Henry Shapiro Papers

Henry Shapiro Papers A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 2007 Revised 2010 April Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact Additional search options available at: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms003072 LC Online Catalog record: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm95082704 Prepared by Michael Spangler with the assistance of Donnelly Lancaster, Lisa Madison, and Karen Spicher Revised and expanded by Nicholas Newlin Collection Summary Title: Henry Shapiro Papers Span Dates: 1920-1992 Bulk Dates: (bulk 1931-1973) ID No.: MSS82704 Creator: Shapiro, Henry, 1906-1991 Extent: 51,500 items ; 151 containers plus 1 oversize ; 61.8 linear feet Language: Collection material in English Location: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Summary: Journalist. Correspondence, wire service reports, reference files, speeches and writings, and personal files pertaining to Henry Shapiro's career and writings as chief correspondent in the Moscow bureau of United Press International from the 1930s to the 1970s. Selected Search Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein. People Brezhnev, Leonid Ilʹich, 1906-1982. Castro, Fidel, 1926- Ceaușescu, Nicolae. Cronkite, Walter. Walter Cronkite papers. Daniloff, Nicholas, 1934- --Correspondence. Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971. Kádár, János, 1912- Lyons, Eugene, 1898-1985. Eugene Lyons papers. Shapiro, Henry, 1906-1991. Shapiro, Henry, 1906-1991. L.U.R.S.S. après Staline. 1954. Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953. Organizations United Press International. Subjects Aeronautics--Soviet Union. Agriculture--Soviet Union. Civil rights. Cold War. Education. Elections--Soviet Union. Espionage--Soviet Union. Foreign correspondents--Russia (Federation)--Moscow. International relations. Jews--Migrations. Jews--Soviet Union. Science--Soviet Union. Trials--Soviet Union. Vietnam War, 1961-1975. Places China--Foreign relations--Soviet Union. Cuba--Foreign relations--Soviet Union. Soviet Union--Economic conditions. Henry Shapiro Papers 2 Soviet Union--Foreign relations--China. Soviet Union--Foreign relations--Cuba. Soviet Union--Foreign relations--United States. Soviet Union--Foreign relations. Soviet Union--History--German occupation, 1941-1944. Soviet Union--History. Soviet Union--Politics and government. Soviet Union--Social conditions. Soviet Union--Social life and customs. United States--Foreign relations--Soviet Union. Occupations Journalists. Administrative Information Provenance The papers of Henry Shapiro, journalist and Moscow correspondent, were given to the Library of Congress in 1994, 1996, and 1998 by his wife, Ludmilla Shapiro. Processing History The papers of Henry Shapiro were arranged and described in 1995. Additional material received between 1996 and 1998 was incorporated into the collection in 2000 and 2007. Additional Guides A description of the Shapiro Papers appears in Library of Congress Acquisitions: Manuscript Division, 1994-1995, pp. 38-39. Transfers Sound recordings of interviews and lectures have been transferred to the Library's Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division where they are identified as part of this collection. Copyright Status Copyright in the unpublished writings of Henry Shapiro in these papers is reserved. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division for further information. Access and Restrictions The papers of Henry Shapiro are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use. Preferred Citation Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Henry Shapiro Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Biographical Note Date Event 1906, Apr. 19 Born, Vaslui, Romania 1920 Emigrated to United States Henry Shapiro Papers 3 1928 Naturalized United States citizen 1929 A.B., College of the City of New York, New York, N.Y. 1932 J.D., Harvard University Law School, Cambridge, Mass. 1933 Studied at Moscow Law Institute, Moscow, USSR 1934-1937 Moscow correspondent, New York Herald Tribune, Morning Post of London, and Reuters of London 1937-1973 Chief correspondent and manager of Moscow bureau, United Press International 1937 Married Ludmilla Nikitina 1942 First American correspondent to file an eyewitness report from the Battle of Stalingrad 1953 First westerner to report Joseph Stalin's death 1954 Published L'U.R.S.S. après Staline (n.p.: Gallimard. 254 pp.) 1955 Nieman Fellow, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 1962-1963 Visiting lecturer, University of California, Berkeley, Calif. 