PUBLIC "-//University of Virginia::Library::Special Collections Dept.//TEXT (US::ViU::viu01888::Oron J. "Pat" Hale Papers)//EN" "viu01888.xml" A Guide to the Oron J. Hale PapersHale, Oron J., Papers 12800 Special Collections, University of Virginia Library © 2009 By the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. All rights reserved.

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Machine-readable finding aid derived from WordPerfect. [Date of source: 1997. Description is in English. Feb 18, 2004 PUBLIC "-//University of Virginia::Library::Special Collections Dept.//TEXT (US::ViU::viu01888::Oron J. "Pat" Hale Papers)//EN" "viu01888.xml" converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Feb 27, 2004 converted to conform to eadVIVA.dtd by vivastrict.xsl A Guide to the Oron J. Hale Papers A Collection in Special Collections The University of Virginia Library 12800

Special Collections, University of Virginia Library 2009 Special Collections Staff Special Collections, University of Virginia Library Descriptive Summary Special Collections, University of Virginia Library Oron J. Hale Papers 1891-1991 12800 ca. 18,000 items English Estate of Oron J. "Pat" Hale Administrative Information Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

 Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

 Preferred Citation

Oron J. Hale Papers, 1891-1991, Accession #12800, 12800-a, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

 Acquisition Information

The collection is a bequest from the Estate of Oron James Hale.

 Biographical Sketch

Oron James ("Pat") Hale, Corcoran Professor of History at the University of Virginia, was a member of the history department from 1929 until his retirement in 1972. He was born the second son of William Robert and Frances I. (Putnam) Hale on July 29, 1902 in Goldendale, Washington, and was called "Pat" throughout his life. He graduated cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in 1925 from the University of Washington in Seattle and later earned an M.A. (1928) and a Ph.D. (1930) at the University of Pennsylvannia in Philadelphia.

Hale's scholarly research in Europe on diplomacy and the press was pursued in the late 1920s and early 1930s in London, Paris, Berlin, and Munich where he, together with his wife Annette Van Winkle Hale whom he had married on August 7, 1929, experienced firsthand the rise of Hitler and the advent of National Socialism that drove Europe and eventually the United States to war. Hale, commissioned in the rank of Major in 1942, served with the Intelligence Division of the War Department General Staff in Washington and in 1945, with the end of hostilities, participated in a special mission of the War Department's Historical (Shuster) Commission in Germany interrogating the surviving political and military leaders of the defeated Third Reich, including such notables as Goering, Keitel, Doenitz, Ribbentrop, Rosenberg, Ley, Jodl, and von Papen.

Hale's return to Charlottesville in 1946 as Professor of European History was short-lived. In 1950, he was back in Germany to serve first as Deputy Commissioner (to George Shuster) and then as Commissioner for Bavaria under the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, John J. McCloy, whose task it was to phase out the U.S. military occupation as Germany moved toward the restoration of its sovereignty.

Shortly after resuming his academic career at the University of Virginia (1952), Hale became chairman of the history department (1955-1962) and was instrumental in the development of a special fellowship program and history professorship that led to the appointment of his old friend and former University of Virginia colleague, Dumas Malone to serve as the first holder of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation chair. Also during this period, Hale helped organize and establish within the Southern Historical Association, the European History Section, which he chaired in 1958-1959 and, within the American Historical Association, the Committee on War Documents which he chaired in 1957 and again in 1964 when it incorporated into the Conference Group for Central European History. A highlight of Hale's involvement with the War Documents Committee was the leadership he provided in the committee's successful effort to have millions of captured Nazi government documents, then stored in the United States, declassified and microfilmed prior to their being returned to the German Federal Republic.

After resigning the department chairmanship in 1962, Hale was appointed to the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton, New Jersey (1963-1964) and then served as visiting summer professor at Harvard, Duke, and the Universities of Missouri and North Carolina. In 1965, he became William W. Corcoran Professor of History at the University of Virginia where he continued his work while caring for his wife, Anne, until her death in 1968.

Hale was the author of numerous articles, commentaries, and reviews on matters of German history. He was a regular contributor to The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Journal of Modern History, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,The Journal of Central European Affairs,The American Historical Review, and The Richmond Times-Dispatch. His books include: Germany and the Diplomatic Revolution, 1904-1906 (Awarded the "George Louis Beer" prize of the American Historical Association in 1931); Publicity and Diplomacy, 1890-1914 (1940); The Captive Press in the Third Reich (Winner of the "Polk Award" in journalism in 1964); and The Great Illusion, 1900-1914 (published as part of the William L. Langer, series, Rise of Modern Europe, 1971).

