This series documents more than three decades of correspondence and editorial writing by Matthews for the New York Times, his employer from 1922 to 1967. The series is arranged chronologically by assignment to a particular nation or region, beginning with the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1935 and 1936, then Spain and the Spanish Civil War, Italy, India, Europe and World War II, postwar Europe, Latin America, and ending with Matthews' editorials on Vietnam, China, and Latin America. Generally these folders include notes, ephemera, periodicals and other printed material used for research, and Matthews' original dispatches to the New York Times, not all of which were published.
Material on the Italian invasion of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) includes a collection of official maps issued and used by the Italian military, Matthews' personal bag, and a press armband issued by the Italian government. Material on the Spanish Civil War contains numerous photographs and publications issued by the Abraham Lincoln Brigades, and critics and sympathizers of the Republicans. Materials related to Matthews' subsequent reporting in Italy from 1939 to 1942, and in Italy during and after the Allied invasion in 1943, include Matthews' interviews with philosopher Benedetto Croce and newspapers published by partisans and other anti-fascist forces. In reporting about World War II in Europe, Matthews noted the widespread destruction of art and the Allies' attempts to mitigate the damaging of Europe's cultural legacy; a folder retains his notes and writings on this subject. Notes from the 1960s record the content of conversations between Matthews and John F. Kennedy and officials in his administration, as well as conversations with Johnson administration officials, regarding U.S foreign policy, particularly towards Latin America and Cuba. Finally, this series contains scrapbooks of Times' editorials authored by Matthews between 1949 and 1967; created and donated by the New York Times.
Italy--Abyssinian War, 1935-1936
Spain, 1936-1960s
Box 17 Folder 8
Correspondence, 1937-1963
Dispatches
Box 21 Folder 7
Ephemera, 1937-1939
Box 21 Folder 8
Herbert L. Matthews--Subject, 1938
Box 21 Folder 9
Notes, 1940s-1960s
Box 21 Folder 10
Printed Material, 1937-1959
Box 22 Folder 1 to 2
Photographs, 1936-1939, (2 Folders)
Box 22 Folder 3
Writings, 1937-1956
Italy, 1939-1965
Box 22 Folder 4
Correspondence, 1944-1946
Dispatches
Box 25 Folder 5
Ephemera and Documents, 1939-1944
Notes
Box 25 Folder 6 to 7
1939-1965, (2 Folders)
Box 25 Folder f.8
Notebooks, undated
Box 25 Folder 9
Croce, Benedetto, 1943-1944
Box 25 Folder 10
Prince Umberto, 1944
Box 25 Folder 11 to 12
Periodicals, 1943-1946 (2 of 5 Folders), 1943-1946
Box 26 Folder 1 to 3
Periodicals, 1942-1943 (3 of 5 Folders), 1942-1943
Box 26 Folder 4
Photographs, 1930s-1940s
India, 1942-1943
Box 26 Folder 5 to 9
Dispatches, July, 1942-July, 1943 (5 of 6 Folders), 1942-July, 1943
Box 27 Folder 1
Dispatches, July, 1942-July, 1943 (1 of 6 Folders), 1942-July, 1943
Box 27 Folder 2 to 4
Periodicals, 1942-1943, (3 Folders)
Europe--World War II
Box 27 Folder 5
Art--Destruction of, 1943-1945
Box 27 Folder 6 to 7
Dispatches, 1943-1944 (2 of 4 Folders), 1943-1944
Box 28 Folder 1 to 2
Dispatches, 1943-1944 (2 of 4 Folders), 1943-1944
Box 28 Folder 3
Ephemera, 1944
Box 28 Folder 4
Notes, 1944
Box 28 Folder 5
Periodicals, 1943-1944
Europe--Postwar
Box 28 Folder 6
Notes, 1948-1966
Box 28 Folder 7
Periodicals, 1949-1953
Latin America, 1950s-1960s
Box 29 Folder 2
Correspondence, 1951-1952
Box 29 Folder 3
Notes, 1960s
Box 29 Folder 4
Photographs, 1950s-1960s
Box 29 Folder 5
Writings, 1950s-1960s
Scrapbooks