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Roger William Riis

A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress

Prepared by Melinda K. Friend

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Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

2007

Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html

Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2007

Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms007103

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

Personal Names

Organizations

Subjects

Occupations

Administrative Information

Provenance:

Processing History:

Transfers:

Copyright Status:

Preferred Citation:

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement of the Papers

Description of Series

Container List

Personal File, 1903-1990

Writings File, 1916-1953

Subject File, 1912-1953

Scrapbooks, 1920-1952

Collection Summary

Title: Roger William Riis Papers
Span Dates: 1903-1990
Bulk Dates: (bulk 1921-1952)
ID No.: MSS75875
Creator: Riis, Roger William, b. 1894
Extent: 3,500 items; 14 containers; 5.6 linear feet
Language: Collection material in English
Repository: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Abstract: Author and editor. Correspondence, diaries, journal, speeches, articles and other writings, subject files, scrapbooks, printed matter, and photographs pertaining to Riis's work as an author and editor. Subjects include consumer fraud, tobacco smoking, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Sherman Antitrust Act. Also includes material pertaining to his service in the U. S. Navy during World War I.

Selected Search Terms

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.



Personal Names
Baldwin, Roger Nash, 1884-1981--Correspondence.
Benton, William, 1900-1973--Correspondence.
Donner, Robert, d. 1964--Correspondence.
Ernst, Morris Leopold, 1888---Correspondence.
Foster, Elizabeth Hipple Riis--Correspondence.
Fredericks, Carlton--Correspondence.
Hayes, Arthur Garfield--Correspondence.
Holmes, John Haynes, 1879-1964--Correspondence.
Moore, Martha Riis--Correspondence.
Owre, J. Riis--Correspondence.
Riis, Jacob A. (Jacob August), 1849-1914--Correspondence.
Riis, Roger William, b. 1894.
Rorty, James, 1890-1973--Correspondence.
Seldes, George, 1890-1995--Correspondence.
Wallace, DeWitt, 1889-1981--Correspondence.

Organizations
American Civil Liberties Union.
United States. Navy--History--World War, 1914-1918.
United States. Sherman Act.

Subjects
Antitrust law.
Automobile repair fraud.
Cigarettes.
Fraud.
Reader's digest.
Smoking.
Tobacco.
World War, 1914-1918--Naval operations, American.

Occupations
Authors.
Editors.

Administrative Information

Provenance:

The papers of Roger William Riis, author and editor, were given by J. Riis Owre in 1977 and Martha Riis Moore from 1987 to 1991.

Processing History:

The papers of Roger William Riis were arranged and described in 1999. The finding aid was revised in 2007.

Transfers:

Some photographs have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as part of the Roger William Riis Papers.

Copyright Status:

The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Roger William Riis is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).

Preferred Citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Roger William Riis Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Note

Date Event
1894, Mar. 15 Born, Richmond Hills, N.Y.
1913 Attended the Hill School, Pottstown, Pa.
1917 A. B., Williams College, Williamstown, Mass.
Reporter, New York Sun
1917-1918 United States Naval Reserves
1920 Associate editor, American Legion Weekly
1921-1922 Associate editor, Collier's Weekly
1921-1952 Contributor, magazine articles
1922-1942 Free-lancer, public relations and publicity work for corporations and social movements
1926 Published with Charles W. Bonner, Jr., Publicity: A Study of the Development of Industrial News. New York: J. H. Sears & Co.
1926-19?? Member and Board of Directors, American Civil Liberties Union
1941 Married Elizabeth Hipple
1941-1945 Civilian advisor, Bureau of Aeronautics, United States Navy
1942 Published with John Patric, Repairmen Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co.
1943 Honorary M. A., Williams College, Williamstown, Mass.
1943-1952 Roving editor, Reader's Digest
1951 Published, The Truth About Smoking. New York: Grosset & Dunlap
1953, Jan. 23 Died, Wilton, Conn.

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Roger William Riis (1894-1953) span the years 1903-1990, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1921-1952. The papers are arranged in four series, Personal File, Writings File, Subject File, and Scrapbooks.

