This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
These papers consist of photographs, correspondence, research notes, and press clippings related to Pare Lorentz's career as a documentary filmmaker and journalist. Materials related to each of his films are grouped together in separate series. The office files, organized either alphabetically or chronologically according to Lorentz's own system, include records from various New Deal agencies, such as the U.S. Film Service, or the Resettlement Administration. There are materials related to Lorentz's time in the military during World War II. After the war, he conducted extensive research on the threat posed by nuclear weapons; those papers are here, as well. There is some correspondence between Lorentz and John Steinbeck, the novelist.
This collection is arranged in 11 series.
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Pare Lorentz papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
No additions are expected
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Source of acquisition--[source of acquisition]. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--1995, 1996, and 1998.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Papers processed by Thai Jones (Columbia, 2011) 2009.
Finding aid written by Thai Jones.
2009-09-23 File created.
2009-10-05 xml document instance created by Carrie Hintz
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
During the 1930s, Pare Lorentz accomplished a rare feat in American cultural history; funded entirely by the government, he directed propagandistic documentaries that became critical and popular hits. In fact, this achievement may have been unique, since no one – including Lorentz himself – was ever able to duplicate it again.
"A fine picture," he once said, "is really a symphony – a carefully orchestrated piece of work which plays on the eye and the ear to get an emotional reaction." His films featured gritty footage, prose-poetic narration, and a dramatic score. He had no use for studio accoutrements. "The best light in the world is the sun," he said. Nor did he care for stars. In his opinion, movies were "made by cutting and direction, and the actor isn't important at all." A documentarian's documentarian, he influenced generations of auteurs. "His work is part of the heritage of all filmmakers," Ken Burns, the acclaimed director, has said. "Lorentz showed us that documentaries need not be based solely on current events, or be filmed journalism. They could be of the heart."
But Lorentz never made cinema for cinema's sake alone. His films were political – even radical – and must be understood within the context of their production. His documentaries unmistakably belong to the creative milieu that inspired the photographs of Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, as well as the writings of James Agee and John Steinbeck. The Great Depression provided these artists with both a message and a medium; the suffering of the 1930s offered subject-matter rich in pathos and courage, while federal agencies financed and promoted their projects.
Perhaps more than even these well-known figures, however, Lorentz's career synced with the New Deal. His films were regularly screened in the White House, and Franklin D. Roosevelt once said of him: "He's my shooter. He photographs America to show what it's like to our people." Lorentz embraced this role, entitling his autobiography, FDR's Filmmaker. But, the opposite was even more emphatically true: Roosevelt was Lorentz's president. In 1936, when the administration was pushing a farm resettlement policy, Lorentz produced his first picture, The Plow That Broke the Plain, a study of soil erosion. Two years later, when the Democrats needed support for the vast dam projects of the Tennessee Valley Authority, Lorentz obliged them by directing The River, which depicted the Mississippi's chronic flooding. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Lorentz was again eager to serve his chief. Attaining an officer's rank in the U.S. Army Air Forces, he made pilot-training films and edited footage of the Nuremberg Trials.
As long as Roosevelt remained in power, Lorentz was assured of official accolades and a worthy cause. In later years, though, he could never recapture the synergy of that period. His career as a moviemaker spanned five decades and more, yet his third – and final – film to achieve wide distribution, The Fight for Life, was released in 1940. In part, this was a result of his temperament; Lorentz was a man who envisioned grand projects and then carried them halfway through. But, his politics were an even more fundamental hindrance to success. By the 1950s, his egalitarian populism may not have lost its audience, but it had certainly lost any chance for distribution. He wanted to make films about German war crimes and the development of the Hydrogen Bomb, but the Cold War demanded silence on these topics. Thus, a career that began with such promise ended in a series of frustrations.
Leonard MacTaggart Lorentz was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia, in 1905. "Pare," the traditional family name, had already been taken by his father, a cousin, and an uncle. One more, his mother thought, would be one too many. But, after Lorentz came to New York City in 1925 to make a career as a journalist, he assumed his father's name and used it for his byline. Working freelance, he began reviewing movies for several magazines, including Judge, Vanity Fair, and McCall's. Lorentz also contributed essays and fiction to Harper's, Scribner's, and The New Yorker. Immediately recognized as an important critic, he was 25 years old when he published his first book, Censored: The Private Life of the Movies. He received his advance money – six hundred dollars – on the day of the stock-market crash.
During the early years of the Depression, when nearly one-quarter of the American workforce was unemployed, Lorentz blithely got himself hired and fired from a succession of magazine positions. In each case, dismissal came after he refused to soften his beliefs just to keep a paycheck. He further alienated some employers with his enthusiasm for the New Deal. His second book, The Roosevelt Year: 1933, was a pictorial record of the President's first twelve months in office. A laudatory profile of Henry Wallace, the progressive Secretary of Agriculture, cost him yet another job – this time he was fired by William Randolph Hearst. But, the piece also helped bring him to the attention of policy-makers in the Resettlement Administration, an agriculture relief bureau that promoted its efforts through the work of such photographers as Evans and Lange. "Our job," one agency artist recalled, "was to educate the city dweller to the needs of the rural population." A film could spread the message even more effectively, and Lorentz was given the assignment.