In recognition of his academic achievements and government service, Hale received the Outstanding Civilian Award from the U.S. Department of the Army, 1964; the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the German Federal Republic, 1969; the Thomas Jefferson Award from the University of Virginia, 1969; an honorary Litt.D. from Hampden-Sydney College, 1958; and in 1986, a "Festschrift" of original essays published in his honor by his former graduate students.

In July 1970, Hale remarried to a long time friend, Virginia Zehmer. Despite a stroke suffered in 1973 and the implantation of a pacemaker, Hale kept busy in retirement traveling, hunting, playing golf, refurbishing ancestral gravesites, and being involved in the social activities at his residence community in Richmond. In his late years, he again devoted himself to the care of his wife, Virginia, who died in 1989--three years before he was to succumb on July 19, 1991. He is buried in the University of Virginia Cemetery in Charlottesville.

 Scope and Content

The collection contains ca. 18,000 items (15 shelf feet) and consists of personal letters, office correspondence, and records relating to Hale's academic activities and associations; declassified copies of intelligence reports and data, together with routine correspondence, memoranda, and administrative documents affiliated with his government service in Germany; manuscript drafts and copies of his published writings; genealogical data; photographs (ca. 2000 items) of family members, friends, and travel scenery; and personal miscellanea.

Interesting documents within the collection groupings include: (I) Correspondence: Hale's 1945 letters to his wife reporting on the aftermath of Germany's defeat in his vivid descriptions of the devastation of cities and towns they had lived in or had visited before the war and of the suffering being experienced by their old friends and colleagues. (II) Academia: A series of "Oral History" interviews that Hale gave to Charles Moran of the University of Virginia in 1976 that focus on his academic career and his government service and that reflect on the historically dramatic events with which he was involved. (III) Government Service: Copies of the U.S. War Department 's 1945 interrogation reports of high-ranking former German officials (some 22 of whom Hale interviewed) who set forth, from their personal perspectives, fascinating accounts and analyses about the war, its conduct, Hitler's leadership, and the reasons for Germany's defeat; State (Land) Commissioner of Bavaria office documents of the period 1950-1952 that give some flavor of Hale's role in implementing the United States policy of introducing and nurturing democratic concepts among the defeated German populace. (IV) Publications: German documents that served as a basis for published articles by Hale that include a copy of an memorandum regarding the biological future of the German people written by Martin Bormann, Nazi leader and Hitler's private sectretary; a 1923 copy of a letter of admonishment to Adolf Hitler from Gottfried Feder, Nazi Party economist; and photostatic copies of Hitler's tax returns which had been maintained in the Munich Finance Office from 1925-1935 and which were later part of the documents seized by the Allies during the war. (VII) Miscellany: Anne Hale's diary of pre-war Germany in which she records the attitudes and behavior of the German people in the period of rising Nazi power; memorabilia that include copies of Nazi SS documents pertaining to some of the security measures taken to protect Hitler following the assassination attempt on his life of July 20, 1940; a copy of a 1947 letter that Rudolph Hess wrote to his sister from his jail cell; and a variety of documents and letters bearing original and facsimile signatures, including those of Hitler, Ribbentrop, Albert Einstein, and Robert Oppenheimer .

