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John L. Spivak Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Spivak, John L. (John Louis), 1897-1981
Title: John L. Spivak Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1922-1973
Quantity: 24 linear ft.
Abstract: Papers of the American author, journalist, novelist. Correspondence (1930-1972); typescript drafts and revisions of books; galley proofs; and published articles and books.
Language: English
Repository: Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
222 Waverly Avenue
Syracuse, NY 13244-2010
https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center

Biographical History

John L. Spivak (1897-1981) was an American investigative reporter and author whom fellow muckraker Lincoln Steffens described as "the best of us." He was most concerned with the problems of the working class and the spread of fascism and anti-Semitism in Europe and the United States from the 1920s through the 1940s.

As a boy Spivak worked for a variety of factories in his hometown of New Haven, Connecticut, then landed a job as a cub reporter for the New Haven Union. Moving to New York, he worked at the Morning Sun, Evening Graphic, and the Call, the paper of the American Socialist Party. His first major break came when he traveled to West Virginia to cover the coal strikes that broke out after World War I. He then served briefly as a reporter and bureau chief in Berlin and Moscow for the International News Service and upon his return to the U.S. became a feature writer for leftist newspapers and magazines such as the New York Daily Worker, Ken, and the New Masses.

Spivak traveled throughout the South in the early 1930s interviewing prison camp officials and photographing camp atrocities and their corresponding punishment records. His novel, Georgia Nigger, depicting the brutality of prison camp chain gangs was serialized in the Daily Worker. His 1935 exposé in the New Masses charged a congressional committee with deliberately suppressing evidence of an offer made to Maj. Gen. Smedley D. Butler by Wall Street financiers to lead a military coup against the U.S. government and replace it with a fascist regime. He also investigated the anti-Semitic and financial activities of Charles E. Coughlin, the Catholic radio priest who founded the Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Michigan. Most of Spivak's work, however, was dedicated to exposing fascism and underground Nazi spy groups in Central America, Europe, and the U.S. He wrote several "muckraking" books about these activities.

With the rise of McCarthyism, Spivak spent most of the 1950s and 1960s writing under several pen names for men's adventure and lifestyle magazines including Cavalier, Esquire, Fury, Male, and Man to Man. Intent on writing his autobiography, he and his wife, Mabel, retired to their farm in Easton, Pennsylvania. Not long afterwards he decided to come out of retirement to edit a consumer affairs column for the Easton newspaper where his work culminated in a federal investigation into the high-pressure sales tactics used by magazine circulation companies that resulted in new consumer protection laws. Spivak died in 1981, six months after his wife passed away. They had been married for 64 years and were survived by a daughter and grandson.

Spivak's writings include: Medical Trust Unmasked (L.S. Siegfried, 1929), Devil's Brigade (Brewer and Warren, Inc., 1930), Georgia Nigger (London, Wishart & Company, 1933), Plotting America's Pogroms: A Documented Exposéof Organized Anti-Semitism in the United States (The New Masses, 1934), America Faces the Barricades (Covici Friede Inc., 1935), Europe Under the Terror (Simon & Schuster, 1936), Secret Armies: the New Technique of Nazi Warfare (Modern Age Books, 1939), Honorable Spy: Exposing Japanese Military Intrigue in the United States (Modern Age Books, 1939), Shrine of the Silver Dollar (Modern Age Books, 1940), Sex, Vice and Business (writing as Monroe Fry) (Ballantine Books, 1959), and his autobiography, A Man In His Time (Horizon Press, 1967).

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

Spanning 1922 to 1973, the John L. Spivak Papers comprises correspondence, writings, and memorabilia of the investigative reporter and author (1897-1981).

Arranged alphabetically, the Correspondence-subject files (Boxes 1-12) include Family correspondence (Box 1) containing a few letters, telegrams, and holiday cards from Spivak's wife, daughter and grandson. The remaining files consist primarily of original and photocopied correspondence to and from publishers and those organizations and individuals Spivak contacted regarding his research. Also included are a few subject files with materials from investigative work.

Correspondents include book publishers (Covici Friede, Inc., Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc., Horizon Press, Inc., Modern Age Books, Inc., Simon & Schuster, Inc.); magazine and newspaper publishers (American Mercury, Easton Publishing Company, Esquire, International News Service, Ken, New Masses, Survey-Survey Graphic); literary, lecture, and Hollywood producers and agents (Ad-Schulberg-Sam Jaffe, Inc., Brandt & Brandt, Charles Hamilton Autographs, Inc., Lester Cohen, Leland Hayward, Inc., Kurt Hellmer, Liebling-Wood, Inc., W. Colston Leigh, Inc., Motion Picture Guild, Inc., and Warner Bros. Pictures/Vitagraph, Inc.); agencies and organizations (American Action, Inc., American Council Against Nazi Propaganda, Inc., American Civil Liberties Union, Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, International Labor Defense); attorneys (Caughlin & Hatten, Foulsten, Siefkin, Foulsten & Morris, Harry Hibschman, Louis Little, Milburn & Semmes, Willard J. Stone, William Stott, Carl Strover); authors and other noted persons (Jules Archer, John Nicholas Beffel, Elizabeth Cousins, Paul Comly French, Frederic J. Haskin, Luther Huston, Oakley C. Johnson, Shaemas O'Sheel, Harry Pollit, George Seldes, Irving Stone, Keith Sward, Mary Heaton Vorse, Kate Warriner, Ella Winter); and federal government departments and politicians. Subject files include Arab fascism, consumer affairs, magazine sales promotion business, Nazi infiltration and propaganda activities, radio and television appearances, and the Scottsboro case.

