Part 1 (U.S. Mss 14AF, Micro 2107, Audio 1314A, Audio 1486A, PH 3150, VAA 096-098): Original Collection, 1931-1994
Physical Description: 33.0 c.f. (28 records center cartons, 3 archives boxes, 4 card boxes and 1 flat box), 3 reels of microfilm (35 mm), 3 disc recordings, 3 tape recordings, 3.0 of photographs (9 flat boxes and 1 archives box), 0.4 c.f. of transparencies (1 archives box), 0.4 c.f. of negatives (1 negative box), and 3 videorecordings (2-inch open reel videotapes) 
Scope and Content Note

The Cecil Brown Papers consist of four series: SPEECHES, WRITINGS, and BROADCAST SCRIPTS; CORRESPONDENCE; SUBJECT FILES; and VISUAL MATERIALS.

The SPEECHES, WRITINGS and BROADCAST SCRIPTS are arranged alphabetically by format, with scripts for radio and television comprising the largest part of the collection. The scripts cover Brown's career from his work for CBS Radio during World War II to his commentaries for KCET, the public broadcasting television station in California. In general each script is one-third news and two-thirds commentary. The scripts are typed and generally bear evidence of pre-broadcast editing. Brown's methods for paging the radio scripts vary. As a result, some pages may appear out of order. In the Archives the scripts have been arranged so as to best preserve their continuity. Brown, himself, apparently often rearranged the pages in last minute editing.

Highlights of the scripts include Brown's analysis of the Truman-MacArthur controversy in 1951 and the integration of Little Rock High School in 1957. The radio scripts from 1958 through 1962 were primarily broadcast from Tokyo and elsewhere in the Far East, where Brown worked for NBC. There are also scripts for NBC news specials in which Brown and others appeared.

Related to the World War II era radio scripts are the original cables and dispatches that Brown filed from abroad for inclusion in the network news. These cables and similar later items are the best and often the only means of obtaining information on Brown's news reports. Occasionally, the cables often reveal business matters between Brown and his employer. One of the longest cables is a copy of the one British war correspondent O.D. Gallagher sent to the London Daily Mail explaining, and in part, vindicating, Brown for his broadcasts from Singapore. The dispatches of 1941, especially those from Singapore, show evidence of censorship. While traveling abroad for MBS, Brown recorded many interviews with world leaders and ordinary people on the street. While Brown's notebooks document the shipment of these tapes to the United States, none are included in the collection.

In addition to the news scripts the collection includes published non-fiction articles, cables, speeches and speech notes (primarily dating from the 1960s and 1970s), newspaper stories, notes, and miscellaneous writings. Brown's best-selling book, Suez to Singapore, is documented by his annotated final draft, publicity, reviews, abridgements, and book cover. One of the microfilmed scrapbooks consists largely of information about publicity book tours. A first edition of the book is available in the Historical Society Library.

The articles include drafts and printed articles. During the initial processing in the Archives Brown's articles were inventoried and those published in periodicals held by the Historical Society Library were discarded. In the list below, the presence of an asterisk indicates articles that were retained in the archival collection.

	Magazine	Article	Date
*	Ken	“A Nut Between Crackers”	1938 May 5
*	Ken	“The Dust Bowl of Freedom”	1938 May 19
*	Ken	“Tomorrow the World is Ours”	1938 June 2
	Collier's	“Inside Italy - Martha Brown”	1941 April 26
	The Saturday Evening Post	“The German's Are Coming”	1941 August 23
	Woman's Home Company	“Life in Nazified Italy - Martha Brown”	1941 August
	Life	“The Desert Is Hell”	1941 December 8
	Life	“Malay Jungle War”	1942 January 12
	Collier's	“Stand By for Torpedo”	1942 January 17
	Talks	“I Was Aboard the Repulse”	1942 January
	Readers Digest	“Stand By for Torpedo”	1942 March
	Talks	“Why Singapore Fell”	1942 April
	Life	“How Japan Wages War”	1942 May 11
	Collier's	“Take 'Er Down”	1942 May 16
	Life	“The Australians”	1942 June 8
*	Liberty	“When the Repulse Went Down”	1942 June 13
*	Liberty	“America's Fifth Column in Europe, Part I”	1942 June 27
*	Liberty	“America's Fifth Column in Europe, Part II”	1942 July 4
	Readers Digest	“Take 'Er Down”	1942 August
	Talks	“Total Warfare on the Home Front”	1942 October
*	Omnibook	“Suez to Singapore”	1942 December
	Talks	“The Enemy We Face”	1943 July
	Collier's	“Do You Know What You're Fighting”	1943 December 11
*	Good Housekeeping	“What's Going to Happen to Our Woman Workers?”	1943 December
*	Swing	“The Heritage and the Inheritor”	1945 June
*	See	“How You Can Spot a Fascist”	1944 January
*	See	“Germany Can't Be Trusted”	1945 November
	This Week	“How Much Can England Take?”	1947 October 12
*	See	“How Close Are We to War With Russia?”	1948 September
*	New Outlook	“Humor Behind the Iron Curtain”	1954 September
	Saturday Review	“Brinkmanship”	1957 April 27
	Ten Telling Years	A publication of the Mutual Broadcasting system, 1934-1944, containing a section by Brown	1944 October

