Scope and Content Note
The papers of Arnold Eric Sevareid (1912-1992) span the period from 1909 to 1993, with the bulk of the material dating from 1940-1992. The papers primarily document his long career with CBS radio and television as a correspondent and commentator. They contain correspondence, fan mail, writings, speeches, genealogical material, and subject files and include an extensive file of his radio and television scripts. The papers are organized into two large sections, parts I and II, and a small addition as part III. The three parts are described separately in the container list. Part I has been available to researchers since 1971 and is primarily concentrated during the years 1940 to 1960. Part II was organized in 1994 and covers the rest of Sevareid's life. The dates of the correspondence in Part III range from the 1950s to Sevareid's death in 1992. There is a great deal of chronological overlap between the three parts; researchers should search the entire container list for items of possible interest.
Part I
The papers in Part I span the period from 1930 to 1967 but cover primarily the two decades from 1940 to 1960. They consist of personal correspondence, fan mail, office files, a speech, an article and book file, and a miscellany. The two series of scripts and fan mail constitute the majority of this part of the collection. Scripts consist mainly of radio news analyses which were broadcast almost daily from 1946 to 1959. These much-revised and annotated drafts give capsule commentaries on the political scene and on life in general by Sevareid as chief Washington correspondent for CBS News. Fan mail provides insight into the impact of these broadcasts on the public, particularly the reaction to individual programs.
Although labeled by Sevareid as Personal Correspondence, the material in this series is for the most part professional in character. Most of the correspondents appear to be Sevareid's personal friends, but they write about business rather than personal matters. Much of the correspondence is similar to the fan mail, but there is no family correspondence. Included, however, are copies of letters from Adlai Stevenson dated from 1950-1956.
World War II material is abundantly present in the scripts of Sevareid's broadcasts and cables from war zones in Europe and Asia from 1939-1945, and in Sevareid's speeches and writings dating after his return from Europe in 1941. A chronology of his experience in the Burma jungle after bailing out of an airplane on a flight to China in 1943 can be found among the notes he jotted down in his correspondent's book as well as in other notes, correspondence, and news clippings of the event. All of this can be found in the Miscellany series which also contains material documenting another Sevareid adventure, a canoe trip from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Hudson Bay, Cananda, in 1930. This story is preserved in the "log" of the trip and in the scrapbook of newspaper clippings of the stories he and his companion, Walter C. Port, wrote and sent to the Minneapolis newspaper which sponsored their trip.
Material reflecting Sevareid's professional life can be found in the Office Files and in the Speech, Article and Book File. The Office Files include large amounts of Columbia Broadcasting System interoffice correspondence and files with his agent, Harold Matson. The Speech, Article and Book File contains material relating to four of Sevareid's books.
Photographs taken during Sevareid's experience in Burma in 1943, along with other photographs of Sevareid and a film of John Paton Davies in 1954, have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. The Library's Motion Picture Section holds films of some of Sevareid's CBS television broadcasts, most of which have come to the Library as copyright deposits.
Part II
Although Part I includes little family material, the Correspondence series of Part II does include one folder of correspondence between family members or about family matters. Most of the correspondence series, however, is organized as general correspondence. Special correspondence includes material that Sevareid usually had labeled as "V.I.P." or "media personalities."
The Part II Fan Mail series holds correspondence from Sevareid's general viewing and reading public, usually with copies of his responses attached.
The Subject File includes correspondence with friends and acquaintances of Sevareid's, such as Svetlana Allilueva, Robert Ardrey, Helga Sandburg, and Vincent Sheean. The CBS Television Network News material contains business records, contracts, and correspondence with many CBS executives and personalities, including lengthy letters from Bill Moyers. Also present is material on awards and honors, retirement, speaking engagements, and post-retirement television and film projects.
The Scripts series of Part II contains Sevareid's commentaries for the CBS Evening News and scripts from various news specials, "CBS Reports," and from Sevareid's many interview programs. Also present are scripts from a variety of film, documentary, and public television projects dating after his retirement from CBS in 1977.
The final series of Part II, Speeches and Writings, contains the texts of articles, letters to the editor and speeches, some with attached correspondence.
Part III
Part III: 2018 Addition, consists primarily of correspondence from prominent politicians, journalists and writers. The addition also includes some genealogical material, a scrapbook from Sevareid's grandparent's hometown in Norway, and items from Sevareid's second marriage and subsequent divorce with Belen Marshall. Correspondents with multiple items or letters of special interest are organized into individual folders. The miscellaneous correspondence is organized alphabetically by name. Also included is a file of condolence letters from prominent politicians, writers, and journalists, written upon the death of Sevareid. Notable correspondence files in Part III include those for Svetlana Allilueva, Robert Ardrey, Warren E. Burger, Hubert H. Humphrey, Alfred M. Landon, Anne Morrow Lindberg, Norman MacLean, Richard M. Nixon, Vincent Sheean, Adlai E. Stevenson, Harry S. Truman, and Theodore H. White.