Scope and arrangement
The papers consist of editorial, operational, business, and legal files of the New York Post; and Mrs. Schiff's personal papers.
New York Post Records: Editorial files
The editorial files consist chiefly of memoranda between Dorothy Schiff and her editors, among them Ted Thackrey, James Wechsler, Paul Sann, Tim Seldes, Paul Tierney, E. P. Flynn, Paul Mowrer, Warren Hoge, and others; editors with editors; and Schiff and her editors with editorial staff, reporters, rewritemen, columnists such as William F. Buckley, Tom Braden, Orson Welles, Pete Hamill, Jimmy Breslin, feature writers, cartoonists, and others; and correspondence, newsclippings, and other material, relating to the paper's daily makeup, editorial policies, departmental administration, the coverage of daily and ongoing city, national, and international news stories, the political and public response to the paper's handling of the news, and to its editorials, columns, and feature articles. In his obituary of her in the Post Jerry Tallmer described these memoranda: "Every other line of the paper she read personally, and commented on them by way of yellow half page memos to her executives, memos which became famous in their time."
Included in these files are Dorothy Schiff's memoranda for the record, in which she set down her perceptions of significant events and impressions of prominent people, many of whom were her personal friends or social acquaintances. Among the profiled are Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Edward M. Kennedy, Nelson Rockefeller, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Alex Rose, Gerald Ford, John V. Lindsay, J. Edgar Hoover, Eugene McCarthy, Richard M. Nixon, Allard K. Lowenstein, and Henry Kissinger. Very often these memoranda initiated feature articles, editorial commentaries, and follow-ups, and many are distinguished by their precise and thoughtful treatment of their subjects, such as the memoranda dealing with the Post's controversial series on J. Edgar Hoover to which she contributed shrewd and witty reflections on his long years as head of the F. B. I.; a wise and affecting study of a Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis too shy to ask Mrs. Schiff to pass the butter; a critical and wary, but not wholly unsympathetic, assessment of Richard M. Nixon; her theory about the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy; and her sharp-eyed and affectionate appraisal of her celebrated columnists, Murray Kempton, Jimmy Breslin, and Pete Hamill. This series also gives a good picture of her relationship with her editors. The files relating to Jeffrey Potter's biography of Mrs. Schiff, Men, Money and Magic which are in the Personal Files, contain similar examples of Schiff's impressionistic for-the-record profiles of newsworthy people, including Joseph Kennedy, Rose Kennedy, and Robert Kennedy, which were pulled or created at Potter's request. Some of these are duplicates of memoranda in the Editorial Files.
Also in this section are the files, 1944-1948, of the Paris Post which was published in Paris from May 1945 until 1948. It was edited by Paul Scott Mowrer from an office at 6 Boulevard Poissonniere. The files deal with the daily problems, shortages of ink, paper, and qualified editorial personnel among them, confronted by the newspaper in a war-torn city still recovering from the recent uprising by the Resistance and subsequent fighting and ultimate liberation by the Free French and American armies.
The Editorial Files are arranged alphabetically by name and subject, and contain cross references to other files. One small chronological run of files precedes the alphabetically arranged files. Processed at a later date, these files primarily contain memorandums to and from Schiff with a variety of individuals, including editors and other staff members of the Post. Researchers should consult these files in addition to the alphabetical files, as there may be overlap in coverage. Boxes 1-109, and 297.
New York Post Records: Operational files
Chiefly memoranda between Schiff and her plant department heads, and correspondence reflecting all aspects of the complex daily non-editorial operations of the newspaper, including composing, printing, and delivering the newspaper; maintenance of the newspaper plant and equipment; accounting; payroll; personnel; union matters; and labor/management relations. Like the Editorial Files the Operational Files are arranged alphabetically by name and subject, and contain cross-references to other files. Boxes 110-164.
