Part 1 (U.S. Mss 115AF, Audio 1182A, PH 3682, AC 274-AC 275, AE 354, CA 901, DD 401): Original Collection, circa 1950-2005 (bulk 1956-1982)
Physical Description: 8.6 cubic feet (20 archives boxes and 1 record center carton), 70 tape recordings, 4 compact discs, 5 films, 103 photographs and 5 negatives 
Scope and Content Note

The original collection of the Robert MacNeil Papers, circa 1950-2005 (mostly 1956-1982), reflect the early career of a journalist who helped to shape news broadcasting on public television into a mature alternative to the commercial networks. This part of his papers consist of biographical material, scripts, viewer mail, drafts of two of his books The People Machine: The Influence of Television on American Politics (1968) and an autobiography In the Right Place at the Right Time (1982), and other speeches and writings, and files on various segments of his career in broadcast journalism. Also included are some files collected by Jim Lehrer concerning the crisis between PBS and the Nixon Administration during the 1970s. Of special importance are the files on MacNeil's reporting on the Kennedy assassination, the Goldwater presidential campaign and the Watergate hearings. Many of the files are supplemented by handwritten notes, memoranda and research information. From MacNeil's NBC work there are tape recordings of several stories. Material on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour is limited in this part; see other parts in the collection for more material on this program.

This part is divided into five series: BIOGRAPHICAL AND PERSONAL MATERIAL, WRITINGS AND ADDRESSES, BROADCAST JOURNALISM, AUDIO RECORDINGS and VISUAL MATERIALS.

The BIOGRAPHICAL AND PERSONAL MATERIAL consists of personal correspondence, information on awards, memorabilia, and numerous biographical clippings.

The WRITINGS AND ADDRESSES series consist of speeches, related correspondence, testimony before the Presidential Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence (1968), correspondence, notes, and variant drafts of two of his books: The People Machine (1968), which analyzed the influence of television upon the electorate, and the autobiographical In the Right Place at the Right Time (1982).

The BROADCAST JOURNALISM files have been organized to reflect MacNeil's periods of employment with Reuters and the CBC (1956-1960), the BBC (1967-1971; 1973-1975), and PBS (1968-1973; 1975-1980s). The Reuters file consists of a style manual and a run of notes and memoranda for correspondents in the field. MacNeil's stringer work for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is documented by scripts; however, other papers relating to MacNeil's early career in Canada are not represented in this part.

MacNeil's days as an NBC News roving foreign correspondent are represented by an extensive file of radio and television scripts (often supplemented by notes, memoranda, and other related material) and viewer correspondence concerning the broadcasting of news programs and special assignments. Of special note is an extensive quantity of material resulting from his presence in Dallas at the time of President Kennedy's assassination. Coverage of the Goldwater presidential campaign is also extensively documented. A number of his NBC stories are also documented by tape recordings.

MacNeil was twice employed by the BBC. During the earlier period (1967-1971) he covered events on both sides of the Atlantic as a reporter for the innovative Panorama program. During the latter period (1973-1975) MacNeil was based in the U.S. with the greater part of his work involving programs centered on Watergate and President Nixon. Script material and a small amount of correspondence provide the documentation of this work.

MacNeil's first involvement with public television in the United States occurred in 1968 when he served as a London-based correspondent and interviewer for the Public Broadcasting Laboratory's The Whole World Is Watching. Included are many tape transcripts and other reference material concerning the election coverage of the major American networks. Over the next two years MacNeil contributed to the PBL in the form of reports from London for International Magazine. In 1971 MacNeil was hired as a senior correspondent for the newly incorporated National Public Affairs Center for Television (NPACT). For this period in his career scripts and related material, as well as viewer correspondence, are included for A Public Affair/Election 1972, Washington Week in Review, and America '73.

Also included is a file entitled "The Fight" gathered by his NewsHour co-anchor Jim Lehrer concerning the extended funding controversy between public broadcasting and the Nixon Administration. This detailed file consists of station messages, staff correspondence, memoranda, reports, and speeches. Documenting MacNeil's return to public broadcasting to develop his own news program are memoranda from an early staff planning session, publicity, and a small amount of script material. Transcripts of virtually all of the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour programs are available on microfilm in the Historical Society Library.

