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This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 7.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 3,000 items) |
| Abstract | Don Shoemaker (1912-1998), journalist and civic leader, received his A.B. in journalism from the University of North Carolina in 1934. The collection includes correspondence, writings, and other materials chiefly documenting his career as a journalist and his work with the Southern Education Report Service (SERS), a news service dedicated to impartial and nationwide reporting on the progress of school desegregation. Materials, 1937-1955, from his tenure in Asheville, N.C., include personal and professional correspondence relating to his work at the Asheville Times and the Asheville Citizen and with the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Association; writings; and clippings. Materials, 1954-1959, from his tenure in Nashville, Tenn., include correspondence, speeches and articles, clippings, and other items from Shoemaker's tenure, 1955-1958, as executive director of SERS. Materials, 1958-1998, include correspondence, writings, and clippings relating to Shoemaker's work as editor of the Miami Herald, as well as to his involvement in many civic and political concerns of Miami, Fla., and the Dade County area. Also included are a few photographs. The addition of October 2000 contains correspondence with, writings of, photographs of, and other material relating to poet Carl Sandburg, who was a neighbor and friend in western North Carolina. |
| Creator | Shoemaker, Don, 1912-1998 |
| Curatorial Unit | Southern Historical Collection |
| Language | English. |
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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Biographical Information
Don Shoemaker, journalist, newspaper editor, and civic leader, was born to American parents in Montreal, Canada, on 6 December 1912. He was married to Lyal Reynolds from 1937 to 1968, and , after her death, to Suzanne Statler, from 1969 until his death in 1998. He received his A.B. from the University of North Carolina as a journalism major in 1934 and a Litt.D. from Hollywood College.
Shoemaker began his newspaper career as telegraph editor for the Greensboro Record, but moved to the Asheville Times in 1937, then to the Asheville Citizen in 1941. There he was associate editor until 1947, when he was made editor. Shoemaker continued as editor of the Asheville Citizen until 1955, when he was made executive director of the Ford Foundation-sponsored Southern Education Reporting Service (SERS), based in Nashville, Tenn. This organization coordinated impartial and comprehensive reporting on the progress of school desegregation throughout the South. A newsletter, Southern School News, was published monthly for national distribution.
In 1958, Don Shoemaker left SERS, to re-enter newspaper work as editorial page editor of the Miami Herald, part of Knight Newspapers, Inc. He served as editor of the Herald from 1962 until 1978. After 20 active years at the Herald, Shoemaker retired in 1978, though he continued to write almost until his death.
Shoemaker's career was highlighted by his intense involvement in the civic life of Asheville and Miami. He served as president of the Buncombe County Community Chest. He was also the first chair of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Association and received the 1950 Cannon Award from the North Carolina Society for the Preservation of Antiquities as a result of his work in helping to buy the Wolfe house for restoration. Shoemaker was involved with several community development and educational projects in Miami, including Seadade, Operation Amigo, the Florida Education Council, and the Florida Council of 100. He was also active in the National Conference of Christians and Jews in both Asheville and Miami.
Shoemaker made several trips to the Middle East, Spain, Greece, and Central and South America, sending back reports, some of which were collected into separate publications, such as Middle East Journey and Spanish Diary. He also edited a collection of essays by SERS reporters, entitled With All Deliberate Speed (1957) and The Case of The Lively Ghost (1957).
Shoemaker was inducted into the Journalism Hall of Fame at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on 22 April 1982. He died in Miami, Fla., on 5 November 1998.
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Scope and Content
Correspondence, writings, and other materials of Don Shoemaker, chiefly documenting his career as a journalist and his work with the Southern Education Report Service (SERS), a news service dedicated to impartial and nationwide reporting on the progress of school desegregation. Materials, 1937-1955, from his tenure in Asheville, N.C., include personal and professional correspondence relating to his work at the Asheville Times and the Asheville Citizen and with the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Association; writings; and clippings. Materials, 1954-1959, from his tenure in Nashville, Tenn., include correspondence, speeches and articles, clippings, and other items from Shoemaker's tenure, 1955-1958, as executive director of SERS. Materials, 1958-1998, include correspondence, writings, and clippings relating to Shoemaker's work as editor of the Miami Herald, as well as to his involvement in many civic and political concerns of Miami, Fla., and the Dade County area. Also included are a few photographs.
