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Collection Number: 12011

Collection Title: Earl Warren Oral History Project Transcripts, 1969-circa 1978

This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


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Size 9.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 53 items)
Abstract The collection consists of over 50 bound volumes of photocopies of transcripts of about 150 oral history interviews from the Earl Warren Oral History Project, done at the University of California, Berkeley, 1969-circa 1978. The interviews document the political career of Earl Warren in California, and concurrent social and political events. Interviewees include Warren family members, political allies and opponents, and writers and scholars of that era, roughly 1925-1953. Note that volumes have been cataloged individually.
Creator Warren, Earl, 1891-1974.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Rare Book Literary and Historical Papers.
Language English
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Restrictions to Access
For permission to quote from transcripts for publication, obtain written permission from the Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Restrictions to Use
Retained by the Regents of the University of California.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Earl Warren Oral History Project Transcripts #12011, Rare Book Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from the Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1983-1984.
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.
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Processed by: Laura K. O'Keefe, June 1984 with subsequent revisions

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, September 2020

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

1891 Born, 19 March, Los Angeles, Calif.

1895 Family moved to Bakersfield, Calif.

1912 Received B.A., University of California, Berkeley

1914 Received J.D., University of California, Berkeley

1914-1917 Lawyer in San Francisco and Oakland

1917-1918 First lieutenant, United States Army

1919-1920 Deputy city attorney, Oakland

1920-1923 Deputy district attorney, Alameda County, Calif.

1923-1925 Chief deputy district attorney, Alameda County

1939-1943 Attorney general of California

1943 Governor of California

1944 Chair, Republican National Convention

1947 Re-elected governor

1948 Republican candidate for vice-president

1951 Re-elected governor

1953 Chief justice of the United States Supreme Court

1969 Retired from United States Supreme Court

1974 Died, 9 July

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

As historians Amelia Fry and Willa Baum state in their preface to the transcripts, the Earl Warren Oral History Project "was inaugurated in 1969 to produce tape-recorded interviews with persons prominent in the arenas of politics, governmental administration, and criminal justice during the Warren era in California."

The emphasis of the collection is on the years 1925-1953, from Warren's election as Alameda County district attorney to his appointment to the United States Supreme Court. The nearly 150 men and women interviewed discuss such diverse topics as the status of the Republican and Democratic parties in California during Warren's tenure as governor, 1943-1952; Warren's attitudes on race, including his position on the relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II; and his evolution from a right-wing Republican into a political moderate. They also discuss how he was viewed by labor organizers, educators, and health professionals whose work was affected by actions taken by the Warren administration. Among those interviewed were Cary McWilliams, author and editor of The Nation ; Paul Schuster Taylor, emeritus professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley; and Tarea Pittman, NAACP official.

There is also come coverage of Warren's personal life, including interviews with people who had known him or his family during his childhood in Bakersfield, Calif., with several of his children, and with his secretary.

Note that the descriptions below were taken from online catalog records written by the Catalog Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Earl Warren Oral History Project Transcripts, 1969-circa 1978

Box 1

VOLUME 1.

A. Wayne Amerson: Northern California and its challenges to a negro in the mid-1900s, an interview conducted by Joyce Henderson; with an introduction by Henry G. Ziesenhenne. (Berkeley: Regional Oral History Office, University of California, 1974.)

VOLUME 2.

Bee perspectives of the Warren era: interviews, conducted by Amelia R. Fry, June C. Hogan. ([Berkeley]: Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1976.) CONTENTS: Rodda, R. From the Capitol Press Room.--Phillips, H. L. Perspective of a political reporter.--Jones, W. P. An editor's long friendship with Earl Warren.

VOLUME 3.

Arthur H. Breed, Jr.: Alameda County and the California legislature, 1935-1958: an interview, conducted by Gabrielle Morris. (Berkeley, Calif.: Regional Oral History Office, Bancroft Library, University of California, Earl Warren Oral History Project, 1977.)

VOLUME 4.

California Democrats in the Earl Warren era: interviews, conducted by Amelia R. Fry. ([Berkeley]: Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1976.) CONTENTS: Clifton, F. California Democrats, 1934-1950.--Clifton, R. The Democratic Party, Culbert L. Olson, and the Legislature.--Kent, R. A Democratic leader looks at the Warren era.--Outland, G. James Roosevelt's primary campaign, 1950.--Post, L. James Roosevelt's Northern California campaign, 1950.--Roosevelt, J. Campaigning for governor against Earl Warren, 1950.--Volume appendix: Selected documents.

VOLUME 5.

