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Jessica Mitford Jessica Mitford: An Inventory of Her Papers at the Harry Ransom Center Descriptive Summary Creator Mitford, Jessica, 1917-1996 Title Jessica Mitford Papers Dates: 1949-1973 Extent 67 document boxes, 3 note card boxes, 7 galley files, 1 oversize folder (27 linear feet) Abstract: Correspondence, printed material, reports, notes, interviews, manuscripts, legal documents, and other materials represent Jessica Mitford's work on her three investigatory books and comprise the bulk of these papers. Language English. Access Open for research Administrative Information Acquisition Purchase, 1973 Processed by Donald Firsching, Amanda McCallum, Jana Pellusch, 1990 Repository: Harry Ransom Center University of Texas at Austin Mitford, Jessica, 1917-1996 Biographical Sketch Born September 11, 1917, in Batsford, Gloucestershire, England, Jessica Mitford is one of the six daughters of the Baron of Redesdale. The Mitfords are a well-known English family with a reputation for eccentricity. Of the Mitford sisters, Nancy achieved notoriety as a novelist and biographer. Diana married Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British fascists before World War II. Unity, also a fascist sympathizer, attempted suicide when Britain and Germany went to war. Deborah became the Duchess of Devonshire. Jessica, whose political bent ran opposite to that of her sisters, ran away to Loyalist Spain with her cousin, Esmond Romilly, during the Spanish Civil War. Jessica eventually married Romilly, who was killed during World War II. In 1943, Mitford married a labor lawyer, Robert Treuhaft, while working for the Office of Price Administration in Washington, D.C. The couple soon moved to Oakland, California, where they joined the Communist Party. In California, Mitford worked as executive secretary for the Civil Rights Congress and taught sociology at San Jose State University. After resigning from the Communist Party in 1958, Mitford devoted her time to writing. Mitford's first book, Lifeitselfmanship, was privately published in 1956. Her autobiography, Daughters and Rebels (1960), recounts her childhood and first marriage. The American Way of Death (1963), Mitford's first investigative study, exposes the avarice and commercialism of the American funeral industry. Although bitterly denounced by the industry itself, the book was Mitford's most successful and was used as the basis for a CBS television documentary, "The Great American Funeral." Mitford's second investigative study, The Trial of Dr. Spock (1969), concludes with the observation that American conspiracy laws threaten citizens' civil rights. Kind and Usual Punishment: The Prison Business (1973) launches a diatribe against the American penal system. Mitford condemns sentencing procedures, the parole system, and the use of prisoners in psychological and physiological research. In 1977, Mitford published A Fine Old Conflict, a sequel to her autobiography, which traces her involvement with the Communist Party in America. Her latest work, Poison Penmanship: The Gentle Art of Muckraking (1979), is an anthology of her investigative articles as they have appeared over the years in such magazines as Life, Esquire, Nation, and the San Francisco Chronicle. These articles have earned Mitford the title "Queen of Muckrakers." Scope and Contents Twenty-seven linear feet of correspondence, printed material, reports, notes, interviews, manuscripts, legal documents, and other materials represent Jessica Mitford's work on her three investigatory books, The American Way of Death (1963), The Trial of Dr. Spock (1969), and Kind and Usual Punishment: The Prison Business (1973). The material is arranged in three series; one built around each work. Generally speaking, the 2 Mitford, Jessica, 1917-1996 series follow Mitford's original arrangement scheme. All three series have the same basic subseries encompassing Research, Works, Promoting the Book, and Response to the Book. However, there are significant differences in the amount of material in each subseries for the three books. For example, promotional material and response to the book for The American Way of Death is extensive, while these sections are small to nonexistent in the other two series. The Trial of Dr. Spock and Kind and Usual Punishment series have small sections of personal materials, while The American Way of Death series has none. The research subseries of The American Way of Death and Kind and Usual Punishment are subdivided into Research by Chapter, Research by Topic, and General Research. The Trial of Dr. Spock contains only topical entries. No attempt has been made to separate materials by format in any of the series. Correspondence, for instance, is scattered throughout the three series. Although Mitford has written several books