The Personal File, 1903-1990, contains Riis's correspondence with his family and associates, servicemen who visited the Riis home during World War II, and letters to the editor as well as a journal chronicling his articles and their publication. The largest number of family correspondence was written to his niece, Martha Elizabeth Riis (later Martha Riis Moore), from about 1929 to 1950. Letters after his death were exchanged mostly among Martha Riis Moore and family members, including Elizabeth Hipple Riis Foster and Jacob Riis Owre, known as "Riis." Noteworthy are letters written in 1903 and 1904 to Riis's father, Jacob Augustus Riis, and a photograph dated 1905 of the elder Riis with Theodore Roosevelt. Some of the letters written to Roger William Riis by prominent persons were removed by the donor and replaced with photocopies.

The Writings File, 1916-1953, is comprised mostly of articles written by Riis for magazines and includes fillers for magazines, pamphlets and booklets, poetry, and speeches. Although a majority of the articles were written under Riis's name, some were published under his pseudonym, Niel Hunter. In 1941, Riis's began publishing a controversial series entitled "The Repairman Will Gyp You If You Don't Watch Out" in the Reader's Digest. The series criticized the unscrupulous behavior of various types of repairmen including automobile mechanics and those servicing watches and radios. Riis kept a scrapbook of the many articles, advertisements, and letters to the editor that defended the repairmen. The series was published in 1942 as the book Repairmen Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out, coauthored with John Patric. Riis also maintained scrapbooks of his articles and other writings which can be found in the Scrapbook series.

The Subject File, 1912-1953, contains information on research topics and Riis's involvement with various organizations. One of his early concerns related to claims made by advertisers which led to his investigations of the Lever Brothers Company and the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. His findings regarding cigarettes and tobacco smoking prompted Riis to publish The Truth About Smoking in 1951 and related articles found in the Writings File. The American Civil Liberties Union file concerns the union's defense of communists, its involvement with the National Labor Relations Board regarding the Ford Motor Company, the report of the Dies Committee, and the ouster of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn as a board member. Because Riis was the roving editor for the Reader's Digest, a file related to his work includes reports and correspondence with various editors about his articles.

Scrapbooks, dated from 1920 to 1952, document Riis's participation on a federal grand jury in the winter of 1941-1942 investigating possible violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act, his service in the United States Navy during World War I, a collection of clippings on various topics, and family photographs.

Correspondents include Roger Nash Baldwin, William Benton, Robert Donner, Morris Leopold Ernst, Carlton Fredericks, Arthur Garfield Hayes, John Haynes Holmes, James Rorty, George Seldes, and DeWitt Wallace.

Arrangement of the Papers

This collection is arranged in four series:

Description of Series

Container Series
BOX 1-3

Personal File, 1903-1990

Correspondence, diaries, a journal of articles, photographs, and items relating to a trip to Denmark.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material and therein chronologically.
BOX 3-8

Writings File, 1916-1953

Articles, a book, fillers for magazines, pamphlets and booklets, poetry, and speeches.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
BOX 8-13

Subject File, 1912-1953

Correspondence, clippings, and printed matter.
Arranged alphabetically by topic or name of person or organization, and therein chronologically.
BOX 13-14

Scrapbooks, 1920-1952

Scrapbooks containing clippings, writings, and correspondence.
Arranged alphabetically by subject.

Container List

Container Contents
BOX 1-3

Personal File, 1903-1990

Correspondence, diaries, a journal of articles, photographs, and items relating to a trip to Denmark.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material and therein chronologically.
BOX 1 Correspondence
BOX 1 General, 1903-1904, 1914, 1925-1989, n.d.
(8 folders)
BOX 2 Letters from servicemen, 1942-1944, n.d.
BOX 2 Letters of condolence, 1953
(5 folders)
BOX 3 Diaries, 1914-1915
BOX 3 Journal of articles, 1936-1952
BOX 3 Miscellany, 1918-1923, 1937-1946, 1953, 1967, 1990, n.d.
BOX 3 Photographs, 1905, 1928, 1948, 1990, n.d.
BOX 3 Trip to Denmark, 1948
BOX 3-8