California state finance in the 1940s: interviews, conducted by Gabrielle Morris; with an introd. by Stanley Scott. ([Berkeley]: Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1974.) CONTENTS: Links, F. An overview of the Department of Finance.--Groff, E. Some details of public revenue and expenditure in the 1940s.--Killion, G. Observations on Culbert Olson, Earl Warren, and money matters in public affairs.--Post, A. A. Watchdog on state spending.--Leake, P. Statement on the Board of Equalization.

VOLUME 6.

Oliver J. Carter: a leader in the California Senate and the Democratic Party, 1940-1950, interviews conducted by Amelia Fry, Malca Chall. (Berkeley: University of California, Bancroft Library, Regional Oral History Office, 1979.)

VOLUME 7.

Hunting, politics, and the Fish and Game Commission, Edwin L. Carty; an interview conducted by Amelia R. Fry. (Berkeley: Regional Oral History Office, Bancroft Library, University of California, 1975.)

VOLUME 8.

Ford A. Chatters (1896-1974): view from the Central Valley: the California Legislature, water, politics, and the State Personnel Board: an interview, conducted by Amelia R. Fry. ([Berkeley]: Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1976.)

VOLUME 9.

C. L. Dellums, International President of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and civil rights leader: an interview, conducted by Joyce Henderson; with an introd. by Tarea Hall Pittman. (Berkeley: Regents of the University of California, 1973.)

Box 2

VOLUME 10.

Earl Warren and health insurance, 1943-1949, interviews conducted by Gabrielle Morris. (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California, Bancroft Library / Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, c1971.) CONTENTS: Pioneering in prepaid group medicine / Russel VanArsdale Lee.--Shepherding health insurance bills through the California legislature / Byrl R. Salsman.--The making of a legislative committee study / Gordon Claycombe.--California Medical Association crusade against compulsory state health insurance / John W. Cline.

VOLUME 11.

Earl Warren and the State Department of Mental Hygiene, Interviews conducted by Gabrielle Morris. (Berkeley, Ca.: University of California, Berkeley. Bancroft Library. Regional Oral History Office, 1973.) CONTENTS: Tallman, F. F. Dynamics of change in State Mental Institutions.--Hume, P. B. Mother of community mental health services.

VOLUME 12.

Earl Warren and the state Department of Public Health, interviews conducted by Gabrielle Morris; with an introd. by E.S. Rogers. (Berkeley: University of California, Bancroft Library, Regional Oral History Office, c1973.) CONTENTS: A director reminisces / M.H. Merrill.--Environmental pollution control / F.M. Stead.--Recollections of the Bureau of Sanitary Engineering / H. Ongerth.--Mental health concepts / K.A. Zimmerman.--Public health advocates and issues / L. Arnstein.

VOLUME 13.

Earl Warren and the Youth Authority, interviews conducted by Gabrielle Morris, Robert Knutson, Rosemary Levenson; with an introduction by Allen F. Breed. (Berkeley: University of California, Regional Oral History Office, Bancroft Library, c1972.)

VOLUME 14.

Earl Warren as executive: social welfare and state parks: interviews, conducted by Rosemary Levenson, Amelia R. Fry. (Berkeley: Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1977.) CONTENTS: Charles Irwin Schottland: state director of social welfare, 1950-1954.--Newton B. Drury: A conservationist comments on Earl Warren and Harold Ickes.

VOLUME 15.

Earl Warren: fellow constitutional officers: interviews, conducted by Amelia Fry in 1969, 1971, 1972, and 1975. (Berkeley, Calif.: Regional Oral History Office, Bancroft Library, University of California, Earl Warren Oral History Project, 1979.) CONTENTS: Edmund G. Brown, Sr.: The governor's lawyer.--Robert W. Kenny: California Attorney General and the 1946 gubernatorial campaign.--Thomas H. Kuchel: California state controller.

VOLUME 16.

Earl Warren: the Chief Justiceship, interviews conducted by Amelia Fry, Mortimer Schwartz, Miriam Stein. (Berkeley, Calif.: Regional Oral History Office, Bancroft Library, University of California, c1977.) CONTENTS: Earl Warren's appointment to the Supreme Court / Herbert Brownell.--Earl Warren's inquiry into Talmudic law / Louis Finkelstein.--Earl Warren's appointment to the Supreme Court / James C. Hagerty.--Working in the Supreme Court: comments on court, Brown decision, Warren and other justices / William W. Oliver.--Law clerk for Chief Justice Warren, 1956-57 / Martin F. Richman.--Eisenhower, the 1952 Republican convention, and Earl Warren / Harold Stassen.--Letter regarding Earl Warren's court appointment, November 15, 1972 / M.F. Small.

