Drew Pearson's Washington Merry-Go-Round: Resources in Other Collections

Drew Pearson Materials and Resources Held in Other Collections

Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum:
National Archives and Records Service (NARA), Austin, Texas

A principal repository for the study of Drew Pearson. Much of Pearson’s estate of documents and broadcasts were donated to this library. Included in the collection are no less than 889 audio tapes for Pearson radio broadcasts for the period 1955-69, as well as 82 film titles, and myriad documentation reflecting Pearson’s career as a journalist. Request copies of the finding aids for these materials. For a “Drew Pearson Oral History Interview” (pdf file, April 10, 1969) conducted by Joe B. Frantz, see “Oral Histories” page of the LBJ Library Web site. In the LBJ Library Manuscript Archives are a series of Pearson radio scripts (with finding aid) for his broadcasts representing the 1930s-1960s. See also Washington Merry-Go-Round World of Drew Pearson: An Exhibition at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library & Museum, April 4 - September 27, 1987 (Austin, Texas: Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, 1987) for books, drawings, lecture flyers, manuscripts, newspapers, paintings, photographs, radio and television broadcasts, and other materials by and about Pearson.

"Columns and Columnists." Record Groups 216, boxes 336, 557-558. Includes information on Drew Pearson columns during the 1940s.

Motion Picture, Sound & Video Research Room:
Special Archives Division, National Archives and Records Service (NARA)

ABC Collection of Radio Network News Programs. This collection includes approximately 350 ABC audio sound recordings of 15-minute radio broadcasts by Pearson numbering approximately 350 items spanning May 13, 1945 to December 28, 1952. Items are typically titled simply “Drew Pearson” on 3 x 5 cards with times of broadcast noted.

Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection:
Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

This collection includes materials Drew Pearson donated to the Library of Congress in 1948, with additional items given to the collection in 1966 by David C. Mearns. The materials include 55 items in either English, French, or Italian spanning 1947-1952. Users can search the catalog using the keywords “Drew Pearson.”

Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College: Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Paul Martin Pearson papers

Paul Martin Pearson (1871-1938), father of Drew Pearson. A checklist of materials available for Record Group 5, approximately 20 boxes. Includes biographical and genealogical material, correspondence (1905-1938, 20 folders), writings, Chautauqua material (1919-1930s), Virgin Islands material, memorabilia, and miscellaneous items. Specific Drew Pearson materials include: memorabilia; pictures taken for use in articles written in the early 1920s; autograph album on occasion of testimonial dinner given to Drew Pearson in Swarthmore, Pa., April 16, 1948; eulogies on the death of Pearson in 1969; and autobiographical articles from The Saturday Evening Post. Users can search the catalog using the keywords “Drew Pearson.”

Cornelius J. Mara Papers:
Truman Presidential Museum & Library

The papers of Mara focus on his service as President Truman’s Assistant Military Aide from 1949 to 1952. A large portion of the collection relates to Drew Pearson, who as a columnist was frequently critical of Vaughan and the Truman Administration. “Much of this is background material (some of it apparently written by Pearson) on Pearson and his associates, transcripts of radio broadcasts and pamphlets criticizing him, and correspondence and memoranda relating to him.”