Related UMD Collections
University Libraries' Special Collections and University Archives Mass Media and Culture hold many related collections, especially in the areas of broadcast journalism and public broadcasting. We also hold the papers of several former White House pool reporters.
Connie Lawn (1944-2018) worked briefly for a congressman before becoming a reporter for WAVA, then Washington’s only all-news radio station, in 1968. She began her nearly 50-year career as a White House correspondent when she created an independent news service called Audio Video News in 1971. Lawn was, and remained, the only employee. Her clients included the BBC, Radio New Zealand, USA Radio Network, and Salem Radio Network. At the time of her death, Lawn was the longest-serving member of the White House press corps.
Coverage: 1966-1987; Majority of material found within 1968-1972.
Status: Completed.
See a longer article about Connie in the Features section of this website.
Ray Scherer (1919-2000) was chief White House correspondent for NBC News through six presidential administrations, from Harry S. Truman to Gerald S. Ford. He was one of the first journalists to report live from the White House. In addition to the White House, Scherer covered the Pentagon and Congress. He became the network's London correspondent in 1969, returning to Washington after four years to report on the Watergate scandal. Scherer continued as senior reporter until 1975, when he was named a vice president of RCA, then NBC's parent corporation. He retired in 1986.
Coverage: 1910-1996; Majority of material found within 1960-1989
Status: Unprocessed, Contact: Laura Schnitker, Curator of the UMD Mass Media & Culture Archives
The Special Collections in Mass Media and Culture Serials collection contains fan magazines, academic journals, industry trade magazines, yearbooks, and bound press releases documenting radio, television, advertising, journalism, film, and humor from the early 1900's to the present.
Coverage Dates: 1910-2012; Majority of material found within 1920-1960.
Status: Completed.
Sid Davis (1928- ) was White House correspondent for the Washington news bureau of Group W, a chain of radio and television stations owned by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, from 1959 to 1977. He was part of the reporter pool when President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and later selected to cover the swearing-in of Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson aboard Air Force One. He subsequently became an NBC News correspondent and Washington Bureau chief for a decade, then spent seven years as program director of the “Voice of America,” the international broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress.
Status: Unprocessed, Laura Schnitker, Curator of the UMD Mass Media & Culture Archives
This collection documents the career of Daniel B. Brewster as a United States Senator from Maryland. Brewster's files primarily consist of correspondence, reports, and newspaper clippings. Important subjects covered are commerce, the tariff, social security, Medicare, unemployment, the armed services, Vietnam, and foreign politics.
Coverage: 1950-2007; Majority of material found within 1962-1968.
Status: Completed
The National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB), founded in 1975, is a national membership organization of community-oriented, non-commercial radio stations, producers, and broadcasters. NFCB was formed by a group of community broadcasters who envisioned creating a program-sharing cooperative for community radio stations, which would come to be known as the NFCB Program Service. NFCB's early mission also included publishing legal and training manuals for affiliates, assisting stations in obtaining Federal Communication Commission licenses and promoting minorities and women's participation in public broadcasting.
The collection documents NFCB's administrative activities, its work with member stations and community groups, training and licensing work, and its advocacy work and radio awards programs. A significant portion of the collection comprises the audio reels and paper records of the NFCB Program Service, which promoted content sharing among community radio stations by collecting and distributing radio programs created by independent producers from across the United States.
Coverage: 1969-2012; Majority of material found within 1979-1989.
Status: Completed