Taylor Branch Papers, 1865-2013 (bulk 1958-2009)

Summary

Creator:

Branch, Taylor.

Abstract:

Taylor Branch, journalist and historian, is best known for his research and writing on Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

The Taylor Branch Papers consist of correspondence, writings, legal material, subject files, pictures, and audio and video material, most of it relating to Branch's trilogy on Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement of the 1960s and his book about working with President Bill Clinton. Topics pertaining to the 1960s include King and civil rights, particularly in Selma and Montgomery, Ala.; individuals and organizations who supported and opposed the civil rights and anti-war movements; and a 1964 California case involving a violent confrontation in 1962 between police officers and several black men. Also of note are Branch's extensive efforts to acquire Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) files on J. Edgar Hoover, FBI informants, Communism, and the Ku Klux Klan through the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act. Research materials relating to Bill Clinton include audio recordings and transcripts of Branch's recollections and notes of interviews with Clinton during and after his presidency; correspondence, articles, and memos exchanged between Branch and White House staff; drafts of Clinton's speeches annotated by Branch; printouts from news websites; clippings; and copies of other speeches given by Clinton and by other public figures; two binders from a presidential trip to Haiti for the inauguration of Rene Preval on which Branch traveled; and other items. Other materials in the collection include biographical information about Taylor Branch and his speeches, 1998-2000. The Addition of April 2013 is the professional website of Taylor Branch.

Extent:

60,000 items (87.0 linear feet)

Language:

Materials in English

Library Catalog Link:

View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:

Journalist and historian Taylor Branch has written several books, including three volumes on Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement of the 1960s: Parting the Waters : America in the King Years, 1954-63 (1988), Pillar of Fire : America in the King Years, 1963-65 (1998), and At Canaan's Edge : America in the King Years, 1965-68 (2006). He also wrote The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President (2009), which was based on interviews conducted by Branch with President Bill Clinton during and after his presidency. Branch was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1989 and a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" in 1991 in recognition for his achievements as a historian.

A native of Atlanta, Branch was raised in a middle-class white family and became interested in race relations during his high school years. He has commented that television images of police brutality directed against demonstrators in Birmingham in 1963 shocked him and motivated him to become involved in the civil rights movement. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which was integrated while he was a student there, and completed a degree in American history in 1968. He became involved in political activism while in college. He was one of the leaders of the Georgia Loyal National Democrats, an organization that challenged the seating of the Georgia delegation to the 1968 national Democratic Party convention on the grounds that it was not properly elected and blacks were underrepresented among its members. The organization succeeded in claiming half of the seats allotted to the Georgia delegation.

Branch pursued graduate study in international economics, with additional study in religion and philosophy, at Princeton University. To fulfill a policy-writing requirement of his master's degree program, Branch traveled to predominantly African American communities in rural Georgia to assist blacks in registering to vote during the summer of 1969 and documented his experiences. He developed his documentation into an article published by Washington Monthly, of which he became editor in 1971. He continued in that position until 1973 and remains affiliated with the publication as a contributing editor. He has also written for Harper's and Esquire magazines and has written or co-written several books in addition to his work on King and civil rights. These include a novel entitled The Empire Blues (1981). He advised President Bill Clinton on race-related issues, taught at Goucher College in Maryland, and frequently speaks at public events.

Branch resides with his family in the Baltimore area.

Scope and content:

Papers of journalist and historianTaylor Branch consist of correspondence, writings, legal material, subject files, pictures, and audio and video material, much of which relates to Branch's trilogy on Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement (Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63 (1988); Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-65 (1998); and At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68 (2006)) and to The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President (2009), his book about working with President Bill Clinton.

Correspondence includes letters and some printed emails to and from Branch related to the research, writing, and publishing of his books about King and the civil rights movement; pamphlets, notes, clippings, and other printed material are interfiled. Some letters relate to Branch's attempts to acquire research files through the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act (FOI/PA). There is also some correspondence about speaking engagements and personal correspondence related to friends and family.

Writings chiefly relate to Branch's civil rights books and include drafts, notes, clippings, articles, correspondence, advertisements, and data compact discs containing bibliographic and research databases. There is also some information about a proposed television miniseries based on the first two books of the King trilogy (not available for research).

Legal material chiefly concerns a 1964 California case involving a violent confrontation in 1962 between police officers and several black men.

Subject files include research files on King and civil rights, particularly in Selma and Montgomery, Ala. Topics include John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., the National Council of Churches, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Stokely Carmichael, Nation of Islam, and the Vietnam War and anti-war groups. There are also files relating to Branch v. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in which Branch successfully sued for access to FBI files on J. Edgar Hoover, several FBI informants, Communism, the Ku Klux Klan, and other topics.

Audio material includes interviews conducted by Branch and copies of material used in his research. Among the interviewees are Ralph Abernathy, Joan Baez, Harry Belafonte, James L. Bevel, John Bevel, Stokely Carmichael, Marion Cheek, Septima Clark, William Sloane Coffin, S.K. De, John Doar, Vernon Dobson, James Farmer, Alex Haley, Michael Harrington, Meree Harris, Rutha Mae Harris, Timothy Jenkins, Charles Jones, Clarence Jones, Edward Kennedy, S.B. King, Barnard Lee, John Lewis, Burke Marshall, Louis Martin, Robert McNamara, Richard Morrisroe, Bob Moses, Diane Nash, Sheriff Nichols, Edgar Daniel Nixon, Silas Norman, Joseph Rauh, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Bayard Rustin, Charles Sherrod, Sargent Shriver, Harry Wachtel, Wyatt Tee Walker, S. B. Wells, and Andrew Young. There are also speeches and/or sermons of Ralph Abernathy, James Bevel, Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, and Malcolm X.