Correspondence written under one of Spivak's pseudonyms, Monroe Fry, is found in the files of Ballantine Books, Cavalier, Escapade, King Bros. Productions, Inc., Magazine Management Company, Male, Meredith Publishing Company, and Volitant Publishing Corporation. Mercer Plankett (Box 10), an alias Spivak assumed in 1947 while doing research for "Pattern for American Fascism" and "The 'Save the Country' Racket," includes correspondence to and from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, congressmen, university administrators, and organizations such as American Action, Inc.

There are several folders of correspondence to and from Easton, Pennsylvania area citizens regarding his consumer affairs column, "Action! Express," and includes follow-up correspondence with various businesses and local, state, and federal government offices. Newspaper clippings, memos, press releases, and correspondence with congressional committees and congressmen (Fred B. Rooney, PA) regarding the magazine sales industry investigation comprise the bulk of the column material.

Writings (Boxes 13-34) include notes, drafts, manuscripts, and galley proofs for books, as well as notes, drafts, and clippings of journal and newspaper articles, some of which have handwritten comments. Writings under the name John L. Spivak appear first, followed alphabetically by pseudonym (William Blaise, Howard Booth, Paul Dinsmore, Monroe Fry, Paul Harris, Douglas Horrabin, Al Lippencott, Leslie Lippincott, Sherman L. North, and Shelby Ogden). Materials are then arranged by type (book, journal, newspaper), then publication date. There are also two unpublished manuscripts, Having Fun, reflections of the people and stories Spivak covered throughout his career, and Indictment, an exposéabout the rise of Arab fascism in the U.S. after World War II.

Arranged by type, Memorabilia (Boxes 35-41) includes original and photocopied clippings, arranged by date, of articles about Spivak on such topics as interviewing style, lecture appearances, research, charges made against him by the Georgia prison commissioner, responses to his investigative articles into the conditions in mental institutions, the Whalen forgeries, and Father Coughlin. Book, journal, and lecture publicity materials are arranged by type, then title, and contain clippings, advertisements for books and investigative articles, publishers' catalogs, press releases, and schedules of radio and television appearances. Also arranged by title are book reviews including items published in a variety of newspapers and sent to Spivak via a clipping service. Financial and legal materials, arranged by type, include birth and marriage certificates, contracts with publishers and pay records, litigation documents, travel receipts and passports, and miscellaneous receipts and foreign money. Photographs, arranged by type, include family snapshots, publicity portraits, group photographs, and photographs appearing in Secret Armies. There are also several negatives and test strips of photographs taken while in Central America investigating spy activity. Printed material includes articles from Hebrew newspapers, magazines, announcements, and miscellaneous items. Oversized materials contain issues of magazines, photostats of newspaper articles about Spivak's undercover work in a mental institution, photographs from Georgia Nigger, family portraits taken by Spivak, and book jacket plates and sample book jackets for A Man In His Time.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Spivak, John L. (John Louis), 1897-1981.

Subjects

Authors, American.
Journalists -- United States.
Novelists, American.

Genres and Forms

Clippings (information artifacts)
Correspondence.
Drafts (documents)
Manuscripts for publication.
Photographs.

Occupations

Authors.
Journalists.
Novelists.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

John L. Spivak Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of John L. Spivak. Additional materials from Zelda Besnoff and Joan I. Covera.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: JMB
Date: Jul 1978
Revision history: Aug 1995 - updated (HK); May 2005 - revised and re-housed (DO); 22 Oct 2006 - converted to EAD (AMCon); 3 Jan 2012 - updated boxes 39-41 (MBD); 26 Oct 2012 - extent revised (MBD); 27 Sep 2022 - VHS tape added, minor stylistic updates (MRC)