New York Post: Business Files
Memoranda and correspondence relating to the business side of the New York Post such as advertising, circulation, promotion, and other businesses, such as the radio and television stations in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, which were owned or controlled by Mrs. Schiff, the New York Post Corporation, or the Theodoro Corporation, and which were generated by excess capital accumulated by the Post Corporation. Arranged alphabetically by name or subject. Boxes 165-204, and 297.
New York Post: Legal Files
Memoranda and correspondence reflecting the Post's involvement in various libel suits and antitrust suits, including an anti-trust suit against the World Journal Tribune, and several libel suits against the Village Voice. Arranged alphabetically by name and subject. Boxes 205-214.
Dorothy Schiff's Personal Papers
Memoranda and correspondence dealing with Mrs. Schiff's daily practical and social life as a philanthropist who contributed to many causes and organizations, and as a volunteer worker. Most of the material deals with her life outside the Post, although, because of her very intense relationship to the paper, much of it is related to the Post. Included in this section are family and personal financial papers, and papers dealing with her properties at Hyde Park and Oyster Bay. Also in the personal files are memoranda, correspondence, transcripts of taped interviews, drafts, and other material relating to Men, Money and Magic, Jeffrey Potter's controversial biography of Mrs. Schiff. Of particular interest are the transcripts of Potter's taped interviews with Mrs. Schiff in which she speaks very candidly about her years as publisher of the Post, her relationship with Franklin D. Roosevelt, her husbands, her psychoanalysis with Harry Stack Sullivan, and of the men and women, chiefly of the editorial staff, with whom she worked. There are also valuable interviews with friends such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. and many people she worked with, including her seasoned editor, Paul Sann, and her third husband and editor, Ted Thackrey. The last section consists of photographs of Mrs. Schiff, her family and friends, and notable political figures; awards and citations earned by Mrs. Schiff over her long career as publisher and editor and supporter of worthy causes; clippings of her column, "Dear Reader"; scrapbooks, 1946-1981, of newspaper clippings chiefly relating to Mrs. Schiff, scrapbooks of obituaries of Mrs. Schiff; a scrapbook of New York cartoons; and miscellaneous items. Arranged alphabetically by name and subject. Boxes 215-296.
The Dorothy Schiff papers are arranged in five series:
-
1938-1989111 boxes
The editorial files consist chiefly of memoranda between Dorothy Schiff and her editors, among them Ted Thackrey, James Wechsler, Paul Sann, Tim Seldes, Paul Tierney, E. P. Flynn, Paul Mowrer, Warren Hoge, and others; editors with editors; and Schiff and her editors with editorial staff, reporters, rewritemen, columnists such as William F. Buckley, Tom Braden, Orson Welles, Pete Hamill, Jimmy Breslin, feature writers, cartoonists, and others; and correspondence, newsclippings, and other material, relating to the paper's daily makeup, editorial policies, departmental administration, the coverage of daily and ongoing city, national, and international news stories, the political and public response to the paper's handling of the news, and to its editorials, columns, and feature articles. In his obituary of her in the Post Jerry Tallmer described these memoranda: "Every other line of the paper she read personally, and commented on them by way of yellow half page memos to her executives, memos which became famous in their time.”
Included in these files are Dorothy Schiff's memoranda for the record, in which she set down her perceptions of significant events and impressions of prominent people, many of whom were her personal friends or social acquaintances. Among the profiled are Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Edward M. Kennedy, Nelson Rockefeller, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Alex Rose, Gerald Ford, John V. Lindsay, J. Edgar Hoover, Eugene McCarthy, Richard M. Nixon, Allard K. Lowenstein, and Henry Kissinger. Very often these memoranda initiated feature articles, editorial commentaries, and follow-ups, and many are distinguished by their precise and thoughtful treatment of their subjects, such as the memoranda dealing with the Post's controversial series on J. Edgar Hoover to which she contributed shrewd and witty reflections on his long years as head of the F. B. I.; a wise and affecting study of a Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis too shy to ask Mrs. Schiff to pass the butter; a critical and wary, but not wholly unsympathetic, assessment of Richard M. Nixon; her theory about the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy; and her sharp-eyed and affectionate appraisal of her celebrated columnists, Murray Kempton, Jimmy Breslin, and Pete Hamill. This series also gives a good picture of her relationship with her editors. The files relating to Jeffrey Potter's biography of Mrs. Schiff, Men, Money and Magic which are in the Personal Files, contain similar examples of Schiff's impressionistic for-the-record profiles of newsworthy people, including Joseph Kennedy, Rose Kennedy, and Robert Kennedy, which were pulled or created at Potter's request. Some of these are duplicates of memoranda in the Editorial Files.
