The Ray Henle Papers consist of personal and professional materials, with the majority of the collection relating to his career as a radio broadcaster with NBC. They are listed in four groups: Professional Papers, Personal Papers, Tape Recordings, and Disc Recordings.
PROFESSIONAL PAPERS, 1936-1966, pertain chiefly to Three Star Extra, with a small quantity of documentation relating to his broadcasting career with ABC and WOL. The Three Star Extra material consists of microfilmed program scripts largely dating from January 1956 to the termination of broadcasting on May 26, 1965. Unfortunately his “Editor's Notebook” which best expressed Henle's conservative personal views is sometimes missing. The scripts are from 15 to 20 pages in length and bear considerable evidence of editing. For the period prior to 1955 the collection offers only a few, scattered scripts. Better documentation of this period is provided, however, by means of the tapes and discs in the collection.
Also on microfilm are indexes, 1950 to 1965. Actually short summaries of each news story, the indexes itemize Henle's reporting for the period 1950 to 1954; at this point the indexes expand to include the work of other commentators on the program such as Ned Brooks, Charles Lucey, Felix Morley, Merrill Mueller, Edward Tomlinson, Russ Ward, A. L. Warner, and others.
The Three Star Extra material also includes several types of correspondence. Greatest in bulk is fan mail received from 1959 to 1965. While this mail has been weeded to remove routine correspondence, the remainder is of considerable interest, for Henle often wrote personalized replies. The professional correspondence also includes several folders relating to the termination of broadcasting and to vacations during which he prepared special reports on foreign news.
The professional papers contain one box of material relating to other aspects of his career as a broadcaster and journalist. Included are a file of speeches and notes; remarks on the death of Fulton Lewis, Jr.; two magazine articles; and a folder of publicity clippings. Also of interest is a tape recording of the special television program A Conversation with Herbert Hoover (Tape No. 229, 230); film of this program has been deposited at the Library of Congress and the Hoover Presidential Library.
PERSONAL PAPERS, 1883-(1946-1973), consist of correspondence, financial records, social files, and memorabilia. One box contains letters to and from members of the Henle family. The remainder is comprised of more generalized mail which is incoming and outgoing and alphabetically arranged. Although the correspondence is incomplete, Henle's wide-ranging acquaintanceship and the content of some of the letters give this section considerable interest.
Prominent correspondents include Sherman Adams, Spiro Agnew, Alben Barkley, Styles Bridges, David Brinkley, Harold Burton, Harry and Robert Byrd, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Mark Clark, Lucius Clay, Robert Considine, John and Gardiner Cowles, Cecil B. DeMille, Thomas Dodd, Allen Dulles, John Foster Dulles, Stephen Early, Milton Eisenhower, James Farley, Homer Ferguson, Gerald Ford, Leonard Hall, Lister Hill, Conrad Hilton, Herbert Hoover, J. Edgar Hoover, George Humphrey, Hubert Humphrey, Kenneth Keating, John F. Kennedy, Bernard Kilgore, Ernest King, Francis Knight, Alfred Landon, David Lawrence, John L. Lewis, Douglas MacArthur, Joseph Martin, Frank Mason, John McClellan, Perle Mesta, William E. Miller, Ben Morrell, Karl Mundt, Lawrence F. O'Brien, Richard M. Nixon, Chung Hee Park, Norman Vincent Peale, J. Howard Pew and Joseph N. Pew, Jr., Arthur Radford, Sam Rayburn, Stanley Reed, Donald Richberg, Peter Rodino, Carlos Romulo, Archibald Roosevelt, Jouett Shouse, George Smathers, Maurice Stans, Lewis Strauss, Arthur Summerfield, Stuart Symington, Robert Taft, Maxwell Taylor, Walter Trohan, Frederick Vinson, A. C. Wedemeyer, Sinclair Weeks, and Lyle Wilson.
Original presidential and vice-presidential correspondence noted above have been removed to the Society's autograph collection and xerox copies substituted.
Henle's financial records consist of summary financial statements and correspondence with the Rivark Corporation and the Russcott Corporation, two companies in which he was a major stockholder. The social records include Marion Henle's engagement calendars, some of which contain diary-like entries, and clippings from society columns about the couple's activities. The section also includes a file of menus and guest lists from their entertaining and a sample of bills for entertaining at the F Street Club. There are also extensive materials relating to the Gridiron and Alfalfa Clubs. The memorabilia includes certificates, greeting cards, and a facsimile of President Coolidge's refusal to run in 1927.
