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Keith McHugh Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: --
Date: Apr 1967

Biographical History

Keith McHugh (1895-1975?) was an American business executive, president of New York Telephone Company, vice-president of American Telephone and Telegraph, and New York State Commissioner of Commerce.

Born in Fort Collins, Colorado on February 22, 1895. After attending public schools in Fort Collins, he attended the University of Wisconsin and received a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from that institution in 1917. He served as a captain in World War I and in 1919 began his business career with the American Telephone and Telegraph Company in New York City. McHugh started as a clerk and rose to a vice-presidency in 1938. He was elected president of the New York Telephone Company in 1949, a position he held until 1959 when he resigned to accept the post of New York State Commissioner of Commerce. During his tenure he focused on attracting businesses to New York and improving the state's economy; his innovations included opening branch offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Montreal, establishing a New York State headquarters in the Common Market in Brussels, opening a New York office in Tokyo to expand market opportunities in Asia, and placing "Where to Buy" ads for New York products in six European newspapers, yielding more than 4000 responses.

An active participant in civic and community organizations, McHugh was appointed to more than 50 commissions, boards, and special committees including a post-Vietnam economic and social planning committee, trustee of Cornell University and of the Carnegie Institution, and a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (1938-1939). In addition to many other recognitiongs and awards, he received honorary degrees from five institutions -- Syracuse University (1955), Manhattan College (1955), University of Wisconsin (1957), St. Bernardine of Sieva College (1960), and the Polytechnic Institute of Berlin (1961).

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Keith McHugh Papers consists of biographical material, correspondence, manuscripts, and published material.

Correspondence consists of two letters, one incoming and one outgoing, and Manuscripts consists of manuscripts of speeches by McHugh. Published material includes articles by and about McHugh, magazines, newspaper clippings about McHugh, press releases, reports, and speeches.

Arrangement of the Collection

Manuscripts are arranged chronologically. Published material is arranged alphabetically by type and within that chronologically.

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.

Subject Headings

Persons

McHugh, Keith S.

Corporate Bodies

New York (State). -- Dept. of Commerce.

Subjects

Executives -- United States.

Places

New York (State) -- Officials and employees.

Genres and Forms

Articles.
Clippings (information artifacts)
Press releases.
Speeches (documents)

Occupations

Executives.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Keith McHugh Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Table of Contents

Correspondence

Manuscripts

Published material

Inventory