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Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2009
Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms009195
General Correspondence, 1908-1960 | |||||||||||||
Subject File, 1919-1960 | |||||||||||||
Speech, Article, and Book File, 1909-1960 | |||||||||||||
Miscellany, 1925-1959 | |||||||||||||
1979 Addition, 1893-1978 | |||||||||||||
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.
The papers of Lyman Bryson, radio and television broadcaster, author, and educator were given to the Library of Congress by Bryson in 1958. Bryson's wife, Katherine Bryson, gave additional papers in 1961 and 1979.
The papers of Lyman Bryson were arranged and described in 1962. The finding aid was revised and portions of the 1979 Addition were reprocessed in 1996. The finding aid was revised in 2009.
A description of the Bryson Papers appears in Library of Congress Information Bulletin, vol. 18, no. 9 (2 March 1959).
A filmed interview conducted by Bryson with Arnold Joseph Toynbee in 1956 has been transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division where it is identified as part of the Lyman Bryson Papers.
Copyright in the unpublished writings of Lyman Bryson in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.
The papers of Lyman Bryson 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.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Lyman Bryson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Date | Event |
| 1888, July 12 | Born, Valentine, Nebr. |
| 1910 | A.B., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. |
| 1912 | Married Hope Mersereau (died 1944) |
| 1913-1917 | Instructor in rhetoric and journalism, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. |
| 1915 | M.A., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. |
| 1916 | Published Smokey Roses. New York: Putnam & Sons |
| 1917-1918 | Publicity staff, American National Red Cross, national headquarters, Washington, D.C. |
| 1919 | Publicity staff, American National Red Cross, European
headquarters, Paris, France Associate director, American Junior Red Cross Foreign Program |
| 1920-1922 | Director, Junior Red Cross Division, League of Red Cross Societies |
| 1923-1924 | Director of Publications, League of Red Cross Societies |
| 1925-1932 | Lecturer, University of California, Extension Division, Berkeley, Calif. |
| 1928-1930 | Director, San Diego Museum of Anthropology, San Diego,
Calif. Professor of Anthropology, San Diego State College, San Diego, Calif. |
| 1929-1932 | Director, California Association for Adult Education |
| 1932-1934 | Leader, Public School Forum, Des Moines, Iowa |
| 1934-1953 | Professor of Education and Director of the Readability Laboratory, Columbia University, Teachers College, New York, N.Y. |
| 1936 | Published Adult Education. New York: American Book Co. |
| 1938-1942 | Chairman, Adult Education Board, Columbia Broadcasting System |
| 1938-1944 | Moderated The People's Platform, Columbia Broadcasting System radio program |
| 1939 | Published
Which Way America? Communism, Fascism, Democracy.
New York: Macmillan & Co. Edited The People's Library. New York: Macmillan & Co. |
| 1941 | Published The New Prometheus. New York: Macmillan & Co. |
| 1941-1943 | Headed Department X, a committee studying potential postwar issues, Columbia Broadcasting System |
| 1942-1943 | Chief, Bureau of Special Operations, Office of War Information |
| 1942-1945 | Director of Education, Columbia Broadcasting System |
| 1944-1946 | President, American Association for Adult Education |
| 1945 | Married Katherine McGrattan |
| 1945-1947 | Moderated Problems of the Peace, Columbia Broadcasting System radio program (Time for Reason after March 1946) |
| 1946-1947 | Moderated Time for Reason About Radio, Columbia Broadcasting System radio program |
| 1946-1959 | Permanent moderator, Invitation to Learning, Columbia Broadcasting System radio program |
| 1947 | Appointed Counselor on Public Affairs, Columbia Broadcasting
System Published Science and Freedom. New York: Columbia University Press |
| 1950-1951 | Moderated We Take Your Word, Columbia Broadcasting System radio and television program |
| 1950-1959 | Moderated Lamp Unto My Feet, Columbia Broadcasting System television program |
| 1952 | Published The Next America, Prophecy and Faith. New York: Harper & Brothers |
| 1954 | Published The Drive Toward Reason, In the Service of a Free People. New York: Harper & Brothers |
| 1959, Nov. 24 | Died, New York, N.Y. |
| 1960 | Published posthumously An Outline of Man's Knowledge of the Modern World. New York: McGraw-Hill |
The papers of Lyman Lloyd Bryson (1888-1959) span the years 1893-1978, with the bulk of the material dating from 1917 to 1959. The papers document Bryson's work for the American National Red Cross and League of Red Cross Societies following World War I, his subsequent work in the field of adult education, and his role in developing educational radio and television programming for the Columbia Broadcasting System in the 1940s and 1950s. The collection also features many of Bryson's literary works, including drafts of novels, short stories, poems, and plays. The collection is arranged into five series: General Correspondence ; Subject File ; Speech, Article, and Book File ; Miscellany ; and a 1979 Addition.
The General Correspondence series covers virtually every aspect of Bryson's professional life and literary endeavors. Correspondence with friends, agents, and publishers, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s, concerns Bryson's efforts to succeed as a writer. Correspondence with Red Cross colleagues in this series, the Subject File, and the 1979 Addition provides information on Bryson's work for the American National Red Cross and League of Red Cross Societies as a publicist, his directorship of Junior Red Cross programs, and his extensive travels in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The addition includes Bryson's account of his interview with H. G. Wells in 1920 on behalf of the Junior Red Cross. The bulk of the General Correspondence series consists of correspondence with associates in the field of adult education, Columbia University faculty and administrators, and Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) executives. Correspondents include Bower Aly, Edmund de Schweinitz Brunner, George T. Bye, Morse A. Cartwright, James Mitchell Clarke, Mary L. Ely, Louis Finkelstein, Sir Claude H. Hill, Anne E. M. Jackson, Robert Edwin Olds, William S. Paley, and David Riesman.
The Subject File includes material from Bryson's participation in various conferences and seminars on adult education, public communication, and philosophy. Letters from listeners to CBS's Invitation to Learning provide insight into the program's popular reception. Other CBS material includes correspondence and reports relating to Department X, a committee organized by Bryson in 1941 at the request of William S. Paley, president of the network. The committee examined issues relating to postwar planning, including political, social, and economic trends, scientific and technological developments, shifts in public opinion, and government programs.
The Speech, Article, and Book File contains many of Bryson's lectures, articles, and books on adult education, public communication, and post World War II political, intellectual, and cultural developments. Also included is a draft of Bryson's novel, "William Blades," and correspondence with the publishers of Adventure magazine and Atlantic Monthly who published many of Bryson's early stories, articles, and essays. The series contains correspondence and transcripts from Bryson's CBS radio and television programs.
A small Miscellany series includes appointment books, biographical material, business and financial records, letters of recommendation, programs, and clippings.
The 1979 Addition comprises general correspondence, Red Cross correspondence, transcripts and programs from Bryson's CBS broadcasts, fan letters, and clippings which complement material found in the collection. The addition also contains Bryson's reminiscences based on oral interviews with him conducted in 1951. While covering his childhood and early career, this autobiographical account focuses particularly on Bryson's work for CBS, his chairmanship of CBS's Adult Education Board from 1938 to 1942, his appointment as Director of Education in 1942, and his role in the creation and hosting of educational programs. Family correspondence exchanged chiefly between Bryson and his parents contains detailed accounts of Bryson's activities from his freshman year at the University of Michigan in 1906 through 1940. The bulk of the addition consists of drafts of Bryson's short stories, plays, novels, and poetry, many of them unpublished. An account journal, begun by Bryson in 1917, records the sale of some of these works.
This collection is arranged in five series:
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