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Arthur Baer Papers

An inventory of his collection at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: MRC
Date: 3 May 2010

Biographical History

Arthur "Bugs" Baer (1886-1969) was an American journalist, humorist, and illustrator living and working in New York City.

Born in Philadelphia to immigrant parents from Alsace-Lorraine, Bear left school at the age of 14 to attend art school and found work as an artist with the Philadelphia Public Ledger. In 1918 Baer was selected to attend the Field Artillery Central Officers' Training School (FACOTS) at Camp Zachary Taylor where he contributed to the military camp's soldier-run newspaper, The Probable Error, also known as The Probable Era. Baer went on to work at William Randolph Hearst's New York American and then, in the 1920s, for King Features Syndicate Inc., Hearst's syndication company, where Baer worked for the rest of his life writing his column "One Word Led to Another" along with numerous other columns and articles. During the 1920s Baer reviewed Broadway shows in his regular column "One Foot in the Aisle." He was the master of ceremonies for many Banshees Luncheons hosted by the American Newspaper Publishers Association, which Marilyn Monroe, J. Edgar Hoover, Walt Disney, George McManus, the Duke of Windsor, Babe Ruth, General MacArthur, Herbert Hoover, and others attended.

Baer married twice. His first wife, Marjorie Cassidy, sied shortly after the birth of their daughter, Arthura ("Atra"). Louise Andrews, his second wife and mother of his son Arthur "Bugs" Baer, Jr., was a Ziegfeld Follies girl.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Arthur Baer Papers contains correspondence, memorabilia, printed material, and writings.

Correspondence includes letters from J. Edgar Hoover, Theodore Roosevelt, William Randolph Hearst, Buster Keaton, and others. A portion of letters are from Hoover and King Features Syndicate Inc. Baer also kept a binder of "confidential letters written by Bugs to his pals." Some correspondence also appears in the scrapbooks (see below).

Memorabilia consists of clippings about Baer and his work, material related to his 75th birthday, his military service (including his 1918 military commission to Camp Zachary Taylor and a garrison hat), photographs, and scrapbooks. The photographs depict parties Baer and his wife Louise hosted in the home, their family on vacation, Baer at work writing articles and as master of ceremonies for the Banshees Luncheon, and him chumming about with friends and colleagues at events. Baer's scrapbooks contain clippings of his articles, photographs of memorable moments in his life, important letters, etc.

Printed material consist of books, clippings, and miscellaneous items by and about Baer as well as some unrelated to him. Baer contributed to two of the books, one that relates the story of the field artillery training school at Camp Zachary Taylor outside Louisville, Kentucky and the other in which Baer and Henry Major illustrate famous people in show business before 1938. The clippings range from articles and columns written by Baer to clippings sent to Baer about interesting topics and articles on home design. One interesting item is a once bound volume of the complete 13-issue run of The Probable Error also known as The Probable Era. This newspaper was created and published by the soldiers of Camp Zachary Taylor as an information source for the whole camp. The short run gives insight into the soldiers' perspectives on the Spanish Flu epidemic, which hit Camp Zachary Taylor especially hard, and the end of World War I.

Writings makes up the majority of the collection. These writings are written by Baer and are not printed but typescript copies. Baer wrote articles and columns discussing a wide variety of topics important at the time. Trivial topics include how to shop for and wash a toupee, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Christian Dior's spring/summer 1955 collection, and the British model Twiggy. More serious topics include the atom bomb, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the power of nuclear weapons, multiple presidential elections, the Cold War and McCarthyism, and the Civil Rights Movement. Two standout columns are the coverage of the United Nations Conference on International Organization of 1946, informally known as the UNO conference, and multiple World Series with match ups between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Arrangement of the Collection

Correspondence is arranged alphabetically with Bugs' confidential letters kept together in their original order. The rest of the collection is arranged alphabetically then chronologically with Writings subdivided by type.

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.

Subject Headings

Persons

Baer, Arthur, 1886-1969.
Dreiser, Theodore, 1871-1945.
Hearst, William Randolph, 1863-1951.
Hearst, William Randolph, Jr., 1908-1993.
Hoover, J. Edgar (John Edgar), 1895-1972.
Keaton, Buster, 1895-1966.
Major, Henry, 1889-1948.
McManus, George, 1884-1954.
Ripley, Robert L. (Robert LeRoy), 1890-1949.
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1887-1944.
Runyon, Damon, 1880-1946.

Corporate Bodies

American Newspaper Publishers Association.
Camp Zachary Taylor (Ky.)
International News Service.
King Features Syndicate.
United Nations Conference on International Organization (1945 : San Francisco, Calif.)
World Series (Baseball)

Subjects

American newspapers -- Sections, columns, etc.
Cartoonists -- United States.
Humorists.
Journalism -- Military.
Journalism -- United States.
Journalists -- United States.
Popular culture -- United States.
Sportswriters -- United States.
World War, 1914-1918.

Genres and Forms

Articles.
Books.
Clippings (information artifacts)
Correspondence.
Manuscripts for publication.
Newspapers.
Notes (documents)
Photographs.
Scrapbooks.
Short stories.

Occupations

Cartoonists.
Journalists.
Sportswriters.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Arthur Baer Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Arthur Baer, 1970, 1973.

Table of Contents

Correspondence

Memorabilia

Printed material

Writings

Inventory