Marshall Bragdon papers

The papers of Marshall Bragdon comprise approximately 7.2 linear feet. They include diaries, correspondence, notes for speeches, writings, photographs, as well as other materials dealing with the three organizations to which Bragdon devoted his life and work: the Mayor's Friendly Relations Committee of Cincinnati, the Community Relations Service of the United States Department of Justice, and the National Association of Intergroup Relations Officials.

Bragdon's diaries cover the periods 1945-1947, when he became the first executive director of the Mayor's Friendly Relations Committee (MFRC) of Cincinnati, Ohio, and 1965-1972, during which he was a consultant and field agent for the Community Relations Service of the United States Department of Justice.

The correspondence also falls into two periods. From 1945 to 1965, Bragdon's leadership made the MFRC one of the most effective public agencies in the field of race relations. The correspondence deals with the problems of a large city during the Civil Rights Movement, illustrating how this movement itself changed and how the MFRC changed with it, evolving from an advisory, consulting, and conciliating organ to one given powers of enforcement by the city government. Correspondents most active in the MFRC's work include: Louis Hosch, Charles M. Judd, Joseph Leinhowl, and S. Arthur Spiegel, all of whom served at one time as chairman of MFRC; Virginia Coffey, Amrizene Harris, and Janet Smith of the MFRC staff; Abraham Citron of the American Jewish Committee; C. A. Harrell, city manager of Cincinnati; Stanley R. Schrotel, police chief of Cincinnati; and Mayor Charles P. Taft.

The correspondence from 1965 to 1971 deals with Bragdon's work with the Community Relations Service in Boston and other cities. Throughout his career, Bragdon was active in the National Association of Intergroup Relations Officials (NAIRO) which he co-founded in 1947 and served in many capacities. Prominent among the NAIRO correspondents are George Schermer, Charles Livermore, Lloyd Davis, John Buggs, John Field, John Hope II, Herman Long, Frederick Routh, Galen Martin, and Jack Middleton.

Correspondents of national and international repute include Upton Sinclair, Harlam Fiske Stone, David Lilienthal, Hubert H. Humphrey, Richard Neuberger, Potter Stewart, Earl Wilson, Joseph S. Clark, and A. Philip Randolph.

Notes for the speeches Bragdon was called on to deliver offer a look at the educational work of MFRC and at its efforts to increase community awareness of the need for good race relations. The few writings in the collection offer both high school essays and articles and book reviews for publications.

Boxes 5 through 9 are devoted to MFRC materials. The minutes of the board of trustees and of its executive committee show the management and decision-making processes of the organization. The executive director's monthly report covers almost the whole period of Bragdon's tenure and reveals actions MFRC took in the race relations field. Bragdon's daily worksheets are valuable in that they show what actions the executive director took, day-by-day, over a twenty-year period. Staff reports also shed light on the work of MFRC. Also included in the MFRC materials are minutes of its various committees, financial statements, newsletters, and annual reports. Of particular interest is Bragdon's own history of the MFRC, written during the last months of his tenure there. Included in this collection are his notes for the project and a draft of the history.

The Community Relations Services materials begin with Bragdon's applications and employment contracts. Bragdon's memoranda and reports are a source of information on race relations, poverty, urban affairs, politics, police-community relations, and federal activities in Boston during the last 1960s. Beside his work in New England, Bragdon worked as a consultant, helping various cities in establishing or reorganizing their own human relations committees. His most important efforts of this type of work were in University City, Missouri, and Allentown, Pennsylvania. Bragdon's personal notes shed light on these activities. The collection also contains various directives, memoranda, speeches, and reports generated by the Community Relations Service. These materials illustrate the breadth of this federal agency's work in the 1960s and 1970s.

The NAIRO materials in the collection provide examples of Bragdon's major role in that organization. His personal notes not only cover his committee work, but also provide details of the organization's annual conferences. The minutes of the board of directors meetings during Bragdon's tenure on that body are included. Bragdon's presidential report and newsletters of 1956 show him at the peak of his influence in NAIRO. Bragdon's activity in the Midwest Regional Conference and the Cincinnati and Boston chapters of NAIRO is also represented.

Newspaper clippings provide examples of press coverage of MFRC and the Community Relations Service as well as Bragdon's role in each.

The collected materials fall into several categories. First are materials of the federal government, including those of the Department of Justice, the US Commission on Civil Rights, and the 1966 White House Conference, "To Fulfill These Rights." Community organizations in Boston are represented. Major organizations having reports in the collection are the US Conference of Mayors, the American Jewish Committee, and the Boston University Human Relations Center.

Miscellaneous collected materials, most acquired in the late 1960s and reflecting Bragdon's interests at the time, are organized under the topics of economics, education, media and race, police-community relations, and religion and race. Finally, there are several tapes of telephone conversations and interviews in which Bragdon participated.