Herbert Lionel Matthews papers, 1909-2002, bulk 1937-1976

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Series I: Correspondence, 1938-1973

This series contains correspondence, between Matthews and numerous political, intellectual, and artistic figures of the twentieth-century world, that documents Matthews' journalism and the relationships he forged with many of these individuals through his work. The bulk of the correspondence, which also includes interview transcripts and notes, is related to Matthews' reporting and editorials on Latin America, and particularly Cuba, for the New York Times in the 1950s and 1960s. This includes most notably Matthews' notes from his famous interview with Fidel Castro in the Sierra Maestra in 1957, an interview with Fulgencio Batista, and correspondence with Ernest Hemingway. Other correspondence related to Matthews' coverage of Latin America includes communications with various Latin American presidents, such as Romulo Betancourt of Venezuela, Francois Duvalier of Haiti, and Juscelino Kubitschek of Brazil.

The majority of correspondence in this series is arranged alphabetically by author, but several folders are arranged chronologically by year. These folders contain numerous letters to Matthews regarding Cuba, and his reporting and writings on Cuba and Latin America. Included here are letters from Ruby Hart Phillips, a Times correspondent in Cuba. The last folder in this series contains photocopies of correspondence with notable individuals, including Eleanor Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden, and Nelson Rockefeller.



Box 1 Folder 1 Acheson, Dean, 1953-1959


Box 1 Folder 2 Baker, Carlos, 1966-1967


Box 1 Folder 3 Batista, Fulgencio, 1957


Box 1 Folder 4 Betancourt, Romulo, 1955-1957


Box 1 Folder 5 Bowers, Claude, 1951-1952


Box 1 Folder 6 Castro, Fidel, 1955-1962


Box 1 Folder 7 Churchill, Winston, 1948-1954


Box 1 Folder 8 Croce, Benedetto, 1943-1946


Box 1 Folder 9 Duvalier, Francois, 1957


Box 1 Folder 10 Eaton, Cyrus, 1969


Box 1 Folder 11 Frankel, Max, 1966


Box 1 Folder 12 Guevara, Ernesto, 1961


Box 1 Folder 13 Hemingway, Ernest, 1938-1964


Box 1 Folder 14 Keller, Fred, 1938-1954


Box 1 Folder 15 Kubitschek, Juscelino, 1965


Box 1 Folder 16 Lippman, Walter, 1959-1961


Box 1 Folder 17 MacLeish, Archibald, 1966


Box 1 Folder 18 Marín, Luis Muñoz, 1957-1964


Box 1 Folder 19 Miró Cardona, José, 1958


Box 1 Folder 20 Peter, Prince of Greece, 1947


Box 1 Folder 21 Quintanilla, Luis, 1938


Box 1 Folder 22 Reston, James, 1960


Box 1 Folder 23 Sulzberger, Arthur Hays, 1937-1939


Box 1 Folder 24 Thomas, Norman M., 1957-1964


Box 1 Folder 25 to 28 1951-1958, (4 Folders)



Box 2 Folder 1 to 2 1959-1973, (2 Folders)


Box 2 Folder 3 Photocopies, 1943-1958

Series II: Cuba, 1948-1978

This large series consists of material related to the Cuban Revolution and its aftermath, both in Cuba and the United States. These documents chart Matthews' life after his reports on the Revolution, particularly his celebrated 1957 New York Times article announcing the survival and progress of Fidel Castro and his guerrillas whom the dictatorship claimed had been defeated. This part of the Matthews Papers represents a considerable collection of material from Cuban revolutionaries and the revolutionary government, including statements and publications. The American reaction to the Cuban Revolution is present here in responses to Matthews' writing for the New York Times. This series also contains manuscripts and notes for Matthews' several books on the Cuban revolution.

The correspondence in the series, much of which is related to the Cuban Revolution and Matthews' journalism on this subject, includes letters from Matthews and his wife, Nancie Matthews, regarding developments in Cuba in 1959; letters between Matthews and historian Theodore Draper, some of which were reprinted in Draper's book, Castro's Revolution: Myths and Realities (1962); letters from Ernest and Martha Hemingway; communications from the New York Times; and congratulatory and critical letters from Matthews' readers. Also here are personal items, including travel documents, and a number of photographs of Fidel Castro and Matthews in Cuba in the 1950s and 1960s, some of which were published.

