Scope and arrangement
The J. Wayne Fredericks papers are arranged in six series:
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1907-2005
The Biographical subseries includes resumes, articles and statements about Fredericks, passport and visa applications, identity cards, obituaries, an interview with his daughter about his early life, and information about his hometown. The Family subseries contains letters from Fredericks's wife, Anne Curtis Fredericks; his parents, William J. and Flossie E. Fredericks; his siblings, Keith and Lorraine; and other relatives. The Education subseries contains materials from Fredericks's days at Wakarusa High School and Purdue University, and includes class papers, alumni newsletters and journals, programs, clippings, and memoirs written for reunion gatherings. The Military subseries contains correspondence, notes, programs, clippings, and ephemera from Fredericks's service in the Army Air Corps; his recall to active duty during the Korean War; and his service in the Air Force Reserves. He kept in touch with wartime colleagues through correspondence, and participated in regimental reunions and meetings of the Air Force Association. There are also diaries, notes, and clippings documenting his role in the United States Strategic Bombing Survey in 1945-1946, and notes, reports, drafts, clippings, and correspondence from a trip to Africa in 1954, at the end of his recall to military service during the Korean War. During his travels, particularly in Africa in the 1950s, Fredericks often undertook photography and film projects for organizations such as National Geographic, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Africa Music Society. His photographs often accompanied articles on Africa in the magazines of these organizations and others. The Photography and film projects subseries consists of notes, contracts, supply orders, and correspondence discussing the publishing of his work, the subject matter, and invitations to lecture and show his films and slides. The Political campaigns subseries includes correspondence from Neil Staebler (1905-2000), chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party and later Congressman, and G. Mennan (Soapy) Williams (1911-1988), Governor of Michigan; position papers for the Stevenson campaign on foreign affairs and domestic topics and the Kennedy campaign on foreign affairs and Africa; notes; speeches; and ephemera. Writing contains speeches; memorials; articles written by Fredericks, some written with Anne, about their travels in Africa for their hometown newspaper, The Battle Creek Enquirer and News; and handwritten notes. Interviews include an oral history with John F. Kennedy Library (which also held his papers at one point); an interview with Larry Shore regarding his South Africa trip of 1966; and an interview, possibly with a publication of IIE. Printed matter includes clippings on Fredericks, announcements for his lectures and presentations, and references in books on Africa. Correspondence is arranged alphabetically and includes friends and colleagues who became personal friends.
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1938-1989
This series encompasses Fredericks's vast professional experience.
The Kellogg Company subseries contains correspondence, memoranda, notes, reports, employee magazines, diaries, plans, clippings, and ephemera documenting Fredericks's career with the food manufacturing company of Battle Creek, Michigan, from his graduation from Purdue in 1938, until he entered the military in 1941; his return, in 1946 until he was recalled to the military in 1950; and his final period with the company from 1954 to his departure for the Ford Foundation in New York in 1956. Among the most significant materials in the subseries are correspondence, memoranda, and plans and specifications concerning the construction and initial phases of development of a cereal plant in Springs, South Africa, near Johannesburg, beginning in 1948; this event also spurred Fredericks's lifelong interest in African politics and culture. Fredericks also returned to South Africa in 1953-1954, while on terminal leave from the Air Force, to report back to Kellogg on operational problems with the plant that he helped construct in the late 1940s.
The CIA/Africa trip files consist of correspondence with the CIA, Department of Defense, and Air Force; Air Force orders; travel documents; background material on various African countries; diaries and notes; and a final report about the Africa trip.
The Ford Foundation I subseries (1956-1960) reflects Fredericks's ongoing interest in Africa, even though he did not have responsibility for African programs during this time. Included in this subseries is correspondence related to Fredericks's work in public affairs and overseas development. Also included are reports and papers, which consist primarily of printed material documenting the Ford Foundation's work in Africa and Southeast Asia, as well as international development programs more generally; most of the material was not written by Fredericks, but by a range of specialists, including foundation staff members such as Fred Burke, scholar James Coleman, and the economist and planning expert J. E. Slater. This subseries also consists of conference materials, such as programs, papers, and other printed material; travel documents, such as itineraries, briefing papers, and administrative records; proposals for grants and projects; and general files, including clippings, invitations, notes, and speeches.
The State Department subseries consists of correspondence; program files for the Bureau of African Affairs, which include reports, press releases, briefing books, and memoranda, among others; various committee files; materials on other state agencies, such as the Agency for International Development and Bureau of Intelligence and Research; trip files; conference materials and papers; reports; writing by Fredericks; calendars and diaries; and printed matter (such as State Department publications and clippings).