Choosing the Dust Bowl as his subject, he traveled from Montana to Texas, filming the unprecedented erosion that was destroying billions of tons of fertile land. With a $6,000 budget, he was forced to shoot real people on location, as opposed to using actors in a studio lot. Money concerns proscribed the use of sound-film; he instead employed voice-over narration and a classical score. These became the hallmarks of the Lorentz style, but their origins rested as much with necessity as with preference. The Plow That Broke the Plains – which was half an hour long and had cost less than $20,000 to produce – premiered in the spring of 1936; "it tells the story of the Plains," explained Lorentz, "and it tells it with some emotional value – an emotion that springs out of the soil itself."
With Plow completed, Lorentz had gone from film critic to filmmaker. Next, he directed a masterpiece. In The River, he documented the devastating seasonal inundations in the Mississippi valley. During January 1937, after months of shooting, the crew was crating up its equipment when news arrived of an approaching flood. Lorentz flew to the set and remained at the disaster site for weeks, capturing the most remarkable footage of his career. The movie – which cost $49,500 to make – premiered in New Orleans to an enthusiastic reception. "It could have been filmed as baldly as a subcommittee's report, with charts and graphs and the concomitant speeches of Congressmen," the Times reviewer noted. Instead, it "has an epic quality ... To call it a great documentary does it an injustice. It is a great motion picture." Throughout 1938, The River played before audiences in the United States and Europe, screening in commercial theaters – often as part of a twin-bill with Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The film was awarded the prize for Best Documentary at the Venice Film Festival, defeating Leni Riefenstahl's Olympiad despite the close ties between Mussolini's Italy and Nazi Germany.
In August 1938, Lorentz was named director of the latest New Deal agency, the United States Film Service, which operated under the National Emergency Council, and drew funds from the Works Progress Administration. Intended "to coordinate the activities of the several departments and agencies which relate to the production or distribution of motion picture films," the Service potentially could have economized Washington's propagandistic and educational efforts. But, the agency faced a hostile Congress, which refused to fund it. The partisan, even radical, messages of Plow and The River further dampened enthusiasm. Nevertheless, Lorentz pushed ahead with his new projects, struggling to balance his artistic and official responsibilities. "I'm getting along on four hours sleep," he told a reporter. "I don't know anybody in the business who hasn't got stomach trouble."
So far, Lorentz had completed short documentaries on soil erosion and flooding. For his next project, he chose a feature-length fiction film about the all-too-human subject of unemployment. Again, this issue was timely for the administration, since President Roosevelt was preparing to launch a new campaign against joblessness. To dramatize a national crisis affecting millions, Ecce Homo! would focus on the odyssey of one single character, an out-of-work man referred to only as Worker #7790. The nameless protagonist was merely a prism through which to focus on the nation's vast productive capacities; characteristically, America's "gigantic industrial equipment and the magnificent amount of arable land" were to be the actual stars. In 1939, Lorentz and his crew set to work. Photographers scattered to find suitable locations. Researchers scanned employment and relief statistics. Film crews gathered footage of mass-production at Ford's River Rouge facility, and captured shots showing the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam. But, despite these efforts, funding problems grew insuperable and the project was abandoned. Later, in 1941, Lorentz attempted to revive the picture, with the new title, Name, Age and Occupation, as an RKO production, but again work had to stop. The film was never finished.
When Roosevelt prepared to launch a series of health-care initiatives in 1939, he called on Lorentz and ordered him to turn his attention toward medicine. The director decided to start at the beginning, with childbirth. The Fight For Life focused on the Chicago Maternity Center, an under-funded clinic that cared for poor mothers, and yet produced a better record than many local hospitals. For the first time in his career, Lorentz used professional actors – but only for a few key roles. Most of his dramatis personae were, as always, the American people. "Mothers in the waiting rooms of the Maternity Center," a reviewer wrote, "undernourished children playing dangerously in the streets – the people of the tenements themselves, are the real actors of this film." It premiered in the spring of 1940 to excellent reviews, and followed its predecessors in a wide commercial release.
That same year, however, Congress voted to stop financing the United States Film Service. Lorentz was too busy to pause over the demise of his bureau. The New Deal decade was over, anyway. The 1940s had arrived, and Roosevelt's attention was turning away from domestic reform to focus on the international situation. The war decade had begun, and Lorentz – as always – would be there for his Commander-in-Chief.
In 1943, he received the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and the assignment to lead a specialized flying force, the Overseas Technical Unit, which was tasked to produce briefing films informing pilots of key landmarks along important routes. To compile the footage for this would require an enormous amount of effort, as well as thousands of hours of flight time. Lorentz was given one aircraft, and a skeleton crew. The plane was an obsolete B-24D, nicknamed "Peeping Tom;" the bombardier's post was refashioned for a Mitchel movie camera, and a dark room was installed in the fuselage. During the next three years, "Peeping Tom" logged 425,000 miles, and made 93 crossings of the world's oceans. She traversed the infamous "Hump" – the route over the Himalayas to Kunming, China – six times, and operated in temperatures ranging from 46 below to 137 above, in Alaska and the Persian Gulf, respectively. Twenty thousand military airmen – in the North Atlantic sector alone – watched the films, which proved their value in the most crucial moments. "When a pilot is fatigued from eight hours of flying, has one hour's gas left, is caught in a rainstorm, and doesn't know where the airport is located," Lorentz explained, the briefing reels "keep him alert to terrain and altitude."
