Scope and Content Note
The papers of Lyman Lloyd Bryson (1888-1959) span the years 1893-1978, with the bulk of the material dating from 1917 to 1959. The papers document Bryson's work for the American National Red Cross and League of Red Cross Societies following World War I, his subsequent work in the field of adult education, and his role in developing educational radio and television programming for the Columbia Broadcasting System in the 1940s and 1950s. The collection also features many of Bryson's literary works, including drafts of novels, short stories, poems, and plays. The collection is arranged into five series: General Correspondence; Subject File; Speech, Article, and Book File; Miscellany; and a 1979 Addition.
The General Correspondence series covers virtually every aspect of Bryson's professional life and literary endeavors. Correspondence with friends, agents, and publishers, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s, concerns Bryson's efforts to succeed as a writer. Correspondence with Red Cross colleagues in this series, the Subject File, and the 1979 Addition provides information on Bryson's work for the American National Red Cross and League of Red Cross Societies as a publicist, his directorship of Junior Red Cross programs, and his extensive travels in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The addition includes Bryson's account of his interview with H. G. Wells in 1920 on behalf of the Junior Red Cross. The bulk of the General Correspondence series consists of correspondence with associates in the field of adult education, Columbia University faculty and administrators, and Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) executives. Correspondents include Bower Aly, Edmund de Schweinitz Brunner, George T. Bye, Morse A. Cartwright, James Mitchell Clarke, Mary L. Ely, Louis Finkelstein, Sir Claude H. Hill, Anne E. M. Jackson, Robert Edwin Olds, William S. Paley, and David Riesman.
The Subject File includes material from Bryson's participation in various conferences and seminars on adult education, public communication, and philosophy. Letters from listeners to CBS's Invitation to Learning provide insight into the program's popular reception. Other CBS material includes correspondence and reports relating to Department X, a committee organized by Bryson in 1941 at the request of William S. Paley, president of the network. The committee examined issues relating to postwar planning, including political, social, and economic trends, scientific and technological developments, shifts in public opinion, and government programs.
The Speech, Article, and Book File contains many of Bryson's lectures, articles, and books on adult education, public communication, and post World War II political, intellectual, and cultural developments. Also included is a draft of Bryson's novel, "William Blades," and correspondence with the publishers of Adventure magazine and Atlantic Monthly who published many of Bryson's early stories, articles, and essays. The series contains correspondence and transcripts from Bryson's CBS radio and television programs.
A small Miscellany series includes appointment books, biographical material, business and financial records, letters of recommendation, programs, and clippings.
The 1979 Addition comprises general correspondence, Red Cross correspondence, transcripts and programs from Bryson's CBS broadcasts, fan letters, and clippings which complement material found in the collection. The addition also contains Bryson's reminiscences based on oral interviews with him conducted in 1951. While covering his childhood and early career, this autobiographical account focuses particularly on Bryson's work for CBS, his chairmanship of CBS's Adult Education Board from 1938 to 1942, his appointment as Director of Education in 1942, and his role in the creation and hosting of educational programs. Family correspondence exchanged chiefly between Bryson and his parents contains detailed accounts of Bryson's activities from his freshman year at the University of Michigan in 1906 through 1940. The bulk of the addition consists of drafts of Bryson's short stories, plays, novels, and poetry, many of them unpublished. An account journal, begun by Bryson in 1917, records the sale of some of these works.