When compared with his reputation as one of the most distinguished journalists at CBS, the Collingwood papers are a disappointing collection. There is no information in the papers for his early career as a war correspondent and his association with Edward R. Murrow or for his coverage of the United Nations. Furthermore, although there is documentation for many of the later news projects on which he worked, for only a few is the documentation more extensive than final broadcast scripts. The correspondence in the collection includes exchanges with professional associates, friends, and with the public, but it too is disappointing, for it is spotty and includes little information on actual coverage of the news, planning and development for news specials, or the innerworkings of CBS. Scripts are the most extensive part of the collection; they best document his work on WCBS-TV Views the Press, various CBS Reports, and as a regular substitute for Edward R. Murrow during the 1950s.
The collection is arranged as personal and biographical files, speeches and writings, scripts, correspondence, and background files.
PERSONAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL FILES consist of biographical clippings, documentation concerning his presidency of the New York AFTRA local and his longtime interest in art collecting, expense statements and miscellaneous financial records, letters of condolence written to his widow, transcripts of a few letters written by his father and other members of the Collingwood family, and publicity photographs. The Awards file includes his special Emmy.
CORRESPONDENCE consists of general professional exchanges, audience mail, and a few special subject files. The coverage of the professional correspondence is incomplete, primarily covering 1952 and 1957-1985. For the period that is documented the letters seldom relate to the most important aspects of his work. More interesting, although brief, is the correspondence written in his capacity as president of the New York AFTRA chapter. The viewer mail primarily concerns the specials “A Timetable for Vietnam,” “The Mystery of Stonehenge,” and a program on Winston Churchill.
SPEECHES AND WRITINGS consists of speeches, articles, typewritten notes, drafts, and a copy of The Defector. Separately filed because of their extent are Collingwood's radio and television SCRIPTS. For each broadcasting media, the scripts are arranged alphabetically by series title or format name. Most extensive are scripts for the acclaimed local program WCBS-TV Views the Press, CBS Reports, Report to the West, and Edward R. Murrow and the News. The CBS Reports files include information on some of his best-known broadcasts such as “A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy,” “Vietnam: How We Got In - Can We Get Out?,” “A Timetable for Vietnam, and “Picasso is 90.” The Edward R. Murrow and the News scripts concern Collingwood's regular summertime substitution for Murrow during the early 1950s. These files include his regular “Think” pieces, perhaps the best documentation in the papers of his work as a news commentator.
BACKGROUND FILES include extensive information for the CBS Reports program on Picasso including shot lists, interviews, and various technical information; interview transcripts (taped for “A Timetable for Vietnam”), handwritten notes, and research on Vietnam (including a file of photographs labelled “Vietnam atrocities”); transcripts of interviews with Valerie Giscard d'Estang, Harold MacMillan, and Helmut Schmidt; detailed statistics and information used in reporting on the national elections in 1956 and 1960, as well as a scrapbook of information concerning the function of Univac in predicting the results of the 1952 election.