Returning to civilian life, Lorentz quickly discovered that – with President Roosevelt dead – his access to high political circles was severely curtailed. It took longer for him to realize, if in fact he ever did, that the most productive years of his career were over. He had a New Deal sensibility, and always would, but now he lived in a Cold War world. Previously, his work had abetted the Administration's political aims. Now, a series of controversies presaged a future in which his voice would be one of opposition and critique.
First, he spliced together millions of feet of historical footage depicting the Nazi regime – from the earliest putsches to the Trial of the Major War Criminals at Nuremberg – into a feature-length documentary called Nuremberg – Its Lesson for Today. Released in West Berlin in 1948, it received the usual applause. But, two years later the government removed its support. The national interest no longer benefited "from frank and vigorous opposition to the Nazis." Germany was now an ally, after all. "As our focus necessarily shifted from Hitlerism to Stalinism," a former official told the Times, all energy had to be devoted to "anti-Communist themes."
For his next Cold War faux pas, Lorentz planned a propaganda film – No Place To Hide – that would depict the dangers of the Hydrogen bomb. The central character was to be a young doctor who had witnessed the atomic tests at Bikini Atoll. "Through his adventures," wrote Lorentz, "movie audiences will understand for the first time, the fundamental truths, and the majestic implications, of the atomic age – the age in which we are living." As in the old days, the director immersed himself in the topic, researching the science and politics of nuclear power. Critics wondered if Lorentz would be able to create a compelling film from the details of "this unpleasant subject." Would "the average movie theater" be interested in screening it? In the event, this question was never answered. By 1952, after four years trying to find funding, Lorentz conceded that the project was so unpopular that he hadn't been able to "raise two dollars and a half."
As the decades passed, The Plow and The River remained politically controversial, even as their quality as films gained ever more acclaim. In 1977, Radio Station KDKA, in Pittsburgh, broadcast an interview with a man claiming to have been an FBI agent in the 1930s. On-air, he named Lorentz as a Communist; and not just any Communist: he "was one of the biggest communists in Hollywood." Lorentz sued for damages, eventually receiving a check for $25,000 and a written apology, acknowledging "the distinguished list of [his] lifetime accomplishments which clearly demonstrates [his] outstanding record as an American citizen." A minor incident, perhaps, but it reflected a larger historical trend: the man whom a President considered the most patriotic of filmmakers was, a few decades later, decried as a disloyal traitor.
In his later years, Lorentz grew increasingly dissatisfied with the nation's progress. He was also critical of the medium he had helped pioneer, complaining about "the familiar disease of 'talking heads.'" Other directors, in his view, had confused unsightliness for naturalism. "A lot of guys go out with their cameras," he said, "they take a series of ugly pictures, they slap vocal captions on them against a background of harsh music and call them films of reality." Lorentz himself continued to envision radical projects, factual films that would explain unpleasant truths to skeptical audiences. "If I were making documentaries now," he said when he was in his 80s, "I'd like to see how bad the sludge in New York harbor is, see where the radiation is coming from."
Pare Lorentz died in March 1992; he was 86 years old.
Ecce Homo was Lorentz's first attempt at a feature-length fiction film. It began as a radio play, first broadcast on the CBS channel in 1938. The narrative centers around four unemployed workers from the four corners of the United States who met at a filling station in Kansas. One by one, each of the men delivers a monologue about conditions in his home state, while regional music plays in the background. The radio play was supposed to be the forerunner of a feature-length film. Lorentz and his staff conducted extensive research for the production. They studied production practices at Ford's River Rouge factory, gathered information on jobless Americans and relief organizations. Filming began in 1939, but was hampered by a lack of funds. By 1941, with much of the industrial images captured, and the name changed to Name, Age and Occupation, production began again. The picture was never completed, but much of the footage proved useful to government propaganda efforts during World War II.
The correspondence concerns the process of fundraising and shooting, as well as the details of Lorentz's long struggle to complete the film. The scripts include both drafts for the original radio play, as well as the full-length treatment for the feature film.
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The shooting notes in this subseries document the shot-by-shot progress of production.
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Some of the still photographs depict the actors and filmmakers at work. But the majority consists of 8x10-inch shots, mounted on cardboard, depicting scenes from across the Midwest during the Great Depression. The images, most of which were taken by Edwin Locke, focus on industrial production, cityscapes, streetscapes, and landscapes. They were used as research for the film.
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Lorentz's last major completed film, The Fight For Life is the story of the Chicago Maternity Clinic, a progressive but under-funded healthcare facility that achieved heroic results for Chicago's working-class families. The movie features three professional actors, but the rest of the people who appear are patients and nurses of the center.
This subseries contains notes and records related to the film's screenings in various cities. There are many press clippings, mainly movie reviews.
