Counselor, special advisor, director of communications, and speech writer to U.S. Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton. Gergen has also worked as a journalist, serving as Editor-at-large of U.S. News and World Report and as a regular analyst on the "MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour" and the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." A native of Durham, N.C., Gergen graduated from Yale University and the Harvard Law School and served for three-and-a-half years in the U.S. Navy. The collection includes materials from Gergen's career in politics as well as his journalism career. Among his political materials are presidential campaign materials for the 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984 elections; subject files; office memos; chronological files and telephone logs; daily planners; and legal and financial papers; as well as drafts and transcripts of Gergen's and other's speeches. The collection includes 86 black-and-white and color photographs, 16 audio cassettes; and 106 video cassettes. Other materials document his journalism career, including editorials, interoffice memos, and other U.S. News and World Report documents; financial and subject files relating to his work as an analyst on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour; speeches; correspondence, chronological files, and telephone logs; and financial papers. The addition contains 445 electronic computer files; 5 color and 40 black-and-white photographs; 16 slides; and 82 video cassettes; as well as 35 audio cassettes. The audio and video cassettes include interviews with Richard Nixon and Ross Perot.

This collection (74,159 items, dated 1964-1999) documents David Gergen's professional life as a speech writer, director of communications, and special counsel for U.S. Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon and for Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Reagan. The materials include presidential campaign materials for the 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984 elections; subject files; office memos; chronological files and telephone logs; daily planners; and legal and financial papers; as well as drafts and transcripts of Gergen's and other's speeches. The collection includes 86 black-and-white and color photographs, 16 audio cassettes; and 106 video cassettes. (2000-0356)

The addition (47,269 items, dated 1987-1996) continues to document David Gergen's involvement in national politics, as both Counselor and Special Advisor to President Clinton from 1993 to 1995, and as a journalist. Materials include editorials, interoffice memos, and otherU.S. News and World Report documents; financial and subject files relating to his work as an analyst on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour; speeches; correspondence, chronological files, and telephone logs; and financial papers. The addition contains 445 electronic computer files; 5 color and 40 black-and-white photographs; 16 slides; and 82 video cassettes; as well as 35 audio cassettes. The audio and video cassettes include interviews with Richard Nixon and Ross Perot. (2000-0415)

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (JCPES) is a nonprofit American research and public policy institution, or think tank, founded in 1970 to aid black elected officials in creating effective policy and successfully serve their constituents. The collection includes subject files, writings, publications, photographs, audiovisual materials, and electronic records pertaining to JCPES events, programs, and projects especially of concern to African Americans in the late 20th century. Collection acquired as part of the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture.

The collection is comprised of administrative records for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and includes correspondence, memoranda, budgets, funding reports, publications, policy research studies, conference materials, photographs, audiovisual media, and electronic records. Areas of study include healthcare, HIV/AIDS, minority business, television violence, young fathers, education, and minority community representation.

Among its many publications, JCPES published FOCUS magazine from 1972 to 2011, which covered national issues for an audience largely comprised of black elected officials (BEOs). The collection also includes oral histories of Joint Center founders and influencers, interview transcripts, an extensive history of JCPES, materials from the The Joint Center South Africa office which provided post-Apartheid political assistance activities, and original Southern Regional Council publications.

Other materials include interviews/oral histories with founders Louis Martin, educator Kenneth B. Clark who was the first African American president of the American Psychological Association; and McGeorge Bundy, who served as United States National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson on foreign and defense policy from 1961 through 1966. Interviews and transcripts that add historical perspective to African American issues are conversations with Southern black mayors; African American architect and social activist Carl Anthony; and Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine.

Conferences included forums, roundtables, and speeches from notable figures, elected officials, and congressional members including Maya Angelou, Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Edward Brooke, Ron Brown, Carol Moseley Braun, George H.W. Bush, Barbara Bush, Henry Cisneros, Shirley Chisholm, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Charles Diggs, John Hope Franklin, Jesse Jackson, Maynard Jackson, Valerie Jarrett, Barbara Jordan, Vernon Jordan, Jack Kemp, Coretta Scott King, John Lewis, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Barack Obama, Colin Powell, Charles Rangel, Ronald Reagan, Kasim Reed, Condoleezza Rice, Susan Rice, Donna Shalala, Rodney Slater, Doug Wilder, and Andrew Young. Joint Center historical notes compiled by Darlene Clark Hine are included, as well as Juan Williams' historical publication The Joint Center: Portrait of a Black Think Tank. The files and speeches of Joint Center past presidents Eddie N. Williams; Togo West, Jr.; Ralph Everett, Esq.; and past vice president Eleanor Farrar add insight to the Joint Center's mission of illuminating concerns and trends affecting 20th century African Americans to the legislative influencers most able to effect change.