Arthur Robert Smith papers

Collection

Identifier: Mss 1074

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection includes copies of correspondence to and from U.S. Senator Wayne Morse, and correspondence and notes of Arthur Smith regarding Morse. The microfilm contains copies of Morse's correspondence with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Also included in the collection are materials concerning the investigation of the Morningside Hospital in Portland, Oregon, and the related U.S. Senate effort to fund a mental hospital in Alaska in the mid-1950s. A typescript of Smith's book about Morse, titled "The Tiger in the Senate," is also included.

Dates

1931-1966

Creator

Smith, Arthur Robert, 1925- (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.

Biographical note

Arthur Robert Smith was an Oregon journalist and author whose book on U.S. Senator Wayne Morse, "The Tiger in the Senate," was published in 1962. In the mid-1950s, Smith wrote a number of investigative articles for the News-Miner newspaper of Fairbanks, Alaska, regarding the Morningside Hospital in Portland, Oregon. The hospital had housed mental health patients from Alaska, and its administration came under the scrutiny of the U.S. Senate as it debated a bill to fund mental health services in that state (then a U.S. Territory). The move for funding was championed by Oregon Senator Richard Neuberger, then in his first year in Congress.

Extent

0.9 Cubic Feet (2 document cases; 1 reel microfilm)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Papers relating to journalist Robert Arthur Smith's research and writing on Senator Wayne Morse. Includes copies of Morse's correspondence; Smith's correspondence and notes concerning Morse; materials relating to Morningside Hospital in Portland, Oregon; the Alaska Mental Health Bill of 1954; and typescript of Smith's 1962 book "The Tiger in the Senate."

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in three series: Series 1. Wayne Morse research materials and correspondence, 1931-1966; Series 2. Morningside Hospital materials, 1954-1956; Series 3. Typescript of "The Tiger in the Senate," circa 1961.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gifts of Arthur Robert Smith, January 1963 (Lib. Acc. 9930) and February 1971 (Lib. Acc. 11806).

Existence and Location of Originals

The collection includes copies of papers housed at the U.S. National Archives, Washington, D.C., and at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York.