Collection inventory

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Keeshen, Kathleen Kearney, 1937-
Title:	Kathleen Kearney Keeshen Papers relating to Marguerite Higgins
Inclusive Dates:	1936-2012
Quantity:	6.25 linear ft.
Abstract:	Files, notes, interviews, and other research material accumulated by Keeshen for her thesis and dissertation on journalist Marguerite Higgins
Language:	English
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Ave., Suite 600 Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center/university-archives

Biographical History

Marguerite Higgins (1920-1966), pioneering newspaperwoman, columnist, and author, was best known for reporting from the front lines during the Korean War. Honored as the first woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of international affairs (1951), she had a long career with the New York Herald Tribune (1942-1963), and later, as a syndicated columnist for Newsday (1963-1965). She also wrote books on reporting, Korea, Russia and Vietnam, and contributed articles to several other newspapers and magazines including America, the Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), Mademoiselle, and McCall'. She made television appearances on shows such as "Meet the Press" and "Today." A frequently requested lecturer, she traveled as extensively inside the U.S. as abroad. She visited Vietnam several times, and while touring there in 1965 contracted leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease, which forced her to return to the U.S. where she died in Washington D.C. on January 3, 1966 at age 45. She is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Kathleen Kearney Keeshen (1937- ) worked for IBM for many years and earned multiple degrees, including a master's and PhD from the University of Maryland. For her thesis and dissertation on journalist Marguerite Higgins, Keeshen gathered extensive research material and interviewed Higgins's fellow reporters, military officials, husbands, and other who knew her well. Keeshen later developed a friendship with author Jennet Conant, who referred to Keeshen as "a fellow Higgins obsessive." Keeshen allowed her Higgins material to be used extensively by Conant in the preparation of Conant's book Fierce Ambition: The Life and Legend of War Correspondent Maggie Higgins (W.W. Norton, 2023).

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Kathleen Kearney Keeshen Papers relating to Marguerite Higgins consists of correspondence-subject files and research files, created or accumulated by Keeshen in the 1970s and 1980s while writing her master's thesis and PhD dissertation (University of Maryland) on journalist Marguerite Higgins.

Correspondence-subject files contains material from Higgins' friends, lovers, colleagues, professional acquaintances, and others whom Keeshen contacted, inviting them to share their recollections of her. Keeshen interviewed some of them by phone or letter; others provided her with written accounts or anecdotes; photocopies of clippings, letters or other items; and so on. Included here are two folders of responses Keeshen received when she ran an advertisement in the San Francisco Chronicle soliciting memories of Higgins.

Research files contains a wealth of information accumulated or created by Keeshen. Accumulated items include photocopies of clippings and articles, excerpts from books or journals, and a large file of FBI material related to Higgins. Material created by Keeshen during the course of writing her thesis includes lists, chronologies, bibliographies, indexes, notes, and more. Also in this series are thirteen large three-ring binders documenting Higgins' life and work chronologically; the bulk of the contents are reproductions of clippings by or about Higgins.

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Arrangement of the Collection

Material within each series is arranged alphabetically by name or topic.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advance 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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Related Material

See also the Marguerite Higgins Papers.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Kathleen Kearney Keeshen Papers relating to Marguerite Higgins,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Kathleen Kearney Keeshen, 2024.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: Michele Combs
Date: 16 Jul 2024
Revision history:

