| PREVIOUS | NEXT | NEW SEARCH |
Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 1997
Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms997005
Latest revision: 2005-02-15
Family Papers, 1898-1987, n.d. | |||||||||||||
Correspondence, ca. 1928-1990, n.d. | |||||||||||||
Writings, 1934-1982, n.d. | |||||||||||||
Scrapbooks, 1927-1945 | |||||||||||||
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.
The papers of Martha Dodd, author and political emigré, were bequeathed to the Library of Congress by Dodd in 1991. Several small additions have been received since that time.
The Dodd papers are described in Library of Congress Acquisitions: Manuscript Division, 1991, pp. 25-28.
Some photographs have been transferred to the Library's Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as part of these papers.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Martha Dodd in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Martha Dodd Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Date | Event |
| 1908, Oct. 8 | Born, Ashland, Va. |
| 1930 | Graduated, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. |
| 1931-1933 | Assistant literary editor, Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Ill. |
| 1932, Mar. | Married George B. Roberts (divorced 1934) |
| 1933-1937 | Moved to Berlin with family and father, William E. Dodd, upon his appointment as United States ambassador to Germany |
| 1938, Sept.13 | Married Alfred K. Stern |
| 1939 | Publication of Through Embassy Eyes (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co. 382 pp.) |
| 1941 | Publication of Ambassador Dodd's Diary (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co. 464 pp.) |
| 1945 | Publication of Sowing the Wind (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co. 311 pp.) |
| 1953 | Fled to Mexico City, Mexico, while under investigation by the Justice Department on charges of having participated in Soviet espionage operations. |
| 1955 | Publication of The Searching Light (New York: Citadel Press. 345 pp.) |
| 1957 | Indicted in absentia by
United States federal grand jury for
participation in Soviet espionage operations Emigrated to Prague, Czechoslovakia |
| 1962 | Emigrated to Havana, Cuba |
| 1968 | Returned to Prague, Czechoslovakia |
| 1979 | Indictment charges dismissed by United States federal district court |
| 1990, Aug. 10 | Died, Prague, Czechoslovakia |
The papers of Martha Eccles Dodd (1908-1990) span the years 1898-1990, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1950-1990. The collection contains correspondence, printed matter, and other materials documenting Dodd's experiences in Berlin from 1933 to 1937 with her father, William E. Dodd, American ambassador to Germany and her life during the period 1957 to 1990 spent in exile as a political writer in Cuba and Czechoslovakia. Also contained in the collection are Dodd's writings, including articles, short stories, and materials relating to her books. The Dodd Papers consist of the following series: Family Papers, Correspondence, Writings, and Scrapbooks.
The Family Papers (1898-1990) consist primarily of letters sent or received by family members, genealogical materials, and newspaper clippings relating to Dodd and her immediate family. The series is also comprised of correspondence and business records pertaining to the career and interests of her second husband, Alfred K. Stern. These include files documenting his work as chairman of the Illinois State Housing Board, studies of public housing projects in Eastern Europe and Cuba, correspondence with the Institute of Psychoanalysis in Chicago (of which he was a founding member) and some of his early radio addresses and speeches. Completing the series are miscellaneous items dating from 1898 and calling cards and invitations from Berlin's diplomatic and social elite, received by Dodd during her father's tenure as American ambassador to Germany.
The Correspondence series (ca. 1928-1990) contains letters dating principally from 1960 to 1990 between Dodd and her friends, associates, professional contacts, and members of the general public. The file is replete with descriptions of her life as an exile in Cuba and Czechoslovakia, thoughts regarding her political writings and beliefs, and recollections of her past. During the post-World War II period, Dodd and Stern were active in left-wing politics and friendly with members of the Soviet and East European diplomatic corps. Their unsuccessful business venture with Russian emigré Boris Morros was later exposed by Morros in the early 1950s to be a front for espionage. Morros, a Soviet spy, who was later turned double-agent by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, implicated the Sterns, who then left the United States to live in Mexico. Dodd's correspondence reflects her bitterness toward the United States government for her exile and the indictment that followed in 1957 charging Dodd and Stern with participating in Soviet espionage operations. Though Dodd initially was eager to spend her exile in socialist Eastern Europe, correspondence during the last decade of her life reveals an intense disillusionment with socialism and a strong desire to relocate to England or return to the United States. Also reflected in these letters are admissions that she and Stern's lavish lifestyle did not always represent their belief in radical and progressive causes.