Newspaper stories written during the early years of Brown's career chiefly for the Pittsburgh Press are available only on microfilm. Other writings include a lengthy report on American ideas and attitudes based on interviews he conducted during World War II, a 1961 report for President Kennedy on Japan published as part of NBC's book Memo to JFK, and a paper on the Vietnam War.

The series also includes five recordings of Brown including a report on the German invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941; an interview with Brown at the National Foreign Trade Convention, 1957; and his comments on Marilyn Monroe's death.

The CORRESPONDENCE series is arranged chronologically and begins in 1936 and is sparse until the 1960s and 1970s including fan mail, personal correspondence, and letters concerned with arrangements for public speaking. The fan mail is generally thoughtful and intelligent, with criticisms as well as praise. A large number of listener letters were received in 1953 during the Truman-MacArthur controversy and 1957 when Brown took a strong stand in support of the Supreme Court's decision on integration. In one letter Brown mentioned that 85% of the letters received from listeners were words of approval. Not infrequently Brown took the time to reply in some detail to a listener, explaining why he held the point of view expressed in his broadcasts. Good examples of Brown's replies are his letter to Mrs. Marguerite B. Pratt on July 10, 1950 and his letter to Frank Lambeth on October 26, 1957. During the period 1957-1958, the correspondence includes information on the Overseas Press Club.

The years 1966-1968 are the most extensively documented period in the correspondence. They cover the years when Brown's news analysis was being carried by KCET in Los Angeles and his opinions on Vietnam, the student movement, and cigarette smoking triggered many viewer letters. In addition, there are letters of congratulations, arrangements for Brown's public speaking (particularly at Gregory Ziemer's Institute of Lifetime Learning) and for guest appearances on his program, and letters of congratulations. A few items hint at plans to become a marketing consultant for American companies that did business in the Far East and to research and write a book on Asian affairs. Correspondence dating from the 1970s relates to his teaching assignments at California Polytechnic. After Brown's retirement in 1980 the correspondence is increasingly dominated by exchanges with friends.

Several other segments of the correspondence which may be of interest include Brown's letter of January 14, 1941, to Harry W. August, of the Pittsburgh Press, in which he described how he gathered news and cultivated individuals likely to be good news sources; September and October 1942, correspondence with the Navy Department concerning censorship of Suez to Singapore; the charges made in October 1950 that he was a Communist sympathizer.

The SUBJECT FILES are arranged alphabetically and include biographical information, some additional correspondence, and diaries. The biographical information includes a 1941 autobiographical sketch, notes for an autobiography that was apparently never written, brief biographies, microfilmed clipping scrapbooks, loose clippings and a recording of an interview with Brown. The scrapbooks are composed chiefly of articles and clippings about Cecil Brown, as well as programs in which he participated, a few letters and congratulatory telegrams, mimeographed press releases, isolated photographs (which were retained after microfilming), awards and citations, and samples of publicity. Loose clippings, which primarily postdated the scrapbooks, have been photocopied.

