William Shawn papers

1925-1992

The William Shawn papers date from 1925 to 1992, and primarily concern Shawn's work as editor of the New Yorker from 1952 to 1987. Shawn's New Yorker files offer insight into Shawn's editorial and administrative decisions, his relationship with writers and colleagues, internal tensions at the New Yorker, magazine finances and business practices, and public perceptions of the magazine and of Shawn. The New Yorker files contain correspondence and administrative and editorial files. Personal papers contain a mix of New Yorker-related material and purely personal documents. The collection also contains files concerning Shawn's early journalism and writing; his editing work with Farrar, Straus, and Giroux; and fiction and poetry written after his retirement from the New Yorker.

New Yorker correspondence files chiefly contain incoming letters and memoranda, though copies of Shawn's outgoing communications are sometimes present. The bulk of the correspondence is held in name files, which are alphabetically arranged by correspondent. Correspondence contains discussion of nonfiction pieces and ideas for nonfiction pieces; fiction editors' opinions on stories; pay and advances; magazine policies and practices; and correspondents' lives beyond their work with the New Yorker. The correspondence files include some manuscripts, but few have editorial comments or marks. Early internal correspondence includes Harold Ross's memoranda to Shawn and copies of Ross's correspondence with other staff members. The Katharine S. White correspondence files contain her comments on non-fiction, fiction, advertisements, and cartoons. Correspondence dated after Shawn's appointment as editor in 1952 increasingly relates to pay, contracts, and general policies.

Administrative and editorial files date primarily from the 1960s to 1987. The files document a number of crises at the magazine: the 1965 publication of Tom Wolfe's attack on Shawn in the New York Herald Tribune magazine; staff dissatisfaction and motions to unionize; Shawn's 1978 resignation; controversy over statements made by Alastair Reid in 1984; the magazine's acquisition by Advance Publications in 1985; and Shawn's departure from the magazine in 1987. Shawn's policy statements and memoranda to staff evince his ongoing efforts to reconcile new developments at the New Yorker with his sense of the magazine's identity and his desire to maintain its editorial traditions. Advertising files include correspondence, reports, and draft copy of advertisements for the New Yorker. Public opinion and press coverage of the magazine are documented through clippings and letters from readers, including copies of letters to the editor from 1970 to 1975.

Personal papers date from the 1930s to 1992, and contain files from the New Yorker office that Shawn identified as "personal," as well as miscellaneous material from Shawn's household. The personal papers include further correspondence with colleagues; social correspondence; correspondence regarding awards and accolades received by Shawn; and writings and notes by Shawn, some of which relate to New Yorker contributors and their work.

The William Shawn papers are arranged in five series:

• Series I: Early Writings and Journalism
  1920s-1939, 1950-1951

  Series I includes International Illustrated News clippings and short stories that Shawn wrote under the name "Daniel Chase," among other work.

• Series II: New Yorker Files
  1925-1992
• Series III: Personal Papers
  1929, 1939-1992
• Series IV: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
  1987-1992

  Series IV contains a small amount of correspondence and several manuscripts sent to Shawn.

• Series V: Fiction and Poetry
  1977-1992