Writings File, 1916-1953

Articles, a book, fillers for magazines, pamphlets and booklets, poetry, and speeches.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
BOX 3 Articles
BOX 3 "4th of July in Denmark," 1948
BOX 3 "88th Acre," 1945
BOX 3 "4000 Years of Failure of OPA," 1946
BOX 3 "16,000,000 Kisses," 1952
BOX 3 "America First," 1941
BOX 3 "--And Like Him," 1952
BOX 3 "The Anti-Trust Division's Record of Failure," 1944
BOX 3 "Anybody Fly This Plane?" 1950
BOX 3 "Are You a Bigot?" 1946
BOX 3 "Astrology," 1945
BOX 3 "Aunt Martha and the Whiskey Cake," 1946
BOX 4 "The Battle with the Slum, 1900-1950," 1950
BOX 4 "Big Stuff in Small Towns," 1945
BOX 4 "The Billboards Must Go--II," 1938
BOX 4 "A Bitter Outcry," n.d.
BOX 4 "Boimondau," 1948
BOX 4 "Book of the Month Club," n.d.
BOX 4 "But What Can I Do About It?" 1950
BOX 4 "Can You Stop Smoking for Two Weeks?" 1953
BOX 4 "Cancer," 1949
BOX 4 "Chiropractors," 1946
BOX 4 "Christmas Seals," 1948-1949
BOX 4 "Civic Progress--Toledo Style," 1938
BOX 4 "A Critic Looks at Advertising," 1949
BOX 4 "Cruising Down the Styx," 1944
BOX 4 "The District Attorney Isn't Always Right," 1946
BOX 4 "Don't Be an Ass about Aspirin," 1947
BOX 4 "Every Man Has His Own Weather Bureau," 1949
BOX 4 "Every Middlesex Village and Farm," n.d.
BOX 4 "Fortunate City," 1945
BOX 4 "Freedom and Food," 1942
BOX 4 "Gary Urban League," 1947
BOX 4 "A German Silhouette," 1921
BOX 4 "Give Me a Seaplane," n.d.
BOX 4 "Give the Unions a Church," 1945
BOX 4 "The Golden Rule Is Good Business," 1947
BOX 4 "Grass Roots, or Brass Hats?" 1945
BOX 4 "The Great Maple Syrup War," n.d.
BOX 4 "Grown-Up Industrial Relations," 1945
BOX 4 "Hearing Aids Win New Popularity," 1947
BOX 4 "Here's a Banker with Imagination," 1945
BOX 4 "Home, Dangerous Home," 1952
BOX 4 "Honorable Mention," 1944
BOX 4 "How Harmful Are Cigarettes?" 1950
BOX 4 "How Not to Fill a Prescription," 1947
BOX 4 "How Uncle Sam Plays Shylock," 1922
BOX 4 "How's Your Aura? or Yogi, Biophysics, and Halos," 1949
BOX 4 "Human Nature Has Changed," 1941
BOX 4 "I Admire the Human Race," 1951
BOX 4 "I Have 130,000,000 Friends," n.d.
BOX 4 "In Our Hands," 1952
BOX 4 "Incident in the Day of a Machinist," n.d.
BOX 4 "Industry's Plan for Postwar Prosperity," 1943
BOX 4 "Ingenuity," n.d
BOX 4 "It's Backward We Are Going," 1951
BOX 4 "It's Wrong, What They Say Against Laundries," 1948
BOX 4 "The Jackpot That Doesn't Cost a Nickel," 1952
BOX 4 "Jail-Collecting," n.d.
BOX 4 "Jimmy," 1947
BOX 4 "John Doe Versus Caesar," 1946
BOX 4 "John Doe Versus Caesar," 1949
BOX 4 "Junior Councillors," 1946
BOX 4 "The Jury Nuisance," 1938
BOX 5 "The King Is Sick," 1920
BOX 5 "Learning the Habits of Free Men," 1945
BOX 5 "Let's Refurbish Our Jury System," 1950
BOX 5 "Live in the Country--and Live!" 1948
BOX 5 "Many a Germ 'Twixt Cup and Lip," 1937
BOX 5 "Meier & Frank, Portland, Ore.," 1945
BOX 5 "The Most Unforgettable Character I've Met," 1942
BOX 5 "Mothers-in-Law," 1952
BOX 5 "The Murderous Blind Men," n.d.
BOX 5 "Neighborliness at the UN," 1949
BOX 5 "A New Year's Resolution for Every American," 1950
BOX 5 "New Yellow Dust in Placerville," 1951
BOX 5 "Nothing Rotten in Denmark," 1943
BOX 5 "Now I Am For the Churches," 1941
BOX 5 "The Nutrition Foundation," 1952
BOX 5 "The Official O.K.," n.d.
