Inventory of the Robert Gruenberg Papers, 1947-1990 The Newberry Library Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections 60 West Walton Street Chicago, Illinois 60610-7324 USA Phone: 312-255-3506 Fax: 312-255-3646 E-Mail: specialcolls@newberry.org URL: http://www.newberry.org Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Shannon Yule, 2007. ©2007.

Administrative Information

Cite As

Robert Gruenberg Papers, Midwest Manuscript Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago.

Provenance

Gift of Ruth Gruenberg, 1993.

Processed by

Aaron Gordon, 1997, Shannon Yule, 2007.

Acknowledgements

This inventory was created with the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this inventory do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Access

The Robert Gruenberg Papers are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).

Ownership and Literary Rights

The Robert Gruenberg Papers are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.

Biography of Robert Gruenberg

Chicago Daily News political and urban affairs journalist, and Washington and foreign correspondent.

Robert Gruenberg was born in Chicago on September 13, 1922 and grew up in the Jewish community of Lawndale on the west side of Chicago. He became interested in journalism from an early age, serving as editorial editor and writer for his high school newspaper. Graduating from high school during the Depression, Gruenberg joined the Civilian Conservation Corps where he was assigned to a re-forestry and conservation camp in northern Wisconsin.

After the CCC, Gruenberg began his newspaper career in 1941 with the Chicago Daily News, serving first as a night clerk, then as a copy-boy in the City Room, and later as an intern reporter. During this time he attended Herzl Community College where he edited the college newspaper, the Herzlite.

In 1943 Gruenberg was drafted into the U.S. Army. In the army, Gruenberg received intensive Spanish language training. After his discharge he returned to the Chicago Daily News as a reporter, covering a wide range of local, county, and state affairs. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1953, majoring in Spanish and history.

From 1962-1966, Gruenberg served as the Washington Bureau chief for Chicago’s American, an evening newspaper. In 1966, he returned to the Daily News, and in 1968, he became a member of their Washington Bureau.

In 1978, shortly before the Daily News ceased publication, Gruenberg left to pursue a position in the Communications Department of the National Education Association where he remained until his retirement in 1986.

Gruenberg died in 1992, survived by his wife, Ruth Schwartz Gruenberg, and two children, Mark and Jeremy.

Scope and Content of the Collection

This collection consists mainly of the working papers of Chicago journalist Robert Gruenberg, including newspaper clippings and manuscripts of Gruenberg’s news reports and feature stories written for the Chicago Daily News and Chicago’s American covering a wide range of local, national, and international topics, his reporter’s notebooks from this era, and reports and speeches written while working for the National Education Association. Additionally, the collection contains a small amount of professional correspondence and personal materials.

Narrative descriptions of the subject matter, types of material, and arrangement of each series are available through the Organization section of the finding aid.

Papers are organized in the following series:

Series 1: Correspondence and Personal Materials, 1954-1990. Box(es) 1

This series contains a small amount of incoming and outgoing professional correspondence with various individuals, including memoranda written by Gruenberg to his city editor at the Chicago Daily News regarding various leads and stories, exhortations to other Daily News personnel describing what Gruenberg felt the newspaper could and should be, and memorandums regarding his work for the National Education Association. Also included are some personal materials: newspaper clippings regarding Gruenberg, memorabilia, and some biographical material.

Materials are arranged alphabetically.

Series 2: Works, 1947-1984. Box(es) 2-11

This series contains the working papers of Gruenberg, mainly newspaper clippings and manuscripts of Gruenberg’s news reports and feature stories written for the Chicago Daily News and Chicago’s American, and his reporter’s notebooks from this era. Gruenberg covered a wide range of local, national and international topics of the times in these articles, including: civil rights and other social issues, Illinois lawmakers, Watergate, waste in the military-industrial complex, presidential politics, and Vietnam. Gruenberg was also interested in Latin American events, reporting on the Fidel Castro-led revolution in Cuba, the fall of the Chilean president, Salvadore Allende, and the Argentinean political phenomena of Peronism. Also included are reports and speeches written while working in the Communications Department of the National Education Association.

Materials are arranged alphabetically.

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Newberry Library's public catalog. Researchers desiring additional materials on a particular topic should search the catalog using these headings.

Names

• Allende Gossens, Salvador, 1908-1973
• Castro, Fidel, 1926-
• Chicago daily news
• Chicago's american
• Gruenberg, Robert, 1922-1992
• National Education Association of the United States

Subjects

• Legislators -- Illinois
• Civil Rights -- United States -- History -- 20th century
• Cuba -- History -- Revolution, 1959
• Investigative reporting
• Journalists -- Illinois -- Chicago
• Manuscripts, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
• Military-industrial complex
• Reporters and reporting -- Illinois -- Chicago
• Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Press coverage -- United States
• Watergate Affair, 1972-1974

Container List