Gerald Carson
An Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress
Prepared by Bradley E. Gernand
Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.
1991
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.ms007052
Title: Papers of Gerald Carson
Span Dates: 1854-1989
Bulk Dates: (bulk 1944-1985)
ID No.: MSS15255
Creator:
Carson, Gerald
Extent: 950
items;
6 containers;
3 linear feet
Language: Collection material in
English
Repository:
Manuscript Division, Library of
Congress,
Washington, D.C.
Abstract: Author, social
historian, and advertising executive. Correspondence, writings, speeches,
research files, and scrapbooks documenting Carson's activities in advertising
and writing American social history.
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.
Names:
Carson, Gerald
Blondin, Jean François
Gravelet, 1824-1897. Printed letter (1866)
Subjects:
Advertising
Social history
United States--History
Occupations:
Advertising
executives
Authors
Historians
Provenance:The papers of Gerald Carson, advertising executive, social historian,
and author, were given to the Library of Congress by Mr. and Mrs. Carson from
1954 to 1990.
Copyright Status:The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Gerald Carson
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, Gerald Carson Papers, Manuscript
Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
| Date |
Event |
| 1899, July 6 |
Born, Carrollton, Ill. |
| 1921 |
A.B., University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. |
| 1922 |
M.A., University of Illinois |
| 1922-1923 |
Reporter,
New York Herald
|
| 1923 |
Married Lettie Gay |
| 1923-1927 |
Writer, Calkins & Holden, Inc. |
| 1928-1929 |
Employed by J. Walter Thompson Co. |
| 1929-1932 |
Employed by Batton, Barton, Durstine & Osborn |
| 1932-1940 |
Vice president, William Esty & Co. |
| 1940-1947 |
Vice president and copy director, Benton & Bowles |
| 1947-1951 |
Vice president and director, Kenyon & Eckhardt |
| 1954 |
Recipient of the Award of Merit, American Association of
State and Local History
Recipient of the Dunning Prize, American Historical
Association.
Published
The Old Country Store |
| 1957-1976 |
Published
Cornflake Crusade
|
| 1960 |
Published
The Roguish World of Dr. Brinkley |
| 1961 |
Published
One for a Man, Two for a Horse |
| 1963 |
Published
The Social History of Bourbon |
| 1964-1976 |
Member, advertising board,
American Heritage magazine
|
| 1966 |
Published
The Polite Americans |
| 1969 |
Member, usage panel,
American Heritage Dictionary of the English
Language |
| 1972 |
Published
Men, Beasts and Gods: A History of Cruelty and Kindness to
Animals |
| 1977 |
Published
The Golden Egg: The Personal Income Tax, Where it Came From,
How it Grew |
| 1978 |
Published
A Good Day at Saratoga
|
| 1983 |
Published
The Dentist and the Empress: The Adventures of Dr. Tom Evans
in Gas-lit Paris |
| 1989, Dec. 4 |
Died, Langhorne, Pa. |
Gerald Hewes Carson (1899-1989), a native of Illinois and graduate of
the state university in Urbana, moved to New York in 1922 to found a broad and
successful career in the mass media. Beginning as a reporter for the
New York Herald, Carson soon left journalism for the
advertising field, in which he rose eventually to become an executive in the
nation's leading advertising agencies of the day. Decades later, he traded
advertising for the world of historical scholarship and authored ten books and
many articles concerning various aspects of American social history.
Carson's papers in the Library of Congress span the years 1854-1989,
with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1944-1985. The
material is organized in three series:
Correspondence,
Speeches and
Writings, and
Miscellany.
Comprised of correspondence, writings, speeches, lectures, scrapbooks, and
research material, the collection chiefly reflects his work as an author and
social historian. A group of scrapbooks in the Miscellany series documents his
career in the advertising world as well as various milestones in his later
career as social historian. A printed letter from 1866 by acrobat Jean Francois
Gravelet Blondin is in the Speeches and Writings series.
Other Gerald Carson papers are located in the New York Public Library
and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
This collection is arranged in three series:
| Container |
Series |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| BOX 1-2
|
|
|
Letters to and from business associates and friends concerning
research for and publication of Carson's articles and books.
|
|
Arranged alphabetically by title of work and thereunder by year,
month, and day.
|
|
| BOX 2-3
|
|
|
Articles, student theses, speeches and lectures, and research
material.
|
|
Arranged alphabetically by type of material and thereunder by
title or topic.
|
|
| BOX 3-6
|
|
|
Scrapbooks containing clippings, letters, reviews, and programs
pertaining to Carson's work. Also financial records, biographical material, and
miscellaneous clippings.
|
|
Arranged alphabetically by type of material and chronologically
thereunder.