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Inventory

Biographical material
Box 1 Biographical material
Family correspondence-subject files
Box 1 Klein, Jacqueline - daughter
Box 1 Klein, Peter - grandson
Box 1 Spivak, Mabel - wife
Correspondence-subject files
Box 1 A (1 general folder)
Box 1 Abzug, Bella (Congress.)
Box 1 "Action! Express" 1968-Sep. 1969 - Easton Publishing Company
See also Easton Publishing Company; Magazine Sales Promotion Business; Rooney, Fred B. (Congress.)
Box 2 "Action! Express" Oct. 1969-Jul. 1970
Box 3 "Action! Express" Aug. 1970-1972 undated
Box 4 "Action! Express" - subject files
Box 5 Ad Schulberg-Sam Jaffe, Inc. - Hollywood agent
Box 5 Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Box 5 Amann, Peter
American Action, Inc.
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 5 American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Box 5 American Council Against Nazi Propaganda, Inc.
Box 5 American Mercury
Box 5 American Prophetic League, Inc.
Box 5 American Social Hygiene Association
Box 5 American Zionist Council
Box 5 Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith
See also Forster, Arnold; Goldberg, Miles M.
Box 5 Arab fascism - Documents (4 folders)
Box 6 Archer, Jules
Box 6 Ashleigh, Charles
Avery, Andrew
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 6 B (1 general folder)
Box 6 Baer, George
Box 6 Baldwin, Roger N.
Box 6 Ballantine Books, Inc.
Box 6 Barsky, Edward K. (Dr.)
Box 6 Bavley, Benjamin
Box 6 Beffel, John Nicholas
Box 6 Berman Fund, Inc.
Better Homes and Gardens
See Meredith Publishing Company
Box 6 Black & White Press
Box 6 Block, Harry
Box 6 Bloor, Ella Reeve "Mother"
Box 6 Bobbs Merrill Company
Box 6 Bone, Homer T. (Congress.)
Box 6 Bouton, S. Miles
Box 6 Bovey, Winifred
Bradford, Ralph
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 6 Brandt & Brandt - literary agent (3 folders)
Box 6 Braymer, Nan
Box 6 Brodsky, Jack
Box 6 Brooks, Keith L.
Box 6 Browder, Bill
Box 6 Buchman, Beatrice
Box 6 Building Service Employees International Union
Box 6 Butler, Smedley D.
Box 6 C (1 general folder)
Box 6 Canada
Box 6 Canadian Jewish Congress
Box 6 Cardiff, Ira D.
Box 6 Caughlin & Hatten - attorneys
Cavalier Magazine
See Fawcett Publications
Caxton Printers
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 6 Chagres Camp No. 1 unattached
Box 6 Charles Hamilton Autographs, Inc.
Chicago Journal of Commerce
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Christenberry, Robert K.
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 6 Christopher Publishing House
Box 6 Clairoun, D.
Box 7 Claude Kendall Publisher
Box 7 Clinton, S. H. M.
Box 7 Cohen, Henry (Rabbi)
Box 7 Cohen, Lester
Box 7 Colburn, John
Collier's
See Crowell Publishing Company
Box 7 Committee of Professional Groups for Browder and Ford
Box 7 Communism
Box 7 Communist Party of Canada
Box 7 Communist Party of Massachusetts
Box 7 Comstock, Jim
Box 7 Consumer affairs
Box 7 Coughlin, Charles E. (Rev.)
Box 7 Cousins, Elizabeth
Box 7 Covici Friede, Inc.
Box 7 Cowles, John
Box 7 Crowell Publishing Company
Box 7 Current Controversy
Box 7 D (1 general folder)
Box 7 Daily Worker
Dall, Mrs. C. G.
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Dalton, James J.
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 7 Detroit, MI (City of)
See also U.S. Post Office (Detroit)
Box 7 Diamond, Ed
Box 7 Dickstein, Samuel (Congress.)
Dillman, David
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 7 Dodd, Martha
Box 7 Dunn, Robert W.
Box 7 E (1 general folder)
Box 7 E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc.
Box 7 Easton Publishing Company
See also "Action! Express" (Easton Publishing Company)
Box 7 Ebenstein, Morris
Box 7 Eby, Cecil D.
Box 7 Emerson, William
Box 7 Escapade Magazine
Box 7 Esquire Magazine (2 folders)
Box 7 European Literary Bureau
Box 7 Exposé Comm.
Express, The (Easton, PA)
See "Action! Express" (Easton Publishing Company); Easton Publishing Company
Box 7 F (1 general folder)
Box 7 Farrar & Rinehart
Box 7 Fawcett Publications
Box 7 Forster, Arnold
See also Anti Defamation League of B'nai B'rith; Goldberg, Miles M.
Box 7 Foulston, Siefkin, Foulston & Morris (attorneys)
See also Sepmeier, Kurt A.; University of Wichita; Wichita Beacon
Box 8 Frankel, Bob
Box 8 French, Paul Comly
Box 8 Friday Magazine
Friedman, Bruce J.
See Male
Fry, Monroe (pseudonym)
See Ballantine Books, Inc.; Cavalier Magazine, Escapade Magazine, King Bros. Production Company, Inc., Magazine Management Company, Male, Meredith Publishing Company, Volitant Publishing Corporation