The addition of October 2000 contains correspondence with, writings of, photographs of, and other material relating to poet Carl Sandburg, who was a neighbor and friend in western North Carolina.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Asheville, N.C., 1937-1955.
Arrangement: by type of material.
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Subseries 1.1. Correspondence, 1937-1955.
Arrangement: chronological, plus one subject file.
Personal and professional correspondence, arranged chronologically, with a separate file for the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Association from Don Shoemaker's time in Asheville, N.C. Correspondence documents Don Shoemaker's career as a journalist from being hired in February 1937 as telegraph editor for the Asheville Times to his departure in May 1955 from his position as editor of the Asheville Citizen. A separate folder of correspondence relates to the acquisition of the Thomas Wolfe homeplace and to Shoemaker's various activities as chair of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Association.
Folder 1-12
Folder 1Folder 2Folder 3Folder 4Folder 5Folder 6Folder 7Folder 8Folder 9Folder 10Folder 11Folder 12 |
February 1937-May 1955 |
| Folder 13 |
Thomas Wolfe Memorial |
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Subseries 1.2. Writings, 1947-1955.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Writings by Don Shoemaker, including reports from his trip to the Middle East in 1955, an unsigned review article attached to an issue of the New Yorker featuring an article about Hiroshima by John Hersey, and a draft manuscript by Shoemaker entitled "Log of a Trip To Rome."
| Folder 14 |
Editorial correspondence, Middle Eastern trip, 1955 |
| Folder 15 |
Hiroshima review article, 1947 |
| Folder 16 |
"Log of a Trip to Rome," 1955 |
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Subseries 1.3. Clippings and Other Printed Material, 1940s-1950s.
A scrapbook containing newspaper and magazine clippings, mainly reporting Don Shoemaker's activities during the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when he lived and worked in Asheville, N.C., and loose clippings, apparently intended to be placed in the scrapbook, mainly about Carl Sandburg, a family friend.
| Folder 17 |
Volume 1: Scrapbook, 1940s-1950s, 50 p., and loose clippings. |
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Series 2. Nashville, Tenn., 1954-1959.
Arrangement: by type of material.
Correspondence, speeches and articles by Shoemaker, clippings of articles about Shoemaker, and other items from Shoemaker's tenure, 1955-1958, as executive director of the Southern Education Reporting Service (SERS) in Nashville, Tenn. Also included are some SERS newsletters from before Shoemaker took over and some clippings dated 1959, after Shoemaker left SERS, which report on his work at SERS.
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Subseries 2.1. Correspondence, 1955-1958.
Arrangement: chronological.
Correspondence with various reporters and editors for the Southern Education Reporting Service (SERS), a news service dedicated to impartial and nationwide reporting on the progress of school desegregation in the various states.
Folder 18-23
Folder 18Folder 19Folder 20Folder 21Folder 22Folder 23 |
19 May 1955-31 May 1958 |
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Subseries 2.2. Writings, 1954-1958.
Mainly drafts of speeches made by Shoemaker, but also journal articles that appeared in The New Republic, Phi Delta Kappan, Parents Magazine and Family Home Guide, the Bulletin of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and Scripps-Howard News, as well as the draft of a pamphlet, The Case of The Lively Ghost, about school desegregation issues.
See also Series 2.3. for other writings by Shoemaker.
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Subseries 2.3. Clippings and Other Printed Material, 1940s-1950s.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Chiefly newspaper clippings of articles by and about Don Shoemaker in his role as executive director of the Southern Education Reporting Service. Other printed materials include issues of Time magazine and the Bulletin of the American Society of Newspaper Editors containing articles about Shoemaker.