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These files contain extensive documentation of the production process. The production script notes were removed from their original binders.
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Some of the still photographs filed here were taken on set, others come from the film itself, and a third group was used by Lorentz for research while he was writing the screenplay.
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The Plow That Broke The Plains was Pare Lorentz's first effort as a director. A half-hour-long documentary with orchestral music and a portentous narration, the film dramatizes the plight of American farmers and extols the efforts of President Roosevelt's New Deal. The film was made under the aegis of the Resettlement Administration – the name would soon change to the better-known Farm Security Administration – an ambitious agency that hoped to encourage farmers to move from dust bowl areas to ecologically stable land. The film premiered in March 1936, in a special presentation before Roosevelt in the White House.
After initially struggling to generate enthusiasm for his film, Lorentz eventually packed his picture into suitcases and traveled the nation, appealing directly to reporters and theater owners. These reviews and feature stories, clipped from newspapers and magazines, are the result of that effort.
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These folders contain booking forms and records, notes on distribution.
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The stills in this subseries include photos of the crew working on location.
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In June 1936, Lorentz pitched the idea for his second film, The River. In his original conception, the documentary would follow a single drop of water as it flowed from the source of the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, the words and images would depict the social, ecological, and economic life of the Mississippi Valley, which at the time was home to more than half of the nation's population. Later, he scrapped the original idea of tracing the river's length and instead based the action around the tributaries flowing into the main stream. One of the main themes of the film is humanity's careless stewardship of the river, which had led to serious erosion and flooding. The first screening was held in New Orleans in October 1937.
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This subseries contains press reviews, distribution materials, shooting record from production and screening.
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These folders contain research materials used by Lorentz to write the screenplay and choose locations.
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Some of these are stills from the movie, while others were used for research.
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This series contains materials related to some of Lorentz's other film projects.
Stills and correspondence related toThe City(1939). Lorentz wrote the screenplay, but the picture was directed by Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke, both of whom had previously worked with Lorentz as cinematographers. The film was commissioned by the American Institute of Planners and first aired at the 1939 World's Fair in New York. Like earlier efforts, The City had a message. In this case, it was the perils of city life. It stressed the purity of rural and village living and stressed the beneficial effects of increased suburban housing.
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In 1946, the Allied Control Council agreed to produce a documentary film on the Nuremberg Trials. Two million feet of captured German film were scattered through the United States. Lorentz took responsibility for compiling the footage into a coherent whole. He created a 75-minute film, entitled "Nuremberg – Its Lesson Today." Shown in commercial theaters in the U.S. Zone in Berlin, to great acclaim, it was pulled from circulation when the Cold War changed the focus of American foreign policy. Materials include correspondence, clippings, and a "brief explanation" of the project.
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Lorentz envisioned this as "a gentle comedy" about the relations between North and South America. He hoped to work with Cantinflas, whom he described as "the greatest star in Latin-America." Materials include correspondence, clippings, and distribution plans.
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A screenplay Lorentz wrote on the behest of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The files consist of correspondence and research, as well as screenplay drafts.
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Some materials related to other film projects, includingThe Land, My Brother's Keeper,andThe Face of the Earth,an environmental documentary.
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A large collection of still photographs taken by John Vachon, an acclaimed New Deal era shooter. Most of the pictures depict the American Northwest.
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This series contains Pare Lorentz's office files, as well as files from organizations and businesses with which he was associated, including RKO Pictures and the Resettlement Administration. These records consist mainly of expense reports and general correspondence. They are arranged alphabetically. The date ranges may not always be exact. They are taken from labels on Lorentz's file drawers, rather than from the content of individual folders.
After Congress ceased funding the U.S. Film Service, Lorentz signed a two-picture deal with RKO. Here is correspondence and files related to that experience.
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These files contain some records from New Deal agencies, including the Resettlement Administration and the Farm Security Administration, as well as personal records from Lorentz's business transactions.
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Box 75 Folder 41 to 46
Box 76 Folder 1 to 28
Box 76 Folder 29
Box 76 Folder 30 to 31
Box 77 Folder f.1 to 4
The files from the U.S. Film Service contain office records, as well as correspondence with contributors to the government effort to document American conditions during the Great Depression. U.S. Film Service files are located here, but researchers should note that they are also scattered throughout this series.
Box 78 Folder 1 to 2
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Box 81 Folder 1 to 6
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Box 82 Folder 1 to 7
Box 82 Folder 8 to 15
Box 83 Folder 1 to 12
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. This subseries contains clippings, correspondence, and expense reports.
Box 86 Folder 1
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Box 89 Folder 1 to 25
Box 90 Folder 1 to 13
Most of these records deal with the various federal agencies with which Lorentz collaborated.