Box 8 Fugl, Harry and Jo
Box 8 G (1 general folder)
Box 8 G.P. Putnam's Sons
Ghost Stories Magazine
See Macfadden Publications
Gipson, James H.
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 8 Goldberg, Miles M.
See also Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith; Forster, Arnold; Golden, Harry
Box 8 Golden, Harry
Box 8 H (1 general folder)
Box 8 Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc.
Hart, Merwin K.
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Hartz, W. Homer
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 8 Haskin, Frederic J.
Hayes, Edward A.
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 8 Hearst's International
Box 8 Hellmer, Kurt
Box 8 Henle, James
Box 8 Hibschman, Harry (attorney)
Box 8 Hodges, Betty
Box 8 Hoisington, Harland W.
Box 8 Holiday Magazine
Box 8 Hollywood Anti-Nazi League for the Defense of American Democracy
Box 8 Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
Box 8 Horizon Press, Inc. (2 folders)
Box 8 Howell, Soskin, & Company, Inc. Publishers
Hughes, Langston
See National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners
Box 8 Huntington Publishing Company
Box 8 Huston, Luther
Box 8 I (1 general folder)
Box 8 In Fact, Inc.
Box 8 International Labor Defense
Box 8 International News Service
Box 8 J (1 general folder)
Box 8 J.P. Lippincott Company
Box 8 Jackson, Gardner
Box 8 Jewish Examiner
Box 8 Jewish Federation-Council of Greater Los Angeles
Box 8 Jewish Peoples Society (New York)
Box 8 John O'London's Weekly
Box 8 Johnson, Oakley C.
Box 8 Judge, The
Box 8 Justus, J.
Box 9 K (1 general folder)
Box 9 Kahn, Albert E.
Box 9 Kansas (State of)
Box 9 Karr, David
Box 9 Kellyvitch, Fred C.
Box 9 Ken
Box 9 King Bros. Production Company
Box 9 Kisch, Egon Erwin
Box 9 Kopelowna, Bolestawa
Box 9 L (1 general folder)
Box 9 League of American Writers
Box 9 Leland Hayward, Inc. (Hollywood agents)
Box 9 Lenzer, Louis
Box 9 Liberty
Box 9 Liebling-Wood, Inc. (literary agents)
Box 9 Literary Corporation of America
Box 9 Little, Louis (attorney)
Box 9 Little, Brown and Company
Box 9 M (1 general folder)
Box 9 Macfadden Publications
Box 9 Magazine Management Company
Box 9 Magazine Sales Promotion Business
See also "Action! Express" (Easton Publishing Company); Rooney, Fred B. (Congress.)
Box 9 Male
Box 9 Marcantonio, Vito (Congress.)
See also Non-Partisan Committee for the Re-Election of Congressman Vito Marcantonio
Box 9 Marcus, Sheldon
Box 9 Mark Twain Journal
Marquette University
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Matthews, Francis P.
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 9 Mayer, Milton S.
Box 9 McCormick, John W. (Congress.)
McDonald, James E.
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
McDowell, John (Congress.)
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 9 Menin, Samuel D.
Box 9 Meredith Publishing Company
Box 10 Meyers, Ben
Box 10 Michelson, Herman "Hoy"
Box 10 Michigan (State of)
Box 10 Michie, Allan A.
Box 10 Milburn & Semmes (attorneys)
Box 10 Milstein, Nathan
Box 10 Mineola Police Dept. (NY)
Box 10 Modern Age Books, Inc.
Box 10 Morgan, J. Edward
Box 10 Motion Pictures Guild, Inc.
Box 10 N (1 general folder)
Box 10 Nation, The
Box 10 National Americanism Commission
Box 10 National Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Box 10 National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners
National Economic Council, Inc.
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 10 Nazi infiltration and propaganda activities 12/29/34 - including House of Representatives report on Nazi propaganda activities
Box 10 New Masses
Box 10 New Republic, The
Box 10 New York (City of)
Box 10 New York Mirror
Box 10 New York Post
Box 10 New York Times
Newburn, H.K.
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 10 Newhouse, Edward
Box 10 News of the World
Box 10 News Research Service, Inc.
Nixon, Richard M. (Congress.)
See under Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 10 Non-Partisan Committee for the Re-Election of Congressman Vito Marcantonio
Box 10 O (1 general folder)
Oglesby, Henry C. (Congress.)
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 10 Old Glory Braves, Inc.
Box 10 O'Sheel, Shaemas
Box 10 P (1 general folder)
Box 10 PACE-NY
Box 10 Paley, Emily
Pallet, Earl M.
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 10 Panama American, The
Box 10 Partido Comunista de Mexico
Box 10 Patterson, Eugene
Box 10 Pennsylvania (Commonwealth of)
Peterson, J. Hardin (Congress.)
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 10 Pettit, Walter J.