The largest part of the Cuba series holds assorted research materials collected and used by Matthews for his reporting and his manuscripts. These include an atlas published by the Cuban revolutionary government, books, clippings from a variety of periodicals in the United States, Cuba, and Latin America, including clippings regarding Matthews himself. Publications and statements issued between 1955 and 1968 by the United States and Cuban governments and their agencies, the July 26 Movement and other rebel groups, and other individuals and groups. This part of the series provides a wealth of historical documents regarding Cuba, relations between Cuba and the United States, and the response in American society to the Cuban Revolution and Matthews' reporting in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Matthews' various writings on Cuba and the revolution make up the final portion of this series, and include articles written for periodicals, addresses, and manuscripts, notes, and reviews for Matthews' books: The Cuban Story (1961), Fidel Castro (1969), and Revolution in Cuba (1975). Also contained here are materials, written about Matthews by the United States and Cuban press, which indicate the diversity and severity of reactions to Matthews' coverage of the Cuban Revolution. Included are notes from conversations with the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding an alleged plot to assassinate Matthews.


Correspondence, 1953-1978


Box 2 Folder 4 Draper, Theodore, 1962-1964


Box 2 Folder 5 General, 1956-1968


Box 2 Folder 6 Hemingway, Ernest and Martha, 1960-1969


Box 2 Folder 7 Knudson, J.W., 1976-1978


Box 2 Folder 8 Matthews, Nancie and Herbert, 1959


Box 2 Folder 9 New York Times, 1953-1961


Personal, 1950s-1960s


Box 2 Folder F.10 Documents and Press Passes, 1950s-1960s


Box 2 Folder F.11 to 12 Photographs, 1950s-1960s, (2 Folders)



Box 45 Photographs, 1950s-1960s


Research Material, 1952-1970



Box 3 Atlas, 1970


Books (See also Box 19 and Box 44)



Box 4 Cuba and Castro Teresa Casuso, 1961


Box 4 Cuba and the United States Russell H. Fitzgibbon, 1935


Box 4 Fidel Castro Luis Conte Agüero, 1959


Box 4 La Generation del Centenario en el Moncada, Marta Rojas, 1964


Box 4 La Revolution Cubana Gregorio Selser, 1960


Box 4 Moncada; Premier Combat de Fidel Castro Robert Merle, 1965


Box 4 Revolucion en la Revolucion? Régis Debray, 1967


Box 4 Révolution dans la Révolution? Régis Debray, 1967


Box 4 Utiles Despues de Muertos Carlos Manuel Pellecer, 1966


Clippings



Box 5 Folder 1 to 6 1952-1965, (6 Folders)



Box 6 Folder 1 Undated


Box 6 Folder 2 to 3 Regarding Herbert L. Matthews, 1953-1964, (2 Folders)


Printed Material, 1955-1968


Box 6 Folder 4 to 8 1955-1959, (5 Folders)



Box 7 Folder 1 to 7 1959-1962, (7 Folders)



Box 8 Folder 1 to 9 1962-1968, undated, 1962-1968, undated, (9 Folders)



Box 9 Folder 1 1962-1968


Statements


Box 9 Folder 2 Castro, Fidel, 1948-1963, undated, 1948-1963, undated



Box 13V Shared MS 1 Castro, Fidel-- Interview--rough Notes, 1957 February



Box 9 Folder F.3 to 8 Others, 1957-1962, (6 Folders)


Writings


Box 9 Folder 9 Addresses, 1959-1964


Box 9 Folder 10 Assassination Plot--Journal--1964


Box 9 Folder 11 Chubb Fellow, 1960


The Cuban Story



Box 10 Folder 1 to 2 Manuscript, 1961, (2 Folders)


Box 10 Folder 3 to 4 Research, 1950s-1961, (2 Folders)


Box 10 Folder 5 Reviews, 1961-1962



Box 19 Volume--Annotated, 1961


Fidel Castro



Box 10 Folder 6 to 7 Manuscript, 1968-1969 (2 of 6 Folders), 1968-1969



Box 11 Folder 1 to 4 Manuscript, 1968-1969 (4 of 6 Folders), 1968-1969


Box 11 Folder 5 Reviews, 1969


Box 11 Folder 6 Notes, 1952-1972 (1 of 4 Folders), 1952-1972



Box 12 Folder 1 to 3 Notes, 1952-1972 (3 of 4 Folders), 1952-1972


Box 12 Folder 4 to 5 Papers and Articles, 1954-1967, (2 Folders)


