Correspondence (General) Series, 1956-1968

Scope and content:

This series, the largest in the collection, runs from the 85th Congress, first session, 1957, through the 90th Congress, second session, 1968. Included is correspondence to and from Whitener's constituents. Some of the letters were written by his administrative assistant, Herbert M. Lineberger. The papers are organized by Congress and session, and then alphabetically within each session by name of correspondent. In some cases Whitener's office held material together about a certain person in the folder for the letter of the alphabet for his name, regardless of the correspondents involved. For example, there may be letters about Mr. Capps in the "C" folder, which were written by various persons. There are a few subject folders included in the alphabetical arrangement. Items within the folders are filed chronologically.

In addition to constituent mail, Whitener corresponded with prominent persons. Representative people are Sam Ervin, Thad Eure, Orville Freeman, Luther Hodges, J. Edgar Hoover, Hubert Humphrey, Lyndon Johnson, B. Everett Jordan, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Dan K. Moore, Admiral Hyman Rickover, Terry Sanford, Sargent Shriver, and Strom Thurmond. Several letters appear in this series for each of the above correspondents. Please consult the Autograph File of the card catalog for a detailed listing of these letters.

A variety of topics appear throughout the series. Particularly in the late 1960s the themes of the Vietnam War, civil rights legislation, riots, crime legislation, gun control, and foreign aid appear often in constituent's letters. In 1968 some constituents were urging Whitener to run for governor of North Carolina. The papers go primarily through October, 1968.

Extensive, although conservative, weeding was done in this series. The decision to weed was made because of the large proportion of routine material included. Approximately one-third of this series was discarded. The following is a list of the types of Items that were weeded out:

  • 1. Claims for individual Social Security benefits
  • 2. Passport and visa applications
  • 3. Individual immigration change of status requests
  • 4. Requests for prison paroles
  • 5. Routine congratulatory letters, except from prominent persons
  • 6. Routine job applications and resumes
  • 7. Correspondence concerning visits of school groups to Washington
  • 8. Expressions of sympathy
  • 9. Congratulations to new parents
  • 10. Welcome letters to new residents of Gastonia, N. C.
  • 11. Routine requests for government publications, flags, photographs, etc.
  • 12. Admissions of individual patients to hospitals and rehabilitation facilities
  • 13. Recalls and discharges from military service
  • 14. Individual income tax returns
  • 15. Tickets for athletic events
  • 16. Applications for individual Farmers Home Administration (FHA) loans
  • 17. Applications for enlistments and discharges from various branches of the military
  • 18. Duplicate copies of speeches, reports, memoranda, etc.

Contents

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Collection restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Use & permissions:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. Digitized documents are made available by Duke University Libraries for the purpose of research, teaching, and private study. For all other uses, such as commercial uses, researchers must contact the Rubenstein Library to request permission.

Digitized materials from this collection are made available for use in research, teaching and private study. The digital reproductions have been made available through an evaluation of public domain status, permissions from the rights' holders, and authorization under the law including fair use as codified in 17 U.S.C. ยง 107. Although these materials are publicly accessible for these limited purposes, they may not all be in the public domain. Users are responsible for determining if permission for re-use is necessary and for obtaining such permission. Individuals who have concerns about online access to specific content should contact the Rubenstein Library.

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