Todd S. Purdum Papers, 1950-2013 (mostly 2008-2012)

Contents and Arrangement

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Collection Overview

Creator:

Purdum, Todd S.

Title:

Todd S. Purdum Papers

Repository:

Public Policy Papers

Permanent URL:

http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/r781wh41x

Dates:

1950-2013 (mostly 2008-2012)

Size:

3 boxes and 34 items

Storage Note:

Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1-3

Language:

English

Abstract: Todd S. Purdum (1959-) is a political journalist whose work has appeared in a number of publications, including Vanity Fair, The New York Times, and POLITICO. The collection is mostly composed of Purdum's research materials on various political and cultural figures created for his work with Vanity Fair. Other noteworthy materials in the collection relate to Purdum's senior thesis written for Princeton University's History Department on the Eisenhower-era State Department's Loyalty-Security Program.

Collection Description & Creator Information

Scope and Contents

The Todd Purdum Papers are predominately composed of Purdum's research materials on various political and cultural figures, created for his work with Vanity Fair and for other projects and publications. Most of Purdum's research is in the form of interviews, existent in the collection as transcriptions or on audiocassette tapes.

With the exception of the Norman Sherman and the Bush administration files, all of the transcription files contain typed transcripts of interviews that Purdum conducted with the file's subject, mainly for Vanity Fair. A number of files include a small amount of clippings, notes, and e-mail correspondence related to the subject of the file. A significant portion of these transcripts relate to an oral history project on the George W. Bush administration. Others pertain to John F. Kennedy's 1961 inauguration, including the interviews with Sander Vanocur, Harry McPherson, Letitia Baldrige, and Harris Wofford. Rahm Emanuel and the speechwriter Jon Favreau's interviews offer insight into Barack Obama's administration. Purdum also conducted a number of interviews and/or corresponded with individuals active in the civil rights movement as research for his book on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These individuals include Nicholas Katzenbach, James Hamilton, Kenneth Teasdale, Cornelius "Neal" Kennedy, Walter F. Mondale, Daniel Inouye, John G. Stewart, John Dingell, Norman Sherman, and George Stevens, Jr. The "Hollywood Interviews" folders (identified as such by Purdum) include interviews with the children of widely known actors, producers, directors, and others involved with the entertainment industry during the industry's "Golden Age," including Marlo Thomas, Candice Bergen, Robert Wagner, Tina Sinatra, and many others.

Of particular note are the materials pertaining to Purdum's unpublished piece on Michelle Obama, including Purdum's working manuscript of the article; his interviews with Obama's associates, such as Sam Kass, Angela Acree, and Valerie Jarrett; and five notebooks, two specifically on the First Lady's travels in South Africa.

The collection also contains around 50 audiocassette tapes, mostly of interviews conducted by Purdum for The New York Times, though a few tapes are of speeches or other types of recordings. The audiocassette tapes focus on major political figures and those associated with them, including Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Edward Koch, John McCain, Ralph Nader, Barack Obama, Colin Powell, Karl Rove, and others.

Other noteworthy materials in the collection relate to Purdum's senior thesis written for Princeton University's History Department on the Eisenhower-era State Department's Loyalty-Security Program. The original typescript of the thesis is included, as are some of Purdum's research materials, almost all of which are photocopies of the detailed diaries of Robert Walter Scott McLeod, who headed the Department of State's Bureau for Security and Consular Affairs from 1953 to 1957. To a lesser extent, Purdum's thesis research materials include copies of official State Department documents collected by McLeod, including correspondence and reports regarding suspected homosexual individuals in the department.

Arrangement

Materials remain in their original order as received from the donor.

Collection Creator Biography:

Purdum

Todd S. Purdum (1959-) is a political journalist whose work has appeared in a number of publications, including Vanity Fair, The New York Times, and POLITICO. After graduating from Princeton University in 1982, Purdum worked at The New York Times from 1994 to 2005, covering both local and national politics and serving as the paper's Los Angeles bureau chief. Purdum is currently a contributing editor of Vanity Fair and a senior writer at POLITICO. His features for Vanity Fair on well-known political figures such as Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Sarah Palin, published in the late 2000s, garnered a large amount of national attention. Purdum is the author of the 2014 book An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Collection History

Acquisition:: The collection was donated by Todd S. Purdum in two installments in 2014. The accession numbers associated with these donations are ML.2014.013 and ML.2014.015.
Appraisal: No materials have been separated from this collection.
Processing Information: This collection was processed by Rachel Van Unen in 2014. At this time, loose papers were placed into archival housing, digital content was accessioned, and all materials were described in a finding aid.

Access & Use

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.

Sixteen interview transcripts and one speech transcript are available to researchers as Microsoft Word documents. Researchers are responsible for meeting the technical requirements needed to access these materials, including any and all hardware and software.

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