Box 10 Philadelphia Inquirer
Box 10 Philadelphia Workers School
Box 10 Pickens, William
Box 10 Plain Talk Magazine
Box 10 Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 10 Pollitt, Harry
Box 10 Popham, John
Box 10 Pottsville Republican
Box 10 Pozner, Vladmir
Box 10 Prevention
Box 10 Prince, Frank J.
Box 11 R (1 general folder)
Box 11 Rachlis, Jack
Box 11 Radio and television appearances
See also specific radio and television stations
Box 11 Ragan, Sam
Box 11 Reader's Digest, The
Box 11 Robert S. Abbott Publishing Company
Box 11 Rooney, Fred B. (Congress.)
See also "Action! Express" (Easton Publishing Company); Magazine Sales Promotion Business
Box 11 Roos, Joseph
Box 11 Rose, Fred
Box 11 Roth, Lester WM
Box 11 Rothman, Walter
Box 11 Rudy, Charles and Lorraine
Box 11 S (1 general folder)
Box 11 Sacco-Vanzetti Commemoration Committee
Box 11 Sacramento Union
Schmidt, Emerson P.
See under Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 11 Scott, Byron N. (Congress.)
Box 11 Scottsboro Trial (Scottsboro, AL)
Box 11 Schwimmer, Rosika
Box 11 Seattle New World
Securities Acceptance Corp.
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 11 Seldes, George
Box 11 Sepmeier, Kurt A.
See also Foulston, Siefkin, Foulston & Morris (attorneys); University of Wichita; Wichita Beacon
Box 11 Stanley, James A. (Congress.)
Box 11 Simon and Schuster, Inc.
Box 11 Sklar & Peters, Inc. (playwrights)
Box 11 Solomon, Anna
Box 11 Soule, Frederick R.
Box 11 Soviet Union Review
Box 11 Stackpole Sons, Publishers
Stag
See Magazine Management Company
Box 11 Steffens, Peter
Box 11 Stephens, Louise
Box 11 Stone, Irving and Jean
Box 11 Stone, Willard J.
Box 11 Story and the Story Press
Box 11 Stott, William
Box 11 Strover, Carl
Box 11 Strunsky, Michael and Jean
Box 11 Strunsky, W. English and Lucy
Box 11 Survey-Survey Graphic
Box 11 Sward, Keith
Box 11 T (1 general folder)
Thomas, J. Parnell (Congress.)
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 11 Toronto Star
Box 11 Towle, Marion
Box 11 Tuckahoe Record
Box 11 U (1 general folder)
Box 11 University of Wichita
See also Foulston, Siefkin, Foulston & Morris (attorneys); Sepmeier, Kurt A.; Wichita Beacon
University of Minnesota
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
University of Oregon
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
University of Wisconsin
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 11 U.S. Chamber of Commerce
See also Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 11 U.S. Civil Service Commission
U.S. Department of Agriculture
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 11 U.S. Department of State
Box 11 U.S. Department of the Navy
Box 11 U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Box 11 U.S. Federal Works Agency
Box 11 U.S. Internal Revenue Service
Box 11 U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Box 11 U.S. Office of Alien Property Custodian
Box 11 U.S. Office of Price Administration
Box 11 U.S. Post Office (Detroit)
Box 11 U.S. Treasury Department
Box 11 U.S. War Department
Box 11 U.S. Works Progress Administration
Box 12 V (1 general folder)
Vail, Richard B. (Congress.)
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 12 Veterans of Foreign Wars
Box 12 Victor Gollanz, Ltd.
Box 12 Vitagraph, Inc. (Warner Bros.)
Box 12 Volitant Publishing Corporation
Box 12 Von Platen Luder, Hugo
Box 12 Vorse, Heaton White
Box 12 Vorse, Mary Heaton
Box 12 W (1 general folder)
Box 12 WBAI (New York)
Box 12 WBKB-TV (Chicago)
Box 12 WIBF-TV (Philadelphia)
Box 12 WMAL-TV (Washington, D.C.)
Box 12 WNBC (New York)
Box 12 WNYC (New York)
Box 12 WOR-TV (New York)
Box 12 WPEN (Philadelphia)
Box 12 WTTW-TV (Chicago)
Box 12 W. Colston Leigh, Inc.
Box 12 Warner Bros. Pictures
See also Vitagraph, Inc.
Box 12 Warriner, Kate
Box 12 Waymack, W.W.
Box 12 Weiner, Herman
Box 12 Weinzieherowa, Celina
Box 12 Wexley, John
Box 12 White, Leonard H.
Box 12 White House: Roosevelt Administration
Box 12 Whittaker, Otto
Willey, Malcolm M.
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 12 Wilson, Walter
Box 12 Winter, Ella
Box 12 Wichita Beacon
See also Foulston, Siefkin, Foulston & Morris (attorneys); Sepmeier, Kurt A.; University of Wichita
Box 12 Wolfson, P. J.
Wood, John S. (Congress.)
See Plankett, Mercer (Spivak alias)
Box 12 Xerox
Box 12 Year Magazine, A
Box 12 Z (1 general folder)
Box 12 Zapler, Max C.
Box 12 Zoty Publishing Corporation
Box 12 Unidentified (1 folder)
Box 12 Third-party correspondence
Memorabilia
Articles about Spivak
Box 34 Clippings 1930-1971 (6 folders)
Book publicity