Also in this section are the files, 1944-1948, of the Paris Post which was published in Paris from May 1945 until 1948. It was edited by Paul Scott Mowrer from an office at 6 Boulevard Poissonniere. The files deal with the daily problems, shortages of ink, paper, and qualified editorial personnel among them, confronted by the newspaper in a war-torn city still recovering from the recent uprising by the Resistance and subsequent fighting and ultimate liberation by the Free French and American armies.
The Editorial Files are arranged alphabetically by name and subject, and contain cross references to other files. One small chronological run of files precedes the alphabetically arranged files. Processed at a later date, these files primarily contain memorandums to and from Schiff with a variety of individuals, including editors and other staff members of the Post. Researchers should consult these files in addition to the alphabetical files, as there may be overlap in coverage. Boxes 1-109, and 297.
-
1940-198455 boxes
Chiefly memoranda between Schiff and her plant department heads, and correspondence reflecting all aspects of the complex daily non-editorial operations of the newspaper, including composing, printing, and delivering the newspaper; maintenance of the newspaper plant and equipment; accounting; payroll; personnel; union matters; and labor/management relations. Like the Editorial Files the Operational Files are arranged alphabetically by name and subject, and contain cross-references to other files. Boxes 110-164.
-
1939-197841 boxes
Memoranda and correspondence relating to the business side of the New York Post such as advertising, circulation, promotion, and other businesses, such as the radio and television stations in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, which were owned or controlled by Mrs. Schiff, the New York Post Corporation, or the Theodoro Corporation, and which were generated by excess capital accumulated by the Post Corporation. Arranged alphabetically by name or subject. Boxes 165-204, and 297.
-
1939-198910 boxes
Memoranda and correspondence reflecting the Post's involvement in various libel suits and antitrust suits, including an anti-trust suit against the World Journal Tribune, and several libel suits against the Village Voice. Arranged alphabetically by name and subject. Boxes 205-214.
-
1937-198175 boxes
Memoranda and correspondence dealing with Mrs. Schiff's daily practical and social life as a philanthropist who contributed to many causes and organizations, and as a volunteer worker. Most of the material deals with her life outside the Post, although, because of her very intense relationship to the paper, much of it is related to the Post. Included in this section are family and personal financial papers, and papers dealing with her properties at Hyde Park and Oyster Bay. Also in the personal files are memoranda, correspondence, transcripts of taped interviews, drafts, and other material relating to Men, Money and Magic, Jeffrey Potter's controversial biography of Mrs. Schiff. Of particular interest are the transcripts of Potter's taped interviews with Mrs. Schiff in which she speaks very candidly about her years as publisher of the Post, her relationship with Franklin D. Roosevelt, her husbands, her psychoanalysis with Harry Stack Sullivan, and of the men and women, chiefly of the editorial staff, with whom she worked. There are also valuable interviews with friends such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. and many people she worked with, including her seasoned editor, Paul Sann, and her third husband and editor, Ted Thackrey. The last section consists of photographs of Mrs. Schiff, her family and friends, and notable political figures; awards and citations earned by Mrs. Schiff over her long career as publisher and editor and supporter of worthy causes; clippings of her column, "Dear Reader"; scrapbooks, 1946-1981, of newspaper clippings chiefly relating to Mrs. Schiff, scrapbooks of obituaries of Mrs. Schiff; a scrapbook of New York cartoons; and miscellaneous items. Arranged alphabetically by name and subject. Boxes 215-289.