Frederick Lewis Allen Papers
Catalog Record: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm78010470
General International Standard for Archival Description
Manuscript Division Library of Congress Washington, D.C.
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2008
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Frederick Lewis Allen Papers 1890-1954 (bulk 1933-1954)
Allen, Frederick Lewis
Biographical History for: Frederick Lewis Allen Papers 1890-1954 (bulk 1933-1954)
Biographical Note Date Event 1890, July 5 Born, Boston, Mass. 1912 B. A., Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 1912-1914 English instructor, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 1913 M. A., Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 1914-1916 Assistant editor, Atlantic Monthly 1916-1917 Managing editor, Century Magazine 1918 Married Dorothy Penrose (died 1930) 1918-1919 Member, Council of National Defense 1919-1923 Secretary to Harvard Corporation, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 1923-1931 Assistant editor, Harper's Magazine 1931 Published Only Yesterday. New York: Harper & Brothers 1931-1941 Associate editor, Harper's Magazine 1932 Married Agnes Rogers Hyde 1933 Published with Agnes Rogers Allen The American Procession. New York: Harper & Brothers 1934 Published with Agnes Rogers Allen Metropolis. New York: Harper & Brothers 1935 Published The Lords of Creation. New York: Harper & Brothers 1937-1944 Trustee, Bennington College, Bennington, Vt. 1940 Published Since Yesterday. New York: Harper 1941-1953 Editor-in-chief, Harper's Magazine 1942-1948 Overseer, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 1945-1950 Director, Foreign Policy Association 1947 Published I Remember Distinctly. New York: Harper 1949 Published The Great Pierpont Morgan. New York: Harper 1950-1954 Overseer, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 1952 Published The Big Change. New York: Harper 1954, Feb. 13 Died, New York, N.Y.
Scope and Content Note The papers of Frederick Lewis Allen span the years 1890-1954, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1933-1954. The papers are organized in five series: Diaries, Date Books, and Biographical Material; General Correspondence; Subject File; Literary File; and an Addition. The Diaries, Date Books, and Biographical Material series covers the years 1933-1954 and includes diaries kept by Allen during visits to London in 1943 and to San Francisco in 1945. The bulk of the General Correspondence focuses on the period 1945-1954 and includes letters written on a weekly basis by Allen to his sister, Hildegarde Allen. Correspondence relating to a particular literary work is kept with other papers related to that work in the Literary File. Prominent correspondents include James Bryant Conant, Vera Micheles Dean, Bernard Augustine DeVoto, Gilbert Highet, Walter Lippmann, Laurence McKinney, Milo Perkins, George Pfeiffer, DeWitt Wallace, and W. S. Zuill. Included in the Subject File is material related to Allen's term as a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University, 1942-1948; his work with the Foreign Policy Association; and his speech to the National Publishers' Association in 1947 on the "closed mind" of journalists regarding American industry. The Literary File contains manuscripts and notes related to Allen's writings, including popular social histories of the United States such as Only Yesterday and The Big Change, March of Time movie scripts about the 1920s, biographies, magazine articles, speeches, and other short works. The Addition, consisting of material added to the papers in 1978, 1983, and 1996, supplements the original collection. A travel journal documenting Allen's trip to Great Britain in 1953 was added in 1996.
series
Diaries, Date Books, and Biographical Material, 1933-1954
Pocket diaries, travel journals, and biographical sketches.
file
Biographical file, circa 1942-1954
Diaries
England, 1943
San Francisco, Calif., 1945
Pocket diaries, 1933-1954
General Correspondence, 1913-1954
Letters sent and received.
1953-1954, undated
Subject File, 1946-1952
Correspondence, memoranda, reports, and topical files.
Foreign Policy Association
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
Literary File, 1930-1953
Drafts of books, magazine articles, speeches, scripts, and miscellaneous works.
Articles
"Bermuda Base"
"Drafting This Army"
Life articles
Miscellaneous short works
Published articles by Allen
Review of Whitaker Chambers's Witness
Woman's Home Companion articles
Books
The American Procession
The Big Change
The Great Pierpont Morgan
I Remember Distinctly
Lords of Creation
Metropolis
Only Yesterday
Since Yesterday
Unpublished
"The American Tradition"
Roosevelt, Franklin D., notes and other material for an uncompleted book
Documentary films and radio and television programs
"Golden Twenties," documentary film
Ford television program
General plans for "Cowboys" radio program
Memorandum re possible subjects for a television series
Radio script of interview with Allen re Harper's Magazine's one hundred years of publication
Harper's Magazine file
Miscellany
Speeches and conferences
"Closed Mind," correspondence re speech on journalism and industry
"Economic Security: A Look Back And A Look Ahead," Economic Security for Americans, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.
Addition, 1890-1954
Journals, correspondence, writings, notes, printed matter, and clippings.
Journals
Journal about Allen as a baby by his father, Frederick B. Allen, 1890-1893
Travel journals
Trip to Great Britain, 1953
"Thomas Jefferson Book: Notes on How To Be More Like Thomas Jefferson," kept by Allen and Agnes Rogers Allen during trip from Scarsdale, N.Y., to Chapel Hill, N.C., 1936
General correspondence
1936-1954, undated
Writings
The Big Change drafts
Chapters 1-5
Chapters 6-18
Foreword, notes, research material
Short works and notes
Chronology of the 1930s and notes used for Since Yesterday
"Last Time and This Time: Postwar Eras I and II"
"President Ell"
"Three Years of It: America at War, 1941-1944"
"The State of the States"
"The Transformation of Suburbia"
"The Suburban Crisis"
"Who's Getting the Money?"
Book contracts
Printed matter
Clippings