Video material includes documentaries and news programs about the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr., Lyndon B. Johnson, and Malcolm X.

Materials relating to Bill Clinton include audio recordings and transcripts of Taylor Branch's recollections and notes of interviews with Clinton during and after his presidency; editing and publishing materials for The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President (2009), the book Branch wrote based on these interviews; correspondence between Branch and staff at the White House; articles and memos sent to Branch by White House staff; drafts of Clinton's speeches annotated by Branch, including the second inaugural address; printouts from news websites; clippings; and copies of other speeches given by Clinton and by other public figures; notebooks, seemingly from Branch's interviews with Clinton; two binders from a presidential trip to Haiti on which Branch traveled; and other items.

Other materials in the collection include class notes from a course Branch taught, 2000; biographical information; and speeches, 1998-2000.

The Addition of April 2013 is the professional website of Taylor Branch, harvested using Archive-It, beginning in March 2013. The site includes a summary of Branch's career; subpages for each of Branch's major published books; a selected list of other publications; and a schedule of appearances. There is some personal content, including Branch's blog and information on Branch's amateur musical pursuits. There is also a sidebar displaying Branch's Twitter feed.

Note that because of the way materials in this collection were received, folder, box, and item numbers do not necessarily appear in consecutive order within a given series and that some numbers were not used.

Acquisition information:

Received from Taylor Branch of Baltimore, Md., in February 2001 (Acc. 98846), April 2001 (Acc. 98923), September 2004 (Acc. 99903), November 2005 (Acc. 100269), September 2009 (Acc. 101173), and February 2010 (Acc. 101256). Website harvested using Archive-It, beginning in March 2013 (Acc. 101767).

Processing information:

Processed by: Steve Weiss, Nathalie Wheaton, July 2003, January 2006.

Encoded by: Matt Meacham, Allyn Meredith, Nathalie Wheaton, 2003, October 2004, February 2006.

This collection was processed with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Finding aid updated in October 2004 by Allyn Meredith because of addition.

Finding aid updated in February 2006 by Nathalie Wheaton because of addition.

Finding aid updated in November 2009 by Benjamin Bromley because of addition.

Finding aid updated in April 2013 by Sara Mannheimer because of addition.

Finding aid updated in April 2014 by Gergana Dimitrova for digitization.

Sensitive materials statement:

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Related

Separated material:

• Audiocassettes (C-5047/1-309)
• Audio Compact Disc (CD-5047/1)
• Data Compact Discs (DCD-5047/1-5)
• Digital Video Disc (DVD-5047/1)
• Negatives
• Oversized papers (OPF-5047/1-5)
• Pictures (PF-5047/1-16)
• Videotapes (VT-5047/1-59)

Indexed terms

Subjects:

African Americans--Civil rights.
African Americans--Social conditions.
African Americans--Southern States.
California--Race relations.
Civil rights--United States.
Communists--United States.
Freedom of information--United States.
Historians--United States.
Journalists--United States.
Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975--Protest movements.
Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975--United States.
Oral history.

Names:

Ku Klux Klan (1915- )
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (U.S.)
United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Abernathy, Ralph, 1926-1990
Baez, Joan.
Belafonte, Harry, 1927-
Bevel, James L. (James Luther), 1936-
Bevel, John.
Branch, Taylor.
Branch, Taylor. The Clinton tapes : wrestling history with the president.
Carmichael, Stokely.
Cheek, Marion.
Clark, Septima, 1898-1987.
Clinton, Bill, 1946-
Coffin, William Sloane.
De, S.K.
Doar, John, 1921-
Dobson, Vernon.
Farmer, James, 1920-
Haley, Alex.
Harrington, Michael, 1928-
Harris, Meree.
Harris, Rutha Mae.
Hoover, J. Edgar (John Edgar), 1895-1972.
Jenkins, Timothy.
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973.
Jones, Charles.
Jones, Clarence.
Kennedy, Edward Moore, 1932-
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963.
Kennedy, Robert S., 1916-
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968.
King, S.B.
Lee, Barnard.
Lewis, John, 1940 Feb. 21-
Marshall, Burke, 1922-
Martin, Louis, 1912-
McNamara, Robert S., 1916-
Morrisroe, Richard.
Moses, Bob.
Nash, Diane.
Nichols, Sheriff.
Nixon, Edgar Daniel, 1899-1987.
Norman, Silas.
Rauh, Joseph L., 1911-
Reagon, Bernice Johnson, 1942-
Rustin, Bayard, 1912-1987.
Sherrod, Charles.
Shriver, Sargent, 1915-
Wachtel, Harry H.
Walker, Wyatt Tee.
Wells, S.B.
X, Malcolm, 1925-1965
Young, Andrew, 1932-

Places:

Alabama--Race relations.
Montgomery (Ala.)--Race relations.
Selma (Ala.)--Race relations.
United States--Race relations.

Restrictions to access:

Series 2.5 and cassette tape C-5047/96 and related transcript in Series 6.1 are not available for research.

Use of audio or video material may require production of listening or viewing copies.

Special equipment is required to access databases.

This collection contains additional materials that are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.

Access to streaming audio or moving image materials may be restricted to researchers who can authenticate with an ONYEN or who are physically present on campus. For further information about access to streaming audiovisual materials, contact Research and Instructional Services staff at Wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

Restrictions to use:

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], in the Taylor Branch Papers #5047, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of this collection:

Southern Historical Collection

Louis Round Wilson Library

200 South Road

Chapel Hill, NC 27515

Contact:

(919) 962-3765

wilsonlibrary@unc.edu