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This collection documents the life and career of Edgar Allen Tafel: New York architect, Frank Lloyd Wright historian, and one of the original apprentices of the Taliesin Fellowship from 1932. The collection primarily documents Tafel's professional activities and his later independent architectural career which was most prominent from 1965-1985. The collection is made up of nine series: Personal Papers, Correspondence, Writings, Professional Papers, Office Records, Project Records, Photographs and Slides, Audio-Visual Material, and Printed Material.

Correspondence, memoranda, photographs, documents, manuscripts, wire recordings, and printed materials dealing mostly with Russian War Relief, Inc. (The American Society for Russian Relief, Inc.), 1940-1954. There are some materials on the Institute of Pacific Relations and its investigation by the McCarran Committee in the early 1950s. Also, personal and family correspondence, photographs, and other memorabilia. Correspondents include Hugo L. Black, Henry Sloane Coffin, Andrei Gromyko, John Hersey, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Arnold Toynbee.

Professional and personal files including Armstrong's correspondence with professional associations, other engineers, and friends, his research notes, circuit diagrams, lectures, articles, legal papers, and other related materials. Of his many inventions and developments, the most important are: 1) the regenerative or feedback circuit, 1912, the first amplified radio reception, 2) the superheterodyne circuit, 1918, the basis of modern radio and radar, 3) superregeneration, 1922, a very simple, high-power receiver now used in emergency mobile service, and 4) frequency modulation - FM, 1933, static-free radio reception of high fidelity. More than half the files concern his many lawsuits, primarily with Radio Corporation of America, over infringement of the Armstrong patents. Litigation continued until 1967. Other files deal with his work in the Marcellus Hartley Research Laboratory at Columbia University, 1913-1935, and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I, his Air Force contracts for communications development, Army research during World War II, the Radio Club of America, the Institute of Radio Engineers, FM development at his radio station at Alpine, N.J., the use of FM in television, his involvement in Federal Communications Commission hearings and legislation, and his work with the Zenith Radio Corporation. Also, letters to H.J. Round

Included are Sanger's personal diaries (1936-1967) relating to WQXR. Also included is a complete bound file of the WQXR PROGRAM GUIDE (June 1936-December 1963) containing a record of the broadcasting of classical music in New York City, the daily schedule, and essays on composers, music festivals, individual compositions and music in general by such writers as Irwin Edman, Will Durant, M. Lincoln Schuster, Edward Johnson, John Barbirolli, as well as by Sanger and his co-founder, John V. L. Hogan. The collection includes business letters, congratulatory and testimonial letters from listeners and advertisers, reports on the station's history, samples of newspaper clippings containing WQXR advertisements and program listings, market surveys of listeners, and promotional brochures prepared for prospective advertisers. There is a corrected typescript and galley proofs for Sanger's book Rebel In Radio (New York, Hasting House, 1972) and 6 volumes of documents in support of the station's application for "clear channel" status filed with the FCC. Also included are 49 photographs of the station's staff and musical personalities, 4 audiotapes of 1973 interviews with Sanger, and 4 audio cassettes celebrating WQXR's 50th Anniversary.

Personal, administrative, political, and investigative files of Nickerson. The papers deal almost entirely with his eight years as County Executive, and consist of correspondence, memoranda, manuscripts of speeches, notes, press releases, photographs, and clippings. Among the major correspondents are James A. Farley, Hubert H. Humphrey, Robert F. Kennedy, Edward I. Koch, and Percy E. Sutton. The Investigation Files, which amount to nearly half the collection, document investigation into corruption and mismanagement in numerous Long Island businesses and governmental departments. These investigations, instigated and overseen by Nickerson, were carried out largely by the Commissioner of Accounts, Milton Lipson, and later by Samuel Greason, the first governmental ombudsman in the United States. These files consist primarily of memoranda, transcripts of hearings, payroll and financial accounts, notes, and tape recordings.