Flynn, Francis Marion (1903-1974), Papers, 1920-1975 (C3812)

1 linear foot

INTRODUCTION

Papers of a New York City newspaper executive and graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. The collection has correspondence, clippings, speeches, in-house publications, pamphlets, and photographs from Flynn's tenure at the Japan Advertiser Press and the New York Daily News.

DONOR INFORMATION

The Flynn Papers were donated to the University of Missouri by Margaret F.M. Davis on 9 June 1987 (Accession No. 4776).

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Francis Marion Flynn was born in Mt. Ayr, Iowa, on 25 January 1903. He lived in Iowa with his family until coming to the University of Missouri in Columbia. The Flynn family moved to Columbia also. In 1924 Flynn received his bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

Flynn worked for E.W. Stephens's Publishing Company in Columbia from 1924 to 1926 and then travelled to Japan to work at the Japan Advertiser Press. After three years in Japan, Flynn came back to the United States and started working for the New York Daily News and then went to the Detroit Mirror for two years. Once the Mirror ceased publication, Flynn went back to the New York Daily News, where he spent the next forty years in various positions.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

These papers contain many different materials. Letters from Richard M. Nixon, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy to Francis M. (Jack) Flynn dominate the collection's correspondence. The letters usually center on the New York Daily News editorials during the 1950s and 1960s.

The collection has issues of the in-house publication, News Pix, which was published every month "for those who shape The News, New York's Picture Newspaper." Additionally, there are three folders of photographs showing Flynn at various functions with personalities in entertainment, politics, and sports.

Missing from the collection is personal correspondence from the periods of the 1940s through the 1960s.

FOLDER LIST

f. 1-34Correspondence, 1927-1975. Letters to Francis M. Flynn from presidents, businessmen, employees, and associates. Some of the correspondence is from Japan and China. Flynn writes to Walter Williams, dean of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism. He also receives letters from Richard M. Nixon, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Nelson Rockefeller. There are Christmas cards within the folders.
f. 3Letter to Walter Williams while in Japan.
f. 10President Dwight D. Eisenhower invites Flynn to a stag dinner.
f. 16Senator John F. Kennedy writes to Flynn to explain the Labor Management Act of 1959.
f. 18Vice-President Richard M. Nixon thanks Flynn for help during campaign.
f. 21Thank-you letter to Flynn from Jacqueline Kennedy.
f. 22-23Sympathy notes written to Flynn concerning death of his son, Jack, in an American Airlines crash on 8 November 1965.
f. 26President-elect Richard M. Nixon writes to Flynn.
f. 33Christmas card from Premier and Mrs. Chiang Ching-Kuo.
f. 35-64Clippings, 1928-1966. Clippings of events in Japan, China, and the United States. There are advertisements, editorials, and news clippings of Flynn's endeavors and associations. During World War II, the clippings paid attention to salvaging and rationing of the time.
f. 65-70Speeches, 1948-1960. Speeches of Flynn given to organizations like the American Television Society Lunch, the National Industrial Conference Board, and the Department of Communication Arts at Fordham University.
f. 71-83Issues of the in-house publication, News Pix, which detail the work lives of the Daily News employees, 1946-1963. There are photos, features, and columns. This is an internal publication used to boost morale.
f. 84-98Miscellaneous brochures, handbooks, and magazines, 1920s-1962.
f. 99-101Photographs, 1946-1967. Photographs of Flynn participating in many activities and meeting famous people.
f. 99Two undated photographs of Flynn and Spiro Agnew.
f. 99aPhotos of Harry S Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Flynn.
f. 100Includes pictures of Robert Goulet, Elmer Ellis, Hedda Hopper, Arlene Dahl, and President Lyndon B. Johnson.
f. 101Photographs of the Duke of Windsor, William Westmoreland, Gloria Swanson, and Flynn.

INDEX TERMS

These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.

  • Agnew, Spiro Theodore
  • Automobiles, 1920s
  • E.W. Stephens Publishing Company, Columbia, Missouri
  • Eisenhower, Dwight David
  • Flynn, Francis Marion (1903-1974)
  • Japan--Foreign relations--China, 1930s
  • Johnson, Lyndon Baines (1908-1973)
  • Journalism
  • Journalism, Japan
  • Kennedy, Jacqueline Bouvier (1929-1994)
  • Kennedy, John Fitzgerald (1917-1963)
  • Motorcycles, 1920s
  • Motorcycles, 1920s
  • New York Daily News
  • Newspapers, New York
  • Nixon, Richard Milhous (1913-1994)
  • Presidents, U.S.
  • Trucks, 1920s
  • Truman, Harry S. (1884-1972)
  • University of Missouri, School of Journalism
  • Williams, Walter
  • Windsor, Edward, Duke of