Louis Brownlow (#39)

An Inventory of His Personal Papers
1901-1963
In the John F. Kennedy Library
National Archives and Records Administration

Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Collection Overview
List of Series
Series Description


Administrative Information

Abstract
Papers 1901-1963
Journalist, political scientist. Author, The President and the Presidency (1949), A Passion for Politics (1955), A Passion for Anonymity (1958), and Anatomy of the Anecdote (1960). Papers relating to government reorganization during the Franklin Roosevelt administration, the District of Columbia, the Public Administration Clearing House; manuscripts of books, articles, lectures, personal and family papers.

Access
Open.

Usage Restrictions
The status of literary property rights is undetermined, as both Brownlow and his wife died before the time of deposit, leaving no children, and he had made no assignment of literary rights at the time of the original transfer of the papers to Harvard University. Documents in this collection that were prepared by officials of the United States as part of their official duties are in the public domain. Users of these materials are advised to determine the copyright status of any document from which they wish to publish.

Copyright
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excesses of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law. The copyright law extends its protection to unpublished works from the moment of creation in a tangible form. Direct your questions concerning copyright to the reference staff.

Provenance
Received from Harvard University of Cambridge, MA, in June 1973 (Acc. 1973-034).

Extent
About 80,000 pages (34 linear feet, 6 linear inches ; 40 cubic feet).

Date Opened
September 1974.

Processed by
Barbara L. Waters, completed February 1975.

Encoded by
James M. Roth.

Related Collections
Papers of Louis Brownlow, City Manager, Petersburg, Va., (1920-1923) University of Virginia
Papers of Louis Brownlow, Director of the Public Administration Clearing House, (1931-1945),
1313 East 60th Street, Chicago 37, Ill.

The Personal Papers of Louis Brownlow (1897-1963)

Biographical Note

Collection Overview
The Personal Papers of Louis Brownlow includes material from all periods of his full and varied career as a small town reporter, foreign correspondent, author, commissioner of Washington, D.C., city manager, political science professor, and advisor to presidents on administrative management. The collection is arranged into eight series. The General Files and Government Reorganization Under Franklin D. Roosevelt series are rich in correspondence, memoranda, and reports which reflect Brownlow's deep involvement in the advancement of public management --both municipal and federal-- and his concern for executive action and responsibility. Series 1. General Files contains Brownlow's papers from many of the organizations to which he belonged, e.g. International City Managers' Association and substantial material from Brownlow's years as a trustee of the Public Administration Clearing House. Series 5. Government Reorganization Under Franklin D. Roosevelt series includes the official files of the President's Committee on Administrative Management--which was set up under Roosevelt to evaluate and improve the administrative efforts of the Executive Office, and Brownlow's personal memoranda on government reorganization and administrative management during that period. Series 2. Washington, D.C. Files, Series 3. Petersburg Files, and Series 4. Knoxville Files contain correspondence and material from Brownlow's early career on municipal problems and management. Series 2. Washington, D.C., consists of material from Brownlow's years as D.C. Commissioner and materials after that period pertaining to D.C. Series 3. Petersburg Files consists of material from Brownlow's years as city manager of Petersburg, Va. Series 4. Knoxville Files consists of material from Brownlow's years as city manager of Knoxville, Tenn. Series 6. Writings File consists of manuscripts, drafts, background material, correspondence, and reviews for Brownlow's four major published works. including his two-volume autobiography, and an incomplete set of articles on city management problems. Series 7. Personal File contains personal correspondence with family and friends, with several presidents, and souvenirs from Brownlow's world travels. Series 8. Clippings File contains clipping on civil service and public administration, and clippings on the development of World War I.

List of Series

Series Description

Series 1. General File, 1920-1963.
Arrangement: chronological by year. 

The General Files contain correspondence, memoranda, speeches, reports, articles, pamphlets, and other printed materials. This series is arranged into four subseries based on four time periods: General File I, 1920-1930; General File II, 1937-1956; General File III, 1951-1959; General File IV, 1959-1963.

Series 1.1. General File I, 1920-1930.
Arrangement: alphabetical.

General File I, 1920-1930, contains correspondence, memoranda, speeches, reports, articles, pamphlets, and other printed materials.  There is substantial general correspondence and material relating to the International City Managers' Association.

Series 1.2. General File II, 1947-1956.
Arrangement: alphabetical.