BOX 5 "Ohio's Co-Op Giant," 1944
BOX 5 "A One-Year Old Inquires," n.d.
BOX 5 "Optometry on Trial," 1937
BOX 5 "Our Biggest War Prize," ca. 1942
BOX 5 "Our Case of Atomic Nerves," 1947
BOX 5 "Paint Up, Folks!" 1948
BOX 5 "Pay By the Year Is Labor's Goal," 1944
BOX 5 "People Like to Do Business with Friends," 1947
BOX 5 "Phantom Inventions," 1950
BOX 5 "Plant America," 1952
BOX 5 "Playground in the Sky," n.d.
BOX 5 "President Cleveland's Action in the Chicago Strike, 1894," n.d.
BOX 5 "Private Charity," 1944
BOX 5 "Profit-Sharing or Profit-Fighting?" 1946
BOX 5 "Progress by Protest or Historical Hysterias," 1945
BOX 5 "Public Relations Needs Public Relations," 1947
BOX 5 "Punish the Sucker, Too," 1947
BOX 5 "Quiet, Please," 1936
BOX 5 "Quincy Goes to Church," 1941
BOX 5 "Quinine and Public Policy," 1942
BOX 5 "Radiophone," n.d.
BOX 5 "Radio's Plug-Uglies," 1942
BOX 5 "Repairman" series, 1941
BOX 5 "Research Board for National Security," 1945
BOX 5 "Restaurant," n.d.
BOX 5 "Rubber--It's Coming at Last!" 1943
BOX 5 "Saint Timothy," 1944
BOX 5 "Slyly the Veterans Grab for Five Billions More," 1941
BOX 5 "Smoothing the Road to Europe," n.d.
BOX 5 "The Soil and the Soul of America," 1941
BOX 5 "The Song of the Cow-Bell," n.d.
BOX 5 "Sounding Boards," n.d.
BOX 5 "A Spectre and a Talisman," 1921
BOX 5 "The Stamford General Strike," 1946
BOX 5 "Steve," ca. 1943
BOX 5 "Summertime on the South Shore with a Seaplane," n.d.
BOX 5 "Swindling the Vets," 1945
BOX 6 "Take It or Leave It," 1922
BOX 6 "Teargas, Pickhandles or ...?" 1945
BOX 6 "Thank God for Congress," 1944
BOX 6 "That Poor Man from Cook's," 1949
BOX 6 "These Roosevelts," ca. 1936
BOX 6 "These, the Seekers," n.d.
BOX 6 "They Do It Differently," 1949
BOX 6 "Thirty-Six Churches in One," 1940
BOX 6 "Those ECA Productivity Teams Are Paying Off," 1950
BOX 6 "Thurman Arnold," 1943
BOX 6 Untitled, 1921-1927, 1937-1952, n.d.
(3 folders)
BOX 6 "Up to Our Ears in Suds," 1949
BOX 6 "Watch-Dog of Liberty," 1938
BOX 6 "Weighed--and Found Wanting," 1938
BOX 6 "Welcome to Denmark," 1948
BOX 6 "Welfare State," 1949, n.d.
BOX 6 "What About Cartels?" 1945
BOX 6 "What Church Do You Belong To?" n.d.
BOX 6 "What Does Coffee Do to You?" 1950
BOX 6 "What Makes This Church Successful?" n.d.
BOX 6 What's That Thing on Your Dollar Bill?" n.d.
BOX 6 "What's Wrong with Management?" 1943
BOX 6 "What's Wrong with the American Flag?" 1951
BOX 6 "When Black and White Work Together," 1945
BOX 6 "When They Laugh," n.d.
BOX 6 "Which Helping Hand?" n.d.
BOX 6 "Who Said Civilized?" n.d.
BOX 6 "Who Was John Miller?" n.d.
BOX 6 "Why I Came to America," 1940
BOX 6 "Why I Go to Church," 1941
BOX 7 "Will Oil Run Out?" 1943
BOX 7 "Working Conditions in Heaven," 1947
BOX 7 "The World's Costliest Waste Basket," 1949
BOX 7 "Yoga and Science," 1947
BOX 7 "You Can't Pay Workers That Much," 1944
BOX 7 "You Can't Sell That!" 1947
BOX 7 "You Motorists Will Gyp Us If We Don't Watch Out," n.d.
BOX 7 "Your Airplane Is Waiting," 1935
BOX 7 Book, The Truth About Smoking, 1951
BOX 7 Fillers for magazines, 1920-1922, 1945, n.d.
(2 folders)
BOX 7 Miscellany, 1933-1934, 1943-1945, n.d.
(2 folders)
BOX 7 Pamphlets and booklets, 1923, 1942-1948, n.d.
BOX 8 Poetry, 1916-1952, n.d.
(3 folders)
BOX 8 Speeches, 1941-1949
BOX 8-13

