Guide to the Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. Papers, 1937-1961
Processed by Rosemary Evetts
The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu
© 1996
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Note
Social Sciences --Business and Economics History --History, United States (excluding California)
Guide to the Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. Papers, 1937-1961
Collection number: BANC MSS 88/205 c
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Contact Information:
- Processed by:
- Rosemary Evetts
- Date Completed:
- 1989
- Encoded by:
- Alvin D. Pollock
© 1996 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Collection Summary
Collection Title: Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1937-1961
Collection Number: BANC MSS 88/205 c
Collector:
Kaiser, Henry J., 1917-1961
Extent:
Number of containers: 8 cartons, 1 portfolio
Linear feet: 10
Repository: The
Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract: Collection contains business and personal correspondence, speeches, subject files.
Languages Represented:
English
Information for Researchers
Access
The collection is open for use.
Publication Rights
Copyright has been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must
be submitted in writing to the Head of the Manuscripts Division. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft
Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which
must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. papers, BANC MSS 88/205 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley.
Materials Cataloged Separately
- Photographs have been transferred to Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library.
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
The Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. Papers, 1937-1961, were donated to The Bancroft Library, October 21, 1987 by Henry J. Kaiser III.
Biography
Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. was born February 18, 1917 at Everett, Washington. He received his early schooling in the Oakland, Californiapublic school system. A 1940 graduate of Stanford University, he was a member of the Kaiser organization's policy-making team, along with his father, Henry, Sr., his brother, Edgar, and
Eugene E. Trefethen.
From 1939 through 1951 he moved from one coast to another, largely as demanded by the Kaiser companies tremendous war time
efforts. His first job with the Kaiser Companies was in San Jose, Californiaas project engineer during the building of the Permanente Cement Plant. He participated in the largest and fastest production
of ships in world history, accomplished by the Kaiser shipyards during World War II. He was administrative manager of one
of these yards at Richmond, California, where 30,000 workers turned out 368 Liberty and Victory ships for the war effort. During the same war period, he was administrative
manager of the Kaiser Steel plant at Fontana, California and later took over direction and reorganization of the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation at Bristol, Pennsylvania. This was at the request of the U.S. Navy, which was striving to unsnarl production lines for its Corsair fighter planes. Although
only 26 at the time, Kaiser took charge of the Brewster operation, which had a dismal record of production failures and labor
strife. Seven managers had preceded him and total production of the critically needed Navy plane during the previous month
was only four aircraft. Under his direction, a total of 127 planes was turned out within the next three months and production
rose to a peak of 123 per month in less than a year.
The following year, 1944, an even greater and more personal challenge was dealt him. While in charge of the Kaiser-operated
Denver and Fontana artillery shell plants, he was afflicted with multiple sclerosis. Rather than submit to a prescribed program
of rest, Henry characteristically plunged into a program of intensive physical therapy, continuing his full work-day schedule.
After the war, Kaiser moved to Los Angeles to manage the Kaiser-Frazier division of Kaiser Motors Corporation. In 1951 he transferred to the Oakland offices of the Kaiser organization to take a more active role in overall management,
and in 1954 he assumed responsibility for Kaiser Companies' worldwide public relations program.
He developed into a popular motivational speaker on a variety of topics--education, public relations, faith, personal and
societal values, and, of course, multiple sclerosis. Many of his speeches were published in a variety of magazines, among
them Reader's Digest and Guideposts, or printed as leaflets by the Kaiser Companies for later distribution.
He was a recipient of the 1959 George Washington Honor Medal, presented by the Valley Forge Freedom Foundationsfor his
contribution to the nation's spiritual values. Also in 1959 he was chosen Education Association Layman of the Year by the Alameda County (Calif.) Education Association and in 1960 was named Oakland's Outstanding Citizen of the Year. He held an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Portland, Oregon.
Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. served as chairman of Oakland's Public Advisory Committee on Education (PACE). He was a director of the National Safety Council, and the California Safety Foundation, and chairman of the Oakland Workreation Committee. He served as chairman of the Division of Parish Day Schools, Department of Education of the Episcopal Diocese of California. In addition, he was a member of the board of directors of the Oakland Museums Association. He was western vice-president of the American Public Relations Association and a member of the Public Relations Society of America.He belonged to the Claremont Country Club, San Francisco's Press & Union Club,and the Jonathan Club of Los Angeles, among others.
Kaiser was married twice. Two daughters, Janie Leeand Marylou resulted from his first marriage to Jane Walkup. Remarried in 1947 to the former Barbara Preininger, they had one son, Henry J. Kaiser III.
Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. died May 3, 1961 in Oakland, California. He was entombed in the Mountain View Cemetery Mausoleum.
Scope and Content
The Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. Papers contains personal and business correspondence, interoffice memoranda, speeches, and personal
papers. It also contains the files of an Oakland education advocacy group, the Public Advisory Committee on Education (PACE),of which Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. was chair.
Correspondence, the bulk of the collection, covers both personal and business matters. Since public relations was his responsibility
at Kaiser, much of the correspondence with Kaiser Company employees was on that topic, notably Chandler Young, H. Walton Cloke,
Chad F. Calhoun, and Lambreth
HandyHancock, among other public relations people.
Several of his principal correspondents were personal friends: Jack Mullin, a Kaiser employee not involved in public relations;
Virgil Pinkley, a southern California newspaper publisher; Edward Truman, a Hollywood musician; and William S. Long, a southern
California business executive. Their letters primarily concern personal affairs, but Kaiser reveals details of his roles in
various Kaiser companies. During the war years, Mullin, Long, and Varick
Vic Martin served in the armed forces and their letters to Kaiser describe that experience.
As a result of the Kaiser family search for medical answers to Henry Kaiser, Jr.'s illness and subsequent endowment of a research
clinic, he also corresponded with several medical men: Herman Kabat, first director of the Kaiser-Kabat Institute, O. Leonard
Huddleston and Sidney H. Garfield, both later associated with Kaiser Foundation Institute, and Tracy J. Putnam, a professor
of neurology.
Kaiser was an active Episcopalian and corresponded with several church or religious leaders on diverse topics. Among these
were J. C. F. Merrifield, and William H. Siegmund, both Episcopal lay leaders. There are some incidental letters from a variety
of well-known persons: Richard Nixon, Herbert Hoover, Norman Vincent Peale, Gary Cooper, Bob Hope, George Romney, and Goodwin
J. Knight, among others.
The collection also contains Kaiser's published and unpublished speeches, in draft and manuscript form, as well as copies
of the leaflets which the Kaiser Companies printed for private distribution. There is biographical material about him as well
as other members of the family and miscellaneous family documents. The subject files are concerned with various civic interests
of Kaiser's, particularly Oakland's Public Advisory Committee on Education (PACE).
In addition, the collection contains interoffice memoranda, primarily from 1960, from various Kaiser employees concerning
the activities of different Kaiser companies. Also included is correspondence and interoffice memoranda concerning the 1957
industrial preview and inauguration of a nuclear reactor, designed and built by the Henry J. Kaiser Company at Idaho Falls,
Idaho.
Cartons 1-2
SERIES 1: OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE, 1941-1961.
Scope and Content Note
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
Personal and business correspondence of Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. Letters to members of his family appear before letters to other
individuals. Correspondence also appears in series 6, in the files of the Public Advisory Committee on Education (PACE) and
in series 7, the Atomic Energy Commission, Engineering Test Reactor, Idaho Falls, Idaho, 1957.
LETTERS TO FAMILY MEMBERS.
LETTERS TO VARIOUS INDIVIDUALS.
Cartons 3-5
SERIES 2. INCOMING CORRESPONDENCE, 1941-1961.
Scope and Content Note
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent, and then chronologically.
Personal and business letters received by Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. Correspondence from members of his family appear before letters
from other individuals. Correspondence also appears in series 6, in the files of the Public Advisory Committee on Education
(PACE) and in series 7, the Atomic Energy Commission, Engineering Test Reactor, Idaho Falls, Idaho, 1957.
LETTERS FROM FAMILY MEMBERS, 1941-1960.
Ctn. 3, folder 1
Henry J. Kaiser, 1882-
1942-1957
folder 3-6
Edgar Fosburg Kaiser, 1908-1981
1941-1960
LETTERS FROM SPECIFIC INDIVIDUALS, 1942-1961.
folder 9
Beaumont, William G.
1956-1960
folder 10
Bartholomew, Frank H.
1954-1957
folder 12
Bedford, Timothy A.
1943-1958
folder 13
Block, Karl Morgan
1951-1957
folder 15
Boy Scouts of America
1952-1959
folder 16
Browning, F. H.
1943-1944
folder 19
Cadman, Paul Fletcher, 1889-1946
1943-1945
folder 21
Carrington, Richard Adams, Jr.
1950-1957
folder 22
Chandler, Norman, b.1899
1950-1958
folder 23
Cloke, H. Walton
1951-1961
folder 24
Conway, Thomas J.
1943-1958
folder 25
Cottrell, Virginia
1952-1954
folder 26
Cummings, Elizabeth
1943-1959
folder 27
Dagwell, Benjamin D.