The AUDIO RECORDINGS series contains works from his early career as a disc jockey and in radio drama; work at NBC in the early 1960s; speeches by MacNeil; and radio interviews about MacNeil's books (1986-2005) including The Story of English, Do you Speak American?, Burden of Desire and Wordstruck. Also includes: a recording of a New York Public Library Literary Luncheon on the topic of “Two Sexes Divided by the Same Language” in which MacNeil appeared on the panel with Sally Quinn, Liz Smith and Erica Jong; as well as an audio letter from a fan.

The VISUAL MATERIALS series consists of photographs related to MacNeil's network and public television career. The photographs include portraits of the National Public Affairs Center for Television staff as well as promotional images of MacNeil related to television programs, his writings and honorary events. See other parts of the collection for other photographs and videos relating to MacNeil's career.

Series: Biographical and Personal Material

Correspondence, 1964-1980

Financial records, 1966-1972

Awards, 1967-1977

Memorabilia and miscellaneous notes, undated

Biographical clippings

Series: Writings and Addresses

Invitations, 1967-1973

Speeches, lectures, articles

1967-1973

1976-1980

Testimony before the Presidential Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, 1968

Books

Proposed Goldwater book: correspondence and outline, 1964

The People Machine, 1968

Correspondence

Pre-publication, 1967

Post-publication, 1968-1970

Editor and agent

U.S. edition, 1967-1971

British edition, 1969-1971

Publicity and reviews, 1968

Draft material, 1967

Initial outline and proposal

Early notes

Early draft, Chapters, 2, 6, 7

Draft fragments

Later draft, Chapters 1, 3-12

Typesetting draft

Page proofs

Notes and research

British edition preface and post-script

In the Right Place, 1982

Correspondence, publicity, and reviews

Draft material, 1981

Outline

Initial draft

Draft chapters, through 1981 September

Draft revisions, as of 1981 September 14

Draft revisions, as of 1981 November 26

Typesetter's draft

Chapter notes

Series: Broadcast Journalism

Reuters

UN Conference, Tangiers, 1960

Style manual, memoranda and notes to correspondents, 1956-1959

CBC scripts, 1958-1961, 1970

WOR (New York) scripts, 1959-1960

NBC
Note: See also Audio 1182A/3-12.

Staff memoranda and correspondence, 1960-1967

Viewer correspondence, 1962-1967

Scripts and related material

General news and special reports

Radio, 1960-1964

TV, 1961-1967

Titled programs

Brinkley Report/Emphasis, 1966-1967

Chancellor commentary, 1963

Emphasis, 1961-1967

Huntley-Brinkley, 1963-1965

Monitor, 1962-1965

Ring Around the World, 1961-1964

Situation Report, 1963-1963

Today, 1961-1963

Weekend Report, 1962-1964

Special assignment coverage

Cuba, 1962

Helsinki Youth Festival, 1962 July-August

Portugal/Portugese South Africa, 1962

Mississippi/Alabama, 1962-1963

Kennedy assassination and Oswald, 1963

Goldwater campaign, 1963-64

British Guiana, 1964

Mideast, 1966

Governors' races, 1966

BBC

Correspondence (viewer and general), 1968-1973

Panorama, general scripts and related material

1967-1973

1973-1975, undated

Public Television

Public Broadcasting Laboratory (PBL)

The Whole World is Watching, 1968

Publicity, staff memoranda, correspondence

Interview tape transcripts

Edited segments

Election night news transcripts and analysis

International Magazine scripts and related materials, 1969-1970

National Public Affairs Center for Television (NPACT)

Viewer correspondence, 1972-1973

Staff memoranda and correspondence, 1971-1972

Publicity and public relations, 1971-1973

A Public Affair/Election '72 scripts and related materials, 1971-1973

America '73 scripts and related materials, 1973
Note: Shows 1-12/8 missing.

Washington Week in Review scripts, 1972-1973

Watergate hearings

Scripts, 1973 May 16-August 8

Notes

1973 June 5-July 31

1973 August 1-7

Miscellaneous material

Lehrer files: “The Fight”

General correspondence, 1972-1973

Station messages (“DACS”), 1972-1973

Apollo 17 Mission (NASA), 1972

Organization files

Notes, undated

Addresses and reports, 1971-1973

Chronology, 1969-1974

PBS

MacNeil/Lehrer Report

Scripts, notes, and related material, 1977-1980

Staff planning: Tarrytown meeting, 1976

Alexander Haig file, circa 1978

Publicity and public relations, 1976-1980s

Indexes/Abstracts, 1975-1976, 1979

Miscellaneous files

Global Television Productions (Canada), 1973-1979

International Broadcast Institute by-laws, membership correspondence, research materials

