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