Box 91 Folder 1
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Box 103 Folder 40
Box 103 Folder 41
Box 104 Folder 1
Box 104 Folder 2
Box 104 Folder 3 to 4
Box 104 Folder 5
Box 104 Folder 6
Box 104 Folder 7 to 8
Box 104 Folder 9
Box 104 Folder 10
Box 104 Folder 11 to 12
Box 104 Folder 13
Box 105 Folder 1 to 4
Box 105 Folder 5
Box 105 Folder 6
Box 105 Folder 7
Box 105 Folder 8 to 10
Box 105 Folder 11
Box 105 Folder 12
Box 106 Folder 1
Box 106 Folder 2 to 6
Box 106 Folder 7
Box 106 Folder 8
Box 106 Folder 9
Box 106 Folder 10
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Box 106 Folder 17
Box 106 Folder 18
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Box 106 Folder 21
Box 106 Folder 22
Box 106 Folder 23
Box 106 Folder 24
Box 106 Folder 25
Box 106 Folder 26
Box 107 Folder 1
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Box 107 Folder 3
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Box 107 Folder 5
Box 107 Folder 6
Box 107 Folder 7
Box 107 Folder 8
Box 107 Folder 9
Box 107 Folder 10
Box 107 Folder 11
Box 107 Folder 12
Box 107 Folder 13
Box 107 Folder 14
Box 107 Folder 15
Box 107 Folder 16
Box 107 Folder 17
Box 107 Folder 18
Box 107 Folder 19
Box 107 Folder 20 to 25
Box 107 Folder 26
Box 107 Folder 27
Box 108 Folder 1
Box 108 Folder 2
Box 108 Folder 3 to 5
Box 108 Folder 6
Box 108 Folder 7
Box 108 Folder 8
Box 108 Folder 9 to 11
Box 108 Folder 12
Box 109 Folder 1
Box 109 Folder 2
Box 109 Folder 3
Box 109 Folder 4
Box 109 Folder 5
Box 109 Folder 6 to 7
Box 109 Folder 8
Box 109 Folder 9
Box 109 Folder 10 to 13
Box 109 Folder 14
Box 110 Folder 1
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Box 110 Folder 6
Box 110 Folder 7
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Box 110 Folder 12
Box 111 Folder 1 to 2
Box 111 Folder 3
Box 111 Folder 4 to 5
Box 111 Folder 6 to 8
Box 111 Folder 9 to 25
Box 112 Folder 1
Box 112 Folder 2
Box 112 Folder 3 to 12
These folders contain expense accounts, ledgers, billing, and other records relating to Lorentz's personal production company.
Box 113 Folder 1
Box 114 Folder 1
Box 114 Folder 2
Box 114 Folder 3
Box 114 Folder 4
Box 114 Folder 5
Box 114 Folder 6
Box 115 Folder 1
Box 115 Folder 2
Box 115 Folder 3
Box 115 Folder 4 to 5
Box 116 Folder 1
Box 116 Folder 2
Box 117 Folder 1
Box 117 Folder 2
Box 117 Folder 3
Box 118 Folder 1 to 5
Box 119 Folder 1 to 11
Box 120 Folder 1
Box 120 Folder 2 to 7
Box 120 Folder 8
Box 120 Folder 9 to 10
Correspondence and research on assorted subjects, including an inquiry into the state of the Latin American film industry, as well as correspondence with Hubert Humphrey, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Eugene McCarthy.
Box 121 Folder 1
Box 121 Folder 2
Box 121 Folder 3
Box 121 Folder 4
Box 121 Folder 5
Box 121 Folder 6
Box 121 Folder 7
Box 121 Folder 8
Box 121 Folder 9
Box 121 Folder 10
Box 121 Folder 11
Box 121 Folder 12
Box 121 Folder 13
Box 121 Folder 14
Box 121 Folder 15
Box 121 Folder 16
Box 121 Folder 17
Box 121 Folder 18
Box 122 Folder 1
Box 122 Folder 2
Box 122 Folder 3
Box 122 Folder 4
Box 122 Folder 5
Box 122 Folder 6
Box 122 Folder 7
Box 122 Folder 8
Box 122 Folder 9
Box 122 Folder 10
Box 122 Folder 11
Box 122 Folder 12
Box 122 Folder 13
Box 122 Folder 14
Box 122 Folder 15
Box 122 Folder 16
Box 122 Folder 17
Box 122 Folder 18
Box 122 Folder 19
Box 122 Folder 20
Box 123 Folder 1
Box 123 Folder 2
Box 123 Folder 3
Box 123 Folder 4
Box 123 Folder 5
Box 123 Folder 6
Box 123 Folder 7
Box 123 Folder 8
Box 123 Folder 9
Box 123 Folder 10 to 11
Box 123 Folder 12
Box 123 Folder 13
Box 123 Folder 14
Box 123 Folder 15
Box 123 Folder 16
Box 123 Folder 17
Box 123 Folder 18
Box 123 Folder 19
Box 123 Folder 20
Box 124 Folder 1
Box 124 Folder 2
Box 124 Folder 3
Box 124 Folder 4
Box 124 Folder 5
Box 124 Folder 6
Box 124 Folder 7
Box 124 Folder 8
Box 124 Folder 9
Box 124 Folder 10
Box 124 Folder 11
Box 124 Folder 12
Box 124 Folder 13 to 14
Box 124 Folder 15
Box 124 Folder 16
Box 124 Folder 17
Box 125 Folder 1
Box 125 Folder 2
Box 125 Folder 3
Box 125 Folder 4
Box 125 Folder 5
Box 125 Folder 6
Box 125 Folder 7
Box 125 Folder 8
Box 125 Folder 9
Box 125 Folder 10
Box 125 Folder 11
Box 125 Folder 12
Box 125 Folder 13
Box 125 Folder 14
Box 126
Box 126 Folder 1
Box 126 Folder 2
Box 126 Folder 3
Box 126 Folder 4
Box 126 Folder 5
Box 126 Folder 6
Box 126 Folder 7
Box 126 Folder 8
Box 126 Folder 9
Box 126 Folder 10
Box 126 Folder 11
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Box 126 Folder 16
Box 126 Folder 17
Box 126 Folder 18
Box 126 Folder 19
Box 126 Folder 20
Box 126 Folder 21
Box 126 Folder 22
Box 126 Folder 23
Box 126 Folder 24
Box 126 Folder 25
Box 126 Folder 26
Box 126 Folder 27
During World War II, Lorentz directed the Overseas Technical Unit, which was detailed to gather footage to help American pilots spot landmarks and airstrips around the world. This series has maps, correspondence, journals, and photographs. It also contains scripts from several of the briefing films that were produced as guides for different routes. Large format Air Corps photos depict Africa, Iran, Arabia, India, Morocco, Egypt, Libya, Iceland, Labrador, England, and Scotland. Others are in France or unidentified.