Correspondence dating from the early 1930s relates mainly to her experiences and travels in Europe during her father's tenure as United States ambassador to Germany. William E. Dodd was not a professional diplomat but was President Franklin D. Roosevelt's personal choice for the sensitive Berlin post. Martha Dodd often acted as hostess for her father during his Berlin service. Included are love letters written in German from Boris Winogradov, a Soviet official at the USSR's embassy in Berlin at the time Dodd was at the American embassy. Attached to his letters are notes by Dodd summarizing the contents and describing relevant events and circumstances surrounding his letters. Also of significance during this period are letters from Mildred Harnack, an American intellectual living in Berlin who was executed along with her German husband by order of Adolf Hitler on charges of high treason. Dodd later researched the lives of both Winogradov and Harnack, presumably with the intent of writing an article or short story. Research materials regarding these correspondents can be found in the Writings series of the collection.
Dodd cultivated and maintained a lively correspondence with artists, writers, actors, intellectuals, and others who shared her political ideology and traveled in the same social circles. Some of these prominent and frequent correspondents include Max Delbrück, W. E. B. Du Bois, Lion Feuchtwanger, Donald Klopfer, Corliss Lamont, Albert Maltz, Dexter Masters, H. L. Mencken, Arthur Miller, Letitia Ratner, George B. Roberts, Paul and Eslanda Goode Robeson, William L. Shirer, Carleton Smith, Gale Sondergaard, José Venturelli, and Thomas Wolfe.
The largest portion of the Writings series (1934-1982) is comprised of manuscripts and publication copies of Dodd's newspaper and magazine articles. Since most articles were written during her exile, many of the publication copies are in Chinese, Spanish, Czech, German, and Russian. Reflecting her bias towards socialist ideology, the articles pertain to topics such as the Cuban revolution, the Cold War, the civil rights movement in the United States, and the war in Vietnam.
Contracts, reviews, revision copies, and other materials relating to her books are also contained in the Writings. Of special note are comments and quotes by prominent writers and intellectuals used by Dodd's publishers to advertise her books. Included are quotes by Sean O'Casey, Albert Einstein, Katherine Anne Porter, Carl Sandburg, and Thomas Mann. The series also contains drafts of screenplays by Dodd, Kay Fanin, and Ring Lardner, correspondence with Hollywood producer and director Otto Preminger, and story treatments and other materials relating to a Hollywood film project, based on her books Ambassador Dodd's Diary and Through Embassy Eyes, which was later canceled.
Other materials in the Writings include correspondence with publishers, research data, short stories, press releases and statements, radio addresses and speeches, and unfinished memoirs. Significant items include a press release issued by Dodd and Stern upon their arrival in Czechoslovakia after their 1957 indictment and memoirs recording Dodd's eyewitness account of Soviet tanks rolling through the streets of Prague in 1968. Themes in her short stories, most of which are undated but probably written during the 1930s and 1940s, are often based on Dodd's personal experiences, particularly those during her life in Nazi Germany.
The Scrapbooks series (1927-1945) completes the collection. Comprised of newspaper and magazine clippings, most of the scrapbooks contain announcements and reviews of Dodd's books. Others pertain to Stern and his work as chairman of the Illinois State Housing Board and other activities.
The collection is arranged in four series:
| PREVIOUS | NEXT | NEW SEARCH |
EAD Finding Aids at the Library of Congress | EAD DTD Official Web Site
| Contact Us |