The Walter Graebner Papers are a small collection consisting mainly of copies of Graebner's writings and related material. More specifically, the collection includes correspondence, copies of books authored or co-authored by Graebner, manuscripts and additional material relating to Mr. Dear Mr. Churchill, copies of some shorter publications which Graebner authored or edited, clippings, notes, and miscellany. In addition there is a four-page AUTOBIOGRAPHY which documents his professional career through the mid-1960s and a number of explanatory NOTES which accompanied Graebner's donations and which could not be filed with the precise material to which they refer.

The CORRESPONDENCE consists mainly of a general file composed almost entirely of incoming letters and arranged alphabetically by correspondent. Included are letters from Winston Churchill and members of his family and staff; Henry R. Luce and other senior staff members of Time Inc.; Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands; Francis Cardinal Spellman; and Harold Wilson. Other notable correspondents whose letters are of interest chiefly for their autograph value include Clement Atlee, Anthony Eden, Oveta Culp Hobby, Robert Kennedy, and Adlai Stevenson. The correspondence also includes a folder of letters relating to the 1966 auction of a Churchill painting given to Graebner by the artist. A few letters may be found elsewhere in the collection; one folder of correspondence relating to My Dear Mr. Churchill is filed with the papers concerning that publication, and several cover letters are scattered in other files.

The BOOKS file consists of signed, hard-cover copies of eight books for which Graebner was wholly or partly responsible. These are: Their Finest Hour and Lights of Freedom, both published in 1941 and edited by Graebner and Allan A. Michie, and both including selections by Graebner; Hitler's Reich and Churchill's Britain and Conversation in London, British and American versions, respectively, of a 1942 conversation between Graebner and Stephen Laird, Time's Berlin correspondent; December 7: The First Thirty Hours, Pearl Harbor stories by the correspondents of Time, Life, and Fortune, including Graebner's cable from London on British and Indian reactions to the bombing, and short biographies of Graebner and many of his colleagues; Round Trip to Russia, Graebner's 1943 account of his six-month assignment in the Soviet Union in 1942, which is filed with a contract, publisher's announcement, and reviews; History in the Writing, by the foreign correspondents of Time, Life, and Fortune, which includes three of Graebner's dispatches; and My Dear Mr. Churchill.

In addition to the printed copy of Graebner's last book, the collection includes a considerable amount of material relating to its publication, including congratulations, acknowledgements of complimentary copies, and negotiations concerning foreign and paperback editions and syndication of excerpts. There are also a January, 1954, agreement with Houghton, Mifflin Co.; the “original” manuscript, dated February, 1954; two sets of corrections, dated 1954 and 1956; excerpts published in the London Sunday Express, the Anglo-American Trade News, and the New York Herald Tribune; a small amount of publicity material; and reviews of both the British and German editions.

Apart from the books, only a few samples of Graebner's writing and editing are present in the collection. These ARTICLES, SCRIPTS, AND EDITORIAL WORKS consist of cables, drafts, and printed versions of articles written for Time and Life, 1944; scripts of radio broadcasts concerning D-Day, 1944; galley proofs and other material relating to a 1954 article on Churchill published in the London Evening Standard; and copies and review of Saints and Angels News, an Anglican parish magazine which Graebner founded and edited.

The CLIPPINGS, 1928-1966, primarily highlight Graebner's career. The MISCELLANY includes a 1943 certificate attesting to his noncombatant status, 1945 and 1953 passports, and papers relating to his role as a consultant to the U.S. delegation to a 1948 United Nations conference on freedom of information.