General File II, 1947-1956, contains substantial material on Charles E. Merriam; National Planning Association; Public Administration Service; FDR Memorial Foundation; and Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Particularly important is the collection of folders on the Public Administration Clearing House [PACH], 1945-1956, covering Brownlow's years as a member of the Board of Trustees. Material from Brownlow's years as director of PACH , 1931 to 1945, is not included in this collection. These papers have been retained by the Public Administration Clearing House, 1313 East 60th St., Chicago 37, Ill. PACH was founded to further the improvement of public administration by bringing together people and organizations concerned with the techniques and methodology of governmental operations. There is an informative memorandum in the PACH materials titled "PACH: Retrospect and Prospect" by H. Emmerich and Don K. Price (1947, 41 pages) which reviews some of the things that had been accomplished in PACH up to the year 1947 and some of the challenges to be undertaken. Puerto Rico publications include Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; Economic Development; Manual of Government Agencies 'in Puerto Rico; "Operation Bootstrap" in Puerto Rico; Documents on the Constitutional History of Puerto Rico; Federal Activities in the Territories; Inaugural Address by Luis Munoz Marin, 1/2/49; Six-Year Financial Program for the Years 1949-1950 to 1954-1955.  Rockefeller Foundations Publications include Rockefeller Foundation Grants, First Quarter, 1954; The Rockefeller Foundation, A Review for 1948; A Review for 1950 and 1951.

Series 1.3. General File III, 1951-1959.
Arrangement: alphabetical.

General Files III, 1951-1959, contains correspondence, memoranda, speeches, reports, articles, pamphlets, and other printed materials.  It does not contain substantial material on any single subject.

Series 1.4. General File IV, 1959-1963.
Arrangement: alphabetical.

General Files IV, 1959-1963, contains correspondence, memoranda, speeches, reports, articles, pamphlets, and other printed materials.   It does not contain substantial material on any single subject.

Series 2. Washington, D.C. File, 1915-1955.
Arrangement: alphabetically by subject, thereunder chronologically by year.

This series contains material from Brownlow's years as D.C. Commissioner (1/15-11/20) and materials after that period pertaining to D.C. There is substantial material on D.C. Police (1915-1955); Independence Day Celebration 1918; Suffragettes (1920-1930); and Home Rule (1947-1954).

Series 3. Petersburg File, 1920-1955.
Arrangement: by type, thereunder chronologically by year.

This series contains material from Brownlow's years as city manager of Petersburg, Va. (12/20-11/23) and correspondence after that period related to Petersburg.

Series 4. Knoxville File, 1923-1954.
Arrangement: by type of material, thereunder chronologically by year.

Correspondence from Brownlow's years as city manager of Knoxville, Tenn. (12/23-6/26) arranged chronologically and correspondence and clippings after that period relating to Knoxville and city problems.

Series 5. Government Reorganization Under Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1921-1949.

This series is arranged into three subseries: 5.1. General; 5.2. Agencies; and 5.3. President's Committee on Administrative Management.

Series 5.1. General File.
Arrangement: by type.

General files contains material about reorganization acts proposed under Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the Executive Office of the President [EOP] established by Executive Order 8248, September 1939. This subseries is arranged along the lines of these two distinctions.  Reorganization Acts is a collection of reorganization bills, acts, reports, plans, and resolutions arranged chronologically from 1921 to 1948. It contains substantial material on the Reorganization Act of 1939 including Plans 1-4. It also includes Brownlow's lectures on reorganization of the federal government 12/39-2/40. Under Roosevelt, the EOP was established to create in the Executive the physical and organizational facilities that any chief executive must have under modern conditions if he is to discharge his responsibilities.  EOP is made up of agencies exercising in the president's name and by his own authority the managerial function. Under Roosevelt, the EOP included the Bureau of the Budget, National Resources Planning Board, Liaison Office for Personnel Management, Office of Government Reports, and Office for Emergency Management. These files contain drafts, press releases and copies of the Federal Register , (9/12/39), publishing the presidential proclamation establishing EOP. The files also contain a Public Administration Review  publication (Winter 1941), which includes a paper on each of the divisions of EOP by its director or a member of its directory board and a paper by each member of PCAM which proposed EOP.

Series 5.2. Agencies File.
Arrangement: alphabetically by agency.

Agencies files contains material on reorganization of various government agencies, including correspondence and reports on reorganization of government agencies with substantial material on the Defense Department.