Box 34 Europe Under the Terror 1936
Box 34 Honorable Spy undated
Box 34 A Man in His Time 1967
Box 35 Secret Armies undated
Box 35 Sex, Vice and Business (as Monroe Fry) 1959
Box 35 Shrine of the Silver Dollar 1940
Book reviews
Box 35 America Faces the Barricades 1935
Box 35 Europe Under the Terror 1936
Box 35 Georgia Nigger 1932-1933
Box 35 Honorable Spy 1939-1940
Box 35 A Man in His Time 1967
Box 35 Secret Armies 1938-1939 (3 folders)
Box 36 Sex, Vice and Business (as Monroe Fry) 1959
Financial and legal materials
Certificates
Box 36 Copy of Spivak's birth certificate; marriage certificate 1923, 1926
Lectures
Box 36 W. Colston Leigh, Inc. 1935-1937 (2 folders)
Litigation
Box 36 "In the Matter of Requisition for the Extradition of John L. Spivak" Apr. 1940
Box 36 "Mutschinski v. Covici-Friede, Inc. and John L. Spivak" June 30, 1936
Publishers
Box 36 American Mercury, Inc. 1934-1935
Box 36 Better Homes & Gardens 1957-1958
Box 36 Brandt & Brandt (agent) 1958-1964
Box 36 Daily Herald 1936
Box 36 Daily Worker 1932
Box 36 Esquire Inc. 1938-1957
Box 36 Horizon Press, Inc. 1965, 1967
Box 36 Male Publishing Corp. 1958, 1959
Box 36 Modern Age Books, Inc. 1938-1939
Box 36 Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1936
Box 36 Weider Periodicals, Inc. 1959
Box 36 Zenith Publishing Corp. 1958, 1959
Travel
Box 36 Europe trip 1938
Box 36 Passports 1931, 1935
Box 36 Miscellaneous 1933-1967
Journal article publicity
Box 36 New Masses (re: Father Charles E. Coughlin articles) Nov. 1939
Lecture publicity
Box 36 Announcements and flyers (W. Colston Leigh, Inc.) 1936-1939, 1967
Newspaper article publicity
Box 36 Daily Worker: Georgia Nigger installments undated
Photographs
Box 40 Georgia Nigger, photographs taken for the book
Box 37 Secret Armies, photographs taken for the book undated
Box 37 Spivak family undated - parents, wife, daughter, grandson
Box 40 Spivak's parents, wife, and daughter taken by Spivak circa 1931
Box 37 Spivak portraits 1930-1966
Box 37 Spivak portrait for A Man in His Time book jacket (includes sketch) 1966
Box 37 Spivak with others 1922, undated - includes testifying before the Fisk Congressional Committee regarding the New York City Police Commissioner Whalen forgeries, with Sid Hatfield, movie actor Lionel Stander, visiting a coal mine in Colorado, and various others
Box 37 Miscellaneous undated - includes postcards of artwork, coal mines in Colorado, and architecture in Germany
Box 38A, 38B Miscellaneous photographs taken in the U.S., Europe, and Mexico undated - test strips and negatives
Printed material
Box 40 Portrait/book jacket plate for A Man in His Time
Box 39 Miscellaneous 1932-1970 (5 folders)
Articles from Hebrew newspapers, undated; The American Spectator, vol. 1, no. 1, Nov. 1932; Haldeman-Julius Monthly, June 1926; In Fact bound volumes (1945-1947); Cunard White Star Ship menus (1938); Reynolds Metal Company packet; Author's Guild petition; announcements
Box 41 Miscellaneous
Issues of Friday (1940-1941) [removed for cataloging 7/28/06 PRB]; photostats of newspapers with articles about Spivak (1924); sample book jackets for A Man in His Time
Recordings
Box 37 History's Mysteries "Chain Gangs" (VHS; running time 60:00) (ID#: spivak_jl_001)
Gift of MPH Entertainment, 2000.
Writings (as John L. Spivak)
Books
Box 13 America Faces the Barricades (Covici Friede Publishers) - drafts (2 folders)
Box 13 Devil's Brigade (Brewer and Warren) - dust jacket (1 folder)
Box 13 Europe Under the Terror (Simon and Schuster) - drafts (folders 1-4)
Box 14 Europe Under the Terror (Simon and Schuster) - drafts (folders 5-10)
Box 14 Europe Under the Terror - dust jacket (1 folder)
Box 15 Honorable Spy (Modern Age Books, Inc.) - galley proofs (1 folder)
Box 15 A Man in His Time (Horizon Press) - notes (2 folders)
Box 15 A Man in His Time - drafts (2 folders)
Box 15 A Man in His Time - manuscript (folder 1 of 8)
Box 16 A Man in His Time - manuscript (folders 2-8)
Box 17 A Man in His Time - unused material (folders 1-6)
Box 18 A Man in His Time - unused material (folders 7-11)
Box 19 A Man in His Time - galley proofs (folders 1-4)
Box 20 A Man in His Time - galley proofs (folders 5-8)
Box 21 A Man in His Time - galley proofs (folders 9-12)
Box 22 Plotting American's Pogroms (New Masses) - drafts (1 folder)
Box 22 Plotting American's Pogroms - published book, with notes (1 folder)
Box 22 Secret Armies (Starling Press) - documents (2 folders)
Box 22 Secret Armies - drafts (1 folder)
Box 22 Secret Armies - notes (1 folder)
Box 22 Shrine of the Silver Dollar (Modern Age Books, Inc.) - documents (2 folders)