Revolution in Cuba


Box 12 Folder 6 Correspondence, 1971-1975


Revolution in Cuba



Box 13 Folder 1 to 6 Manuscript, 1975, (6 Folders)



Box 14 Folder 1 to 6 Manuscript, 1975, (6 Folders)



Box 15 Folder 1 to 3 Manuscript, 1975, (3 Folders)


Box 15 Folder 4 Reviews, 1975

Series III: Matthews Family, 1918-2000s

This series contains Herbert L. Matthews' correspondence with his family and the personal papers of several relatives. Matthews' correspondence to his brother John L. Matthews constitutes the bulk of the correspondence and conveys Herbert Matthews' perspectives and opinions on many American and world events from the mid-1940s to his retirement after 1967 and into the 1970s. John L. Matthews' papers on World War I, his writings, and family photographs provide information about the life of Herbert Matthews' brother.

Also notable is Nancie Matthews' journal of life with her husband and their children in fascist Italy between 1940 and their expulsion in 1942. This is a rich source of information regarding the life of American journalists and their families in Europe in these first years of World War II. Other folders in this series contain material about Herbert's oldest brother, Hilliard H. Matthews, and his service in World War I, and the service and death of Robert Alan Matthews, Herbert's nephew, in World War II.


Box 15 Folder 5 Hilliard H. Matthews, 1918-1919


John L. Matthews--Correspondence


Box 15 Folder 6 to 9 1944-1975 (4 of 6 Folders), 1944-1975



Box 16 Folder 1 to 2 1944-1975 (2 of 6 Folders), 1944-1975


Box 16 Folder 3 to 4 1976, undated, 1976, undated, (2 Folders)


Box 16 Folder 5 1969-2002


Box 16 Folder 6 Photographs, 1940s-2000s


Box 16 Folder 7 World War I, 1967-2001


Box 16 Folder F.8 Writings, 1940s-1970s


Box 16 Folder 9 John L. Matthews, Jr.--Correspondence, 1962-1975


Nancie Matthews


Box 16 Folder 10 Journal, 1940-1942


Box 16 Folder 11 "Matthews Journey,", 1957


Box 16 Folder 12 R.A. Matthews, 1940s-2000s

Series IV: New York Times, 1935-1960s

This series documents more than three decades of correspondence and editorial writing by Matthews for the New York Times, his employer from 1922 to 1967. The series is arranged chronologically by assignment to a particular nation or region, beginning with the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1935 and 1936, then Spain and the Spanish Civil War, Italy, India, Europe and World War II, postwar Europe, Latin America, and ending with Matthews' editorials on Vietnam, China, and Latin America. Generally these folders include notes, ephemera, periodicals and other printed material used for research, and Matthews' original dispatches to the New York Times, not all of which were published.

Material on the Italian invasion of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) includes a collection of official maps issued and used by the Italian military, Matthews' personal bag, and a press armband issued by the Italian government. Material on the Spanish Civil War contains numerous photographs and publications issued by the Abraham Lincoln Brigades, and critics and sympathizers of the Republicans. Materials related to Matthews' subsequent reporting in Italy from 1939 to 1942, and in Italy during and after the Allied invasion in 1943, include Matthews' interviews with philosopher Benedetto Croce and newspapers published by partisans and other anti-fascist forces. In reporting about World War II in Europe, Matthews noted the widespread destruction of art and the Allies' attempts to mitigate the damaging of Europe's cultural legacy; a folder retains his notes and writings on this subject. Notes from the 1960s record the content of conversations between Matthews and John F. Kennedy and officials in his administration, as well as conversations with Johnson administration officials, regarding U.S foreign policy, particularly towards Latin America and Cuba. Finally, this series contains scrapbooks of Times' editorials authored by Matthews between 1949 and 1967; created and donated by the New York Times.


