HTML-Encoded Finding Aid
Title: John Herling Collection Genre: Papers Dates: 1911-1991 (Predominantly, 1930s-1970s) Size: 52 linear feet ID#: 1259 OCLC: Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor & Urban AffairsHEFA.01b.update |
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John Herling was born April 14, 1905 in New York City. Between 1928, when he graduated from Harvard, and 1934, he worked for the League for Industrial Democracy, where he met his first wife, Mary Fox Herling. During this period he was also employed as a research assistant for Norman Thomas and as publicity director for Thomas's presidential campaigns in 1928, 1932, and 1936. Mary Fox Herling died in 1978 and Mr. Herling subsequently married Alice Wolfson.
Mr. Herling's interest in journalism began when he worked as a copy boy for the old New York World. Throughout the 1930s John Herling worked for the United Features Syndicate and Time, Inc., and spent a year with The March of Time in New York City. From 1939 to 1940 he served as director of the Children's Crusade for Children, an organization which assisted war refugees in Europe. In 1941 he accepted a position as director of the Labor and Social Relations Division of the Office of Inter-American Affairs. During 1946 Mr. Herling was a special correspondent in Europe, writing articles and radio transcripts for “Voice of America.” Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s he served as a White House correspondent and syndicated columnist for several newspapers specializing in labor affairs and lectured abroad for the Labor Affairs section of the State Department.
In 1947 Mr. Herling purchased Chester Wright's Labor Letter and promptly changed the name to John Herling's Labor Letter, which he edited and published until 1990. In addition to the Labor Letter , Mr. Herling authored several books, including Strikes Under the New Deal, The Great Price Conspiracy, and The Right to Challenge. At the time of his death on February 3, 1994, he was writing a history of the UAW.
The John Herling Collection contains personal and professional correspondence, reference material, and numerous publications by John Herling. Related material may be found in the Mary Fox Herling Collection.
The cost of processing the John Herling papers has been underwritten by a gift from the estate of John Herling.
AFL-CIO
American Friends for German Freedom
David Beck
Children's Crusade for Children
James R. Hoffa
Hungary--Revolution, 1956
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen, and Helpers of America
International labor activities
John F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Labor movement--Latin America
Labor leaders--United States
Labor movement--United States
Socialism
Socialist Party (U.S.)
Southern Tenant Farmers Union
Norman Thomas
Trade-unions and communism
UAW--History
United Mine Workers of America
United Steelworkers of America
United States--Office of Inter-American Affairs--Labor and Social Relations Division
"Voice of America" radio broadcast
World War, 1939-1945--Refugees
Austen Albu Reinhold Niebuhr
McAlister Coleman Joseph L. Rauh
George C. Edwards, Jr. Walter Reuther
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Nelson Rockefeller
Clayton Fountain Carl Shier
Mary Fox Herling Norman Thomas
Robert F. Kennedy Matthew Woll
A number of posters, buttons, audio tapes, and photographs have been placed in the Archives Audiovisual Collection. Labor-related photographs include those depicting the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, a miner’s strike in West Virginia, and the West Virginia Unemployed League during the 1930s. A large quanitity of books and serials, including issues of John Herling’s Labor Letter, have been transferred to the Archives Library.
52 storage boxes
Series I, Subject Files, 1911-1991, Boxes 1-32, Series I
Series II, Professional & Personal Files, 1922-1991, Boxes 33-52, Series II
Index [Large Files]Index Anchor |
PLEASE NOTE: Folders are computer-arranged alphabetically within each series in this finding aid, but may actually be dispersed throughout several boxes in the collection. Note carefully the box number for each folder heading.