Mort Reis Lewis Papers

This collection contains 426 items and deals entirely with American historian Allan Nevins (1890-1971) and his work, and writer and historian Mort Reis Lewis' efforts after Nevins' death to keep his legacy alive.

The 56 manuscripts include various drafts, most of which deal with Allan Nevins. These include copies of Ray Allen Billington's eulogy for Allan Nevins, his article "Allan Nevins – Historian: A Personal Reminiscences," and a copy of a speech by Billington regarding Nevins, which he gave at the Huntington Library. This series also includes drafts of manuscripts by Mort Reis Lewis such as "A Country Boy at the Huntington Library" and "A Different Profile in Courage: The Triumph of Will." There are also copies of the following scripts by Lewis: "A Pair of Boots" and "Stroke of Fate." Also included are transcripts of interviews, press releases and miscellaneous notes all dealing with Allan Nevins.

The correspondence, which contains 320 items, consists chiefly of letters by and to Mort Reis Lewis about Allan Nevins. The letters discuss Nevins' career as an American historian and the senior research associate at the Huntington Library. This series also deals with Lewis and other historians publishing about Nevins and Lewis' effort to get Nevins' image on a stamp. The correspondence also covers American society and politics during the 1960s and 1970s. Allan Nevins is the author of 36 letters, most of which are written to Lewis. There is also much correspondence between Lewis and Allan Nevins' wife, Mary, and his daughters, Anne Nevins Loftis and Meredith Nevins Mayer.

The ephemera contains 50 items, chiefly dealing with Allan Nevins, such as newspaper clippings, obituaries, brochures, programs and audiocassettes. The ephemera also touches upon Mort Reis Lewis and Ray Billington and their work. There are four audio cassettes which contain interviews with James Thorpe, Ray Billington and E. B. Long and audio from the Allan Nevins Seminar at Claremont College, May 30, 1969.

Notable participants include: American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Scholar, Ray Billington, Cass Canfield, Bruce Catton, Henry Steele Commager, Carl Haverlin, Hubert Humphrey, Otto Kerner, Alfred A. Knopf, Anne Loftis, Everette Beach Long, Los Angeles Times, Delbert Mann, Herbert Mitgang, Richard B. Morris, Allan Nevins, New Yorker, Claiborne Pell, Abraham Ribicoff, Andrew F. Rolle, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Louis Morris Starr, Irving Stone, James Thorpe, Justin G. Turner, Bell Wiley and Daniel Woodward.

Subjects covered in the collection include: American Heritage, Ray Bradbury, CBS, Winston Churchill, Paul Conrad, Anthony Eden, Henry E. Huntington Library, Historical Times, Inc., Illinois State Historical Society, Lyndon B. Johnson, KCET Television Station, Edward "Ted" Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, George S. McGovern, NBC, National Historical Society, New York Times Company, Richard M. Nixon and Watergate, Reader's Digest, Ronald Reagan, Donald Tingley, United States Civil Service Commission, and the Writer's Guild of America. The collection also includes items about the historians' research including Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller and the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, and Ulysses S. Grant.