- unitid
-
{"value"=>"17796", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"MssCol 17796", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1964-1993", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1964/1993"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1964
- date_inclusive_end
-
1993
- keydate
-
1964
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"New York Times Company records. Tom Wicker papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"8.4 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"20 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library. <span class=\"subarea\">Manuscripts and Archives Division</span></span> <div class=\"address\"><span class=\"addressline\">New York, New York</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Journalist and author Tom Wicker (1926-2011) was a longtime editor and columnist for <span class=\"title\">The New York Times</span>. The Tom Wicker papers document Wicker's tenure at <span class=\"title\">The Times</span> as Washington Bureau chief (1964-1966) and as associate editor and political columnist (1966-1991). The collection consists of correspondence with both <span class=\"title\">Times</span> colleagues and readers concerning Wicker's columns and political viewpoints, internal memoranda about <span class=\"title\">Times</span> editorial decisions, letters regarding his involvement with outside institutions, and transcripts of interviews with and conducted by Wicker."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>New York Times Company records. Tom Wicker papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"New York Times Company", "type"=>"corpname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Journalist and author Thomas (Tom) Grey Wicker (1926-2011) was a longtime editor and political columnist for <span class=\"title\">The New York Times</span>.</p> <p>Born in Hamlet, North Carolina, Wicker graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1948. After college, Wicker worked for a variety of North Carolina newspapers and spent two years serving in Japan as an ensign for the United States Navy Reserve. Wicker won a Nieman Fellowship in journalism from Harvard in 1957, and in 1959 <span class=\"title\">The Nashville Tennesseean</span> hired him as associate editor. Wicker joined the Washington Bureau of <span class=\"title\">The New York Times</span> in 1960, where he covered the White House, Congress, and national politics. Four years later, he succeeded James Reston as the chief correspondent and head of the Washington Bureau, and in 1966 he began writing the long-running editorial page column \"In the Nation.\" As head of the Bureau, Wicker oversaw 48 staff members including 30 full-time reporters while continuing to report on politics. He became associate editor in 1968, which allowed him to dedicate more time to writing, and moved to the New York offices of <span class=\"title\">The Times</span> in 1972. He maintained the titles associate editor and columnist until his retirement in 1991.</p> <p>Wicker wrote extensively on the criminal justice system, prisons, and the death penalty, and was one of several monitors who inspected the Attica Correctional Facility after the inmate uprising there in 1971. He was an outspoken critic of United States involvement in Vietnam, and a vocal proponent of the Civil Rights Movement. Among his other areas of sustained interest were taxation, the F.B.I., government secrecy, energy and environmental issues, nuclear weapons, and journalism's role in society.</p> <p>In addition to his journalist work, Wicker was the author of many books, including 10 novels, some under the pen name Paul Connolly, and several non-fiction books on presidential politics and current affairs. He wrote short stories and essays for numerous publications, and was also an active public speaker, making appearances on college campuses, television, and radio.</p> <p>Wicker married Neva Jewett McLean in 1949 and Pamela Hill in 1974. He died in 2011 in Rochester, Vermont.</p> <p>McFadden, Robert D. \"Tom Wicker, Times Journalist, Dies at 85.\" <span class=\"title\">The New York Times</span>. November 25, 2011.</p> <p>Talese, Gay. <span class=\"title\">The Kingdom and the Power</span>. New York: Ivy Books, 1966.</p>"}
- custodhist
-
{"value"=>"<p>This collection was originally 21 linear feet and was re-housed and organized in 1995 by Charles St. Vil of The Times archives staff. The discards largely consisted of readers' mail to Wicker.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Tom Wicker papers consist of people and subject files documenting Wicker's tenure at <span class=\"title\">The New York Times</span> as head of the Washington Bureau (1964-1966) and as associate editor and columnist (1966-1991). This collection does not document Wicker's early career before coming to <span class=\"title\">The Times</span>, his role as a Washington reporter between 1960 and 1964, or his output as a fiction writer. Much of the collection is comprised of incoming and outgoing correspondence with fellow <span class=\"title\">Times</span> employees (such as Managing Editors Clifton Daniel and A.M. Rosenthal) regarding editorial matters and the management of the Washington Bureau, as well as letters with outside colleagues and <span class=\"title\">Times</span> readers discussing Wicker's columns, essays, speeches, and political views.