Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#4494
ROBERT HENRY MASON PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Robert Henry Mason worked as a writer and in other
capacities for the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va.,
1945-1952 and 1957-1968, and was the editor of that
paper, 1962-1978.
Correspondence, speeches and writings, news
clippings, and photographs documenting the career of
Robert Henry Mason. Correspondence is with newspaper
colleagues, other business associates, government
officials, and friends, including Jonathan Daniels
(1902-1981), Doris Betts (1932- ), Alonzo Dill, and
Burke Davis, and deals with such matters as the
American Society of Newspaper Editors; the Sanford
Herald, Sanford, N.C., which Mason partly owned in the
mid-1950s; and editorial positions of the Virginian-
Pilot.
Online Catalog Terms:
American newspapers--North Carolina--History--20th century.
American newspapers--Sections, columns, etc.--Editorials.
American newspapers--Virginia--History--20th century.
American Society of Newspaper Editors.
Betts, Doris.
Daniels, Jonathan, 1902- .
Davis, Burke.
Dill, Alonzo Thomas.
Journalists--Virginia--History--20th century.
Mason, Robert Henry, 1912- .
Newspaper editors--Virginia--History--20th century.
Sanford herald (Sanford, N.C.).
Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.).
Size: About 2,900 items (6.0 feet).
Provenance: Received from Robert Mason of Southern Pines,
N.C., in October 1987, January 1994 (Acc. 94008),
and April 1996 (Acc. 96034).
Access: No restrictions.
Related Collection: Joseph Lenior Chambers Papers (#3827).
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers,
or their descendants, as stipulated by United
States copyright law.
Processing Note: Not fully processed pending additions.
Table of Contents:
Biographical Note
Series Descriptions
Series 1. General Correspondence
Series 2. Subject Files
Series 3. Writings
Series 4. Scrapbook
Series 5. Pictures
Shelf List
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Robert Henry Mason was born on 1 September 1912 in Charlotte,
North Carolina, and grew up in Mebane. He received an A.B.
degree from the University of North Carolina in 1933. He married
Frances Fulton of Walnut Cove, North Carolina, in 1939. The
Masons have one daughter, Frances (Mrs. Robert F. Baldwin, Jr.).
Robert Mason was editor of the Virginian-Pilot from January
1962 until his retirement in October 1978. He had been the
newspaper's managing editor, Sunday editor, city editor, and a
staff writer. Before joining the Pilot in 1941, he worked for
The Sanford Herald, The Raleigh Times, and the Durham Morning
Herald, all in North Carolina. He left the Pilot during World
Was II when he served as a Naval Reserve lieutenant in the
Pacific Amphibious Force, and again for five years (1952-1957)
while editing the Sanford paper, of which he then was part owner.
For seventeen years beginning in 1960, Mason was a member of
the board of trustees of the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences
and its successor, the Chrysler Museum of Norfolk. As chairman
of the Norfolk Civil War Centennial Committee, he cooperated with
the Atlantic Amphibious Force training command in staging a
scale-model reenactment of the Merrimack (C.S.S Virginia)-Monitor
battle on its hundredth anniversary. He has written and spoken
extensively on Civil War naval topics, the Confederate cruisers
especially.
Mason received a National Book Award for literary criticism in
1951 and twice was a Pulitzer juror. He was a member of the
American Society of Newspaper Editors for twenty years. In 1987,
he was inducted into the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame.
He is the author of One of the Neighbors' Children, published by
Algonquin Books in 1987.
In 1980, Mason and his wife moved to Southern Pines, North
Carolina. He is active in Weymouth, a regional cultural center.
He continues to write, publishing articles in such journals as
the William and Mary Law Review, the Virginia Quarterly Review,
and the Naval Institute Proceedings.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. General Correspondence
1933-1995. About 1,800 items.
Arrangement: loosely sorted by year.
Correspondence not included in subject files (see Series 2),
mostly between Robert Mason and various colleagues, business
associates, government officials, and friends.
Notable correspondents include:
Doris Betts (8 letters and postcards, 1973, 1978,
1981-1982, 1987)
Jonathan Daniels (5 letters and postcards, 1973-1976)
Clyde Edgerton (2 letters, 1985-1986)
William Friday (6 letters, 1978, 1981-1983)
Bob Jones, of Bob Jones University (2 letters, 1970)
Reynolds Price (4 letters, 1975, 1982-1983)
There is also scattered correspondence with Burke Davis and
Alonzo Dill.