Box 23 Shrine of the Silver Dollar - drafts (1 folder)
Box 23 Shrine of the Silver Dollar - galley proofs (1 folder)
Box 23 Unpublished manuscript: Having Fun (2 folders)
Box 23 Unpublished manuscript: Indictment (folders 1-3)
Box 24 Unpublished manuscript: Indictment (folders 4-10)
Box 25 Unpublished manuscript: Indictment (folders 11-15)
Box 26 Unpublished manuscript: Indictment (folders 16-19)
Journals
Box 26 The Crisis 1932
Oct.: "The Convict Camp at Buzzard's Roost," p.318.
Box 26 Equity 1967
May-June: "1919: The Year Actors Laid Claim to Their Rights," p.7.
Box 26 Friday 1941
May 9: "They Spy on America," p.5.
Box 26 Ghost Stories 1929
July: "A Ghost Who Dictates Novels," p.38.
Box 26 New Masses 1939
Nov. 21: "The Coughlin Racket," (clipping)
Nov. 28: "Coughlin's Frenzied Finance," (clipping)
Dec. 5: "Coughlin's Lawyer Speaks," (clipping)
Dec 12: "Coughlin and Ford," (clipping)
Box 26 1940
Jan. 2: "The Legal Case Against Coughlin," (partial clipping)
Box 27 Readers Digest 1934
Sept.: "The Rise and Fall of a Tabloid," p.96.
Box 27 1936
Mar.: "Hitler's Racketeers," p.52.
Box 27 True Strange Stories 1929
May: "My Day of Madness," p.45.
Newspapers
Box 27 Daily Herald (New York) Feb. 3, 1936
"Europe Under the Terror" (first of a series)
Box 27 Daily Worker (New York)
Article: "The Coughlin Racket," Nov. 18, 1939
Article: "The Whalen Forgeries Are Exposed!" Aug. 1, 1930
Articles: including series on the Dies Committee, Mar.-Apr. 1937, Sept. 1938
Guest column May 1944-Feb. 1945 (2 folders)
Box 27 Evening Tribune (Des Moines, IA) 1922
Articles (photostats): Spivak's undercover investigation regarding mental institutions, May 1922-July 1922
Express, The (Easton, PA)
Box 27 General undated
Box 27 Articles (includes articles on Governor Shapp) Jul 1971
Box 27 "Action! Express" (column) Aug. 1968-Feb. 1969
See also Correspondence-subject files: Magazine Sales Promotion Business for clippings on the federal investigation into the magazine sales industry
Box 28 "Action! Express" (column) Jan. 1969-Oct. 1970
Box 29 "Action! Express" (column) Nov. 1970-May 1972
Box 30 "Action! Express" (column) Jun 1972-Mar. 1973
Box 30 London Daily Herald undated - "Fascist Europe"
Box 30 Sunday Worker (New York) Mar.-Apr. 1937 - articles
Box 30 Transcripts (Seattle, WA) Oct. 1938 - articles on the Dies Committee
Box 30 Miscellaneous Sept. 1935, Dec. 1939-Feb. 1940 - includes articles about Father Coughlin
Miscellany - article drafts, notes, pamphlets
Box 30 "America First" undated
Box 30 "Buying judgeships" 1931
Box 30 "Childhood" undated
Box 30 "Early Newspaper Days" undated
Box 30 "The Great Atlantic City Beauty Pageant Exposé" undated
Box 30 "Notes on J.L.S.' report of his activities on the West Coast" Feb. 17, 1937
Box 30 "Pattern for American Fascism" undated - typed manuscript
Box 30 "Pattern for American Fascism" Sept. 1947 - pamphlet
Box 31 "The 'Save the Country' Racket" Nov. 1948 - pamphlet
Box 31 "West Virginia" undated
Box 31 "Whalen" undated
Box 31 Untitled ("Elizabeth Bentley...") undated
Box 31 Untitled [European travel journal] undated
Box 31 Untitled ["...hour blizzards in 50 below temperatures"] undated
Box 31 Untitled [Notes], Germany, Italy, Nazi infiltration undated (4 folders)
Writings (as William Blaise)
Journals
Box 31 Fury: Exciting Adventures for Men 1957
Feb.: "Terror Stalks the Streets," p.26. Photocopy.
June: "The Hottest Thing in Pawtucket," p.9.
Aug.: "Place Your Bets Gentlemen," p.26.
Oct.: "Sex Orgies in Philadelphia High Society," p.9 (2 copies).
Dec.: "Sin-Sex-Vice on New Haven's Barbary Coast," p.26.
Box 31 Man to Man 1961
June: "There's No Hiding Place Out There," p. 18.
July: "Warning: Secret Ears Can Nail You Even if You Do Watch Out!" p.36.
Box 31 Monsieur: Entertainment for Men of the World 1960
May: "The Dirty Book Racket," p.7.
July: "Convention Cut-ups," p.5.
Sept. "McGinnis's Wonderful Bar," p.24.
Writings (as Howard Booth)
Journals
Box 32 Everybody's Weekly (London) 1958
Feb. 1: "Abe Lincoln's Ghost," p.8.
Feb. 8: "How the Keely Machine Rocked a Nation," p. 13.
Mar. 1: "The Ship That Set the World Guessing," p.8.
Mar. 15: "The Clothes That Came to Life," p.10.
June 21: "Trickster - or Saint?" p.8.
Aug. 2: "The Dead Who Could Not Die," p. 19.
Sept. 13: "There's No Future in it," p.20.
Box 32 Executive Review (Frigid Fluid Company) 1956
"The Marked Cards Industry," p.11 (reprinted from Esquire)
Box 32 Fury: Exciting Adventures for Men 1956
Oct.: "Some of Your Best Friends May Be Card Cheats," p.20. Monroe Fry listed in table of contents, Howard Booth on p.20.
Box 32 Male 1959