Brown's files on the broadcast networks are probably incomplete. The CBS file contains letters from Brown to Paul W. White, CBS director of foreign affairs, written from the Far East and a few items pertaining to Brown's resignation in 1943. Of special interest is an exchange between White and Hans V. Kaltenborn about the freedom of speech issue that caused Brown's resignation. The clipping scrapbook from this time period also contains many articles on Brown's resignation. There is even less material concerning Brown's employment by the Mutual Broadcasting System, although Brown worked longest for that network. There is, however, a lengthy report prepared for his sponsor about conditions he witnessed during his 1952 world tour. Some of the issues raised during that period, particularly with regard to sponsors, can be found, however, in his 1944 correspondence with the advertising agency Ivey and Ellington. About ABC there is only correspondence about the contract signed in 1957 and terminated in 1958. Materials pertaining to NBC are more extensive. In addition to general administrative matters, these files contain numerous background reports about the Far East prepared for William R. MacAndrew, vice president of NBC News, and other network executives. The reports concern foreign policy, Japanese television, conditions in NBC's Tokyo bureau, and interviews with Charles E. Bohler, Averell Harriman, and the daughter of General Hideki Tojo, as well as further information on his controversial interview with Japanese Prime Minister Nobosuke Kishi.

Cecil Brown's diaries cover the eventful years of 1939-1943, as well as other years in which he also travelled extensively, 1949-1950, 1951, 1954, and 1957. Brown not only recorded events, itineraries, and memoranda, but he also included observations, notes, and personal thoughts. Notes on interviews with well-known persons are often recorded, especially in the diary of September 1942-March 1943, which includes interviews with Cordell Hull, and foreign leaders including Alexander Louden of the Netherlands, Maxim Litvinoff of Russia, and Lord Halifax of the United Kingdom. There are also materials on an interview with Japanese Premier Kishi, a mimeographed report of a 1958 press conference conducted by President Chiang Kai-shek, notes on a 1958 conversation with Prince Norodom Sihanouk, and a 1964 conversation with Dwight Eisenhower.

Under the subject heading “Family” is correspondence exchanged between Martha and Cecil; exchanges with Brown's elderly parents Maurice and Jenny of Warren, Ohio; as well as Martha Brown's diaries (1939, 1949-1950), writings, and interviews. Cecil's letters to Martha are limited, but many document the period in 1941 after she returned to the United States for her safety.

Files about the Overseas Press Club (OPC) contain minutes, reports, and a small quantity of correspondence and administrative papers pertaining to 1957-1958, the year that he served as president. Another folder concerns the West Coast branch of OPC.

Brown's career at California Polytechnic is represented by correspondence related to fundraising; projects; and course outlines, examinations, handouts and notes for his popular American Civilization course.

The VISUAL MATERIALS date 1937-1981, and include prints, negatives, and transparencies, and open reel videotape. Many of the photographs were made by Brown while covering the news abroad and vacationing, 1937-1959. Brown's photography is an important part of the collection and it visually confirms his reputation for being on the spot at the right time. The bulk of the prints in the collection are in 17 albums arranged chronologically. The pre-war albums begin in 1937 and document his life in Rome and travels to Paris, Berlin, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. Brown shot many of the same types of images of buildings and street scenes photographed by most tourists but his work shows a special affinity for documenting street life and faces. Brown also photographed several events of historical interest including meetings between Hitler and Mussolini and between Nikita Khruschev and Sukarno, as well as conditions in pre-war Berlin and in Taiwan in 1950. Individuals who appear include Robert Kennedy, Douglas MacArthur, and Jack Paar. Additional prints include formal portraits of Brown, informal portraits of him at work, with his wife, and with various celebrities and people of prominence. The transparencies, dated 1957-1962 and 1980-1981, document Browns travels abroad including trips to India, the USSR, Korea and China. The negatives are for prints in the albums. Although many of the photographs and slides are numbered, suggesting that they may have been indexed and more fully described elsewhere, no such finding aid was received in the Archives.

The 2-inch open reel videotapes are dated from Brown's time in Los Angeles. Two of the videorecordings are labeled Comment. One of these is a June 13, 1967 program about violence; a second dated July 17, 1967 concerns race riots. The third videorecording is labeled KCET Los Angeles and is titled “In Focus” and is dated May 25, 1967. The Wisconsin Historical Society does not have the equipment to play 2-inch open reel videotapes so all information was taken from labels on the boxes.