Box 127 Folder 1
Box 128 Folder 1
Box 128 Folder 2 to 11
Box 128 Folder 12
Box 129 Folder 1
Box 129 Folder 2
Box 129 Folder 3
Box 129 Folder 4
Box 129 Folder 5
Box 129 Folder 6
Box 129 Folder 7 to 8
Box 129 Folder 9
Box 130 Folder 1 to 6
Box 131 Folder 1 to 3
Box 131 Folder 4 to 8
Box 132 Folder 1 to 6
Box 132 Folder 7
Box 132 Folder 8 to 16
Box 133 Folder 1
Box 133 Folder 2
Box 133 Folder 3 to 6
Box 134 Folder 1 to 5
Box 135 Folder 1
Box 135 Folder 2
Box 135 Folder 3
Box 135 Folder 4
Box 135 Folder 5
Box 135 Folder 6
Box 135 Folder 7
Box 136 Folder 1
Box 136 Folder 2
Box 136 Folder 3
Box 136 Folder 4
Box 136 Folder 5
Box 136 Folder 6
Box 136 Folder 7
Box 136 Folder 8
Box 136 Folder 9
Box 136 Folder 10
Box 136 Folder 11
Box 136 Folder 12
Box 136 Folder 13
Box 137 Folder 1
Box 137 Folder 2
Box 137 Folder 3 to 4
Box 137 Folder 5
Box 138 Folder 1
Box 138 Folder 2
Box 138 Folder 3
Box 138 Folder 4
Box 139 Folder 1
Box 139 Folder 2
Box 139 Folder 3
Box 139 Folder 4
Box 139 Folder 5
Box 139 Folder 6
Box 139 Folder 7
Box 140
Box 140 Folder 1
Box 140 Folder 2
Box 140 Folder 3
Box 140 Folder 4
Box 140 Folder 5
Box 140 Folder 6
Box 140 Folder 7
Box 140 Folder 8
Box 140 Folder 9
Box 140 Folder 10
Box 140 Folder 11
Box 140 Folder 12
Box 140 Folder 13
Box 141 Folder 1 to 4
Box 142 Folder 1 to 4
Box 187 Folder 1-8
Karen Consolini worked for Pare and Elizabeth Lorentz as their private chef. She would help Lorentz and Tom Radko organize projects and files. These photographs were found by her daughter when looking through her mother's belongings.
Some of the photographs have Lorentz's handwriting and some have labels.
Gift of Marella Consolini, 2022
This series contains files related to films and other work concerned with the issues of nuclear weaponry and atomic warfare.
Research, drafts, and correspondence for an article Lorentz wrote for McCall's in 1957 are contained in these folders.
Box 143 Folder 1
Box 143 Folder 2 to 5
Box 143 Folder 6
Box 144 Folder 1
Box 144 Folder 2 to 4
Box 144 Folder 5 to 6
Box 144 Folder 7 to 8
Box 144 Folder 9
Lorentz pictured this as a film about the dangers of the Hydrogen Bomb. "This is a motion picture," he explained, "that presents in dramatic form everything of importance concerning the atomic bomb and atomic energy that can be told the general public. It is not a scare movie, nor is it a propaganda film." After years spent trying to find funding, he had to abandon the project. The files contain correspondence, research, and screenplay drafts.
