Call Number:

MC082

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers

Extent:

• 4 boxes
• 1 folder

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Peggy Lamson Collection on Roger Baldwin, Box and Folder Number; Public Policy Papers, Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1917-1976 (inclusive) and 1973-1976 (bulk)

Creator:

Lamson, Peggy, 1912-

Form:

Audio cassettes., Interviews., Letters., and Memorandums.

Abstract:

This collection contains interview transcripts, cassette tapes, and background material collected by Peggy Lamson for her authorized biography, Roger Baldwin, Founder of the American Civil Liberties Union: A Portrait. Much of the background material was provided, and in some cases annotated, by Baldwin and documents both his professional and personal life.

Peggy Lamson was a neighbor and friend of Roger Baldwin and the author of several books on history, women in politics, and economics. She also authored two plays and numerous articles. In the early 1970s, she began working on an authorized biography of Baldwin which culminated in a series of interviews conducted in 1973. From these conversations, as well as significant background material that Baldwin provided and annotated, she wrote Roger Baldwin, Founder of the American Civil Liberties Union: A Portrait, published in 1976.

This collection consists of letters, original documents, photocopies of documents, and articles, detailing Roger Baldwin's life and career, as well as correspondence and memoranda relating to Lamson's work on Baldwin's biography. The collection also contains the audio cassette tapes and transcripts from Lamson's interviews with Baldwin conducted in 1973. Included is an index of the subject matter contained on each of the thirty-eight tapes in the collection. There are 36 tapes from the Lamson-Baldwin interviews and two other cassette tapes recorded by Baldwin and later given to Lamson.

The background material includes correspondence between Lamson and her various sources for the book, including Baldwin. These detail the progression of the writing process and the dialogue between Lamson and Baldwin. Notes to Baldwin's secretaries and lawyers, as well as to his friends and family, document Lamson's additional research. There are also copies of Baldwin's personal correspondence prior to 1973. These include letters with collegues, his aunt, and his first wife, Madeline Doty.

The collection also contains a series of memoranda composed by Baldwin discussing his work, his personal life, and his beliefs. These were written exclusively for Lamson and describe everything from his opinions on racism to his feelings about various love affairs. A number of these memoranda are devoted to reminiscences on specific collegues and friends. There are also newspaper and magazine articles pertaining to Baldwin as a public figure at several stages during his career and copies of miscellaneous documents. This latter category includes several Harvard class reports, poetry written by Baldwin while he was in prison, and a few official documents, for example a statement by ACLU board members in response to Baldwin's prosecution in 1923.