasone, Yitzhak Rabin, and Tommy G. Thompson. Several large format photographs were received in poor condition. They were scanned as part of the Wisconsin Historical Images database, and the originals discarded.