Box 145 Folder 1
Box 145 Folder 2
Box 145 Folder 3
Box 145 Folder 4
Box 145 Folder 5
Box 145 Folder 6
Box 145 Folder 7
Box 145 Folder 8
Box 145 Folder 9
Box 145 Folder 10
Box 145 Folder 11 to 12
Box 145 Folder 13
Box 145 Folder 14
Box 145 Folder 15
Box 146 Folder 1
Box 146 Folder 2 to 3
Box 146 Folder 4
Box 146 Folder 5
Box 146 Folder 6
Box 146 Folder 7
Box 146 Folder 8 to 9
Box 146 Folder 10
Box 146 Folder 11
Box 146 Folder 12
Box 146 Folder 13
Box 146 Folder 14
Box 146 Folder 15
Box 146 Folder 16
Box 147 Folder 1 to 4
Box 147 Folder 5
Box 147 Folder 6 to 9
Box 147 Folder 10
Box 147 Folder 11
Box 148 Folder 1 to 2
Box 148 Folder 3
Box 148 Folder 4
Box 148 Folder 5 to 7
Box 148 Folder 8
Box 148 Folder 9
Box 148 Folder 10
Box 148 Folder 11
Box 149 Folder 1 to 2
Box 149 Folder 3 to 4
Box 149 Folder 5
These papers contain correspondence, congressional reports, publications, conference notes, and government studies of nuclear fallout in Hiroshima and Nagisaki.
Box 149 Folder 6
Box 150 Folder 1
Box 150 Folder 2
Box 150 Folder 3
Box 150 Folder 4
Box 150 Folder 5
Box 150 Folder 6 to 7
Box 150 Folder 8
Box 150 Folder 9
Box 150 Folder 10
Box 150 Folder 11
Box 150 Folder 12
Box 151 Folder 1
Box 151 Folder 2
Box 151 Folder 3
Box 151 Folder 4
Box 151 Folder 5
Box 151 Folder 6
Box 151 Folder 7 to 8
Box 152 Folder 1
Box 152 Folder 2 to 3
Box 152 Folder 4
Box 152 Folder 5
Box 152 Folder 6
Box 152 Folder 7
1958
Box 152 Folder 8 to 9
Box 152 Folder 10
Box 153 Folder 1
Box 153 Folder 2
Box 153 Folder 3
Box 153 Folder 4 to 5
Box 153 Folder 6
Box 153 Folder 7
Box 154 Folder 1
Box 154 Folder 2 to 3
Box 154 Folder 4 to 6
Box 155 Folder 1 to 2
Box 155 Folder 3 to 4
Box 155 Folder 5 to 6
Box 156 Folder 1 to 2
Box 157 Folder 1
Box 157 Folder 2
Box 157 Folder 3
Box 157 Folder 4
Box 157 Folder 5
Box 157 Folder 6
Box 157 Folder 7
Box 158 Folder 1
Box 158 Folder 2
Box 158 Folder 3
Box 158 Folder 4 to 5
Box 158 Folder 6
Box 158 Folder 7
Box 159 Folder 1
Box 159 Folder 2
Box 159 Folder 3
Lorentz had a long-running collaboration with the editors at McCall's, having contributed film reviews to the magazine since the mid-1930s. In 1937, his lyrical essay about the flooding of the Mississippi – a piece of writing that eventually became the narration for The River – initially appeared there as a lead editorial. In the spring of 1941, he helped edit a series of special issues dedicated to questions of national defense. As usual, he was in stride with the needs of the administration in Washington, D.C., which was transitioning from domestic reforms to international preparedness.
This subseries contains expense accounts, reader responses, reprint requests, and correspondence.
Box 160 Folder 1 to 6
Box 160 Folder 7
Box 160 Folder 8
Box 160 Folder 9
Box 160 Folder 10 to 14
Box 161 Folder 1 to 2
Box 161 Folder 3
Box 161 Folder 4
Box 161 Folder 5
Box 161 Folder 6
Box 161 Folder 7 to 28
Box 161 Folder 29 to 38
Box 161 Folder 39 to 59
Box 162 Folder 1 to 23
. Drafts and clippings of articles inMcCall's,mostly related to homefront issues in the lead up to the war, are held in these folders.
Box 162 Folder 24
Box 162 Folder 25
Box 162 Folder 26
Box 162 Folder 27
Box 162 Folder 28
Box 162 Folder 29
Box 162 Folder 30
Box 162 Folder 31
Box 163 Folder 1 to 2
Box 163 Folder 3
Box 163 Folder 4
Box 163 Folder 5
Box 163 Folder 6
Box 164 Folder 1
Box 164 Folder 2
Box 164 Folder 3
Box 164 Folder 4
Box 164 Folder 5
Box 164 Folder 6
Box 164 Folder 7
Box 165 Folder 1
Box 165 Folder 2
Box 165 Folder 3
Box 165 Folder 4
Box 165 Folder 5
Box 165 Folder 6
Box 165 Folder 7
Box 165 Folder 8
Box 165 Folder 9
Box 165 Folder 10
Box 165 Folder 11
Box 165 Folder 12
Box 165 Folder 13
This subseries contains sources and background information for magazine articles.
Box 165 Folder 14 to 15
Box 166 Folder 1 to 15
Box 166 Folder 16 to 25
Box 167 Folder 1 to 9
This subseries contains copy material from Lorentz's own journalistic works.
Box 167 Folder 10 to 10
Box 168 Folder 1 to 4
Box 168 Folder 5
Box 168 Folder 6
Volumes of the magazine, flagged occasionally to mark Lorentz's articles, are contained in this subseries.