Series: Speeches, Writings, and Broadcast Scripts

Articles

1938-1945

Asian tour, 1965

Miscellaneous, undated

Asia book notes, circa 1968

Cables, 1939-1942 February

Home Front White Paper, 1943

Memo to JFK, Brown's chapter about Japan

Notes for unidentified manuscript

Speeches

1942-1958

“Can Asia be Saved?” , 1960

1960-1983, undated

Speech notes, undated

Scripts

Radio

1940 January 10-1944

1945 February-1946 June

1946 July-1947 May

1947 May-1948 January 19

1948 January 20-October 18

1948 October 18 (continued)-1949 July 28

1948 July 6-1950 July 25

1950 July 26-1952 January

1952 February-August

1952 August (continued)-1953 March

1952 April-November 16

1953 November 17-1954 July 8

1954 July 8 (continued)-1955 January

1955 February-July

1955 August-1956 January

1956 February-August 23

1956 August 24-1947 April

1957 May-1958 March

1958 July 9-1964 January 24, undated

1955-1956 August 28

1956 August 29-December 28

, 1956 - Entry to Awards Committee of the OPC

1958 January 4-1962 January 5

TV Comment

1962 October 1-1963 July 31

1963 August 1-September 6

KNBC-TV Reports

1963 September 9-1964 March 6

News and Public Affairs, 1964 November

Comment

1964 March-1965 May

1965 June-1966 June

1966 July-1967 March

1967 April-July

Interviews

Comment & Perspective, 1966 January-July

Emphasis, 1960-1964

In Focus, 1966-1967

Citizens in Action, 1966-1967

Meet Your Public Servant, 1965-1966

Regional Report, 1965

Specials, 1964-1967

Talk Around the World, 1965

Audio Recordings

News of the World, with Mel Allen, 1941 May 1
Scope and Content Note: Made from Brown's report from Ankara, Turkey. He tells of eight days of fighting in Yugoslavia during the German invasion.

Report by Brown on national values and personal happiness on the occasion of his parents' 50th wedding anniversary, 1955
Note: Missing, 2011 June.

Interview with Brown at National Foreign Trade Convention, 1957
Scope and Content Note: Broadcast to Latin America.

Brown's NBC comments from Japan about the death of Marilyn Monroe, 1961

“The Story of Singapore,” 1942 February 11
Note: Missing, 2010.

Suez to Singapore

Drafts

Abridgements

Miscellaneous papers

Publicity

Reviews, Outgoing correspondence

“Vietnam, Land of the Dragon”

Draft

Notes

Miscellaneous writings

Series: Correspondence

1936-1966

1967-1987, undated

Series: Subject Files

ABC

Account books

Awards

General

DuPont Award album, 1965

California Polytechnic Outstanding Teacher nomination booklet, 1980

Biographical materials

Autobiographical sketch, 1941

Autobiographical notes and miscellaneous materials

Autobiographical notes and miscellaneous materials (continued)

“Then & Now,” interview with Brown, undated

Clipping scrapbooks

1935, 1937 (Volumes 1-8)

, 1941 July-1942 April (Volume 9)

1942-1943, Suez to Singapore publicity (Volume 10)

, 1942 May-1943 August (Volume 11)

, 1943-1944 “Second Tour” (Volume 12)

, 1944-1954 (Volumes 13-16)

Loose clippings, 1930s-1980s, undated

Book proposal

CBS

General, 1940-1943

Paper and letter, 1978

California Polytechnic University

Projects, 1983

General

Christmas cards from the Browns

Death, memorial book, and condolence letters, 1987

Diaries and observations

1939-1941 May

1941, Repulse rescue

1942-1943, 1958, 1970-1972, undated

Small format diaries

1941 April-1942 February

1949-1951

, 1951 (continued)

, 1954 (Europe)

, 1957 (Russia and Poland)

Employment, 1964

Encyclopedia Britannica and William Benton, 1967-1972

Engagement books, 1959-1964

Family

Genealogical notes

General family letters from Cecil Brown

Brown, Eugene

Brown, Jonathan

Brown, Martha

Cecil to Martha, 1931-1942

Martha to Cecil, 1941-1987

Interviews

Writings

Greeting cards

Diary, 1939, 1949-1950

General correspondence, 1941-1994

Clippings regarding social life, ARCs, etc.

