Scope and Content Note
The papers of George Fort Milton (1894-1955) span the years 1828-1985, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1915-1946. Organized into two overlapping parts, the collection consists of early Fort family correspondence (mostly copies), general correspondence, memoranda, speeches, writings, historical source material on the mid-nineteenth century, printed matter, photographs, and miscellaneous biographical material.
Part I contains six series: General Correspondence ; Special Correspondence ; Speech, Article, and Book File ; Source Materials and Notes ; Miscellany ; and Scrapbooks .
Part II is arranged in eight series: General Correspondence , Subject File , Speech and Article File , Source Materials and Notes , Miscellany , Scrapbooks , Daybook , and Addition .
The collection reflects Milton's career as president and editor of the Chattanooga News,1924-1939, editorial writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1944-1945, and with the Buffalo Evening News,1945-1950. Also important are papers stemming from his work as a historian of the Civil War era. They include, in addition to the responses of historians and critics to his writings, extensive source materials used by him during his research. Notes and background items consisting of photostatic copies, transcripts, and other derivative materials relate particularly to Stephen A. Douglas and Andrew Johnson.
Issues of contemporary importance to Milton that are represented in the papers include the Tennessee Valley Authority, which he supported, and the problem of lynching in the South. Correspondence and subject files document his role as a member in the 1930s of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation and chairman of the Southern Commission on the Study of Lynching. Also documented is Milton’s service as special assistant to Secretary of State of Cordell Hull, including as an advisor at the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace in Buenos Aires in 1936. Scrapbooks in the collection include a comprehensive compilation of Milton’s editorials at the Buffalo Evening News.A Daybook series, as Milton described the material, consists of typewritten daily accounts he kept of his activities and conversations as a consultant to the government in various capacities in wartime Washington, D.C., 1942-1943.
Correspondents include Paul M. Angle, Stringfellow Barr, Francis Biddle, William Edgar Borah, William Jennings Bryan, Henry Steele Commager, E. Merton Coulter, Josephus Daniels, Paul H. Douglas, James A. Farley, Douglas Southall Freeman, Cordell Hull, Marquis James, Estes Kefauver, David Eli Lilienthal, Thomas Powderly Martin, W.G. McAdoo, Kenneth Douglas McKellar, Samuel Davis McReynolds, Allan Nevins, George W. Norris, George Foster Peabody, Arthur Franklin Raper, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Daniel C. Roper, Francis Bowes Sayre, Sumner Welles, William Allen White, and Fort family members.