Series 5.3. President's Committee on Administrative Management.
Arrangement: by type.

The President's Committee on Administrative Management [PCAM] contains Brownlow's memoranda, the official PCAM files, and PCAM correspondence and reports. Brownlow's memoranda is a chronological commentary about reports, meetings, municipal problems, public administration problems, and government reorganization under Roosevelt. It consists of a series of 1428 pages [11/33-12/36] indexed only to page 675, and a bound book [5/13/36-1/27/37]. The Official Files of PCAM contain Brownlow's copies of memoranda, charts, reports, and correspondence important to the functioning of PCAM. The PCAM correspondence and reports are a random collection of correspondence, reports, and pamphlets resulting from the functioning of PCAM.  Researchers should note that the Official Files of PCAM have been arranged according to a detailed alpha-numeric file code and the researcher can gain access through a subject index which gives the code numbers for material in the file that deal with a particular subject. The originals of these documents are in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library. 

Series 6. Writings File, 1901-1960.
Arrangement: by draft.

The Writings file consists of manuscripts, drafts, background material, correspondence, and reviews for Brownlow's four major published works and an incomplete set of articles on city management problems titled "The City and the Citizen," written by Brownlow in 1927 when he was a syndicated columnist for Current New Features. The series includes the following titles: A Passion for Politics: An Autobiography of Louis Brownlow , First Half. The University of Chicago Press, 1955. pp. 606. (1901-1955). This volume begins with Brownlow's birth in 1879 and concludes in 1915 when Brownlow is appointed by Woodrow Wilson as District Commissioner of Washington, D.C. The 1879-1915 period covers his education at home by his parents and training in Nashville (Tennessee), Louisville (Kentucky), and abroad as a news reporter. A Passion for Anonymity: An Autobiography of Louis Brownlow , Second Half, The University of Chicago Press, 1958. pp. 500. (1945-1958). This volume moves from Brownlow's exposure as a reporter to the processes of government to recollections of his involvement in public administration--as district commissioner of Washington, D.C.; city manager of Petersburg, Va. and Knoxville, Tenn.; director of the Public Administration Clearing House in Chicago, Ill.; and director of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Committee on Administrative Management--and his concern for constructive change in public service. The Anatomy of the Anecdote , The University of Chicago Press, 1960, pp. 154. (1948-1960). This volume evolved from transcripts of five recorded sessions at the Maxwell Graduate School of Syracuse University, New York, during which Brownlow recounted both military and political anecdotes ranging from the Civil War to his experience as a public administrator. The anecdote is part of a leisurely age when people sat around and had time to talk and time to listen. As one reviewer remarks: "Like Mark Twain, Brownlow tells the truth mainly. But The Anatomy of the Anecdote  is also full of stretchers which reflect the truth better than does a literal rendition." [ The Journal of Mississippi History , 12/6/60]. The President and the Presidency , Public Administration Service, 1949, pp. 137. (1947- 1949). This volume evolved from six lectures Brownlow delivered at the University of Chicago in 1947, on the American presidency--its development, functions, and problems. Brownlow's list of specific steps to be taken to give the president authority commensurate with his responsibility include permanent and unfettered reorganization authority; freedom from congressional interference in administrative detail; the power of item veto in appropriation bills; an independent audit of the Executive to maintain strict accountability; and some flexible system of advisory committee within the executive office to coordinate governmental policy. [ Washington Post , 10/23/49].

Series 7. Personal File, 1902-1956.
Arrangement: by type and subject.

This series begins with correspondence arranged chronologically, 1920-1956. Some of the correspondence found here (Brownlow's correspondence 1931-1940) was removed from General File II. Miscellaneous personal papers include presidential correspondence with Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Harry S. Truman, biographical information and articles about Brownlow, and several folders of miscellaneous memorabilia and souvenirs.

Series 8. Clippings File, 1914-1916, 1930-1955.
Arrangement: by type and subject, thereunder chronologically by year.

This series contains clippings and pamphlets (1930-1940) about issues that were of interest to Brownlow such as civil service, public administration, and comparative religions. It also contains issues of the Westminster Gazette  7/25/14-8/4/16. These front page articles from this British newspaper present the powerful unfolding of the chain of events leading into World War I. Three folders contain headline articles on World War I (1914-1916) from domestic newspapers.