C Wilson, Theo R. (1917-1997), Papers, 1914-1997 3972 9 linear feet, 2 linear feet on 4 rolls of microfilm, 1 video cassette, 1 audio cassette, 1 audio tape MICROFILM (Volumes only) This collection is available at The State Historical Society of Missouri. If you would like more information, please contact us at [email protected]. INTRODUCTION The papers of Theodore R. Wilson, trial reporter for the New York Daily News, consist of newspaper articles, trial notes, awards, correspondence, photographs, and miscellaneous items spanning her 60-year career as a reporter and writer. DONOR INFORMATION The Theo Wilson Papers were donated to the University of Missouri by her son, Delph R. Wilson, on 5 August 1997 (Accession No. 5734). Additional items were donated by Linda Deutsch during August 1999 (Accession No. 5816). The Wilson papers are part of the National Women and Media Collection. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Theodora Nadelstein, the youngest of 11 children, was born in Brooklyn, New York, on 22 May 1917. She was first published at age eight in a national magazine for her story on the family’s pet monkey. Subsequent poems, short stories, plays, and articles of hers were published and produced at Girls High School in Brooklyn, which she attended from 1930 to 1934. She enrolled at the University of Kentucky where she became a columnist and associate editor of the school newspaper, the Kentucky Kernel, despite never taking any journalism courses. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1937 at age 19 and immediately went to work at the Evansville Press in Indiana. At the Press she was quickly promoted to tri-state editor, writing and handling copy from Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois. In 1943 she worked briefly at the Indianapolis Times before moving to the Richmond News Leader in Virginia with her new husband, William Robert (Bob) Wilson. It was there that Wilson became a court reporter, covering the city, state, and federal courts as well as federal agencies such as the FBI and War Manpower Commission. From Richmond she went on to the Philadelphia bureau of the Associated Press until a position opened at the Philadelphia Bulletin in 1950. In 1951, when Bob was offered a job at NBC Radio, they moved to New York where Wilson spent a brief period at the Post before joining the Daily News in 1952. She remained with the Daily News until 1982. During that time Wilson covered every major trial for the Daily News from Sam Sheppard to Claus von Bulow and including Candace Mossler, David Berkowitz, the Manson Family, and Carl Coppolino. In addition to trials Wilson covered the Mercury and Apollo space programs, Jackie Kennedy’s trip to India and Pakistan in 1962, the wedding of Princess Anne, and the story of Florrie Fischer, a rehabilitated drug addict. In 1973 the Daily News decided to establish a bureau in Los Angeles with Wilson as the primary correspondent. She moved to Hollywood Heights permanently, and from there covered C3972 Wilson, Theo, Papers, 1914-1997 page 2 such major trials as the Pentagon Papers, Angela Davis, and Patty Hearst. She also covered Richard Nixon’s health crisis in 1974, the Hillside Strangler, celebrity deaths and arrests, and film and television awards ceremonies. Wilson gained fame in 1976 for hailing a taxi to drive her from Los Angeles to Chowchilla, California, 200 miles away, so she could be the first reporter on the scene of the kidnapping of a busload of school children. She also moonlighted for such magazines and tabloids as True Life Stories and the National Enquirer. After her retirement she did some freelance work on the John DeLorean and O.J. Simpson trials for various newspapers and cable television shows. In 1996 she completed her memoirs, Headline Justice. During her career Wilson won numerous awards including the Front Page Award, Page One Award, Society of the Silurians Award, Theta Sigma Phi Award, and the University of Missouri Honor Medal for Journalism. Wilson had one child, Delph Robert Wilson, born in 1946. The separation caused by both her and her husband’s careers put a strain on their marriage and they decided to divorce in 1960. Later Wilson developed a close and long-lasting relationship with H.D. (Doc) Quigg, a UPI senior editor and Boonville, Missouri, native. She died suddenly on 17 January 1997 while preparing to begin her book tour. SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE The Theodora R. Wilson Papers consist of her newspaper articles, trial notes, awards, correspondence, photographs, and miscellaneous items from her career as a reporter. The papers are arranged into four series: Personal, Professional, Articles and Supporting Materials, and Miscellaneous Articles. The Personal series contains biographical information, correspondence, a diary from her last year in college, school memorabilia, short stories and other writings, and selected papers and photographs