The Warren Moscow papers are useful primarily for the insights they offer to the politics and politicians he covered during the 1940's and early 1950's. There is considerable material related to his activities in New York City government, but only fragmentary documentation of his early career and his activities after 1961. The collection consists chiefly of correspondence,
reminiscenses, articles, and speeches. There are also small amounts of clippings, reviews, and printed matter.
The CORRESPONDENCE includes many letters congratulating Moscow on the 1948 publication of Politics in the Empire State. Among the prominent correspondents are Warren Burger, Alfred A. Knopf, Herbert Lehman, Robert Moses, and Richard Rovere. However, few made substantive comments. Letters from Herbert Bayard Swope (August 17, 1948) and Alfred M. Landon (January 14, 1949) are exceptions; they contain political recollections related to Moscow's book. Most other letters discuss literary and business transactions. The collection includes a small number of letters written by Moscow, some with biographical information.
Two REMINISCENSES transcribed from interviews with Moscow (1950 and ca. 1952) are included in the collection. Both are indexed by subject, although part of the 1950 index is missing. Moscow's reminiscenses contain a limited amount of biographical data but consist primarily of political recollections. Subjects covered in detail are the New York mayoral campaign of 1950, corruption in city government, Thomas E. Dewey, and the 1952 Democratic national convention.
The largest portion of the collection is composed of Moscow's ARTICLES AND SPEECHES. The unpublished writings are divided into four categories: articles and fragments; speeches; reports; and Consolidated Edison and New York. Articles and fragments contains an early analysis of Thomas E. Dewey (1941) and other political articles. It also includes a piece (ca. 1962) to be published under New York Mayor Robert F. Wagner's name during a period when Moscow wrote little under his own name. Speeches date from his years as Wagner's aide (1952-1961), as do one set of reports. The reports deal with various aspects of city government such as administration, personnel, and community relations, and are filed alphabetically by subject. A second set of reports, written while Moscow was employed as a consultant to the Twentieth Century Fund, covers the Nelson A. Rockefeller gubernatorial campaign of 1966 and the Rockefeller and Hubert H. Humphrey campaigns for the presidential nomination in 1968. Consolidated Edison and New York folders contain an untitled company-commissioned history (1957-1958) of this utility company. A small number of published articles and speeches, dating from the 1940's through the 1960's, deal with local and state politics.
In the section CLIPPINGS AND REVIEWS are reviews of Politics in the Empire State, editorial commentaries, and articles mentioning Moscow. Several contain photographs of him. PRINTED MATTER contains a handbook for Democratic campaign workers prepared by the Democratic State Committee of New York in 1950.