BBC handbook for coverage of 1970 elections

Series: Audio Recordings

Early career
Arrangement of the Materials: Chronologically

MacNeil as disc jockey on CJCH Halifax; reading Oscar Wilde poem on Your Poetry Corner, 1950s

Saga of the Citizen / radio drama by Irwin Muss, directed by MacNeil, aired by CFRA, 1950s

Audio recordings from work on NBC

MacNeil's telephone report on Bevan's funeral, 1960 July 8

MacNeil's report on Gaitskill's death, 1963 February 19

Weekend Report, 1963 August 4
Scope and Content Note: With MacNeil as anchor; also reports from Moscow, Korea, Washington, D.C., and London.

Weekend Report, 1963 August 11
Scope and Content Note: With MacNeil as anchor; also reports from West Germany, Moscow, Tokyo, and Brussels.

Weekend Report, 1963 October 20
Scope and Content Note: With MacNeil as anchor. Also reports from Berlin, London, Algiers, and Washington, D.C.

Weekend Report, 1963 October 27
Scope and Content Note: With MacNeil as anchor. Also reports from Berlin and Paris and an Edwin Newman essay.

News on the Hour, 1965 December 21
Scope and Content Note: With MacNeil as anchor, and reports from Santo Domingo and London.

Weekend Report, between 1962? and 1964?
Scope and Content Note: With MacNeil as anchor and reports from Saigon, Rio de Janeiro, Bulgaria, and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Monitor, circa 1961?
Scope and Content Note: Interview with James Thurber.

Unidentified program, between 1960? and 1962?
Scope and Content Note: MacNeil covering the Algerian revolution.

Miscellaneous Audio Recordings
Scope and Content Note: Contains: speeches by MacNeil; and radio interviews about MacNeil’s books (1986-2005) including The Story of English, Do you Speak American?, Burden of Desire and Wordstruck. Also includes a recording of a New York Public Library Literary Luncheon on the topic of “Two Sexes Divided by the Same Language” in which MacNeil appeared on the panel with Sally Quinn, Liz Smith and Erica Jong.

Huntley-Brinkley: A Time to Keep, 1965

Robert MacNeil before the Consumer Assembly, 1973
Scope and Content Note: “The Threat to Public Television”

Eulogy to A.F. Tegen by Robert MacNeil, 1977 September 20

“Edward and Mrs. Simpson,” Mobil Showcase, circa 1980

Robert MacNeil, 1986 January 9
Scope and Content Note: America’s Front Page series at 92nd Street Y, New York City, topic “TV News.”

Robert MacNeil, KOAP Radio, City Club of Portland, 1986 May 16

Two interviews with Robert MacNeil, 1986 October 8, 1989 May 7

Robin Radio (BBC) The Story of English, 1986 October

American Focus interview, Jim Lehrer, 1988 September 18
Note: Also includes recording from December 2-3, 1989.

Tom Snyder interviews Robert MacNeil, 1988 December 25

Larry King Show, 1988
Physical Description: 2 tapes 
Scope and Content Note: The Way We Were: The Year Kennedy Was Shot

WMCA Travel Show, 1989 January 7

Studs Turkel interviews Robert MacNeil, 1989 March 23
Scope and Content Note: Wordstruck

Howard Cosell, Speaking of Everything, 1989 April 8
Scope and Content Note: Interview about Wordstruck.

All About Books, KPFK, 1989 April 15
Scope and Content Note: Wordstruck

ALA Author Award Luncheon, Dallas, Texas, 1989 June

American Focus interview with Robert MacNeil, 1989 December 2-3
Note: Also includes recording from September 18, 1988.

Ten Years with Maggie, 1989
Physical Description: 2 tapes 
Scope and Content Note: Margaret Thatcher satire from the BBC.

Radio interview, circa 1989
Scope and Content Note: Wordstruck

Politics and the Pen, Ottawa, Canada, 1990 January 24

Public Radio Book Show #99, 1990 June 3
Scope and Content Note: WAMC Tom Smith, host, Wordstruck.

Paul White Award Banquet, 1990 September 27
Scope and Content Note: With Jim Lehrer.

Phone interview with MacNeil, circa 1990

Lee Rogers interview, 1991 August 9

National Catholic Education Association Convention, circa 1991
Scope and Content Note: Robert MacNeil, “Education of the Cold War.”