belonging to Wilson’s friend H.D. Quigg. This series documents events in Wilson’s private life, including her schooling, marriage, and divorce. Much of the correspondence from the 1930s and 1940s relates to the marital problems of one of Wilson’s sisters and how she coped with running a family and small business alone. This series is arranged alphabetically by topic. The Professional series is arranged alphabetically by topic and then chronologically within each topic. It consists of correspondence, award certificates, photographs, publicity clippings, feature notes, and notes on Wilsons book. This series documents Wilson’s career as a reporter and writer from 1937 through 1996. Of special interest is the correspondence from the 1970s and 1980s which details the disputes she had with new management at the newspaper over what she considered the “butchery” of the copy she submitted from California. The veteran editors’ replies to Wilson describe the turmoil at the Daily News during this period not only because of the internal conflicts but also because the paper was experiencing low circulation and financial difficulties and rumors abounded as to what its fate would be. The photographs in this series consist of portraits of Wilson and photographs for some stories at the various papers on which Wilson worked. Other photographs, taken while Wilson worked on the larger stories, are included in the Articles and Supporting Materials series. The publicity clippings provide anecdotal, and often humorous, details from many of the trials Wilson attended. The sheer number of these types of clippings also shows the high esteem in which she was held by her peers. Wilson’s work as a reporter has been divided into two series: Articles and Supporting C3972 Wilson, Theo, Papers, 1914-1997 page 3 Materials and Miscellaneous Articles. These two series not only document Wilson’s career as the premier trial reporter of her generation but also describe the changing relationship between mass media and the justice system over the second half of the twentieth century. Just as importantly they give firsthand accounts of many of the major events of this period in America. The Articles and Supporting Materials series contains her more notable stories and includes supporting materials such as photographs, notes, correspondence, and courtroom sketches done by Daily News artist, Joe Papin. Most of her trial stories are included here, such as Sam Sheppard, Candance Mossler, Carl Coppolino, the Manson Family, the Pentagon Papers, and Patty Hearst. Other articles involve the space program, celebrities, the 1964 and 1968 political conventions, the Jonestown Massacre, Vietnam refugees and POWs, and welfare corruption. This series is arranged alphabetically by topic. The Miscellaneous Articles series contains those articles which have little or no supporting material and is arranged chronologically. Much of her early work was pasted into scrapbooks so this series has been microfilmed for preservation purposes. Those articles which she wrote while moonlighting for various magazines and tabloids are included at the end of this series and are arranged alphabetically by the name of the publica- tion. FOLDER LIST Personal Series f. 1-2 Biographical f. 3 Correspondence, 1914-1930s f. 4 Correspondence, 1942-1949 f. 5-6 Correspondence, 1940s, n.d. f. 7 Correspondence, 1950-1958 f. 8 Correspondence, 1950s, n.d. f. 9 Correspondence, 1960-1964 f. 10 Correspondence, 1965-1969 f. 11 Correspondence, 1960s, n.d. f. 12 Correspondence, 1970-1973 f. 13 Correspondence, 1975-1977 f. 14 Correspondence, 1978 January f. 15 Correspondence, 1978 February-March f. 16 Correspondence, 1978 May-1979 f. 17 Correspondence, 1970s, n.d. f. 18 Correspondence, 1981-1985 f. 19 Correspondence, 1986-1989; 1980s f. 20 Correspondence, 1990-1996 f. 21-22 Correspondence, n.d. f. 23 Diary, 1937 f. 24 K Book, 1936 f. 25 Miscellaneous f. 26-27 Miscellaneous Writings C3972 Wilson, Theo, Papers, 1914-1997 page 4 f. 28 Quigg, H.D., Correspondence and Publicity, 1963-1988 f. 29 Quigg, H.D., Stories and Photographs, 1943-1983 f. 30 Quigg, H.D., Retirement f. 31 Quigg, H.D., University of Missouri Honor Medal f. 32 Quigg, H.D., University of Missouri Honor Medal Speech f. 33 Yearbook, Girls High School, 1934 f. 34 Yearbook, University of Kentucky, 1937 Professional Series f. 35 Artwork, n.d. f. 36 Award Certificates, 1929-1937 f. 37 Awards, 1958-1959 f. 38 Awards, 1961-1963 f. 39 Awards, 1964 f. 40 Awards, 1966 f. 41 Awards, 1967 f. 42 Awards, 1969 f. 43 Awards, 1970-1981 f. 44-45 Awards, University of Missouri Honor Medal, Correspondence, 1984 f. 46 Awards, University of Missouri Honor Medal, Publicity and Photographs, 1984 f. 47 Correspondence, 1943-1951 f. 48 Correspondence, 1952-1955 f. 49 Correspondence, 1956-1964 f. 50 Correspondence, 1965-1966 f. 51 Correspondence, 1967 f. 52-53 Correspondence, 1968 f. 54 Correspondence, 1969-1973 f. 55-56 Correspondence, 1974-1977 f.