The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Finding Aids Special Collections 2015 Wiggins (James Russell) Papers, 1908-1994 Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University of Maine Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/findingaids Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University of Maine, "Wiggins (James Russell) Papers, 1908-1994" (2015). Finding Aids. Number 30. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/findingaids/30 This Finding Aid is brought to you for free and open access by the Special Collections at DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Finding Aids by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact Special Collections, Fogler Library, 207-581-1686 or [email protected]. Wiggins (James Russell) Papers This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on March 06, 2020. Finding aid written in English. Describing Archives: A Content Standard Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections 5729 Raymond H. Fogler Library University of Maine Orono, ME 04469-5729 URL: http://www.library.umaine.edu/speccoll Wiggins (James Russell) Papers Table of Contents Summary Information ......................................................................................................................................... 3 Biographical Note ................................................................................................................................................. 3 Scope and Content Note ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Series Outline and Description ....................................................................................................................... 10 Administrative Information ............................................................................................................................. 13 Controlled Access Headings ............................................................................................................................. 13 General ................................................................................................................................................................... 14 Collection Inventory ........................................................................................................................................... 15 Washington Post Files .................................................................................................................................... 15 Washington Post Files .................................................................................................................................... 26 First alphabetical series .............................................................................................................................. 27 Washington Post Business Files ................................................................................................................ 45 Personal Files .................................................................................................................................................... 49 Minnesota and World War II .................................................................................................................... 49 Family Business, Household and Personal ............................................................................................ 50 Family and Personal .................................................................................................................................... 52 American Society of Newspaper Editors ................................................................................................ 53 Grid Iron Club ................................................................................................................................................ 56 American Antiquarian Society .................................................................................................................. 56 Ambassador to United Nations ................................................................................................................. 57 Chronological miscellaneous files ............................................................................................................ 59 Published Writings ....................................................................................................................................... 63 World War II Material ................................................................................................................................. 64 Travel Logs ...................................................................................................................................................... 64 Indian Land Claims Information Files .................................................................................................... 65 Conferences, Biographical Sketches, Notes, Family Information ..................................................... 66 Appointment Books ...................................................................................................................................... 67 Maine and the Ellsworth American ............................................................................................................ 68 Photographs and memorabilia .................................................................................................................... 72 Oversized photographs ................................................................................................................................ 72 Memorabilia ................................................................................................................................................... 73 Additions to the collection processed in 2009 ......................................................................................... 76 Correspondence, etc. .................................................................................................................................... 76 - Page 2 - Wiggins (James Russell) Papers Summary Information Repository: Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections Creator: Wiggins, James Russell, 1903-2000 Title: James Russell Wiggins Papers ID: SpC MS 0626 Date [inclusive]: 1908-2000 Date [bulk]: 1942-1994 (bulk) Physical 98 linear feet (98 boxes) Description: Language of the English Material: Abstract: Papers of the Executive Editor and Vice President of the Washington Post. Most of the collection is related to the Washington Post with some personal papers. Other papers include Wiggins' appointment as ambassador to the United Nations, 1968-69, and files relating to his work at the Ellsworth American newspaper. Preferred Citation James Russell Wiggins Papers, SpC MS 0626, [Box No.], [Folder No.], Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections Department, University of Maine, Orono, Maine ^ Return to Table of Contents Biographical Note James Russell Wiggins was born in 1903, and grew up in the rural Midwest, in southern Minnesota near the South Dakota border. His agricultural roots and the circumstances of the national economy affected his entire life. High school dramatics, the school newspaper and debating society also set his path. He took as his role model Rudyard Kipling, the talented and well-spoken Englishman who started his journalistic career at the age of seventeen and went on to become an important writer as well as an influence on British political history. [High school term paper, 1918] - Page 3- Wiggins (James Russell) Papers As a reporter and editor of a rural newspaper during the depression years Wiggins developed a keen interest in the pressures placed upon politicians in setting economic policies. He witnessed the debates and disturbances caused by expanding influences of trade unions, and he vigorously supported the agricultural reconstruction programs of the 1930's. He wrote editorials, a daily column, and "occasional verse," and he began his life-long habit of reading a book every day. He went to Washington, D.C. as a correspondent for the St. Paul newspapers in 1933, and landed in the center of the very controversies he wrote about. He made friends and contacts, and he developed a new and passionate love for American history. Five years later he returned to St. Paul as the managing editor of the Dispatch and the Press. He renewed his vigorous quest for honest and open government and developed uncompromising standards for his reporters. He wrote and spoke on behalf of Allied resistance to Hitler, and became an active supporter of American aid to the Allies. A month after Pearl Harbor he asked to be drafted, and at the age of 39 was given a commission in the Army-Air Force Intelligence Service. Wiggins served for four years in Washington, North Africa, Florence and England, and returned to St. Paul in 1946. He had made a new circle of influential friends and had developed a deep distrust of the Soviet Union. After returning to his position as managing editor for the St. Paul Dispatch, Wiggins was fervent in his quest for access to public meetings and total freedom of the press. "I believe that what God permits to happen we have an obligation to print." [Letter to Alan McIntosh, 1946.] B.H. Ridder, owner and publisher of the Dispatch and wartime isolationist,