Bruce Barton papers, 1881-1967

Author / Creator

Barton, Bruce, 1886-1967

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Summary

Papers of Bruce Barton, an author, politician, and chairman of the board of the advertising agency Batten, Barton, Durstine, and Osborn. Voluminous correspondence, which divides into general, clien...

Papers of Bruce Barton, an author, politician, and chairman of the board of the advertising agency Batten, Barton, Durstine, and Osborn. Voluminous correspondence, which divides into general, client, and literary categories, reflects Barton's wide-ranging interests in politics, religion, advertising, business, literature, and philanthropy. As an indication of the scope of his political correspondence, there are letters from every President and every Republican Presidential candidate of the mid-twentieth century. Of special interest are the files for Calvin Coolidge, Thomas E. Dewey, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Herbert Hoover, and Wendell L. Willkie. There is, however, little material pertaining to Barton's own congressional career.

Correspondence relating to advertising may be found chiefly in client files. Although he seldom took an active part in an advertising campaign during the period best represented in the papers (1947-1957), there are informative files on the American Tobacco Co., Du Pont, General Electric, General Mills, New York Telephone, United Fruit, and United States Steel. Literary correspondence includes exchanges with editors and publishers as well as with the readers of his many articles, editorials, and books.

Prominent correspondents include Bernard Baruch, Charles A. Beard, William Benton, H. Styles Bridges, Herbert Brownell, Norman Cousins, Cecil B. DeMille, Allen W. Dulles, John Foster Dulles, Ralph E. Flanders, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Barry Goldwater, Charles A. Halleck, Carl T. Hayden, Will H. Hayes, Christian A. Herter, Jr., Roy W. Howard, William E. Jenner, Hans V. Kaltenborn, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Charles F. Kettering, Alfred M. Landon, Jesse Lasky, John V. Lindsay, Walter Lippmann, Clare Booth and Henry R. Luce, Joseph W. Martin, Jr., H.L. Mencken, Raymond Moley, Wayne L. Morse, Richard M. Nixon, Arthur W. Page, Norman Vincent Peale, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dean Rusk, Eric Sevareid, Upton Sinclair, George E. Sokolsky, Harold E. Stassen, Robert A. Taft, Arthur H. Vandenburg, Henry A. Wallace, Walter Wanger, Earl Warren, Woodrow Wilson, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

The papers contain a nearly-complete set of Barton's political and religious articles and addresses, either as drafts or in printed form. In terms of bulk, writings for Advertising and Selling, American Magazine, Collier's, Good Housekeeping, King Features Syndicate, Look, McClure Newspaper Service, Metropolitan Newspaper Service, New York American, New York Herald-Tribune, Printers' Ink, Reader's Digest, Redbook, and Woman's Home Companion are especially well represented. Of his books, the papers contain only a few notes and sketchy drafts, although there are extensive files on two unpublished works. Also included are manuscripts for a play and several motion pictures, none of which were produced; speeches; and miscellaneous notes.

Also part of the collection are the papers of Barton's father, William E. Barton, a Lincoln authority; writings by his daughter, Betsey Barton; recordings; several diaries; photographs; and miscellaneous promotional material.

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