Scope and Content Note
The papers of Eric Frederick Goldman (1915-1989) span the years 1886-1988, with the bulk of the material dating from 1940 to 1970.
Part I
Part I of the Goldman Papers, covering the entire time span of the collection, is organized into the following series: Family Papers, General Correspondence, Subject File, Writings, and Oversize.
The Family Papers contains correspondence between Goldman and his family and close friends pertaining chiefly to personal matters but also providing details concerning his public career. Goldman's third wife, Joanna, kept diaries, generally in a rough note format, which document her husband's private and public life, especially during his association with the Johnson administration. Scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings, printed ephemera, photographs, and correspondence also cover Goldman's achievements. Eight of these scrapbooks are in the Oversize series.
General Correspondence contains letters from colleagues, students, and the public, usually accompanied by a copy of Goldman's reply. There are letters from historians such as Charles Austin Beard, Henry Steele Commager, and Merle Eugene Curti; journalists such as Walter Lippmann; entertainers such as Arthur Godfrey; athletes such as Hank Aaron; and Supreme Court justices. Topics include research inquiries, requests for articles and book reviews, invitations to speak, and discussions of historical points. There are a few letters from Harry S. Truman, who because of differing interpretations of his presidential administration refused to let Goldman write his biography. The letters of Willis Kingsley Wing, Goldman's literary agent, provide information on the production and promotion of Goldman's writings. The legal aspects of Goldman's contracts are covered in the letters of Harriet F. Pippel.
The Subject File documents the wide variety of Goldman's activities. Intending to collaborate on a book with Jacob K. Javits, Goldman collected Javit's 1962 senatorial campaign position papers on such topics as civil rights, the economy, health, and education. Goldman's lengthy association with NBC-TV as host of the “Open Mind” program is represented by transcripts of the broadcasts and correspondence pertaining to the show's production and audience reaction. Goldman was an active participant in the Society of American Historians, serving as president from 1962 to 1969. His files on this organization include minutes, speeches, and correspondence. Topics chiefly concern the group's annual dinners, its Allan Nevins Prize for the year's best doctoral dissertation, and its Francis Parkman Award for the year's outstanding book on American history.
The largest portion of the Subject File contains material relating to Goldman's role as special consultant to President Lyndon B. Johnson. Goldman's function was to tap the intellectual community for ideas, synthesize its input, and suggest programs and policies. He also provided historical background data for the speeches of Lady Bird, Lynda, and Luci Johnson. The White House files contain correspondence, speeches, and reports on the arts, domestic affairs, immigration, international cooperation, poverty, Vietnam, and special programs relating to White House scholars, fellows, and summer interns, and to a 1965 festival of the arts. There are also transcripts of interviews with early Johnson associates. A section of scrapbooks contains interoffice memoranda between Horace Busby, Liz Carpenter, Goldman, Johnson, George E. Reedy, Jack Valenti, and others discussing proposals and policies. Included is Robert Lowell's 30 May 1965 letter of refusal to attend the Festival of the Arts which triggered a controversy between Johnson and the intellectual community.
Chief correspondents in the Subject File include Bruce Catton, John Kenneth Galbraith, Kent Roberts Greenfield, Richard Hofstadter, Lyndon B. And Lady Bird Johnson, Margaret Mead, Adam Clayton Powell, Roger Revelle, Clinton Rossiter, Upton Sinclair, and Barbara Wertheim Tuchman.
The Writings series contains contracts, correspondence, drafts, promotional material, and royalty statements for Goldman's articles, book reviews, books, and essays. Background material for Goldman's biography of Charles J. Bonaparte includes three letters signed by Benjamin Harrison (1886), Theodore Roosevelt (1907), and Charles J. Bonaparte (1905). The section pertaining to Rendezvous with Destiny: A History of Modern American Reform includes numerous unpublished charts. Portions of the book The Crucial Decade: America 1945-1955 were sent to readers for verification, among whom were Dean Acheson, Lauren Bacall, William F. Buckley, Dean Rusk, Adlai E. Stevenson, and Strom Thurmond. Other correspondents include Hugo LaFayette Black and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Goldman intended to write a book on the 1960s, which would have completed a trilogy on modern American history. While researching the decade, he found his interest focusing on the civil rights movement and began planning a second book on the narrower subject. Neither work was finished, but considerable material relating to their preparation can be found in a portion of the Writings series designated as “untitled.” Also represented are Goldman's fictional works, various speeches, and lectures from his popular American history course at Princeton University.
The Oversize series contains Goldman's White House appointment signed by Lyndon B. Johnson and eight scrapbooks removed from the Family Papers series.
Part II
Part II of the Eric Frederick Goldman Papers spans the years 1911-1977, with the bulk of the material dating from 1959 to 1964. It is organized into Family Papers and Writings, and arranged in a similar order to Part I.
The Family Papers series contains letters between Goldman and his father, Harry Goldman, about the care of his mother, Bessie.
The Writings series consists of correspondence, drafts, and research material relating to Goldman's articles and books. The bulk of the material pertains to his unpublished book on the 1911 lynching of Zachariah Walker in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Research material includes correspondence, newspaper articles, notes, and transcripts of court cases. The first chapter of the book was published as an article titled “Summer Sunday” in the June 1964 issue of American Heritage. In addition, there are drafts of Goldman's unfinished memoir and a draft of an article on antisemitism along with a commentary by H. L. Mencken.
The Oversize series contains Goldman's file of note cards removed from the Writings series.