June: "The Ragpicker Who Lifted Europe's Wallet," p.26.
Box 32 Man to Man 1961
May: "Hideout for a Deserter," p.12.
Box 32 Men 1959
May: "Spy Ring of French Penal Girls," p.10. Also contains article by Douglas Horrabin, p.34.
Box 32 Strange Stories 1929
Nov.: "He Built a Jail for Himself," p.22.
Box 32 True Action 1961
Oct.: "The French Hostesses Who Gave a Wehrmacht Regiment the Kiss of Death," p.20.
Box 32 True Strange Stories 1929
Aug.: "The Strange Romance of Eleanora Duse and d'Annunzio," p.10.
Box 32 True Weird Stories 1956
Feb.: "Harry Truman and Lincoln's Ghost," p.12.
Box 32 Typed manuscripts undated
Monroe Fry/Howard Booth, "The Hoodoo Car That Started World War I," (photocopy)
Monroe Fry/Howard Booth, "She Saved His Life to Kill Him," (photocopy)
Writings (as Paul Dinsmore)
Journals
Box 32 Typed manuscript undated - Paul Dinsmore/Monroe Fry, "The Coward Who was a Fighting Fool" (photocopy)
Writings (as Monroe Fry)
Books
Box 32 Sex, Vice and Business (Ballantine Books) - drafts (1 folder)
Box 32 Sex, Vice and Business - cover dummy (1 folder)
Journals
Box 32 Better Homes and Gardens 1958
Apr.: "...A Town Where the Teacher is the Apple of All Eyes!" p.151.
Box 32 Cavalier 1962
May: "Our Tidal Wave of Bootleg Booze," p.51.
June: "The Tall Americans," p.65.
Box 32 Esquire 1953 (folders 1-3)
June: "The Three Last Wide-Open Towns," p.49.
Sept.: "1953 File: World Slave Trade," p.41.
Oct.: "The Marriage Brokers," p.66.
Nov.: "The International White Slave Traffic," p.49.
Box 32 1954
Mar.: "Court for Immoral Women," p.58.
Aug.: "Houston vs. the Jitters," p.44.
Sept.: "Oil for Evangeline's Children," p.53.
Box 32 1955
Feb.: "Unsolved Mysteries of Psychic Phenomena," p.38.
Mar.: "The Hoboken Blues," p.41.
Nov.: "Please! No Scandal in Adultery," p.82.
Dec.: "Cross Section U.S.A.: Steeltown," p.126.
Box 32 1956
Jan.: "Lullaby of Broadway," p.48.
Box 33 Esquire 1956 (folders 4-5)
Feb.: "Cross section U.S.A.: Mill Town," p.90.
Mar.: "Baltimore's Mermaids," p.82.
Apr.: "Cross section U.S.A.: Insurance Town," p.62.
May: "Cross section U.S.A.: Railroad Town," p.91.
June: "Cross section U.S.A.: Tire Town," p.66.
July: "Cross section U.S.A.: Camera Town," p.69.
Sept.: "Cross section U.S.A.: Cigarette Town," p.82.
Nov.: "Cross section U.S.A.: Coal Town," p.86.
Dec.: "Who tests the testers?" p.179.
Box 33 1957
Jan. "Cross section U.S.A.: Burlesque Town," p.87.
Feb.: "Cross section U.S.A.: Electric Town," p.87.
Mar.: "Cross section U.S.A.: Chemical Town," p.73.
Apr.: "Cross section U.S.A.: Jewelry Town," p.94.
May: "Cross section U.S.A.: Sin Town," p.84.
June: "Cross section U.S.A.: Honeymoon Town," p.114.
Oct.: "Portrait of the Minister as a Salesman," p.90.
Box 33 For Men Only 1959
Feb.: "The desert rat and his $20,000,000 Christmas bonus," p18.
Box 33 Fury: Exciting Adventures for Men 1956
Oct.: "Some of Your Best Friends May be Card Cheats," p.20
Monroe Fry listed in table of contents, Howard Booth on p.20
Dec.: "B-girls, Booze and Bedlam," p.12 (3 copies)
Jan.: "Battle of the Sexes," p.22.
Feb.: "Beware of Broadway B-girls," p.37
Issue also includes article by William Blaise, p.26.
Box 33 Liberty 1955
Apr.: "The Amazing Case of a Heroine That Never Was," p.34.
Box 33 Outdoor Adventures 1956
July: "Off-trail," p.8.
Apr.: "Port of Waterfront Women," p.34.
Box 33 Real: The Exciting Magazine for Men 1958
Feb.: "How to Cheat at Cards," p.26.
Box 33 See: The New Magazine for Men 1958
Mar.: "How to Ask for and Get a Raise," p.26.
Box 33 Typed manuscripts undated
Monroe Fry/Howard Booth, "The Hoodoo Car That Started World War I"
Monroe Fry/Howard Booth, "She Saved His Life to Kill Him"
Monroe Fry/Paul Dinsmore, "The Coward Who was a Fighting Fool"
Monroe Fry/Shelby Ogden, "The Waiter Who Bossed a Nation"
Writings (as Paul Harris)
Journals
Box 33 "The Bell Witch" (publication source unknown) undated
Writings (as Douglas Horrabin)
Journals
Box 33 Men 1959
May: "The Plot to Bury China in Money," p.34. (photocopy)
Writings (as Al Lippencott)
Journals
Box 34 Caper 1962
Jan.: "The Lover and the Law," p.5.
Feb.: "Harvard's School of Murder," p.34.
Writings (as Leslie Lippencott)
Journals
Box 34 True Strange 1956
Oct.: "When the Vampire Wept," p.32.
Box 34 True Weird 1956
May: "Hollywood's Greatest Murder Mystery," p.27.
Writings (as Sherman L. North)
Journals
Box 34 Man to Man 1961
Apr. "Strange Adventures of Marriage Brokers," p.18.
Writings (as Shelby Ogden)
Journals
Box 34 Typed manuscript undated
Monroe Fry/Shelby Ogden, "The Waiter Who Bossed a Nation," (photocopy)

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