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Inventory

	Correspondence-subject files
Box 1		Inquiries
Box 1		Aarons, George "Slim" 1981
Box 1		Alsop, Joseph 1965, 1982
Box 1		Antrobus, Edmund 1982
Box 1		Baehr, Harry 1981
Box 1		Baldridge, Letitia K. 1994, 2012
Box 1		Beech, Keyes 1976, 1979
Box 1		Belford, Barbara 1981-1982
Box 1		Bernard, Charles 1982
Box 1		Caen, Herb 1994
Box 1		Carpenter, Liz 1980, 1994
Box 1		Childs, Marquis 1982
Box 1		Clack, Jean Craig 1979
Box 1		Clark, Tomara 1979
Box 1		Coe, Donald 1982
Box 1		Coffey, Ray 1979
Box 1		Collins, J. Lawton 1982
Box 1		Columbia journalism school classmates 1979
Box 1		Conger, Barry 1982
Box 1		Cooper, Anne Duhring 1979-1980
Box 1		Crist, Judith 1981
Box 1		Daly, John Charles 1982
Box 1		De Luce, Daniel 1979-1980
Box 1		Desfor, Max 1982
Box 1		Frieden, Seymour 1982
Box 1		Gallagher, Wes 1982, 1997
Box 1		Gavin, James 1982, 1990
Box 1		Gibney, Frank 1982, 2006
Box 1		Goldwater, Barry 1979
Box 1		Hall, Russell 1981-1982
Box 1		Hall, Williem E. [MH's husband] 1973 - includes photographs
Box 1		Hohenberg, John 1965, 1975
Box 1		Hottelet, Richard 1982
Box 1		Howard, Toni 1982
Box 1		Keeler, Robert 1991
Box 1		Kerr, Walter 1982
Box 1		Kirkpatrick, Helen 1981-1982
Box 1		Kluger, Richard 1982
Box 1		Le Suer[?], Larry 1982
Box 1		Lee, Bruce 1975
Box 1		Levin, Carl 1982
Box 2		Lewis, Boyd 1982
Box 2		Lewis, Flora 1979-1980
Box 2		Lisagor, Peter [1972?]
Box 2		Lodge, Henry Cabot 1981
Box 2		Long [Daniell], Tania 1982
Box 2		MacDonald, Roberta 2003
Box 2		MacVane, John 1982
Box 2		Malmquist, Marjorie Barker 1979
Box 2		McLaughlin, Kathleen 1982
Box 2		Millar, George Reid 1981
Box 2		Miller, Bob 1982
Box ?			Bob Miller on Marguerite (Maggie) Higgins 2/23/1982 (Audio cassette; running time 60:00) (ID#: keeshen_higgins_001)
Box 2		Miller, Hope Ridings 1982
Box 2		Michener, James 1982
Box 2		Montgomery, Ruth 1975, 1979, 1994
Box 2		Moore, Stanley 1981-1982
Box 2		Moyers, Bill 1981-1982, 1994
Box 2		Mydans, Carl 1980
Box 2		Nhu, Ngo-Dinh 1963
Box 2		Nuernberg 1965, 1982, 2003 - correspondence with various individuals about MH's presence at the Nuremberg Trials
Box 2		Oldfield, Barney 1982
Box 2		Perlman, David 1994
Box 2		Reid, Whitelaw 1979
Box 2		Rountree, Martha 1982, 1994
Box 2		Rusk, Dean 1979
Box 2		San Francisco Chronicle author's query responses 1994 - Keeshen placed an ad in the SFC looking for people who knew MH (2 folders)
Box 2		Sullivan, Jim
Box 2		Wheatley, Greg 1994
Box 2		Whitman, Alden 1984
Box 2		Whitney, Robert F. 1979
Box 2		Wicker, Tom 1979
Box 2		Miscellaneous

	Research files
		Advertising
Box 2			American Airlines 1959, 1984
Box 2			Hermes 1950
Box 2			Crest 1957
Box 3			Packard 1953
Box 3			Reader's Digest 1956, 1959-1961, 1984
Box 3		Africa
Box 3		Arlington - includes photos of MH's grave
Box 3		Bancroft Library
Box 3		Berkeley records
		Binders - 3-ring binders; contents are mostly clippings of articles by or about MH but also other types of material
Oversize 1			[Binder #1] [1938-1941]
Oversize 1			[Binder #2] 1942-1946
Oversize 1			[Binder #3] 1947-1948
Oversize 1			[Binder #4] 1950 - cover detached, handle with care
Oversize 2			[Binder #5] 1951
Oversize 2			[Binder #6] 1952-1954
Oversize 2			[Binder #7] 1955
Oversize 2			[Binder #8] 1956-1963
Oversize 3			[Binder #9] 1964 Jan-Jun
Oversize 3			[Binder #10] 1964 Jul-Aug
Oversize 3			[Binder #11] 1964 Sep-Dec
Oversize 3			[Binder #12] 1965
Oversize 3			[Binder #13] 1966 on
Box 3		Dorsey, Tom 1964-1965 - photocopies of correspondence between him and MH (2 folders)
Oversize 4		FBI [Binder #14]
			Binder was packed so full as to be unusable; material has been removed and placed in box
Box 3		Last days - photocopies of items from MH Papers at SCRC
Box 3		Meet the Press (3 folders)
Box 3		"Nods and Becks" yearbook 1936
Box 3		The Pulitzer
Box 3		Stringers [?]
Box 3		Yosemite - includes keeshen_higgins_002
Box ?			Dick Keegan's experiences at Yosemite (1938) 9/13/1995 (Mini-cassette; running time 60:00) (ID#: keeshen_higgins_002)
Box 2		Miscellaneous

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