1973 Retired from United Press International and moved to Madison, Wis. 1973-1979 Kemper K. Knapp professor and adjunct professor, University of Wisconsin School of Journalism, Madison, Wis. 1991, Apr. 4 Died, Madison, Wis. Scope and Content Note The papers of Henry Shapiro (1906-1991) span the years 1920-1992 with most of the material concentrated between 1931 and 1973. The collection focuses principally on Shapiro's long career as United Press International's chief Moscow correspondent and bureau manager. Present during the regimes of Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, and Leonid Brezhnev, Shapiro reported on a range of issues pertaining to Soviet society as well as many of the major events which shaped East/ West relations during this period. The papers include wire service reports, reference files, correspondence, articles, lectures, a memoir, notes, and personal files organized in five series: Personal File, United Press International (UPI) Moscow Bureau, Speeches and Writings File, Additions, and Oversize. The collection includes English and Russian language material. The Personal File provides a biographical profile of Shapiro based on correspondence, scrapbooks, clippings, photographs, and other material. Correspondence in the series is primarily with friends and colleagues concerning visits and travel plans. Other letters pertain to arrangements for lectures and issues related to publishing Shapiro's articles. The scrapbooks include material pertaining to his entire career as well as numerous felicitations on his retirement in 1973. Shapiro's files from the United Press International Moscow Bureau constitute the heart of the collection. Shortly after arriving in Moscow in 1933 and briefly studying Soviet law, Shapiro became a correspondent for Reuters of London and the New York Herald Tribune. In 1937 he was hired by UPI and was appointed manager of its Moscow bureau in 1939. He Henry Shapiro Papers 4 retained that position until his retirement in 1973, concluding an unusually long career in a world capital in which foreign correspondents typically had much shorter periods of duty. The Administrative File of the Moscow Bureau series reflects the organizational and financial aspects of the bureau documented in correspondence and memoranda regarding assignments, arrangements for interviews, and communications with other UPI offices and personnel. The file also includes financial records and contracts with Soviet personnel. The Reference File includes Russian language newspaper clippings, printed matter, notes, and wire service reports pertaining to virtually every aspect of Soviet life and society. Because contact with many typical news sources was not available to Western reporters, Soviet newspapers and magazines were an important source of supplemental information and background material. Whitman Bassow, a UPI Moscow correspondent in the 1950s, notes in his book The Moscow Correspondents that "the key to comprehensive reporting was always the clipping file from the Soviet press and magazines and notes compiled by reporters." * Notable and extensive material in the Reference File pertains to agriculture, trials during the 1930s, biographies, Jews and Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union, elections, espionage, and the regime of Nikita Khrushchev. Foreign relations are documented by considerable material regarding Soviet relations with the United States and China. Files pertaining to China contain many reports on the deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations during the early 1960s. * Bassow, Whitman, The Moscow Correspondents (New York: W. Morrow, c.1988), 299. The Wire Service Reports in the UPI series were filed by the Moscow Bureau from 1931 to 1971. Although there are numerous gaps, the reports provide a comprehensive account of the Soviet Union during that time. The reports were often rewritten and shortened by editors in the United States, adding to the historical significance of the copies retained by Shapiro. There are a few incoming cable and telegraph messages from UPI's New York office from 1946 to 1948, but the file is primarily composed of the Moscow bureau's outgoing stories. Eugene Lyons, a predecessor of Shapiro's at UPI and an early Soviet sympathizer who left the Soviet Union in disillusionment in 1934, wrote many of the reports from 1931 to 1933. Reports from the mid-1930s cover social and economic conditions, foreign policy, political struggles, scientific advances, and aeronautical achievements. Events leading up to Germany's invasion of Russia are chronicled from 1939 through the summer of 1941. Reports are

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