Collection View
This collection is arranged chronologically.
This collection is arranged chronologically.
This collection is arranged chronologically.
This collection is arranged chronologically.
This collection is arranged chronologically.
- Scope and Contents
The Wilbur Hugh Ferry Papers consist of documents related to Ferry's speech, "Myths, Cliches and Stereotypes", which he gave to the Western States Democratic Conference in Seattle, Washington on 7 August 1962. Since the speech attacked Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover, it generated a nationwide response from the media and many letters, favorable and unfavorable, from the public. Included in this collection are reference materials, collected by Ferry regarding a former FBI agent, Jack Levine, and his claim that many FBI agents were members of the Communist Party acting as informants. Ferry also saved news clippings about the American news reporter, James Worthy, Jr., who was sentenced to three months in prison for illegally re-entering the United States from Cuba without a passport. J. Edgar Hoover's speech to the American Legion on 9 October 1962, which makes reference to Ferry's Seattle speech, is also part of this collection. Lastly, the collection is completed with a memorandum from the Ad Hoc Committee on the Triple Revolution sent to President Lyndon B. Johnson by a group of economists, labor leaders, publishers and writers headed by Ferry. This memorandum asserts that revolutions are occurring in three fields in the United States: "cybernation" (a term Ferry describes as the combination of computer technology and automated self-regulating machines that will require progressively less human labor), weaponry and human rights. The committee believed these revolutions would lead to fundamental changes in the approach to jobs and work.
- Arrangement
This collection is arranged chronologically.
- Collection Creator Biography:
Ferry, W. H. (Wilbur Hugh)
W. H. "Ping" Ferry, born 17 December 1910, was the son of Hugh Joseph Ferry, President and Chairman of the Board of the Packard Motor Company, and Fay Ferry. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1932. From 1933-1941, Ferry pursued a career in journalism, though, in 1936, he briefly held the position of Director of Publicity for Eastern Airlines. Between 1940-1945 he held a series of positions including consultant for the International Labour Organisation (1940-1944), Chief Investigator in New Hampshire for the Office of Price Administration (1942-1944), Director of Public Relations for the Congress of Industrial Organizations (1944), and member of the U. S. Strategic Bombing Survey, Southwest Pacific Area (1945). From 1945-1954, Ferry was a partner in the New York public relations firm of Earl Newsom and Company. The Ford Foundation used this public relations agency, and Ferry was responsible for writing speeches for Henry Ford II.
In 1951, while still working for Earl Newsom, he became a public relations adviser for the Ford Foundation. Ferry advised Paul G. Hoffman, head of the Foundation, and the trustees on numerous issues ranging from civil liberties to the possible establishment of a peace agency funded by the Foundation. He was also a personal friend of Robert M. Hutchins who became the president of the Fund for the Republic. The Fund for the Republic was a non-profit organization whose basic objectives were to research and analyze two issues which the organizers believed important to American political life: civil liberties and civil rights. Ferry became Vice President of the Fund in 1954 and was responsible for its administration and public relations. He continued to work for the Fund after it moved from New York City to Santa Barbara, California in 1959, when it changed its name to The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions (CSDI). Ferry published a number of essays while at CSDI including: The Corporation and the Economy (1959), The Economy Under Law (1961), Caught in the Horn of Plenty (1962), What Price Peace (1963), Masscom as Educator (1966), Farewell to Integration (1967), Tonic and Toxic Technology (1967) and The Police State is Here (1969).
Upon leaving CSDI, Ferry continued his work as a consultant. In 1984, he created an organization called "Expro" (Exploratory Project on Conditions for Peace). Twenty-three members from the academic world and various civic organizations discussed and published monographs on hunger, poverty, Third World development and nuclear weapons.
Ferry's marriage to Jolyne Marie Gillier in 1937 ended in divorce in 1972. He married Carol Underwood Bernstein in 1973. Ferry and his second wife made grants and personal contributions through the DJB Foundation to finance "things that no one else would fund because they were too radical for conventional foundations." He died in 1995 from Parkinson's disease in Scarsdale, New York.
- Acquisition:
W. H. Ferry donated this collection of letters, news clippings and speeches to Princeton University in 1963 .
- Appraisal
No appraisal information is available.
- Processing Information
This collection was processed by Christine W. Kitto in June 1998. Finding aid written by Christine W. Kitto in June 1998.
- 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.
- Credit this material:
Wilbur Hugh Ferry Papers; Public Policy Papers, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/bn999673j
- Location:
-
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library65 Olden StreetPrinceton, NJ 08540, USA
- Storage Note:
- Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1