and innumerable articles, this body of materials represents exclusively those materials relating to her three investigatory works and articles pertaining thereto. Those materials designated as Personal fall within the context of Mitford's activities as an author of the said books. Because of the preponderance of research materials in this collection, it possesses a strong informational value beyond its literary significance in relation to Mitford as an author. Of the three series, that representing Kind and Usual Punishment, a scathing indictment of the American penal system, provides the greatest potential for research. Not only is it the largest series, but also it contains a wide variety of materials and topics which would be of value to researchers interested in criminal justice and corrections. The American Way of Death exposes the avarice and unscrupled practices of the American funeral industry. Materials in this series provide a candid and revealing perspective on American death rituals and how the funeral industry has institutionalized and exaggerated these rituals. In The Trial of Dr. Spock, Mitford documents the 1970 conspiracy trial of Dr. Benjamin Spock in order to illustrate the American legal system's intolerance of civil disobedience. This is a small series perhaps of greatest value to those interested in Spock himself and/or Vietnam era jurisprudence. Kind and Usual Punishment (17 linear feet) is the largest series, followed by The American Way of Death (6.5 linear feet) and, finally, The Trial of Dr. Spock (3.5 linear feet). Series Descriptions Series I. The American Way of Death, 1954-1973 Jessica Mitford is best known for her first book, The American Way of Death, which exposes the abuses of the American funeral industry. Mitford's attorney husband, Robert Treuhaft, stimulated her interest in the funeral industry while defending some of its alleged victims in court. Treuhaft was also active as an officer of the East Bay Memorial Association (later known as the Bay Area Funeral Society), a funeral cooperative. His involvement in this organization accounts for the presence of its records from 1954 to 1962 in the Mitford papers. In 1961, Mitford and two other authors published an article, "St. Peter Don't You Call Me," lambasting the funeral industry for its avarice and lack of scruples. This article received such a favorable public response that Mitford resolved to write an entire book on the subject. This series spans two decades, from the records of the East Bay Memorial Association in 1954 to fan letters received by Mitford in 1973. It includes four subseries: Research, Works, Promoting the 3 Mitford, Jessica, 1917-1996 Book, and Response to the Book. The Research subseries begins with Research by Chapter. Chapters 2, 12, and 18 are not represented. Certain chapter titles are rather oblique: Chapter 4, "The Artifact," deals primarily with parlours and caskets; Chapter 8, "The Menance of P. O. [Please Omit]," discusses the florist's role in funerals; Chapter 9, "God's Little Million Dollar Acre," concerns cemeteries; and Chapter 10, "Shroudland Revisited," explores Forest Lawn, a southern California memorial park. Under Research by Topic are the records of the East Bay Memorial Association (EBMA). The article, "Can You Afford to Die?," by Roul Touley makes reference to the Mitford and her activties with the EBMA. Also present are the results of a mail survey of memorial societies conducted by Mitford. Under General Research is extensive correspondence with individuals from the funeral industry, the clergy, and other segments of society. Many of these correspondents are referred to in the book. J. Freeman is a pseudonym used by the Treuhafts in many letters. Mitford's articles appear in the Works section. "The Undertaker's Racket," of 1963 presages her book of that same year. The manuscript of The American Way of Death is present in multiple forms, from initial drafts to galley proofs. Records regarding the book's promotion include pre-release publicity, advertisements and articles, a list of persons to receive copies of the book, and material on a national tour sponsored by Simon and Schuster in the fall of 1963. Critical response to the book is heavily documented through reviews from the American and British press. Correspondence from this period includes exchanges between Mitford and Judith Viorst on President Kennedy's funeral. Dating from her first article, Mitford received letters from individuals seeking a sympathetic hearing for their experiences. Publication of the book increased this flow of letters which she initially categorized as "interesting" and "boring." In the spring of 1964 she discontinued this designation, filing all such letters as "fan letters." Series II: The Trial of Dr. Spock, 1962-70
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