Scope and Content Note
The papers of Percival Flack Brundage (1892-1979), director of the Bureau of the Budget, consultant to the United States government on financial affairs, and partner with Price, Waterhouse & Company span the years 1918 to 1979. The collection consists of correspondence, announcements, financial statements, legal papers, and speeches and writings. The earliest item, dated 1918, concerns Brundage's appointment as a civilian with the Army Quartermaster Corps in New York. The remainder of the material is dated from 1934 to 1979 and relates to Brundage's activities as a member of national and international charitable, political, religious, and social organizations. The papers are organized into the following series: Correspondence; Subject File; Speech, Article, and Book File; and Miscellany.
The Correspondence file is divided into two sections, family and general. Letters to and from Brundage's son Robert, his daughter Lois, and their families, as well as other relatives, make up the family correspondence. The general correspondence consists of letters from Brundage's political associates and personal friends, and covers the period 1954-1978. The section includes letters to and from Julian Baird, William Emerson Brock, W. Randolph Burgess, Arthur F. Burns, George Bush (1924- ), Clifford P. Case, Hamilton Fish, Andrew Heiskell, George Oliver May, Thruston B. Morton, Ronald Reagan, Clarence K. Streit, and various members of the Trilateral Commission.
The Subject File constitutes the bulk of the collection and indicates the nature and extent of Brundage's many public and professional associations, including the Atlantic Council of the United States; the Federal Union; Price, Waterhouse & Company; and the People to People Health Foundation (Project Hope). His concern for United States economic policy and the condition of the budget after his retirement from government service is documented in the files concerning Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald R. Ford, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and the White House. From 1959 until his death, Brundage spent the winters at his home in Pompano Beach, Florida, in the Hillsboro community, and was very active in the Hillsboro Association. The Florida files contain correspondence, financial statements, minutes, and architects' drawings on the development of this community. Other individuals represented in the Subject File include Avery Brundage, Maurice H. Stans, and pianist Tibor Szász.
The Speech, Article, and Book File contains typescripts of Brundage's speeches from 1943 to 1951, notes and drafts of his book Bureau of the Budget, as well as correspondence between Brundage and his publisher. The speeches relate to Brundage's experience as a member of the accounting profession and are centered around opportunities, developments, and problems in the field.
The Miscellany dates from 1918 to 1978 and includes announcements, autographs, clippings, invitations, printed matter, receipts, and speeches and writings by persons other than Brundage. Among the autographs are those of Everett McKinley Dirksen, John Foster Dulles, Strom Thurmond, and Elliot L. Richardson.