The Lee Papers are arranged as BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL, SPEECHES AND WRITINGS, DOCKET FILES, CORRESPONDENCE, ADVISORY COMMITTEE RECORDS, and SUBJECT FILES.
The papers document the full extent of Robert Lee's service on the Federal Communications Commission, although the documentation for the period 1953 to 1970 is incomplete. There is no material here on either his earlier government service with the FBI or his association with Broadcast Pioneers after retiring from the FCC. The papers also fail to include a copy of the oral history interview conducted for Columbia University by UW Professor James Baughman or the personal memoirs and typed notes on conversations with prominent individuals referred to by Lee in his early correspondence with the Historical Society. There are also no personal papers in the collection.
The Lee Papers were extensively weeded in the Archives and material that duplicated records held by the National Archives (such as dockets, governmental publications and reports, and stenographic transcriptions of committee meetings) were removed.
Most notable in the collection is the large group of speeches and writings documenting Lee's active involvement with communications and broadcasting organizations; correspondence with legislators on numerous subjects related to the FCC regulatory responsibility, information about his advocacy of UHF, and his leadership in the Catholic Apostolate of Mass Media.
The collection includes a small quantity of BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL, primarily scattered clippings about Lee's career removed from other portions of the collection (rather than the clipping scrapbooks compiled by many FCC commissioners) and several film clips of Lee being interviewed on various topics related to mass communications and broadcasting.
The SPEECHES AND WRITINGS series provides good coverage of that prominent aspect of Lee's career, although documentation about statements and dissenting opinions presented at formal meetings of the commission is incomplete. The files are subdivided into speeches and writings, with each category then arranged chronologically. Correspondence pertaining to arrangements for these speaking assignments has been extensively weeded and is filed with the SUBJECT FILES.
The numerically-arranged DOCKET FILES consist of correspondence and notes. Except for a few topics in which Lee appears to have been personally interested, most individual files are small.
Lee's office filed his CORRESPONDENCE in several ways which changed and overlapped during his tenure on the commission. Unfortunately, none of the file categories were received by the Archives in their entirety, and some correspondence was received in great disorder. Where possible, the original order was reconstructed or approximated.
The Reading File, which was internally referred to as the “R” correspondence file, is one of the most useful portions of the collection, as it provides the best overview of Lee's interests and views. This section consists of chronologically-arranged copies of outgoing correspondence, as well as memoranda issued by Lee's office, which were then circulated to Lee staffers Bud Weston and Sid Goldman for their information.
General correspondence only incompletely covers Lee's career. One file of this type covers the period 1953 to 1955. Another distinct file, internally designated the “P” correspondence file, covers only the period 1970 to 1973. Beginning in 1974 the general correspondence appears to have been arranged alphabetically by name. Also here is a file for the year 1981 which was designated for unknown reasons by Lee's office as “the business file.”
The ADVISORY COMMITTEE RECORDS, which are arranged alphabetically by committee name and which document the involvement of industry leaders in FCC concerns, include some of the most important documentation in the collection. The extensive records of the Committee for Full Development of All-Channel Television, which Lee organized and headed during the early 1960's, consist of correspondence, minutes, and reports of the committee and its various subcommittees.
The SUBJECT FILES consist of correspondence and informational material on a host of topics related to communications and broadcasting. Most useful here are files on Lee's congressional correspondence dating from 1954 to 1981, information on the experiment in UHF broadcasting carried out at WUHF in New York City under FCC sponsorship, and the correspondence pertaining to the activities of the Catholic Apostolate of Mass Media, of which Lee was a founder. Other files included here such as invitations, memoranda on legal cases, papers prepared by summer interns, and replies to FOIA requests relate more to the internal operations of the office.