Box 169 Folder 1 to 3
Box 170 Folder 1 to 7
This series contains other materials, including personal correspondence, files, and records spanning Lorentz's entire career.
. There is some correspondence here between Lorentz and Jogn Steinbeck, as well as material related to Lorentz's chapter on his relationship with Steinbeck for his autobiography, FDR's Moviemaker. Letters between Lorentz and Elizabeth Meyer, his second wife, appear here. The Frederic Delano folders contain correspondence between Delano – uncle to the President – and his acquaintances, not with Lorentz himself.
Box 171 Folder 1
Box 171 Folder 2
Box 171 Folder 3 to 4
Box 171 Folder 5
Box 17 Folder 2
Box 172 Folder 1 to 13
Box 173 Folder 1
Box 173 Folder 2
November 1920
Box 173 Folder 3
1921
Box 173 Folder 4 to 11
1922, (8 Folders)
Box 173 Folder 12 to 19
1923, (8 Folders)
Box 174 Folder 1 to 7
1924, (7 Folders)
Box 174 Folder 8 to 17
1925, (10 Folders)
Box 174 Folder 18 to 23
1926, (6 Folders)
Box 175 Folder 1 to 9
1927, (9 Folders)
Box 175 Folder 10 to 19
1928, (10 Folders)
Box 175 Folder 20 to 28
1929, (9 Folders)
Box 176 Folder 1 to 8
1930, (8 Folders)
Box 176 Folder 9 to 13
1931, (5 Folders)
Box 176 Folder 14 to 17
1932, (4 Folders)
Box 176 Folder 18
1933
Box 176 Folder 19
1934
Box 176 Folder 20
1935-1936
Box 176 Folder 21
1939
In 1977, Radio Station KDKA in Pittsburgh broadcast an interview with a man who claimed to have been an undercover FBI-agent during the New Deal. This agent, who referred to himself as "Dominic," named Lorentz as a Communist. Lorentz sued the station. During the trial it was revealed that "Dominic" was in fact Joseph Mazzei, a man with a "criminal record" and a history of perjury, whom the U.S. Supreme Court had already diagnosed with a "pathological condition." Westinghouse, KDKA's parent company sent Lorentz a check for $25,000 and a written apology, acknowledging "the distinguished list of your lifetime accomplishments which clearly demonstrates your outstanding record as an American citizen." Contains trial transcripts, court records, and correspondence.
Box 177 Folder 1
Box 177 Folder 2
Box 177 Folder 3
Box 177 Folder 4
Box 177 Folder 5
Box 177 Folder 6 to 7
Box 177 Folder 8
Box 177 Folder 9
Box 177 Folder 10
Box 177 Folder 11
Box 177 Folder 12
Box 177 Folder 13
Box 177 Folder 14
Box 177 Folder 15
Box 177 Folder 16
Box 177 Folder 17
Box 177 Folder 18
Box 178 Folder 1
Box 178 Folder 2
Box 178 Folder 3 to 4
Box 178 Folder 5
Box 178 Folder 6
Box 179 Folder 1
Box 179 Folder 2
Box 179 Folder 3
Box 179 Folder 4
Box 179 Folder 5
Box 179 Folder 6
Box 179 Folder 7
Box 179 Folder 8 to 10
This subseries contains papers and correspondence related to various public events, including "The Conference that Never Was Held." A planned international summit to discuss global issues that was cancelled after President Roosevelt died. Fifty years later it finally occurred as the Rio conference.
Box 180 Folder 1
Box 180 Folder 2
Box 180 Folder 3
Box 180 Folder 4
Box 180 Folder 5
Box 180 Folder 6
Box 181 Folder 1 to 3
Box 181 Folder 4 to 5
Box 181 Folder 6
Box 181 Folder 7
Box 181 Folder 8
Box 181 Folder 9
Box 182 Folder 1
Box 182 Folder 2
Includes several dissertations and masters theses on Lorentz, including the various works by Robert Snyder. Also located here is an oral history interview from the 1970s, and Lest We Forget a genealogical pamphlet written by Lorentz's "aunt" Bess. Some letters are from fifth graders who wrote Lorentz to tell them how much they enjoyed a classroom viewing ofThe River.
Box 182 Folder 3
Box 182 Folder 4
Box 182 Folder 5 to 6
Box 183 Folder 1
Box 183 Folder 2
Box 183 Folder 3
Box 183 Folder 4
Box 183 Folder 5
Box 184 Folder 1
Box 184 Folder 2
Box 17 Folder 1
. This subseries contains notes and accounting records related to a proposed project to trace Franklin Roosevelt's daily movements over the course of his presidency.
Box 184 Folder 3
Box 184 Folder 4 to 5
Box 184 Folder 6 to 7
Box 185 Folder 1
Box 185 Folder 2
These records include a screenplay for the film,Citizen Kane.
Box 185 Folder 3
Box 185 Folder 4
This series contains digitized images of negatives from the 1930s. Many are frames from Lorentz' movies, including the famous "Day Walk/Night Walk" sequences from Fight For Life. Others are still photos taken on set. Some were originally stills taken by photographers from the Farm Security Administration, the Resettlement Administration, and the U.S. Film Service.