VOLUME 17.

Earl Warren: the governor's family: interviews, conducted by Amelia Fry and Miriam Feingold Stein. (Berkeley, Calif.: Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, 1980.) CONTENTS: Notes from the California first lady / Nina Palmquist Warren.--Recollections of the eldest Warren son / James Warren.--California politics / Earl Warren, Jr.--Growing up in the Warren family / Nina Warren Brier.--Playing, hunting, and talking / Robert Warren.

Box 3

VOLUME 18.

Earl Warren, views and episodes: interviews, conducted by Willa K. Baum ... [et al.] (Berkeley: Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1976.) CONTENTS: Schools, the PTA, and the State Board of Education / M. Hale.--University of California crises: loyalty oath and free speech movement / Clark Kerr.--State and industry interests in taxation, and observations of Earl Warren / A. Kragen.--Governor Warren, the Knowlands, and Columbia State Park / G.B. McConnell.--California's Olson-Warren era; migrants and social welfare / C. McWilliams.--Recollections of masonic brother Earl Warren / E.H. Siems.

VOLUME 19.

Earl Warren's Bakersfield, interviews conducted by Amelia R. Fry, Willa K. Baum, and Orville Armstrong. (Berkeley: University of California, Bancroft Library, Regional Oral History Office, c1971.) CONTENTS: Earl Warren's Bakersfield / M. Ashe and R.S. Henley.--Coming of age in Bakersfield / O. Cavins.--Schooldays in Bakersfield / F.E. Vaughan.--A reporter recollects the Warren case / R. Kreiser.--On Methias Warren / M. Martin and E. McMillan.

VOLUMES 20,21,22.

Earl Warren's campaigns: interviews, conducted by Amelia R. Fry, June C. Hogan. ([Berkeley]: Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1976-c1978.) Vols. 2-3: interviews conducted by Amelia R. Fry.

VOLUME 23.

California Republicans, 1934-1953, McIntyre Faries; an interview conducted by Amelia R. Fry and Elizabeth Kerby. (Berkeley: University of California, The Bancroft Library, Regional Oral History Office, 1973.)

VOLUME 24.

The governor and the public, the press, and the Legislature: interviews, conducted by Amelia Fry and Gabrielle Morris. ([Berkeley]: Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1973.) CONTENTS: Gallagher, M. Administrative procedures in Earl Warren's office, 1938-1953.--Scoggins, V. Observations on California affairs by Governor Earl Warren's Press Secretary.--Vasey, B. Governor Warren and the Legislature.

VOLUME 25.

Richard Perrin Graves, theoretician, advocate and candidate in California state government: an interview, conducted by Gabrielle Morris. ([Berkeley]: Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1973.)

VOLUME 26.

Hunting and fishing with Earl Warren: interviews, conducted by Amelia R. Fry. (Berkeley: Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1976.) CONTENTS: Bartley Cavanaugh: a mutual interest in government, politics, and sports.--Wallace Lynn: hunting and baseball companion.

Box 4

VOLUME 27.

Emily H. Huntington: a career in consumer economics and social insurance: an interview, conducted by Alice Green King; with an introd. by Charles A. Gulick. ([Berkeley]: Bancroft Library, University of California/ Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, 1971.)

VOLUME 28.

Enforcing the law against gambling, bootlegging, graft, fraud, and subversion, 1922-1942, Oscar J. Jahnsen; an interview conducted by Alice King and Miriam Feingold Stein. (Berkeley: Regional Oral History Office, University of California, 1976.)

VOLUMES 29,30.

Japanese-American relocation reviewed: interviews, conducted by Rosemary Levenson, Amelia Fry, [and] Miriam Feingold Stein; with an introd. by Mike M. Masaoka. (Berkeley: University of California, Bancroft Library, Regional Oral History Office, 1976.) CONTENTS: v. 1. Decision and exodus. --v.2. The internment.

VOLUME 31.

Labor leaders view the Warren era: interviews [of] Robert S. Ash, Cornelius J. Haggerty, conducted by Mirim Feingold Stein and Amelia R. Fry; with introductions by George W. Johns. (Berkeley: University of California, Bancroft Library, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, 1976.)

VOLUME 32.

Labor looks at Earl Warren: interviews, Germain Bulcke ... [et al.]; conducted by Frank Jones. (Berkeley: University of California, Bancroft Library, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, 1970.)

VOLUME 33.

Richard Allen McGee: participant in the evolution in American corrections, 1931-1973: an interview, conducted by Amelia Fry and Mortimer Schwartz. ([Berkeley, Calif.]: Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1976.)