Folder 55-58
Folder 55Folder 56Folder 57Folder 58 |
Clippings and other printed material, 1955-1959 |
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Series 3. Miami, Fla., 1958-1998.
Arrangement: by type of material.
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Subseries 3.1. Correspondence, 1958-1998.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Correspondence dealing with Shoemaker's work as editor of the Miami Herald, as well as his involvement in many civic and political concerns of the growing city of Miami, Fla., and the Dade County, Fla., area. Topics include the Seadade offshore oil project, the Tornillo free-speech suit against the Miami Herald, the Operation Amigo student exchange program, and other educational and economic interests. The Herald was active in several political campaigns, including endorsing John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter for president. There is considerable correspondence with John S. Knight, publisher of the Knight Newspapers, Inc., of which the Miami Herald was a part, and with Lee Hills, Knight Newspapers executive editor and later president.
Also included are a few items relating to Asheville, N.C., especially in the materials labeled "Israel, Asheville, and Miami" and in the National Conference of Christians and Jews folder.
Note that original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.
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Subseries 3.2. Writings, 1958-1992.
Unsigned editorials from the Miami Herald and drafts of articles and speeches. Drafts of articles document trips to Central America and South America, and to Germany, Greece, and the Middle East.
See also Series 3.3. for other writings by Shoemaker.
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Subseries 3.3. Clippings and Other Printed Material, 1958-1990s.
Arrangement: alphabetical by subject.
Chiefly newspaper clippings by and about Don Shoemaker in his role as editor of the Miami Herald.
| Folder 186 |
Miscellaneous clippings and other printed material |
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Series 4. Pictures, 1930s-1970s.
Photographs of Don Shoemaker alone and with newspaper colleagues or political figures, being presented with awards, and giving speeches.
| Image Folder PF-4968/1 |
Photographs of Don Shoemaker |
Image Folder PF-4968/2-3
PF-4968/2PF-4968/3 |
Group photographs |
| Oversize Image Folder OP-PF-4968/1 |
Oversize photographs |
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Series 5. Carl Sandburg Material, 1909-1959.
Correspondence, 1955-1959, between Carl Sandburg and Don and Lyal Shoemaker, poems and other writings by Sandburg, clippings of editorials written by Sandburg for the Milwaukee Daily News in July and August 1909, an offprint of an article by Don Shoemaker about Carl Sandburg, and photographs of Sandburg. Most of the correspondence consists of brief, typed notes or letters exchanged after the Shoemaker family moved from Asheville, N.C., to Nashville, Tenn. They convey affection, some family news, and occasionally ideas. The writings are chiefly carbon typescripts of poems, some with changes in Sandburg's hand. The items in folder 190 were received at the Southern Historical Collection in an envelope labeled, "Poems and Misc., 1932 or 1935."
| Folder 187 |
Correspondence, 1955-1957 |
| Folder 188 |
Correspondence, 1958-1959 and undated |
| Folder 189 |
Writings |
| Folder 190 |
Poems and Misc., 1932 or 1935 |
| Folder 191 |
Clippings |
| Folder 192 |
Offprint: "Carl Sandburg at Flat Rock" by Don Shoemaker |
| Image Folder PF-4968/4 |
Photographs of Carl Sandburg, including two with his wife, and a photograph of Mrs. Sandburg with a several men |
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Series 6. Oversize Papers
| Oversize Paper Folder OPF-4968/1b-3b |
Oversize papers |
| Extra Oversize Paper Folder XOPF-4968/1a |
Extra oversize papers |
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Items Separated
Pictures (PF-4968, OP-PF-4968/1)
Oversize papers (XOPF-4968/1a; OPF-4968/1b, 2, 3a, 3b)
Oversize volumes (SV-4968/2-3)
Three museum items have been transferred to the North Carolina Collection Gallery, including two award plaques and a silver award cup (WL.22.1-3).
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