Folder 1 1933-1957
2 1958-1964
3 Editorial Correspondence, 1963-1964
4 1967
5 1968
6 1969
7 Meetings and Travel, 1968-1969
8 1970
9 1971
10-11 1972
12-13 1973
14 1974
15-16 1975
17-19 1976
20-22 1977
23-24 1978
25 1979
26 1980
27-28 1981
29-30 1982
31 1983
32 1984
33 1985
34 1986
35-35a 1987
35b 1988
35c 1989
35d 1990
35e 1991
35f 1992
35g 1993
35h 1994
35i 1995
Series 2. Subject Files
1940-1993 and undated. About 1,000 items.
Arrangement: alphabetical by file title.
Correspondence, newspaper and magazine clippings, speeches,
and other materials relating to Robert Mason's work as a
newspaper writer and editor. Also included are a few items of
personal correspondence, most notably a series of Christmas cards
from Robert Betts. For the most part, Mason's original
arrangement and labeling have been maintained.
Folder 36 The American Assembly
37 American Society of Newspaper Editors
38 American Society of Newspaper Editors Program
Committee (1973-1974)/Sylvan Meyer Correspondence
39 Betts, Robert E. (Christmas cards)
40 Certificates
41 Chambers, Lenoir
42 Christmas cards
43 Citizens Advisory Committee
44 Citizens Conference on State Legislatures
44a Clippings about Mason
44b Dill, Lon
45 Editorial Correspondence, Meetings, and Travel
(1970)
46 Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon (1970)
47 Eyewitness (U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings
article)
48 First Flight: Fred C. Kelly
49 First Flight: Keville Glennan
50 Goals (Virginian-Pilot)
51 Grand Jury (1979)
52 Hall, Michael
53 Haynie, Hugh
54 Hebrew University (American Friends of)
55 Hines, Jessie W., Civil Suit
56 History of Norfolk Newspapers
57 Horner, W.E. (Sanford Herald)
58 Israel (1970)
59 Letters: Lenoir Chambers
60 Letters: On Becoming Editor
61 Letters: On Becoming Managing Editor
62 Letters: On Retiring
63 McCain, Rear Admiral John S.
64 Macmillan Educational Corporation Yearbook (1975)
65 Manley, Melvin
66 Mark Ethridge Fellowship (SREB)
67 Martin, Roy B. (Mayor of Norfolk)
68 Merrimack
69 Middle East Columns
69a Moore, Alfred
70 NC 2000
71 National Newspaper Publishers Association Merit
Awards Contest
72 News Product
73 Obituaries
74 "Old St. Paul's Vestry Book"
75 Raleigh/Durham/Miscellaneous
76 Rawls, Walter C.
77 Reports
78 Richmond Bureau
79 Roanoke Island Historical Association
80 Rough Logs (Virginian-Pilot)
81 Sanford Herald
82 Speeches
83 Styron, William
84 Synon, John J.
85 UNC Journalism Reunion (1974)
86 Zedd-Nimmo Case
Series 3. Writings
1984-1993 and undated. About 50 items.
Typescript draft of Robert Mason's book One of the Neighbors'
Children, published by Algonquin Books in 1987. This series also
contains correspondence with Louis Rubin related to the book.
There are also miscellaneous short writings by Mason.
Folders 87-91 One of the Neighbors' Children
92-96 Miscellaneous short writings
Series 4. Scrapbook
1951. 1 item.
Telegrams, letters, postcards, newspaper and magazine
clippings, and photographs concerning Mason's National Book Award
for literary criticism, awarded while he was Sunday editor of the
Virginian-Pilot.
Series 5. Pictures
P-4494/1 Front page of the Virginian-Pilot, 18 December
1903.
/2 Keville Glennan, former editor of the
Virginian-Pilot, and Fred C. Kelly, the Wright
biographer.
/3 Robert Mason, George H. Tucker, and unidentified
man.
/4-5 Robert Mason.
/6 Robert Mason and unidentified woman.
/7 Robert Mason and unidentified man.
/8 Guy Friddell and unidentified man.
/9 Robert Mason and unidentified man.
/10-12 Unidentified woman
/13 Robert Mason, 1932
/14 Robert Mason, 1938
/15 Robert Mason, 1952
/16 Robert Mason, 1960
/17 Robert Mason, 1962
/18 Robert Mason, 1975
/19 Robert Mason, 1988
/20 Robert Mason and APME officials, 1960
/21 Robert Mason, 1938
/22 Robert Mason, 1945
/23 Robert Mason, 1960
/24 Robert Mason, 1962 (sketch)
/25 Robert Mason, 1965
SHELF LIST
Box 1 Series 1. 1933-1977 (folders 1-22)
Box 2 Series 1. 1978-1993 (folders 23-35g)
Series 2. Subject files (folders 36-44b)
Box 3 Series 2. Subject files (folders 45-86)
Series 3. Writings (folders 87-96)
Box 4 Series 4. Volume (volume 1)
Items separated:
P-4494/1-25