1949-1954
folder 28
Davis, Julian R.
1951-1959
folder 29
Day, Charles H.
1942-1943
folder 30
Dealey, George Bannerman, 1859-1946
1942-1944
folder 31
De Chellis, Robert
1953-1957
folder 32
De Kruif, Paul, 1890-1971
1943-1956
folder 33
Elliott, Robert C.
1944-1960
folder 34
Farrell, Walter R.
1943-1957
folder 36
Fifield, James W.
1950-1958
folder 37
Francis, Vincent A.
1955-1959
folder 38
Garfield, Sidney R.
1942-1960
folder 43
Guthrie, William
1943-1946
folder 45
Hancock, Lambreth, 1917-
1943-1958
folder 46
Harlan, Harriette
1953-1958
folder 47
Heiner, Albert P., 1915-
1944-1959
folder 48
Herrick, Jean C.
1951-1957
folder 49
Hickingbotham, Howard
1942-1955
folder 50
Hinkle, Ralph Voorhees
1952-1957
folder 51
Hoffman, Jean A.
1947-1957
folder 53
Hoyt, William Reed
1957-1960
folder 54
Huddleston, Ora Leonard
1947-1956
folder 55
Hughes, John B.
1942-1945
folder 56
Jensen, Georg, Inc.
1956-1957
folder 57
Johnson, Gordon
1949-1959
folder 58
Johnson, S. E. (Sherman Elbridge), 1908-
1951-1952
folder 60
Jones, Tracy K.
1956-1958
folder 61
Kabat, Herman, 1913-
1946-1953
folder 62
Keene, Clifford H., d.1984
1954-1959
folder 63
Knight, Goodwin Jess, 1896-1970
1948-1960
folder 68
Lindbergh, H. V.
1943-1957
folder 69
Lindsey, William B.
1950-1954
folder 70
Long, William S.
1949-1961
folder 73
MacDiamid, E. Wallace
1951-1959
folder 74
Machin Shirt Company
1946-1957
folder 75
Magnin, Edgar F.
1950-1956
folder 78
Marrin, Paul S.
1942-1956
folder 79
Marsh, Wallace A.
1953-1961
folder 81
Merrifield, J. C. F.
1950-1959
folder 82
Mott, William Penn, Jr.
1954-1961
folder 83
Motley, Arthur H.
1943-1946
folder 87
O'Connor, Basil
1950-1958
folder 90
Pendleton, Morris B.
1950-1960
folder 91
Pinkley, Virgil
1950-1960
folder 92
Pollard, William H.
1942-1960
folder 2
Preininger family
1951-1960
folder 4
Putnam, Tracy Jackson
1943-1958
folder 6
Reynolds, Earl S.
1942-1959
folder 8
Shapiro, Sidney
1943-1953
folder 9
Sherwood, G. G.
1942-1951
folder 10
Siegmund, William H.
1950-1961
folder 13
Struble, William
1942-1957
folder 14
Swig, Benjamin Harrison
1958-1961
folder 15
Thompson, Wayne E.
1954-1961
folder 16
Trefethen, Eugene Edgar, Jr.
1942-1959
folder 19
Washburn, Benjamin M.
1949-1957
folder 21
Weintraub, William H.
1948-1959
folder 23
Wintersteen, John H.
1953-1957
LETTERS FROM VARIOUS INDIVIDUALS, 1942-1961.
folder 28
Anspach-Ayersinger
1943-1960
folder 35
Cahill-Cavanaugh
1942-1960
folder 43
Gaertner-Glover
1942-1960
folder 45
Haagensen-Hazeltine
1942-1960
folder 46
Heckscher-Hirtle
1943-1959
folder 47
Hobson-Hutchinson
1942-1961
folder 4
Lachman-Lazanich
1944-1961
folder 5
League-Livingstone
1942-1960
folder 7
McAllister-Mazzera
1942-1961
folder 8
Meacham-Mittelberg
1942-1960
folder 10
Naftzger-Nutter
1942-1960
folder 14
Rabeck-Reynolds
1942-1960
folder 15
Rhine-Rittenour
1943-1960
folder 17
Sackstun-Schwarz
1942-1961
folder 18
Seaborg-Slusser
1942-1961
folder 22
Toaspern-Twyeffort
1942-1961
folder 24
Wainerdi-Wewerka
1942-1960
folder 27
Multiple correspondents
n.d.
folder 28
Unidentified surnames
1942-1957
folder 29
Illegible signatures
1943-1950
Carton 6, folders 1-20
SERIES 3. CORRESPONDENCE NEITHER TO NOR FROM HENRY J. KAISER, JR., 1942-1961.