The Ford Foundation II subseries (1967-1973) contains correspondence of a general or administrative nature (such as requests for meetings or discussions of internal foundation policy) and correspondence with notable individuals, such as the journalist Patrick Keatley; Julius Nyerere (Tanzania); the journalist Colin Legum; and the South African mining executive and Urban Foundation founder Clive Mennell. Additionally, this subseries contains program files, arranged alphabetically by subject, documenting Fredericks's work on policy reviews in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and developing countries more generally. This material includes correspondence, notes and drafts of the reviewers' reports, and reports and correspondence pertaining to the foundation's grantmaking and research programs in the areas of urbanization, population studies, law, labor, education, and agricultural development. Other material covered in this subseries includes Board of Trustees meeting notes, memoranda related to the board, and quarterly status reports on foundation grants; correspondence with individual congressmen whose interests and committee assignments related to Africa, particularly those serving on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; notes and other materials related to the Foundation's attempt to cultivate and sustain relationships with members of Congress, to press for increased foreign aid, and intervene in recurring legislative debates about the tax-exempt status of foundations; and notes and correspondence related to Fredericks's political advisory activities, including his service on a task force on African affairs for the presidential campaign of Hubert H. Humphrey in 1967-1968. Country, subject, and organization files contain materials collected by Fredericks on countries, regions, and issues within his scope of responsibilities as head of the Middle East and Africa Program; they primarily contain printed material, such as newspaper and magazine clippings, papers and reports, newsletters, and leaflets, but also include correspondence with and notes on African leaders, American and European officials, journalists, and advocates involved in African affairs. Of note are correspondence files with Mangosuthu Buthelezi (leader of the KwaZulu Territorial Authority), Helen Suzman (Member of Parliament and anti-apartheid activist), and Fred van Wyk (Director of the South African Institute of Race Relations). Lastly, this subseries consists of travel files; conference materials; Fredericks' handwritten notes; general files, such as reports, budgets, invitations, notes, press releases, clippings, speeches, printed matter related to Ford Foundation administration as well as Fredericks's personal writings on African affairs; and documentation on Fredericks's extensive deliberations about his role at the foundation before resigning in 1973.
The Chase Manhattan Bank (CMB) subseries covers the brief period from October 1973 through June 1974 when Fredericks was Director, and later, Vice President of International Relations, Africa and the Middle East, advising Chase on its policy in these areas. Frederick's files contain correspondence and memoranda, as well as drafts and final versions of papers and reports, either authored or edited by him, concerning the bank's strategies and policies on banking and investment in Africa and the Middle East. There are also itineraries, agendas, and invitations documenting two trips to Africa that he made with CMB officials including David Rockefeller and David Buckman, CMB Vice President and Africa Area Executive. Also included are Frederick's notes stating his reasons for taking the job with Chase; his decision to leave in less than a year to accept Henry Ford II's offer to work for the Ford Motor Company; and his appreciation of Rockefeller's vision, which led him to continue to work as a consultant for the bank with the title, Advisor on African and Middle Eastern Affairs, for twenty days a year, from July 1974 to June 1976.
The Ford Motor Company files consist of diaries; printed matter (clippings about the company, especially related to South Africa, and publications by the company); international production files, divided alphabetically into countries which either had Ford plants or were in talks to develop plants; conference materials; reports and papers, mostly from other organizations and individuals; writing, including speeches and handwritten notes; and correspondence. The majority of the materials are related to Ford and South Africa; files cover the 1980 labor disputes between Ford South Africa (FSA) and its mostly Black work force, which led to walkouts, strikes, and other forms of resistance. These files also encompass Ford's Sullivan Principles framework, and they reflect the tension that existed between the corporate drive for profit and a corporation's role in enacting social change.
The final subseries, Appointment as Assistant Secretary of African Affairs, includes notes, correspondence, and printed matter related to Fredericks's appointment for this position in 1977, and subsequent withdrawal of his acceptance due to injuries sustained in a car accident. The correspondence includes congratulatory and condelence letters.
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1960-2004
The Institute of International Education Counselor in Residence subseries includes correspondence; administrative files, such as the letter establishing Fredericks's position; Board of Directors files, such as meeting materials; program documents, including information on the South Africa Education Program; conference and trip materials; reports and speeches; and Fredericks's writing, which consists mostly of speech drafts and diaries. The Carnegie Corporation subseries consists of correspondence; conference and meeting materials; subject files, which include South Africa-related files and the Anglo-American-Canadian Parliamentary Study Group on Africa; travel files; and diaries, notes, notebooks, and address books. The Ford Foundation Study Group subseries contains contracts; reports, including one by Franklin Thomas regarding his October 1997 trip to South Africa with Fredericks; conference and meetings files, which also refer to meetings with several NGOs in New York and Washington, D.C.; itineraries; correspondence; and notes.
