A Guide to the Walter Lanier "Red" Barber Papers and Book Collection
Finding aid created by Joyce Dewsbury and Virginia Williams
University of Florida Smathers Libraries - Special and Area Studies Collections
February 2008
Descriptive Summary |
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| Provenance: | Barber, Red 1908- | |
| Title: | Walter Lanier "Red" Barber Papers and Book Collection | |
| Dates: | 1925-1992 | |
| Abstract: | Scrapbooks, correspondence, photographs documenting the life of Red Barber and the history of sports and broadcasting. | |
| Extent: | 19.5 linear feet. (47 boxes) | |
| Identification: | MS Group 71 | |
Biographical/Historical Note
Walter Lanier "Red" Barber is a legend in the field of sports broadcasting. He began his career sixty-one years ago while studying English education at the University of Florida. In his junior year, while filling in for a reporter on the University's radio station WRUF, Barber realized that broadcasting was the profession he would pursue. He left school in 1930 to accept a full-time job announcing for WRUF where he worked for four years. In 1934, when the Cincinnati Reds decided to air their games on radio, Red Barber accepted his first major league broadcasting job doing play-by-play announcing. It was in Cincinnati that Red Barber announced the first night baseball game. Five years later, in 1939, he accepted an announcing job with the Brooklyn Dodgers where he worked for fifteen years. In 1954 Barber left the Dodgers to work for the New York Yankees. He broadcasted the Yankees' baseball games until 1966.
During his sportscasting career, Barber covered thirteen World Series, four all-star games, five Army-Navy games, one Sugar Bowl, two Rose Bowls, eight Orange Bowls, and four National Football League championship games. When he was appointed Director of Sports at CBS Radio in 1946, he created their unique "Football Roundup" coverage. From 1951 to 1955, Barber also served as Counselor on Sports for CBS.
In 1978 Barber won the first Ford C. Frick Award for Broadcasting Excellence and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. In 1979 he was given a Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of Florida and a Gold Award by the Florida Association of Broadcasters. In the same year he was also inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame. Barber retired from sportscasting in 1972, but returned to radio as a sports commentator in 1980. He also was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio's "Morning Edition." Red Barber lived in Tallahassee, Florida, from 1974 until his death in 1992.
Scope and Content
The Walter Lanier "Red" Barber Papers include scrapbooks, correspondence, manuscripts, memorabilia, photographs, and visual materials from the 1920s through 1990. The thirty-one scrapbooks include magazine and newspaper clippings concerning articles about Red Barber, articles in which his name is mentioned, his column entitled "Redhead's Mailbag," programs, announcements, notices, and certificates such as one entitled "Citation for Bravery" for a "Rattlesnake Roundup". They document the period from 1925-1961. There are also many loose clippings now contained in archival folders which cover the period from 1961-1990.
One of these scrapbooks, Volume 31, should be mentioned because of its content. This scrapbook contains the record of the Red Cross Campaign in March, 1944 and was presented to "Red" Barber, the campaign chairman, as a memento of a job well done. The publisher of the Brooklyn Eagle, Frank D. Schroth, has his name inscribed under the acknowledgement.
On December 19, 1943 Red Barber was asked and accepted the chairmanship of the Red Cross War Fund drive in Brooklyn. The quota set for the borough was $3,331,000 nearly twice that of 1943.
Prior to and throughout the fund drive various articles and photographs appeared in the Brooklyn Eagle detailing the progress of the fund drive, the aides involved, calls for volunteers, and various human interest stories. On March 1, 1944, for instance, a long article and several photos appeared in the paper to herald the start of the campaign. Occasionally photos were included in the newspaper showing scenes of men wounded in action with articles concerning the need for Red Cross care back of the lines. One of the articles is captioned "Children's Pennies Spur Oldsters in Red Cross Fund Campaign". The photo accompanying the article pictures Red Barber with three children who are members of the Junior Commandos of the Sea Gate. One of them presents Red Barber with a check for $10 for the War Fund appeal - the entire treasury of the group apparently.
The correspondence covers the years 1966-1990 and contains letters to Red Barber from friends, colleagues, and ardent fans who listened to his broadcasts. The manuscript files include early drafts, revisions, and manuscripts of his books The Broadcasters, Show Me The Way To Go Home, and Walk in the Spirit as well as copies of the University of Southern Mississippi Oral History Program's interview with Mr. Barber dated 1974.
The memorabilia files contain playbills, press pass cards, programs, public relations' commentaries about Red Barber, the August 29, 1970 University of Florida Commencement Convocation program at which an honorary degree "Doctor of Letters" was conferred on Walter L. Barber, and the actual degree. The photographs cover a range of subjects such as family, broadcasting, and awards. There are photographs of WRUF chronicling the start of Barber's career in radio broadcasting at the University of Florida. Photographs also document special events such as Barber's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame and a meeting of well-known sports broadcasters with President Reagan at the White House.
Access or Use Restrictions
Access
Collection is open for research.
Related or Separated Material
Along with the papers, Barber has given the University of Florida Libraries some 600 books dealing with the world of sports. Understandably, the majority of titles, including several by Mr. Barber himself, feature baseball. From the A's to the Yanks, the collection holds histories of teams and biographies of players, managers, and even umpires. There are also books about numbers, year-by-year statistics and their explanations in baseball dictionaries and directories.
Other books explore the wider symbolic relations of man and his sports: The Nazi Olympics, Sport and the Spirit of Play in American Fiction, The Boys of Summer, Good Clean Violence. Besides baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and other team sports, this collection includes works on individual sports such as boxing, tennis, skiing, fishing, and golf. There are biographies and memoirs of sports broadcasters and descriptions of the interactions between the business and the sports worlds.
Many of the books are inscribed to Red Barber by their authors; others were sent to him by publishers for his comments and review. All are a tribute to the wide interests and many friendships of this broadcasting legend. They now form a unique core collection for the University of Florida Libraries and the Department of Special Collections.
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Walter Lanier "Red" Barber Collection, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Acquisition Information
In January 1990, Mr. Barber donated his papers and collection of sports-related books to the Department of Special Collections of the University of Florida Libraries.
Contents List
Clippings |
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Box 1-3 |
Volumes 1-10. 1925-1939 |
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| Volumes 11-16. 1940-1947 | |||||||||||||
| Volumes 17-31 - Unboxed. 1942-1961 | |||||||||||||
| Loose. 1961-1990 | |||||||||||||
Manuscripts |
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Box 12 |
Manuscripts |
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Box 13 |
Manuscripts |
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Box 14 |
Manuscripts |
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Box 15 |
Manuscripts |
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Memorabilia |
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Box 16 |
Memorabilia |
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Box 17 |
Memorabilia |
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Box 18 |
Memorabilia |
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Box 19 |
Memorabilia |
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Box 20 |
Memorabilia |
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For further information, please contact: Special Collections Access Services.
