Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Manuscripts
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
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Manuscripts
Correspondence between Nick B. Williams and James Bassett, including Williams' original handwritten letters and photocopies. NBW provides advice on what to expand, what to trim, how to rearrange. He also warns B. against simply "collating" previous writings on history of the Times and Los Angeles and urges him to be creative and to treat the story almost as a novel. Also, a letter from Williams to a reader regarding the Japanese evacuation from the West Coast in 1942 and the Times' coverage of the event. Split into two folders.
mssLAT
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Manuscripts
Approx. 20 items: 22-pp. transcript of "...initial taping with Nick B. Williams, former Editor of The Times," by James Bassett, 6/5/1973 - subjects include NBW's memories of his youth and early newspaper career in Tennessee and Texas and his coming to Los Angeles and getting into newspaper work in the 1930s ; 44-pp. transcript of "Tape 2...NBW & JB," an in-depth discussion of the Norman Chandler era moving into the Otis Chandler era at LAT, the changes in editorial policy, the move from the political right to the center (or at least representing various views along the political spectrum) in Editorial content and striving for unbiased news stories, union efforts to get a toehold at LAT - would it be good if LAT were the only paper in L.A.? Williams answers "no" (pp. 33) - gossip columnists, investigative reporting - Vietnam, the Red Chinese, the Soviets ; 57-pp. transcript of "Taping with Nick Williams (6/7/1973) 3rd Taping" - the Birch Society series, examples given of instances in which NC did not support Republican candidates that were right wing "kooks" (4 - 7) - Barry Goldwater, correspondence with Norman Chandler, Dorothy Chandler and Williams - Watts Riots (pp. 19- 22) - pornographic movies (pp. 29 - 31) - more related bio notes and materials on Williams.
mssLAT
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Manuscripts
Approx. 35 items: in "Tribute to a renown...Editor, Nick B. Williams," at the time of his death, LAT columnist Jack Smith wrote that, "turned the Los Angeles Times from a biased, provincial, Republican newspaper, into one of the country's two or three best"; program booklet for "The Nick B. Williams Luncheon Party," Levy's Grill, 2/20/1959; 3-pp. transcript of speech at Women's Lawyers Club (1959), titled "Court News Policy," on the topic of a free press; selection of Williams' writings for a variety of publications--California Publisher, The Quill, California Parent -Teacher, etc. ;brief copy, Among Ourselves, 7/1948, on W's career, mentioning his fiction writing; single-page bio ; W's tear sheets, 1959 - 1971, from LAT; LAT clip, 10/28/1981, "Ex-Editor of Times receives press award": LAT Editorial, 7/2/1992, "In Memory of Nick B. Williams," which closes, "Nick Williams mark on The Times is indelible." Williams was with LAT for forty years, retiring in 1971, and after that working as a consultant for Otis Chandler.
mssLAT
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Manuscripts
A two-tape interview by Marshall Berges comprising of 47 transcribed pages detailing the life of Nick Williams, before and during his employment at the Los Angeles Times.
mssLAT
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Manuscripts
Nick Boddie Williams (1906-1992) started at the Times in 1931 as a copy editor and held various editorial positions until 1958, when he was named executive editor, a position he held until his retirement in 1971. Includes correspondence, speeches, clippings, and assignment sheets. Date range is 1933-1981; the bulk of the material is 1958-1971.
mssLAT
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Manuscripts
2 items: letter, 1/25/1973, from Nick Williams to Norman Chandler, expressing his admiration of him ; letter, 7/25/1973, Williams to Norman Chandler, on the subject of great American publishers of the mid 20th century. The second letter features Williams' thoughts on Col. McCormick (Chicago Tribune), Henry Luce (Time), the Scripps - Howard Newspapers and The Christian Science Monitor.
mssLAT