HISTORY/JOURN 560: History of U.S. Media - Archives Intro (Fall 2024) : Physical Archives

The Wisconsin Historical Society initiated the Mass Communications History Collections to document the importance of the mass media in contemporary American life. The program began in 1955 with the acquisition of the papers of H.V. Kaltenborn, noted American radio news commentator. Since then the Society has collected the papers of many other significant individuals, corporations, and professional organizations in the area of mass communications. Today, the Mass Communications History Collections attract scholars from throughout the United States and abroad who find these outstanding resources vital to their work.

To find all these collections and more, use the Library Catalog.

Advertising and Public Relations Collections

The Historical Society’s advertising and public relations collections provide important source materials for the study of American culture, consumer trends, marketing and product development, politics, and public opinion down to the present day. These collections include the papers of industry leaders, and the records of agencies and professional organizations. These include:

• The Papers of Bruce Barton, chairman of the BBDO advertising agency and confidant to every Republican presidential candidate from Coolidge to Eisenhower, and Rosser Reeves, creator of the first television commercials for a presidential candidate.
• The creative work of the successful advertising agency, Foote, Cone & Belding, Inc. and its predecessor Lord & Thomas, is reflected in an extensive collection dating from 1916.
• The Papers of John W. Hill, founder and chairman of Hill & Knowlton, detail the rise of one of the world’s largest public relations agencies. 
• The records of the Public Relations Society of America document the history of public relations in America through the activities of the industry’s most important professional organization.

Print and Broadcast Journalism Collections

The papers of journalists, editors, producers, news anchors, and news organizations are among the best known collections at the Historical Society, such as:

• The corporate records of the nation’s oldest network, the National Broadcasting Company.
• The origins of public television can be explored in the records of National Educational Television.
• Researchers interested in studying broadcast regulation have access to the papers of Newton Minow and several other FCC commissioners and chairmen.
• Fine collections document the careers of broadcast journalists such as David Brinkley, Chet Huntley, Robert MacNeil, and Howard K. Smith, pioneering NBC News broadcast executive Sylvester ‘Pat’ Weaver, and producer and television host David Susskind.
• Excellent print journalism collections include the Papers of Roland Evans and Robert D. Novak; foreign correspondents Sigrid Schultz, Louis Lochner, and Leland Stowe; Pulitzer Prize-winners Nick Kotz and J. Anthony Lukas; and New York Times journalists and editors such as Peter Kihss and Robert Bendiner.
• Important mass organizational collections include the records of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association and the Pew Center for Civic Journalism.

Wisconsin Collections

Mass communications collections from Wisconsin provide researchers with source materials required to study the history of the media at the state and local levels. The state acquisitions program includes records documenting print journalism, radio and television broadcast journalism, and advertising and public relations. The Society preserves and provides access to:

• A large collection of television news film from Madison and Milwaukee.
• The papers of William T. Evjue, the founder, editor, and publisher of The Capital Times.
• Numerous collections documenting the staff and operations of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, provide important insights into the histories of Wisconsin’s most influential newspapers.
• In its role as the State Archives, the Society documents the telecommunications industry by preserving the records of the Public Service Commission and other state agencies.

Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research

The Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, a cooperative venture of the Wisconsin Historical Society and the University of Wisconsin, ranks as one of the top film archives in the United States. The collection includes more than three hundred manuscript collections from outstanding playwrights, television and motion picture writers, producers, actors, designers, directors, and production companies. In addition to paper records, materials preserved include fifteen thousand motion pictures and television programs, two million still photographs and promotional graphics, and several thousand sound recordings. The Center’s single largest collection includes the United Artists corporate records through the mid-1960s and the pre-1949 film library for Warner Brothers and RKO. 

This page gives a brief intro to the Journalism and Mass Communication collections at the Wisconsin Historical Society and suggests a few collections to use.

Find digitized material from the Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research by searching for "WCFTR" on the Wisconsin Historical Society website.

Edith Head Papers

Image ID 49756

Dalton Trumbo & Hollywood Ten

Image ID 3677