Scope and Content Note
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by name of writer, and then chronologically.
Primarily For-Your-Information copies between other Kaiser employees, or concerning arrangements for his appearances or his
own personal business affairs.
Ctn. 6, folder 1
From Barbara Kaiser
1953-1957
folder 3
From Jane Kaiser
1942-1945
folder 4
From Edgar Fosburg Kaiser, 1908-1981
1949-1961
folder 5
From Henry J. Kaiser, 1882-
1942-1961
folder 6
From Bill Struble
1942-1948
Carton 6, folders 21-33
SERIES 4. SPEECHES, 1942-1961.
Scope and Content Note
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
These include annotated drafts and manuscripts of published and unpublished speeches.
folder 32
Poetry source material for speeches
n.d.
folder 33
Published speeches
1952-1960
Carton 6, folders 34-46; Carton 7, folders 1-7
SERIES 5. PERSONAL PAPERS, 1937-1961.
Scope and Content Note
Arrangement
Arranged by subject.
Includes biographical information on Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. and information about other family members, as well as activities
and interests of Kaiser, Jr. Two folders of personal memorabilia include certificates, programs, house plans, Christmas scripts,
and other miscellaneous items. Also included is his appointment calendar from 1950 to 1961 and financial and legal documents.
Ctn. 6, folder 34
Biographical information
1937-1961
folder 35
Medical history
ca. 1947-1958
folder 40
Articles about Henry J. Kaiser, Jr.
1948-1961
folder 41
Henry J. Kaiser Jr.'s written reminiscence about Henry J. Kaiser, Sr.
n.d.
folder 42
Henry J. Kaiser III birth announcement
1953
folder 43
Bess Kaiser funeral services
1951
folder 44
Property at Lake Tahoe- Fleur du Lac
1960-1962
folder 45-46
Personal memorabilia
1938-1961
folder 7
Legal documents
1947-1961
Carton 7, folders 8-20
SERIES 6. SUBJECT FILES, ca. 1946-1961.
Scope and Content Note
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically.
Contains information concerning interests of Henry J. Kaiser, Jr., particularly the Public Advisory Committee on Education
(PACE), the Kabat-Kaiser Institute, and Oakland's Workreation Program. Also includes correspondence of the Public Advisory
Committee on Education.
Ctn. 7, folder 8
Citizens Council for Better Schools
1959
folder 9
Kabat-Kaiser Institute
ca.1946-1954
folder 10
Parish day school
1954-1955
folder 11
Public Advisory Committee on Education (PACE)--general information
1959-1961
folder 13
PACE minutes of executive meetings
1960-1961
folder 14-17
PACE correspondence
1959-1961
folder 18
PACE benefit preview
1961
folder 21
PACE community relations
1960
Ctn. 8, folder 1-2
PACE fundraising
1960-1961
folder 3
PACE news releases
1960-1961
folder 7
PACE speeches & statements
1960-1961
folder 8
Workreation program
1954-1955
Carton 8, folders 10-27
SERIES 7. KAISER COMPANIES, 1946-1960.
Scope and Content Note
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by the name of the company or division.
Largely interoffice memoranda from various Kaiser employees concerning activities of different Kaiser companies, primarily
from 1960. The folder of press releases dates from 1946 to 1962.
Ctn. 8, folder 9
Henry J. Kaiser Company
1960
folder 10
Kaiser Aircraft and Electronics Division
1960
folder 11
Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation
1960
folder 20
Kaiser Gypsum Company, Inc.
1960
folder 21
Kaiser Industries Corporation
1960
folder 22
Kaiser Metal Products
1960
folder 23
Kaiser companies press releases
1946-1962
folder 25
Kaiser Steel Corporation
1960
folder 26
Kaiser Steel Corporation monthly reports
1960
Carton 8, folders 28-36
SERIES 8. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION. ENGINEERING TEST REACTOR IDAHO FALLS, IDAHO, 1957.
Scope and Content Note
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by name of writer.
Contains correspondence and interoffice memoranda concerning the industrial preview and inauguration of this nuclear reactor
designed and constructed by the Henry J. Kaiser Company. It also contains the printed preview program.
Ctn. 8, folder 27
Correspondence from A-B
1957
folder 28
Correspondence from C
1957
folder 29
Correspondence from F
1957
folder 30
Correspondence from G-H-J-K-L
1957
folder 31
Correspondence from M-Y
1957
folder 32
Interoffice memos from B-D
1957
folder 33
Interoffice memos from F
1957
folder 34
Interoffice memos from G-T
1957