</p> <p>The collection is divided into two series: I. People and II. Subjects. The People files consist of records pertaining to individuals, while the Subjects files contain items on specific topics, institutions, locations, and document types. Items germane to two or more people or subjects are often cross-referenced in the finding aid; documents related to specific issues are generally located in subject files rather than the people folders of those involved.</p> <p>Records from the 1960s are primarily made up of correspondence and memoranda between Wicker, stationed at the Washington Bureau, and <span class=\"title\">Times</span> staff in New York. Items from the 1970s and 1980s, when Wicker was located in New York, consist of both internal memoranda, as well as readers' mail (with carbon responses), and letters to and from acquaintances, colleagues, and institutions that Wicker had connections to. These files touch on many of Wicker's areas of interest, such as Washington politics, living conditions in prisons, environmental conservation, and other topics.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The New York Times Company records. Tom Wicker papers are arranged in two series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/17796#c729639'>Series I: People</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series is made up of files that contain letters to, from, or concerning various individuals. Files include communications with <span class=\"title\">New York Times</span> editors, reporters, and publishers, typically discussing news coverage, editorial decisions, and personnel management. Other correspondents include prominent public figures whose letters concern Wicker's coverage of them; fellow journalists, writers, other acquaintances; and readers of Wicker's columns, magazine articles, and books. Both incoming letters and carbon copies of Wicker's responses are present. Miscellaneous Correspondence files primarily consist of letters with people outside of <span class=\"title\">The Times</span>. Entries without box and folder numbers cross-reference related material in other files.</p> <p>Files are arranged alphabetically by name. These files do not necessarily contain every letter, memorandum, or document related to the individual; subject files should also be consulted.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/17796#c729763'>Series II: Subjects</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series is made up of alphabetical subject files that are organized (and titled) by topical keywords, events (Iran-Contra Affair, Watergate), issues (Arms Control, Crime and Criminals, Energy), individual columns, institution names, geographic locations, or document type. While the bulk of the files consist of incoming and outgoing correspondence, this series also holds photographs of Wicker (see the Pictures file), and copies of Wicker's speeches from the 1960s to the 1980s (see the Speaking Engagements files). Wicker, an active public speaker, gave speeches to academic institutions, journalist conferences, historical societies, corporations, and philanthropic organizations around the United States and abroad; he spoke often on politics, journalism, history, and economic issues. Also present is a name index (1976) and subject index (1971-1977) for Wicker's column \"In the Nation.\"</p> <p>Of note are the Washington Bureau files that contain criticisms from the paper's publishers and New York editors of the content and writing styles of Wicker and other Washington reporters, along with memoranda concerning personnel management and staff assignments. Other particularly extensive subject files include the Economy files, which feature push back from readers on Wicker's views on \"Reaganomics;\" the Environment file that discuss theories on global warming; and the Prisons files, which are made up of extended discussions with politicians, correctional facilities employees, criminal justice lawyers and policy advocates, and academics on a range of prison-related topics. Also of note are the Prisons: Inmate Mail files that contain letters to Wicker from inmates around the country, such as prisoners at Attica who reported on the lack of improvements in living standards in the years after the 1971 riots. Wicker's responses to these letters are not present.</p> <p>Files are arranged alphabetically by file title. Entries without box and folder numbers cross-reference related material in other files.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>The New York Times Company records. Tom Wicker papers are organized in the following series:</p> <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Series I: People, 1964-1991</li> <li>Series II: Subjects, 1964-1993</li></ul>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>New York Times Company, donated 2007.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>The order and folder titles, which The Times archives staff imposed on the collection, have been maintained.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>Compiled by Philip Heslip.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Copyright for documents created by New York Times Company principals and staff has been transferred to The New York Public Library.</p>"}
- extent_statement
-
8.4 linear feet (20 boxes)
- date_start
-
1964
- date_end
-
1993