Italy--Abyssinian War, 1935-1936



Box 17 Folder 1 Correspondence, 1935-1936


Box 17 Folder 2 to 4 Dispatches, 1935-1936, (3 Folders)


Box 17 Folder 5 to 6 Dispatches--Scrapbook, 1935-1936, (2 Folders)


Box 17 Folder 7 Photographs, 1935-1936



Box 18 Maps, 1935-1936



Box 19 Realia, 1935-1936


Spain, 1936-1960s



Box 17 Folder 8 Correspondence, 1937-1963


Dispatches



Box 20 Folder 1 to 10 Volume I, 1936-October, 1937, (10 Folders)


Box 20 Folder 11 Volume II, 1938-1939 (1 of 7 Folders), 1938-1939



Box 21 Folder 1 to 6 Volume II, 1938-1939 (6 of 7 Folders), 1938-1939


Box 21 Folder 7 Ephemera, 1937-1939


Box 21 Folder 8 Herbert L. Matthews--Subject, 1938


Box 21 Folder 9 Notes, 1940s-1960s


Box 21 Folder 10 Printed Material, 1937-1959



Box 22 Folder 1 to 2 Photographs, 1936-1939, (2 Folders)


Box 22 Folder 3 Writings, 1937-1956


Italy, 1939-1965


Box 22 Folder 4 Correspondence, 1944-1946


Dispatches


Box 22 Folder 5 to 9 1939-1944 (5 of 23 Folders), 1939-1944



Box 23 Folder 1 to 6 1939-1944 (6 of 23 Folders), 1939-1944



Box 24 Folder 1 to 8 1939-1944 (8 of 23 Folders), 1939-1944



Box 25 Folder 1 to 4 Dispatches, 1939-1944 (4 of 23 Folders), 1939-1944


Box 25 Folder 5 Ephemera and Documents, 1939-1944


Notes


Box 25 Folder 6 to 7 1939-1965, (2 Folders)


Box 25 Folder f.8 Notebooks, undated


Box 25 Folder 9 Croce, Benedetto, 1943-1944


Box 25 Folder 10 Prince Umberto, 1944


Box 25 Folder 11 to 12 Periodicals, 1943-1946 (2 of 5 Folders), 1943-1946



Box 26 Folder 1 to 3 Periodicals, 1942-1943 (3 of 5 Folders), 1942-1943


Box 26 Folder 4 Photographs, 1930s-1940s


India, 1942-1943


Box 26 Folder 5 to 9 Dispatches, July, 1942-July, 1943 (5 of 6 Folders), 1942-July, 1943



Box 27 Folder 1 Dispatches, July, 1942-July, 1943 (1 of 6 Folders), 1942-July, 1943


Box 27 Folder 2 to 4 Periodicals, 1942-1943, (3 Folders)


Europe--World War II


Box 27 Folder 5 Art--Destruction of, 1943-1945


Box 27 Folder 6 to 7 Dispatches, 1943-1944 (2 of 4 Folders), 1943-1944



Box 28 Folder 1 to 2 Dispatches, 1943-1944 (2 of 4 Folders), 1943-1944


Box 28 Folder 3 Ephemera, 1944


Box 28 Folder 4 Notes, 1944


Box 28 Folder 5 Periodicals, 1943-1944


Europe--Postwar


Box 28 Folder 6 Notes, 1948-1966


Box 28 Folder 7 Periodicals, 1949-1953


Latin America, 1950s-1960s


Box 28 Folder 8 to 11 Notes, 1950s-1960s, (4 Folders)



Box 29 Folder 1 Writings, 1950s-1960s


Box 29 Folder 2 Correspondence, 1951-1952


Box 29 Folder 3 Notes, 1960s


Box 29 Folder 4 Photographs, 1950s-1960s


Box 29 Folder 5 Writings, 1950s-1960s


Scrapbooks



Box 30 Volume 1, 1949-1951



Box 31 Volume 2, 1952-1955



Box 32 Volume 3, 1956-1960



Box 33 Volume 4, 1960-1963



Box 34 Volume 5, 1963-1965



Box 35 Volume 6, 1965-1967



Box 29 Folder 6 Volume 7, undated

Series V: Personal, 1909-1970s

This brief series contains a disparate array of documents, papers and photographs about Matthews' life within and beyond his career as a journalist. This section includes materials related to Matthews' life-long interest in Italian history, culture, and thought, begun while a student at Columbia University, such as files on Columbia professor Dino Bigongiari and Matthews' support for the university's Casa Italiana in the 1960s. This section also holds various personal documents such as passports and journalist identification cards from Matthews' entire career as a journalist. Photographs, including photographs of Matthews in World War I, and a folder of material regarding the work of Spanish artist Luis Quintanilla, who served the Republican government in the Spanish Civil War, also are included here.