Subject File, 1912-1953

Correspondence, clippings, and printed matter.
Arranged alphabetically by topic or name of person or organization, and therein chronologically.
BOX 8 Advertising investigations
BOX 8 Lever Brothers Co., 1947-1952
BOX 8 Miscellany, 1931, 1947-1951, n.d.
BOX 8 R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 1947-1951
BOX 8 American Civil Liberties Union
BOX 8 1938-1940
(2 folders)
BOX 9 1941-1952, n.d.
BOX 9 Anti-Trust Division, United States Department of Justice, 1941-1952, n.d.
(3 folders)
BOX 9 Benton, William, 1950-1952
BOX 9 Bread
BOX 9 Fredericks, Carlton, 1950-1952, n.d.
BOX 9 Rorty, James, 1947-1951
BOX 10 Clippings and notes, 1944-1953, n.d.
BOX 10 Continental Committee on Technocracy, 1932-1933, n.d.
BOX 10 Donner, Robert, 1937-1947, n.d.
(3 folders)
BOX 10 Ernst, Morris Leopold, 1944-1946
BOX 10 Merck & Co., report on public relations, 1942
BOX 10 Morgan, John Pierpont, 1933
BOX 10 Negroes, 1951-1952
BOX 10 Politics, 1920-1950, n.d.
BOX 11 Presidential campaigns, 1944-1952
(4 folders)
BOX 11 Reader's Digest
BOX 11 Correspondence, 1937-1952, n.d.
(3 folders)
BOX 11 Miscellany, 1944-1947, n.d.
BOX 12 Reports, 1943-1952, n.d.
(2 folders)
BOX 12 Seldes, George, 1941-1947, n.d.
(2 folders)
BOX 12 Smoking of tobacco, 1949-1952, n.d.
BOX 12 United States Navy, recruitment, 1940-1943, n.d.
BOX 12 United States of America, 1917-1921, n.d.
BOX 12 Williams College, Williamstown, Mass.
BOX 12 1912-1922, 1934, 1941-1948
(2 folders)
BOX 13 1949-1953, n.d.
BOX 13-14

Scrapbooks, 1920-1952

Scrapbooks containing clippings, writings, and correspondence.
Arranged alphabetically by subject.
BOX 13 Articles by Riis, 1937-1952
BOX 13 Federal grand jury, 1939-1942, n.d.
BOX 13 Fillers for magazines, 1920-1923
BOX 13 Reactions to "Repairman" series, 1941-1942
(2 folders)
BOX 13 Various topics
BOX 13 1937-1944
BOX 14 ca. 1938-1952
BOX 14 World War I, writings, and photographs, 1910-1927
(4 folders)
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