Coverage in the McGurn Papers is best for his later years with the
New York Herald Tribune and his two terms as president
of the Overseas Press Club. The papers are divided into five series:
general; notebooks and notes; books and other writings; New York
Herald Tribune; and Overseas Press Club.
The GENERAL series contains biographical information,
correspondence, memos, speeches and other public presentations,
presentations over radio and television, and news articles and related
miscellany about McGurn. The NOTEBOOKS AND NOTES series is arranged by
subject (mostly by foreign country, though there is material on the
labor leader David Dubinsky, Flatbush, New York, and miscellaneous
subjects). The BOOKS AND OTHER WRITINGS series contains a final draft
of Decade in Europe and a published copy of A
Reporter Looks at the Vatican; there is also a review and
miscellany concerning the latter. Also, included in this series are
copies of articles that McGurn wrote for various periodicals, most of
which are final drafts.
The NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE series has a few of
McGurn's dispatches from Rome, Paris, and Moscow. Material from his
years in Italy contains reports from a Vatican “tipster,” a
transcript of an interview with an Italian Foreign Minister (1960), and
some cables and dispatches. The balance of the series holds a good deal
more documentation. There are two questionnaires concerning the
direction of the ecumenical movement after the death of Pope John XXIII
which served as the basis for a 1964 series of New York Herald
Tribune articles by McGurn. There is a significant amount of
documentation of McGurn's research for the “New York City in
Crisis” series, e.g. surveys of problems and solutions, lists of
appointments, and transcripts of interviews. In addition, there are final drafts of
articles written for the New York Herald Tribune, 1962-
1966. More than half of the articles are arranged by subject; the
balance are either miscellaneous (arranged by date), undated, or
fragmentary.
The OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB series documents McGurn's two terms as club president. Contained here are correspondence, memos, reports, minutes,
and financial data. There are significant materials on McGurn's
presidential campaigns and his concern for constitutional and fiscal
changes in club operations, as well as final drafts of his column in
the club Bulletin.