Box 29 Folder 7 Awards, 1950s


Box 29 Folder 8 Bigongiari, Dino and Gladys, 1940s-1960s


Box 29 Folder 9 Casa Italiana--Columbia University, 1960s


Box 29 Folder 10 Documents--Passports and Press Passes, 1920s-1960s


Box 29 Folder 11 Horoscope, 1945, undated, 1945, undated



Box 36 Folder 1 Photographs, 1918-1970s


Box 36 Folder 2 Quintanilla, Luis, 1930s-1940s


Box 36 Folder 3 Soldier of Fortune--Book--Inscribed, 1909

Series VI: Writings, 1930s-1972

This large series records the multitude of books, articles, and addresses written by Herbert L. Matthews, and some material written about Matthews, not otherwise found in previous sections of the Matthews papers. Included are manuscripts, and often correspondence and notes for, and reviews of, his books: Two War and More to Come (1938), Fruits of Fascism (1943), Education of a Correspondent (1946), Assignment to Austerity (1950), The Yoke and the Arrows (1957), A World in Revolution (1971), and Half of Spain Died (1973). Also notable here is an unpublished manuscript written by Matthews in the 1970s, "Valediction"; and the transcript of an episode of the television show, "The Big Story," recounting Matthews' celebrated reports of March, 1955, concerning student politics under the Peronist dictatorship in Argentina.


Box 36 Folder 4 Addresses, 1952


Box 36 Folder 5 to 7 Articles and Drafts, 1930s-1970s, (3 Folders)


Books--Manuscripts, 1938-1970s



Box 37 Folder 1 to 6 Assignment to Austerity , 1950, (6 Folders)


Box 37 Folder 7 The Education of a Correspondent, 1946 (1 of 4 Folders), 1946



Box 38 Folder 1 to 3 The Education of a Correspondent, 1946 (3 of 4 Folders), 1946


Fruits of Fascism , 1943


Box 38 Folder 4 to 5 Notes, 1939-1942 (2 of 3 Folders), 1939-1942



Box 39 Folder 1 Notes, 1939-1942


Box 39 Folder f.2 Reviews, 1943-1944


Box 39 Folder 3 to 6 Half of Spain Died, 1973 (4 of 7 Folders), 1973



Box 40 Folder 1 to 3 Half of Spain Died, 1973 (4 of 7 Folders), 1973


Box 40 Folder 4 Reviews


Box 40 Folder 5 "The Matthews Story,", 1950s


Box 40 Folder 6 to 7 A Newspaperman, 1970s (2 of 4 Folders), 1970s



Box 41 Folder 1 to 2 A Newspaperman, 1970s (2 of 4 Folders), 1970s


Box 41 Folder 3 Two Wars and More to Come , 1938


Box 41 Folder 4 Untitled--Spanish Civil War, undated


Box 41 Folder 5 to 6 "Valediction,", 1970s, (2 Folders)


Box 41 Folder 7 A World in Revolution, 1971 (1 of 14 Folders), 1971



Box 42 Folder 1 to 7 A World in Revolution, 1971 (7 of 14 Folders), 1971



Box 43 Folder 1 to 6 A World in Revolution, 1971 (6 of 14 Folders), 1971


Box 43 Folder 7 Correspondence, 1967-1972


Box 43 Folder f.8 Reviews, 1971, undated, 1971, undated



Box 44 Folder 1 to 2 The Yoke and the Arrows , 1957, (2 Folders)


Box 44 Folder 3 Volume--Annotated--and Critique, 1957, undated, 1957, undated


Box 44 Folder 4 Herbert L. Matthews--Subject, 1930s-1960s


Box 44 Folder 5 Reviews, Book--Drafts, 1970s


Research Materials--Cuba and Spain


Cuba


Box 44 Cuba: A Survey of World Cultures, Clifford R. Barnett and Wyatt MacGaffey, 1962


Box 44 Cuba Sideshow R. Hart Phillips, 1935



Box 19 Castro's Revolution Theodore Draper, 1962


Spain


Box 19 "The Church and Franco Spain," William Ebenstein, 1960


Box 19 Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918-1945-- Spain, 1950


Box 19 International Brigades Vincent Brome, 1965


Box 19 Prelude to a War: The International Repercussions of the Spanish Civil War, P.A.M. van der Esch,, 1951


Box 19 "Report of the Sub-Committee on the Spanish Question," United Nations,, 1946