|
| Container |
Contents |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| BOX 1-2
|
Correspondence,
1944-1980
|
|
Letters to and from business associates and friends concerning
research for and publication of Carson's articles and books.
|
|
Arranged alphabetically by title of work and thereunder by year,
month, and day.
|
|
| BOX 1
|
"Animal Welfare: An Aspect of
Nineteenth Century Reform,"
1971-1972
|
|
| BOX 1
|
"Book Agents,"
1954-1958
|
|
| BOX 1
|
Cornflake Crusade,
1944-1979
|
|
| BOX 1
|
The Golden Egg...,
1974-1977
|
|
| BOX 1
|
"Hot Meals from Cold Bricks--the
Birdseye Story,"
1976-1978
|
|
(3
folders)
|
|
| BOX 1
|
"Jefferson Davis's Camel Corps,"
1979-1980
|
|
| BOX 1
|
Men, Beasts and Gods,
1973-1976
|
|
| BOX 1
|
Miscellaneous,
1959-1979
|
|
| BOX 1
|
The Old Country Store,
1967-1980
|
|
| BOX 1
|
The Roguish World of Dr. Brinkley,
1960-1976
|
|
| BOX 2
|
"The Siege of Paris,"
1977-1978
|
|
| BOX 2
|
"They Knew What They Liked,"
1961
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Trademarks,
1976-1977
|
|
| BOX 2
|
"Who Put the Borax in Dr. Wiley's
Butter?"
1972
|
|
| BOX 2
|
"A Yankee 'Tarzan' in the Maine
Woods,"
1969-1979
|
|
| BOX 2-3
|
Speeches and Writings,
1854-1989,
n.d.
|
|
Articles, student theses, speeches and lectures, and research
material.
|
|
Arranged alphabetically by type of material and thereunder by
title or topic.
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Research material |
|
| BOX 2
|
"Bird-in-Hand,"
1976-1978, n.d.
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Blondin, Jean Francois
Gravelet,
1854-1866, 1972-1989, n.d.
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Guckenheimer Band,
1964, n.d.
|
|
| BOX 2
|
MacGilvra, Boo,
1978-1983, n.d.
|
|
| BOX 2
|
McFadden, Bernarr [sic],
1955, n.d.
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Odd-ball clubs in America,
1952, 1961-1968, 1982, n.d.
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Twain, Mark, at Niagara Falls,
1971-1976
|
|
| BOX 2
|
"The Two Graves of Marshall
Ney,"
1956-1961, 1972-1975, 1983-1985
|
|
| BOX 3
|
Speeches and lectures |
|
| BOX 3
|
"Animal Welfare: An Aspect of
Nineteenth Century Reform,"
1972
|
|
| BOX 3
|
"Bourbon and Branch....,"
1972
|
|
| BOX 3
|
"Bourbon, the Star-Spangled
Bank,"
1963
|
|
| BOX 3
|
Taxation
1969
|
|
| BOX 3
|
"Watermelon Armies and Whiskey
Boys,"
n.d.
|
|
| BOX 3
|
Writings |
|
| BOX 3
|
"Anthology of Twelve Sonnets of
Daniel, Drayton, Spenser, and Sidney,"
ca. 1921
|
|
| BOX 3
|
"Bruce Weirick: The Playboy of
the College World," (article),
ca. 1920
|
|
| BOX 3
|
"Frederic Harrison," (A.B.
thesis),
1922
|
|
| BOX 3
|
"Walter Pater," (B.A. thesis),
1921
|
|
| BOX 3
|
Untitled piece (possible title:
"The Story of the Most Wonderful Baby and the Oog-Who-Growled"), (short story),
ca. 1921
|
|
| BOX 3-6
|
Miscellany,
1884-1980,
n.d.
|
|
Scrapbooks containing clippings, letters, reviews, and programs
pertaining to Carson's work. Also financial records, biographical material, and
miscellaneous clippings.
|
|
Arranged alphabetically by type of material and chronologically
thereunder.
|
|
| BOX 3
|
Biographical material and
clippings file,
1917-1980
|
|
| BOX 3
|
Christmas card ideas,
1884, n.d.
|
|
| BOX 3
|
Financial accounts |
|
| BOX 3
|
"A Yankee 'Tarzan' in the Maine
Woods,"
1978-1979
|
|
| BOX 3
|
"The Old Country Store,"
1965-1977
|
|
| BOX 4
|
Scrapbooks |
|
| BOX 4
|
1923-1947
|
|
| BOX 4
|
1953-1954
|
|
| BOX 5
|
1954-1960
|
|
| BOX 5
|
1960
|
|
| BOX 5
|
1960-1961
|
|
| BOX 6
|
1961-1966
|
|
| BOX 6
|
1963-1980
|
|
| BOX 6
|
1966-1980
|
|
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