Processed Collections

• Irene Beasley: Irene Beasley was a composer, singer, and radio personality. She is best known for Grand Slam, a long-running musical quiz show which broadcast from 1943 to 1953, which Miss Beasley conceived, wrote, produced and hosted.

• Roger Bower: Roger Bower was a producer, director, emcee, and creator of sound effects for station WOR in New York for 24 years. He directed several thousand radio and television programs, including the famous Can You Top This?

• Robert L. Coe: Mr. Coe was an executive in charge of affiliate relations for both the Dumont (1952-1955) and ABC (1955-1967) television networks. He first operated an amateur radio station in 1917, and helped start station KSD in St. Louis in 1921.

• Charles H. Crutchfield: Charles H. Crutchfield was an executive with the Jefferson-Pilot Broadcasting Company in North Carolina for 44 years. The collection contains correspondence, speeches, and articles written by Mr. Crutchfield.

• George C. Davis: Mr. Davis' collection contains information relating mainly to broadcast engineering.

• Dick Dorrance: The Dorrance collection documents the work he did for FM Broadcasters, Inc., the Office of War Information, and the Broadcasters' Victory Council.

• Norman R. Glenn: Norman Glenn was the founding editor and publisher of Sponsor and Marketing and Media Decisions magazines.

• Louis J. Hazam: Louis Hazam was a writer and producer for both television and radio programs. This collection includes radio scripts from 1937-1954 and television scripts from 1950-1971.

• William S. Hedges: William S. Hedges, one of the primary architects of American broadcasting, had a long and distinguished career with NBC. His work on the Broadcast Pioneers History Project led to the establishment of the Library of American Broadcasting. His papers include correspondence, speeches and articles.

• Dr. Herman S. Hettinger: Dr. Hettinger was an executive, legal advisor, academic and author, whose long and varied career frequently brought him into the business of radio broadcasting.

• Thad Holt: The Thad Holt collection documents the life and career of an early Alabama radio and television broadcast pioneer.

• INSPIRE Collection: The INSPIRE Collection holds the records of The Institute for Public Interest Representation of the Georgetown University Law School that pertain to the study, Appointments to the Regulatory Agencies: The Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission (1949-1974).

• Philip James: Philip James was an American composer of over 300 works of choral and orchestral music. He co-founded the New Jersey Orchestra, and in 1929 became the regular conductor of the Bamberger Little Symphony on radio station WOR for nine years.

• Donald H. Kirkley, Jr.: The Kirkley Collection is made up largely of audio recordings. Many of the reel-to-reel tapes are recordings of political speeches from the World War II era. Radio talk shows, quiz shows, and dramas are also well-represented.

• Justin Meacham: The Meacham collection contains information pertaining to the origins and early operations of radio station WGAZ/WSBT in South Bend, IN.

• Henry L. Miller and Anne Lorentz Miller: This collection documents a small portion of Henry L. Miller's work with Voice of America (VOA) and Anne Lorentz Miller's work as a commerical scriptwriter.

• Michael Muderick: Mr. Muderick donated runs of sixty broadcast-related periodicals. He worked in the broadcasting and video production fields for more than 25 years and was most recently the president and owner of Muderick Media.

• Tom O'Connor: Tom O'Connor worked in Baltimore radio for nearly forty years, primarily for station WBAL. This collection contains his research materials for his unpublished book on the history of Baltimore broadcasting.

• Jerry (Tucker) Schatz: Jerry (Tucker)Schatz was a child actor in film and radio during the 1930s and early 1940s. He is best remembered for his role in the "Our Gang" comedies of the 1930s. The collection includes scripts, photographs, a scrapbook and other materials relating to his career.

• Helen J. Sioussat: Helen Sioussat was Director of the Talks and Public Affairs Department at CBS from 1937 to 1958. She was responsible for arranging the network's public affairs programming. The collection includes correspondence, memoranda, press releases, scripts and photographs.

• Norman Sweetser: Norman Sweetser started his career in musical theater in the 1920's and from there moved on to radio broadcasting. He was an announcer at station WJZ New York, one of the original NBC network stations, and later directed the popular radio serials "Just Plain Bill" and "Stella Dallas."

• Sol Taishoff: Sol Taishoff was co-founder, editor-in-chief, and later sole owner of Broadcasting magazine, a publication under his leadership that became the "bible" of the industry. Broadcasting, founded in 1931, followed the ups and downs of radio and later television, focusing on the nuts and bolts of the business. Under Taishoff, the Washington, D.C.- based publication spent a great deal of ink covering the movements of the Federal Communications Commission, as well as mergers and acquisitions in the industry, business trends, hirings and firings and other issues of interest to insiders. The Collection includes correspondence, financial records, photographs, awards, audio tapes, various printed materials and materials related to professional activities.

• Vox Pop: Vox Pop was a "sidewalk interview" radio program that ran from 1932 to 1948. Material relating to the show was donated by Bill Johnson, son of Vox Pop creator and star, Parks Johnson.

• WENR--KYW : The WENR-KYW Station Collection documents the history of two Chicago, Illinois, radio stations from the early days of radio broadcasting.

• WHB Station Collection: John T. Schilling, one of broadcasting's early pioneers, founded and served as general manager of Kansas City's WHB Radio - the oldest call letters in Kansas City. This collection, comprised of Mr. Schilling's scrapbooks, documents the publicity efforts of WHB radio from 1922-1953.

• Wisdom: Wisdom was a half-hour television series on NBC which aired from 1957 to 1965. The program featured interviews with distinguished guests from the arts, sciences and politics.

• WRKL Station Collection: The WRKL Station Collection documents local AM radio station WRKL from 1964-1985. The award winning WRKL, located in Rockland County, New York, was known for its news coverage and popular call-in shows that often featured controversial topics. The station was firebombed in the summer of 1967 after the airing of a call in show on racial tensions. The collection contains photographs, business records and audiotapes.

Unprocessed Collections (a small sample)

• Rudy C. Bretz: Mr. Bretz was a pioneer in the fields of commercial, public and instructional television. His many accomplishments include: the first television cameraman hired by CBS-TV in New York City, during the experimental days of 1939; the author or coauthor of eight books on television production; and the creator of TV production inventions including the "Bretzicon," "Bretzbox," and the "Bretzscope." This very large collection primarily focuses on Mr. Bretz's teaching career at more than twenty colleges and universities.

• Carl Haverlin: The first president of Broadcast Music, Inc., Mr. Haverlin donated tapes from BMI Program Clinics (1951-1957) along with photos and documents that chronicle the founding of BMI.

• Tom Kelly: Local disc jockey Tom Kelly has donated items chronicling his career of over twenty years. Items include materials from local station WBIG in Rockville, Maryland and other stations in Colorado and New York.

• Edythe J. Meserand: Ms. Meserand donated items from her tenure as first president of the American Women in Radio and Television, her career as a documentary producer, and other material relating to women in broadcasting.

• Elmo N. Pickerill: Mr. Pickerill was an engineer who worked with Dr. Lee DeForest and later for RCA. His materials include correspondence with Guglielmo Marconi, David Sarnoff, and DeForest, as well as scrapbooks, photographs and early publications on wireless telegraphy.