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1937-2005
The African-American Institute (AAI) held conferences and roundtables to bring various stakeholders on Africa together; this material consists largely of conference reports and correspondence.
Anglo-North American Parliamentary Conference on Africa files consist of correspondence and conference materials, including papers and reports. The first three years (1965-1967) of Fredericks's involvement can be found in the State Department subseries under the Employment series.
The CFR files contain letters, meeting notices, background and working papers, reports, his notes, and other items primarily pertaining to apartheid and the implications for United States policy and businesses.
The FIDASA materials consist of board meeting files, Fredericks's internal and external correspondence, progress reports on the funding provided by various foundations for IDASA projects, and information regarding other financial donations. There is also printed material, such as annual reports and Programme for Action.
The Lincoln University files contain correspondence, notes, and university publications (newsletters, bulletins, and exhibition guides).
The PSF files consist of minutes, reports, correspondence, and Fredericks's oral history interview about Franklin Williams, who directed the Fund for twenty years.
SAFE files consist of board, committee, and fundraising materials. There are also memoranda, correspondence, notes, and a final report published by SAFE.
USSALEP files consist of correspondence, notes, organization reports and program evaluations, executive committee meeting minutes, and budget and fundraising information.
Urban Foundation files contain documents related to the establishment of the U.S. operation, correspondence and memoranda regarding fundraising strategy, grants, some minutes, and papers on UF initiatives in housing, education, and settlement areas.
Other organizations for which Fredericks served, such as Operation Hunger and the Institute of East-West Studies, contain similar types of materials (correspondence, meeting annoucements and minutes, printed matter, and handwritten notes).
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1951-2002
This series consists of correspondence with the friends and family of Anne Fredericks, the wife of J. Wayne Fredericks, and professional papers related to the projects with which she worked, mostly during J. Wayne Fredericks's stint at the State Department. Additionally, there are newspaper clippings about Anne and duplicates of her writing on Africa for the Battle Creek Enquirer and News. Also included are invitations, schedules, guest lists, and telephone directories for events and individuals related to the State Department.
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1935-2010
An assiduous collection of policy statements, reports, white papers, conference papers and programs, speeches, unpublished manuscripts, and newspaper and magazine clippings (national and international) are found in this series. The Country subseries mostly covers the period of African independence struggles; it begins with materials on the continent and regions of Africa. These files include papers, speeches, and reports, which are organized into general and thematic categories. The rest of this subseries consists of clippings about various countries including the Congo, from the tumultuous years just prior to independence; Ethiopia and Emperor Haile Selassie; Ghana, in the years prior to independence, Kwame Nkrumah's early government, and the subsequent fall of his dictatorship; Kenya and its turbulent road to independence; Lesotho and its post-independence years; Mozambique, which includes Eduardo Mondlane's first draft of "Woodrow Wilson and the Idea of Self-Determination"; Namibia and its long struggle against South African political domination; Nigeria and the Biafra crisis; Tanzania after independence and speeches by Nyerere; and Zimbabwe/Rhodesia and its unilateral declaration of independence and the African struggle against the minority government, among many others.
The substantial South Africa section consists of conference and symposia materials; papers, speeches and reports; and printed matter (clippings and newsletters). Conferences and symposia cover the period after the official end of apartheid in 1990 with the repeal of the last apartheid law, and are mainly concerned with business and investment opportunities and the unfolding of democracy in the changing South Africa. Papers, speeches, and reports encompass both the period under apartheid and the post-apartheid democracy. Reports include those produced or published by organizations such as the Association of West European Parliamentarians for Action Against Apartheid, Southern African Research and Documentation Centre, South Africa Foundation, and South Africa Institute of Race Relations. Items of interest include Es'Kia Mphahlele's 1984 address on the crisis in Black leadership, a 1989 report on New York City's policy with respect to South Africa, a 1991 assessment by the Centre against Apartheid of the political situation in South Africa, a 1993 survey of South African youth, a 1999 report on South Africans' views of their nation, and speeches by Chief Buthelezi. Other materials include essays that review the legal situation in South Africa, court judgments and transcripts, and the interim report of the Goldstone Commission on the Prevention of Public Violence and Intimidation. Clippings are organized both chronologically and by subject. The chronological clippings being in the 1940s, recording the early formation of the apartheid system and objections to it, until the 2000s when the system had been legally dismantled. Clippings are from South African newspapers such as the Rand Daily Mail, the Sowetan, and the Star, as well as British newspapers including the Observer, the Financial Times, and the Guardian.
The Individuals and Organizations subseries, both arranged alphabetically, contain printed matter (clippings, articles, and organizational publications) and speeches. Topics, also arranged alphabetically, include printed matter (clippings, articles, and other publications) related to particular subjects such as race relations in the United States and abroad. Newspapers mainly include complete copies of various African newspapers, arranged chronologically.