From the Archives...

The archive’s second largest collection (the first being the Coe Collection) is from William L. Shirer.  Shirer graduated from Coe in 1925.  He borrowed money from President Gage and used it to high tail it out of Iowa and the United States.  He took a cattle boat to France where he found a job on the copy desk of the Paris Tribune.  He stayed in Europe until December of 1940.  During his 15 years there he covered Gandhi, got married, broke into radio, had a daughter, and covered Hitler’s rise to power.

[caption id="attachment_175" align="aligncenter" width="180" caption="William L. Shirer's CBS press pass"][/caption]

Back in the United States he continued as a radio correspondent for the Columbia Broadcasting System until 1947 when he found himself blacklisted.  Shirer didn’t much like McCarthyism (it reminded him too much of Nazi Germany) and didn’t care much for toeing the line.  After a short stint with another radio station he took to writing.  This would lead to his best seller “Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”, which is still read by serious WWII scholars today.

Shirer’s collection includes an extensive diary spanning over 70 years (1919-1993), his manuscripts, his correspondence, and his lectures along with boxes of publications and newspaper clippings covering the 20^th Century and its many turbulent events.

~Sara