Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm2005085207
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of Meg Greenfield, editor and journalist, were given to the Library of Congress by her estate in 2000 and received between 2005 and 2007.
The papers of Meg Greenfield were processed in 2021 by Margaret McAleer and Heather F. Ball with the assistance of Tracey Barton, Thomas Bigley, Carolyn Ray, and Tammi Taylor.
Items have been transferred from the Manuscript Division to other custodial divisions of the Library. Sound recordings and films have been transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. Two cartoons have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division. All transfers are identified in these divisions as part of the Meg Greenfield Papers.
Copyright in the unpublished writings of Meg Greenfield in these papers and in other collections in the custody of the Library of Congress is reserved. Consult reference staff in the Manuscript Division for further information.
The papers of Meg Greenfield are open to research. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting.
Digital files were received as part of the papers of Meg Greenfield. Consult reference staff in the Manuscript Division for more information.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Meg Greenfield Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Mary Ellen Greenfield (1930-1999) span the years 1890-1999, with the bulk of material dating from 1952 to 1999. The papers contain personal and professional correspondence, speeches and writings, research files, interview transcripts, memoranda, minutes, reports, calendars and schedules, cartoons, financial and legal records, travel files, academic records, biographical material, honors and awards, childhood diaries and writings, family papers, photographs, scrapbooks, printed matter, and digital files documenting her career in journalism as Washington correspondent and editor for
The Personal and Family Papers series is arranged in two parts. Family papers encompass Greenfield's correspondence with her parents, Lewis J. and Lorraine Nathan Greenfield; her brother, Jim Greenfield; and other members of the Greenfield and Nathan families. Much of the correspondence, particularly with her father and brother, evinces a family humor that, according to Greenfield, influenced her professional writing. Additional letters between Greenfield, her father, and brother can be found among personal papers from her years at Smith College and University of Cambridge and during her European travels in the 1950s. Most of Greenfield's letters to her mother, who died when Greenfield was twelve, were written as a young child. Lewis J. Greenfield's papers include a small amount of material relating to his auction house in Seattle. Lorraine Nathan Greenfield's papers feature items pertaining to her testimony at the murder trial of Nathan Freudenthal Leopold and Richard A. Loeb in 1924. Included is a transcript of her testimony about her friendship with Loeb, a letter from defense attorney Clarence Darrow, and an article about the trial written by Meg Greenfield in 1982. Housed in the Oversize series is a scrapbook created by Lorraine Greenfield at a school in Connecticut where she was sent by her family soon after the trial. The family papers also contain genealogical material and family photographs.
Personal papers provide biographical information and documentation on Greenfield's childhood, undergraduate education at Smith College, Fulbright scholarship at University of Cambridge, travels in Europe, and early career in journalism, as well as her subsequent honors and awards, board memberships, and social life as a prominent Washington journalist. Childhood papers consist of diaries with humorous entries and drawings from her high school years, writings consisting largely of poetry, and a newspaper titled “El-Jo Deluxe,” started by Greenfield with a friend at the age of nine. Material concerning her academic life and early career was organized by Greenfield in packets, an arrangement that has been maintained to preserve the context of the large amount of undated material. The groupings document Greenfield's undergraduate years at Smith College (1948-1952), her experiences in Europe as a Fulbright scholar at University of Cambridge and later as a resident of Rome (1952-1955), her early professional life in New York City (1955-1961) during which time she began working for the
The General Correspondence series consists primarily of letters, cards, and notes addressed to Greenfield with very few of her outgoing letters present. The bulk of the correspondence dates from the 1980s and 1990s. Much of it is social, conveying appreciation for dinners hosted by Greenfield, holiday greetings, get-well wishes, and updated information on personal activities and news. Some letters relate more directly to her writing and duties as editor of the
The Professional Activities File consists of correspondence and administrative records relating to Greenfield's work at the
The Professional Activities File also contains letters from readers of Greenfield's
The Speeches and Writings series features photocopies and tear sheets of Greenfield's
The Subject File consists largely of Greenfield's research for her articles and columns. A series of notebooks dates from her years with the
The collection is arranged in seven series:
Correspondence, family papers, childhood diaries and writings, academic records, biographical statements, notes, drawings, minutes, reports, calendars, honors and awards, invitations, guest lists, address books, photographs, scrapbooks, programs, travel files, cartoons, newspaper stereotypes, press passes, book inscriptions, news clippings, and financial, property, legal, and health records documenting Greenfield's family, childhood, academics and early career, awards, board memberships, and social life.
Grouped into family and personal papers and alphabetically therein by name of person, topic, or type of material.
Correspondence consisting largely of letters, cards, and notes to Greenfield.
Arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent.
Correspondence and administrative records including memoranda, calendars and schedules, minutes, reports, cartoons, edited galleys and drafts of writings by others, award submission packets, staff surveys, contracts, a style book, biographical statements, telephone and letter logs, financial records, travel files, and printed matter relating to Greenfield's professional activities as a journalist, columnist, editor, and member of the Pulitzer Prize Board.
Arranged alphabetically as
Photocopies, tear sheets, drafts, reprints, and lists of articles, columns, editorials, and book reviews by Greenfield; chapter drafts and notes for a posthumously published memoir; poetry and notes for a work of fiction; and drafts and notes of speeches and remarks.
Arranged alphabetically as speeches and writings. Speeches are arranged chronologically. Writings are arranged alphabetically by type of writing or place of publication and alphabetically therein by type of material.
Interview transcripts, notebooks, loose notes, drafts of columns and articles, news clippings, and other printed matter comprising research files.
Arranged alphabetically by name of person, topic, or type of material.
Photographs, a scrapbook, correspondence, cartoons, a drawing, an invitation, a certificate, newspaper stereotypes, news clippings, and text of an interview.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.
Unprocessed and unavailable.