VOLUME 34.

Careers in mining geology and management, university governance and teaching, Donald H. McLaughlin; with an introd. by Charles Meyer; an interview conducted by Harriet Nathan. (Berkeley, Calif.: Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, c1975.)

VOLUME 35.

Helen R. MacGregor: a career in public service with Earl Warren: interviews, conducted by Amelia Fry, June Hogan, and Gabrielle Morris; with an introd. by Earl Warren. ([Berkeley]: University of California, Bancroft Library/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Program, c1973.)

Box 5

VOLUME 36.

Warren Olney III: law enforcement and judicial administration in the Earl Warren era: interviews, conducted by Miriam F. Stein and Amelia R. Fry, 1970 through 1977; with an introd. by Herbert Brownell. (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, Earl Warren Oral History Project, 1981.)

VOLUME 37.

Edgar James Patterson: governor's mansion aide to prison counselor: an interview, conducted by Amelia R. Fry; with an introd. by Merrell F. Small. (Berkeley: Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1975.)

VOLUMES 38,39,40.

Perspectives on the Alameda County District Attorney's office, interviews conducted by Miriam Feingold and Amelia R. Fry; with an introduction by Arthur H. Sherry. (Berkeley: University of California, Regional Oral History Office, Bancroft Library, 1972-1974.)

VOLUME 41.

NAACP official and civil rights worker, Tarea Hall Pittman; with an introd. by C.L. Dellums; an interview conducted by Joyce Henderson. (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California, Earl Warren Oral History Project, 1974.)

VOLUME 42.

Law enforcement, race relations, 1930-1960, Robert B. Powers with an introduction by Robert W. Kenny. (Berkeley: University of California, c1971.)

VOLUME 43.

Richard M. Nixon in the Warren era; [interviews with] Frank E. Jorgensen, Roy Day, John W. Dinkelspiel, Earl Adams [and] Roy P. Crocker. (Berkeley, Calif.: Regional Oral History Office, Bancroft Library, 1980.)

VOLUME 44.

William Byron Rumford, legislator for fair employment, fair housing, and public health: an interview, conducted by Joyce A. Henderson, Amelia Fry, Edward France; with an introd. by A. Wayne Amerson. ([Berkeley]: Bancroft Library, University of California/ Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1973.)

VOLUME 45.

The Alameda County District Attorney's Office and the California Crime Commission: an interview, conducted by Miriam Feingold and Amelia Fry. (Berkeley: Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1976.)

Box 6

VOLUME 46.

The shipboard murder case: labor, radicalism, and Earl Warren, 1936-1941, interviews conducted by Miriam Feingold Stein. ([Berkeley]: Bancroft Library, Regional Oral History Office, University of California/Berkeley, c1976.)

VOLUME 47.

Merrell Farnham Small, Departmental Secretary, the Office of the Governor under Earl Warren: interviews, conducted by Amelia R. Fry and Gabrielle S. Morris. ([Berkeley]: University of California, Bancroft Library/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1972.)

VOLUME 47A.

Swiegert, William T. (1900-1983)

VOLUME 48,49,50.

Paul Schuster Taylor, California social scientist: an interview, conducted by Suzanne B. Riess; with an introd. by Laurence I. Hewes, Jr. ([Berkeley]: Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1973-c1975.) CONTENTS: v. 1. Education, field research, and family.--v. 2-3. California water and agricultural labor.

VOLUME 51.

Conversations with Earl Warren on California government: interviews, conducted in 1971 and 1972 by Amelia R. Fry and members of the Regional Oral History staff; with an introduction by Ira Michael Heyman. ([Berkeley]: Regional Oral History Office, Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkeley, Earl Warren Oral History Project, c1982.)

VOLUME 52.

The Warrens: four personal views, interviews conducted by Amelia R. Fry, Miriam Feingold, Wendy Won. (Berkeley, Calif.: Bancroft Library, University of California/Berkley, Regional Oral History Office, c1976.) CONTENTS: Earl Warren job hunting at the legislature / Horace Albright. --Earl Warren's friend and biographer / Irving and Jean Stone.--Secretary to two Warrens / Betty Foot Henderson.--Shared social concerns / Benjamin H. Swig.

VOLUME 53.

Albert C. Wollenberg, Sr.: to do the job well: a life in legislative, judicial, and community service: interviews, conducted by Amelia R. Fry, James R. Leiby, and Sarah L. Sharp, 1970-73, 1980; sponsored by the Historical Society of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. (Berkeley, Calif.: Regional Oral History Office, Bancroft Library, University of California, 1981.)

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