Scope and arrangement
The Robert Clifton Weaver Papers (Additions) augment the substantial collection of Weaver's personal papers which document his entry into the federal service in 1933 and his return to the government in 1961 under John F. Kennedy (See MG 32). The Additions document Weaver's career during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, his departure from federal service in 1968 and subsequent career as educator, public speaker and author during his presidency of Bernard Baruch College (1969) and professorship at Hunter College of the City of University of New York (1971).
The collection has been arranged into five series: Correspondence, Speeches, Writings, Oral History Transcripts, and Certificates.
The Robert C. Weaver papers (Additions) is arranged in five series:
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Correspondence series, 1931-1987 (2 lin. ft.).The folders in this series contain original incoming and carbon copies of outgoing letters arranged chronologically (1962-1980), with the bulk from 1969 and 1970. Included are numerous invitations to speak at conferences, lecture series and commencement ceremonies; invitations to join advisory boards of financial institutions, foundations and community organizations; letters appointing Weaver to various city and state posts; requests for interviews, and permission to reprint articles, essays and speeches. In letters to college students, Weaver expresses his views on his role as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the role of the presidential cabinet under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson. The files also contain related printed materials including brochures, programs, annual reports, memberships lists of task forces and boards of directors, and newspaper clippings. Some organizations represented in this series include the National Conference of Christians and Jews, American Statistical Association, Committee for Economic Development, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing.
The majority of the files are arranged alphabetically, and chronologically within each folder. Included are letters documenting Weaver's participation on boards of directors (Bowery Savings Bank, Lavanburg Foundation), committees and task forces (Metropolitan Life, Harvard Graduate Society, National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing, General Accounting Office), at conferences and symposiums (Rehovot Conference on Urbanization and Development in Developing Countries, (Israel) and YMCA Conference on Urban and Human Renewal (Sweden)), and as a visiting professor (University of Southern California). Correspondents include: Benjamin Hooks, Basil Paterson, Ted Kennedy, Roy Wilkins, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Hugh Carey, Abraham Beame,Edward Koch, Patricia Roberts Harris, Birch Bayh, A. Leon Higginbotham, Mary McLeod Bethune, Coretta Scott King, Robert F. Wagner, and Vernon E. Jordan.
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The Speeches series, 1952-1984 (.4 lin. ft.)contains published and unpublished typescripts, including drafts with Weaver's corrections. The speeches are arranged chronologically, and range from testimonials and commencement addresses to lectures and keynote addresses on housing discrimination, problems in urban development, the role of the federal government in housing, the college of the future, and black Americans during the New Deal and World War II. The National Conference on Discrimination in Housing, National Association of Real Estate Brokers, American Institute of Architects, American Jewish Committee, Hartford Board of Education, and the National Organization for the Advancement of Colored People are some of the organizations represented. Corresponding programs are also contained within this series.
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The Writings series, 1936-1985 (.4 lin. ft.)is comprised of published and unpublished articles, essays, chapters in books and draft typescripts with Weaver's handwritten corrections. The articles are arranged chronologically and undated typescripts are foldered and marked “n.d.” The writings span Weaver's public and private careers, and include topics on African American labor during the New Deal, equal opportunity in housing, land use and urban revitalization, HUD, and open admissions policies in city universities. Weaver's writings appeared in various publications including The Crisis, Opportunity, The Journal of Housing, The Journal of the American Association of Planners,and The Urban University of the 1970s.The series also includes one folder containing a bibliography of Weaver's writings.
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The Oral History Transcripts series, 1964-1973 (.4 lin. ft.)consists of transcripts of interviews with Weaver conducted over a nine year period for the Civil Rights Documentation Project, Cornell University's New York State School of Industrial Relations, and to supplement the oral history projects of the John F. Kennedy Library, and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library. In the interview with James Mosby for the Civil Rights Documentation Project, Weaver discusses his tenure as Secretary of HUD and views on integration of non-whites into federal positions and programs. In the Cornell University interview with Frances Hardin, the problems of employing African American craftsmen is addressed. A discussion of Weaver's childhood, early government service, theories on public housing and the development of HUD and its programs can be found in the Joe B. Frantz interview for the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library. In the interviews conducted by Daniel Patrick Moynihan for the John F. Kennedy Library, Weaver discusses his initial meetings with John F. Kennedy regarding social, economic and racial problems in America, his opinions about Kennedy and Richard Nixon, and the role of an African-American cabinet member as a representative of Black America. The folder, Looking Back, Looking Ahead News Conference (1968), contains a transcript in which Weaver discusses the accomplishments and future of HUD. This series also contains a folder of miscellaneous transcripts.
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The Certificates series, 1930-1974 (1 lin. ft.)includes certificates, diplomas and awards earned by Weaver documenting appointments, fellowships, visiting professorship and honorary citizenship. Included is the certificate of his appointment to the position of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (1966), signed by Lyndon Baines Johnson, appointment to the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (1965), appointment to New York State Rent Commissioner (1956) and appointment to the New York Conciliation and Appeals Board (1974). Weaver's B.S., M.A. and Ph.D. diplomas from Harvard University are included, as are diplomas for Florence Elisa Freeman, Weaver's mother, from high and normal school and from Wayland Seminary.
Pen Certificates, 1961-1968 document Weaver's participation at the signing ceremonies of landmark housing legislation as Administrator of the U.S. Housing and Home Finance Agency under Kennedy and Secretary, HUD under Johnson. Included are certificates for the Housing Act of 1961 and the Executive Order on Housing (1962) signed by John F. Kennedy, and the Department of Housing Urban Development Act (1965) and Housing and Urban Development Act (1968) signed by Lyndon Baines Johnson.