Book People | In the Library Summer 2012 Amber L. Moore

On Safire

An archivist at Syracuse University Library delves into the late columnist’s correspondence and research files
All Courtesy of the Syracuse University Library.

Early in his career, Safire acted as researcher for the New York Herald Tribune, where he interviewed Jackie Robinson for the “Close-Up” column. Seen here are typewritten notes from the meeting with Jackie and his wife Rae along with a copy of the published article.

William Safire was a man of many careers: Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist, presidential speechwriter, reporter, public relations executive, novelist, lexicographer, and philanthropist—all of which are reflected in his personal papers on deposit at Syracuse University Library (SUL). Early last year, the library received a grant of $86,000 from the Dana Foundation, a philanthropic organization supporting brain science once chaired by Safire, to hire a full-time archivist to process Safire’s papers and catalogue books from his personal library. The collection, approximately two hundred and fifty linear feet, contains many gems that illuminate the professional, personal, and public interests of the late New York Times columnist. 

Syracuse is the perfect place for Safire’s papers due to his long-standing relationship with the university. He enrolled as an undergraduate with the class of 1951 but only stayed through his sophomore year. He later received an honorary degree from Syracuse in 1978, noting in his commencement speech to the class, “There is hope for slow learners.” He served on the university’s board of trustees and endowed a quiet study room on the sixth floor of SU’s Bird Library in the 1990s that holds books from his personal collection, some of which are rare, including a 1663 edition of Nicolas Caussin’s The Holy Court in Five Tomes. Safire’s family deposited the bulk of his papers with SUL in 2010, the year after his death from pancreatic cancer.

As the newly appointed Safire archivist, I first became acquainted with the collection on a hot summer day in July 2011. My supervisor, Michele Combs, brought me to an off-site facility that contained hundreds of boxes of Safire’s papers, books, and scrapbooks. At first glance, the collection seemed massive and unruly. The non-archival shipping boxes that housed the papers were stacked high on ten pallets, but upon closer examination—and much to my delight—I realized that all the boxes were clearly labeled and grouped together in a relatively logical manner. I quickly got a feel for the original order of the papers and spent the next couple of days grouping like boxes and determining preliminary series for the collection. 

All Courtesy of the Syracuse University Library.

The Safire Room contains several books in the fields of language, linguistics, and history given to the library by William Safire.

The papers reveal many interesting aspects of Safire’s careers as a reporter and a public relations executive prior to his tenure with the New York Times. After dropping out of college, Safire was hired by public relations man Tex McCrary as a researcher and writer at the New York Herald Tribune. He wrote for the paper’s “Close-Up” column, where he interviewed many celebrities, such as Jackie Robinson and Marlon Brando. Although Safire performed much of the legwork for McCrary, he did not always have an easy time gathering usable material from his subjects. During one particular interview with Broadway producer George Abbott, Safire’s typewritten notes state that the “interview was long on chatter and short on material,” adding “whenever I would ask him a hot question, he would lean back in his chair, smile and say, ‘No, I don’t think I’m ready to bare my soul to the press.’” 

The bulk of the papers relate to Safire’s tenure at the New York Times. He joined the staff in 1973 after being hired on the spot by publisher Arthur “Punch” Sulzberger as the paper’s new political columnist. Safire’s twice-weekly “Essay” column appeared on the Op-Ed page for thirty-two years and presented a libertarian conservative point of view. The Safire papers contain copies of all his columns, as well as reader responses. I found Safire’s essay, Blizzard of Lies, in which he calls Hillary Clinton a “congenital liar,” one of the most interesting because it elicited a full spectrum of spirited responses: nearly thirty folders of reader mail. Comments ranged from “Keep meddling Mr. Safire! Someone needs to bring the Clinton transgressions out in the open” to “Your characterization of the First Lady is an abuse of the free press. It demonstrates the need to return to the days of dueling, when big mouths had to be careful what they said.” 

The collection also contains documents regarding Safire’s Sunday “On Language” column, which appeared in the New York Times Magazine for thirty years. The column featured Safire’s thoughtful and sometimes biting commentary on grammar, usage, and etymology. It also attracted many fans and devoted correspondents (dubbed the Lexicographic Irregulars) who helped research the origins of words and phrases. The collection includes photocopies, drafts, and correspondence from all of the columns, reader mail, and many research files. Research files make up the bulk of the “On Language” material and contain correspondence, media clippings, dictionary entries, hand-scribbled notes, and other documents used to construct each column. 

Ben Chartoff, a graduate student at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, worked as a processing assistant to help organize nearly fifty linear feet of these research files. “When the files arrived,” Chartoff recalled, “they were only loosely alphabetized, and packed in a mish-mash of poorly labeled, overstuffed, acidic folders.” After spending two months alphabetizing, arranging, labeling, and organizing the files, he proudly stated, “They are a sight to be seen.” 

All Courtesy of the Syracuse University Library.

Located on the sixth floor of the university’s main library, the wood-paneled Safire Room is a quiet study space near the Special Collections Research Center.

While the research files bear witness to Safire’s love for language, the subject files provide a glimpse into his many other activities, interests, and affiliations. These files contain a combination of correspondence, printed material, and research notes related to hot-button issues such as abortion, affirmative action, the environment, gambling, and privacy. I began to see Safire as somewhat of a social butterfly as I looked through materials from his home life, which include invitations to his annual Yom Kippur parties, travel memorabilia from his trips to England, Russia, France, and Singapore, and his credentials and press passes for various events. 

In addition, Safire’s affiliation with the Judson Welliver Society, a social club exclusively reserved for presidential speechwriters, is illustrated through correspondence, dinner party invitations, and membership lists. Documents related to Safire’s tenure on the boards of trustees for the Pulitzer Prize, Syracuse University, and the Wednesday Ten, a networking club for emerging businessmen founded by Safire in 1957, show the range of his interests from the literary to the entrepreneurial. 

The correspondence in the collection contains both incoming and outgoing letters, postcards, greeting cards, and emails from family, friends, and professional contacts. Safire designated some correspondents with the epithet “VIP,” including politicians, actors, authors, and presidents, among whom are Bill Clinton, Norman Mailer, George Burns, and Julia Child. The VIP correspondence includes personal letters, suggestions for columns, invitations, and well wishes. 

With the processing nearly complete, my current task is to select items for digitization. I plan to choose letters from prominent individuals and video from Safire’s television guest appearances, once copyright and privacy issues are resolved. We estimate that the collection will open to researchers in January of next year.