Brown, Maurice and Jennie, 1962-1970

Miscellaneous family material, undated

Gang, Martin, 1966-1967

Finkelstein and Kingsley donations to California Polytechnic

Interviews

Itineraries, miscellaneous

Ivey & Ellington, 1944

Journalism degree, 1946-1965

KCET

KRCA/KNBC

Korea research

General

Coverage of the fall of Syngman Rhee, 1960 April-May
Note: In Korean/English-language newspapers (Korean Republic and Korea Times).

Lists and address book

Mutual Broadcasting System

Memorabilia

General

Chinese chops (seals), ivory

Ribbon printed with names

Mutual Broadcasting System-Publicity

NBC, 1958-1966, undated

Notes

Burma, Laos, Cambodia

Singapore

Unidentified

Overseas Press Corps

Far West Region, 1974-1976

1957-1958

Miscellaneous papers

Fess Parker/Caesar script

Passports

Pope, Background, 1938

Radio proposals, 1947

Reel recorder, 1949-1951

Repulse

Notes

Script, 1967

Lt. W.G. Chapple's diary

This is Your Life appearance with survivor Eamonn Andrews, 1961

Suez to Singapore, Random House and Bennett Cerf, 1942-1969

State Historical Society of Wisconsin

“Short snorter”

Sabena inaugural flight, 1957

Teaching

General, 1972-1979

Evaluations

Handouts

Notes, 1970-1972

Travel, miscellaneous papers

Television report for Encyclopedia Britannica

TV program ideas

USSR article research

Series: Visual Materials

Print Albums

Italy, Mussolini and Hitler, Honeymoon, 1937-1939

European travel, 1937-1938

North Africa, 1938

Rome, 1939

Rome, 1939

Tunis, Italy, 1939-1940

Italian travel and friends, 1940

Mexico, Bermuda, New York City, 1943-1944

England, 1947 and Korea, , 1951

Europe, Israel, Formosa, 1949-1950

World tour, 1951

Europe, Russia, Poland (Sabena tour), 1957

South East Asia, Korea, 1958, 1961-1962

Social life in Japan; travel to Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, 1958, 1962, 1968

Japan, 1959

Miscellaneous photographs from travels

Prints [loose] from albums

European travel, 1937-1938

North Africa, 1938

Rome, 1939

Tunis, Italy, 1939-1940

Mexico, Bermuda, New York City, 1943-1944

England, 1947 and Korea, , 1951

Europe, Israel, Formosa, 1949-1950

World tour, 1951

Europe, Russia, Poland (Sabena tour), 1957

South East Asia, Korea, 1958, 1961-1962

Social life in Japan; travel to Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, 1958, 1962, 1968

Japan, 1959

Miscellaneous photographs from travels

Cecil Brown

Portraits

Oversize

At work

Snapshots

At home

In North Africa

And Chiang Kai-shek, 1951

And NBC executives

And prominent people/personalities

And groups

Martha Brown

Oversize

Cecil Brown and Martha Brown

Oversize portraits

Brown Family

David Sarnoff oversize portrait

Japan

Hawaii

Korean War, 1951

Overseas Press Club, Harry Truman and Hubert Humphrey

Repulse

Russia, 1957

This is Your Life appearance, 1961

Miscellaneous subjects

Transparencies

Chiang Kai-shek and Nationalist Chinese army, 1950

1951

Turkey

India

Korea, Kashmir

1957

Moscow, USSR

USSR

1958

Formosa

December

Singapore

[Taiwan or Thailand]

1959

Japan

India

Tibet

1960

Java, Sukarno and Khrushchev

Unknown location

April

September

November

1961

January

March, July including USS Coral Sea

October, MacArthur in Philippines

1962

March, Robert Kennedy in Asia

Unknown location

1980, 1981

Tokyo house

Negatives

Album 1

Album 2

Album 3

Album 4

Album 10

Album 11

Miscellaneous

Videorecordings
Physical Description: 2-inch open-reel videotapes 
Access Restrictions: The Wisconsin Historical Society does not have the equipment needed to play these recordings.

In Focus #23, 1967 May

Comment

#559, 1967 June 13

#582, 1967 July 7