Book and Author Breakfast, 1991 Neba Trade Show, MacNeil and Barry, 1991

Robert MacNeil, Daughters of the American Revolution, 1992 March 11

All About Books, KPFK, 1992 April 4
Scope and Content Note: Burden of Desire.

Literary Luncheon, 1992 April 16
Scope and Content Note: New York Public Library “Two Sexes Divided by the Same Language” Panel includes Robert MacNeil, Sally Quinn, Liz Smith, and Erica Jong

CBC Radio adaptation of Burden of Desire, circa 1992
Physical Description: 2 tapes 

Deborah Norville from Her Home to Yours: Robert MacNeil, circa 1992

Ford Hall Forum, Robert MacNeil, 1994 March 10

Robert MacNeil, International Reading Association, Toronto Convention, 1994 May

Robert MacNeil interviewed about Jasper Johns’ MacDowell Medal, 1994

As It Happens, interview, 1995 October 19

Robert MacNeil call-in show, 1995 November 2

Diane Rehm, The Voyage, 1995 October 23

Robert MacNeil, 1995 November 15

Conservator’s Forum, 1996 November 14
Scope and Content Note: Impact of the media on the 1996 presidential campaign.

Robert MacNeil Symphony, 1997 March 26
Scope and Content Note: Includes “Why Don’t You Dance?” and “Curtain of Green.”

Robert MacNeil with Peter Gzowski, Morningside, CBC, 1997 May 16

Diane Rehm, Breaking News, 1998 October 21

Alan Colmes Show, 1998 October 27

Carl Angeloff, Bottom Line, 1998 December 12

Radio Japan, Newsround, circa 1998

Mordecai Richler Tribute, International Festival of Authors, Toronto Harbourfront Festival, 2000 October 18

Fishko: Kennedy, 2001 November 16
Physical Description: Compact disc 

Diane Rehm Show, 2003 May 20

Forum: MacNeil, 2003 June 26
Physical Description: Compact disc 

Survival Kit with Leonard Lopate, 2003 September 28
Physical Description: Compact disc 

Diane Rehm Show: Do You Speak American?, 2005 January 12

Sun Valley Writer’s Conference, 2005 August
Physical Description: Compact disc 
Scope and Content Note: Do You Speak American?

Milt Rosenberg, Extension 720, 2005 February 3
Scope and Content Note: WGN Radio, Chicago.

Wisconsin Public Radio Ideas Network, circa 2005
Scope and Content Note: Joy Cardin interviews Robert MacNeil about Do You Speak American?

Theme music from MacNeil Report and MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

Robert MacNeil Report themes, undated
Physical Description: 5-inch open reel 
Scope and Content Note: Includes variations such as “rock version.”

Opening and long credit music, MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, undated

Transitions MacNeil/Lehrer closing theme music, undated
Physical Description: 2 tapes 

Hoffer MacNeil/Lehrer variations, undated

Correspondence / Fan Mail

Audio letter from Ruth Seeber of Lousville, Colorado, undated
Scope and Content Note: From Seeber who has lost her sight due to macular degeneration. She thanks MacNeil for the joy his book Wordstruck has given her.

Series: Visual Materials
Scope and Content Note: Photographs related to the network and public television career of Robert MacNeil. The photographs include portraits of the National Public Affairs Center for Television staff as well as promotional images of MacNeil related to television programs, his writings and honorary events. See other parts of the collection for other photographs and videos relating to MacNeil's career.

Photographs

MacNeil and Lehrer, America '73

Promotional shots for NBC

Honolulu

MacNeil Lehrer interns, 1991-1995

Commencements

MacNeil

Gannett Center for Media Studies

National Public Affairs Center for Television (NPACT)

MacNeil and interviewees

New York Board of Trade Award Banquet for Walter Cronkite

MacNeil/Lehrer show

Color photographs

United Nations

Foreign Policy Association, 1980

Negatives

Films (16 mm)

This Is NBC News, 1961 September 16

Today Show - Biddy Early, 1962 January 5

This Is NBC News: Sulthorpe, England, circa 1962
Scope and Content Note: On phasing out of the United States Air Force Base at Sculthorpe, adn the relationship between the Americans stationed there and the local English.

New York Scenes: Scherer-MacNeil, circa 1967
Scope and Content Note: Scenes of a mother and her infant child.