Scope and Content Note
The papers of Roger William Riis (1894-1953) span the years 1903-1990, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1921-1952. The papers are arranged in four series, Personal File, Writings File, Subject File, and Scrapbooks.
The Personal File, 1903-1990, contains Riis's correspondence with his family and associates, servicemen who visited the Riis home during World War II, and letters to the editor as well as a journal chronicling his articles and their publication. The largest number of family correspondence was written to his niece, Martha Elizabeth Riis (later Martha Riis Moore), from about 1929 to 1950. Letters after his death were exchanged mostly among Martha Riis Moore and family members, including Elizabeth Hipple Riis Foster and Jacob Riis Owre, known as "Riis." Noteworthy are letters written in 1903 and 1904 to Riis's father, Jacob Augustus Riis, and a photograph dated 1905 of the elder Riis with Theodore Roosevelt. Some of the letters written to Roger William Riis by prominent persons were removed by the donor and replaced with photocopies.
The Writings File, 1916-1953, is comprised mostly of articles written by Riis for magazines and includes fillers for magazines, pamphlets and booklets, poetry, and speeches. Although a majority of the articles were written under Riis's name, some were published under his pseudonym, Niel Hunter. In 1941, Riis's began publishing a controversial series entitled "The Repairman Will Gyp You If You Don't Watch Out" in the Reader's Digest. The series criticized the unscrupulous behavior of various types of repairmen including automobile mechanics and those servicing watches and radios. Riis kept a scrapbook of the many articles, advertisements, and letters to the editor that defended the repairmen. The series was published in 1942 as the book Repairmen Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out, coauthored with John Patric. Riis also maintained scrapbooks of his articles and other writings which can be found in the Scrapbook series.
The Subject File, 1912-1953, contains information on research topics and Riis's involvement with various organizations. One of his early concerns related to claims made by advertisers which led to his investigations of the Lever Brothers Company and the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. His findings regarding cigarettes and tobacco smoking prompted Riis to publish The Truth About Smoking in 1951 and related articles found in the Writings File. The American Civil Liberties Union file concerns the union's defense of communists, its involvement with the National Labor Relations Board regarding the Ford Motor Company, the report of the Dies Committee, and the ouster of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn as a board member. Because Riis was the roving editor for the Reader's Digest, a file related to his work includes reports and correspondence with various editors about his articles.
Scrapbooks, dated from 1920 to 1952, document Riis's participation on a federal grand jury in the winter of 1941-1942 investigating possible violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act, his service in the United States Navy during World War I, a collection of clippings on various topics, and family photographs.
Correspondents include Roger Nash Baldwin, William Benton, Robert Donner, Morris Leopold Ernst, Carlton Fredericks, Arthur Garfield Hayes, John Haynes Holmes, James Rorty, George Seldes, and DeWitt Wallace.