 Container List Group I: Correspondence Correspondence 1926-1949 Box 1 (4 folders) Correspondence 1950-1960 Box 1 (1 of 4 folders) Correspondence 1950-1960 Box 2 (2-4 of 4 folders) Correspondence 1961-1964 Box 2 (2 folders) Correspondence 1965-1987 Box 3 (7 folders) Correspondence 1988-1991, n.d. Box 4 (5 folders) Selected Correspondence--Alderman, Edwin A. 1929 Box 5 Selected Correspondence--Biemiller, Andrew J. 1929-1980, n.d. Box 5 Selected Correspondence--Boyd, Julian and Grace 1928-1986, n.d. Box 5 Selected Correspondence--Bullack, Sarah Otis 1927-1940, n.d. Box 5 Selected Correspondence--Cadbury, George W. 1939-1990, n.d. Box 5 Selected Correspondence--Carruthers, E. I. 1929 Box 5 Selected Correspondence--Darden, Colgate W. 1950 Box 5 Selected Correspondence--deWitt, Thomas E. J. 1970-1990 Box 5 Selected Correspondence--Donaghay, Marie 1968, 1990 Box 5 Selected Correspondence--Edgar, James H. 1967-1986, n.d. Box 5 Selected Correspondence--Farnsworth, Robert 1970-1978 Box 5 Selected Correspondence--Geldard, Frank and Jeanette 1984 Box 5 Selected Correspondence--Hale, Anne 1926-1962, n.d. Box 5 (2 folders) Selected Correspondence--Hale, Henry E., II 1934-1946, n.d. Box 5 Selected Correspondence--Hale, Jean E. 1984-1990, n.d. Box 5 Selected Correspondence--Hale, Nathan 1981-1984 Box 5 Selected Correspondence--Hale, Peter R. 1983-1990, n.d. Box 5 Selected Correspondence--Halstead, Charles 1959-1977 Box 6 Selected Correspondence--Helm, David A. 1966-1989, n.d. Box 6 Selected Correspondence--Heusinger, Adolf and family 1947-1990, n.d. Box 6 Selected Correspondence--Hughes, Thomas 1951-1989, n.d. Box 6 Selected Correspondence--Keen, George 1983-1984 Box 6 Selected Correspondence--Kennett, Lee 1955-1971, n.d. Box 6 Selected Correspondence--Kraehe, Enno E. 1979-1990 Box 6 Selected Correspondence--Langer, William L. 1961-1982, n.d. Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Layton, Roland V., Jr. 1962-1989 Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Lichtenberger, Vera 1975-1991 Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Lingelbach, William E. 1950-1952 Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Loewenstein, Hubertus Prince 1937-1958 Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Malone, Dumas 1929 Box 7 Selected Correspondence--McCloy, John J. 1951-1986 Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Nelson, Kenneth R. and family 1963-1987 Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Newcomb, John L. 1932-1946 Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Putnam family 1912-1976, n.d. Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Ritsch, Frederick J., Jr. 1957-1982 Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Ritter, Harry 1969-1988 Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Rivlin, Alice M. 1975-1984 Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Shannon, Edgar F., Jr. 1969 Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Shryock, Richard H. and family 1950-1989 Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Shumate, Daniel 1952, 1986-1990 Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Shuster, George N. 1945-1952 Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Snead, Rayner V., Jr. 1974-1986, n.d. Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Spillner family 1933-1949 Box 7 Selected Correspondence--Wilcox, Larry D. 1968-1986, n.d. Box 7 Group II: Academia American Historical Association--Bibliographical Services (Oron J. Hale, Chairman) 1966-1967 Box 8 American Historical Association--Committee on War Documents--Correspondence and Operational Records ca. 1955-1981, n.d. Box 8 (1-5 of 14 folders) American Historical Association--Committee on War Documents--Correspondence and Operational Records ca. 1955-1981, n.d. Boxes 9-10 (6-14 of 14 folders) American Historical Association--Conference Group for Central European History-- Organization and "The First Two Years" (Oron J. Hale, Secretary-Treasurer) 1957-1960 Box 11 American Historical Association--Conference Group for Central European History-- Records and Correspondence 1957-1989 Box 11 (3 folders) American Historical Association--Conference Group for Central European History-- Program Committee (Oron J. Hale, Chairman)--Correspondence and Miscellaneous Records 1954-1956 Box 11 American Historical Association--Conference Group for Central European History-- Program Committee (Oron J. Hale, Chairman)--Kennan Session 1955 Box 11 American Historical Association--Conference Group for Central European History-- Program Committee (Oron J. Hale, Chairman)--Stavrianos "Mess" 1955 Box 11 American Historical Association--Conference Group for Central European History-- Program Committee (Oron J. Hale, Chairman)--Toynbee Session 1955 Box 11 American Historical Association--Conference Group for Central European History-- Program Committee (Oron J. Hale, Chairman)--Committee Chairmanship Aftermath 1955-1957 Box 11 Army, Department of--Historical Advisory Committee--Oron J. Hale Membership 1953-1972, n.d. Box 12 (2 folders) Conferences (Oron J. Hale Participation)--Civil-Military Relations Conference, Ohio State University 1959 Box 12 Conferences (Oron J. Hale Participation)--Faculty Christian Conference, Montreat, North Carolina 1950, 1957-1958 Box 12 Conferences (Oron J. Hale Participation)--George Marshall Library, Lexington, Virginia 1975-1976 Box 12 Conferences (Oron J. Hale Participation)--Georgetown History Forum, Washington, D.C. 1975 Box 12 Conferences (Oron J. Hale Participation)--National Archives Conferences, Washington, D.C. 1968-1971 Box 12 Conferences (Oron J. Hale Participation)--Research Conference, University of Kentucky 1959 Box 12 Conferences (Oron J. Hale Participation)--Truman Library Conference, Independence, Missouri 1970 Box 12 Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton 1962-1980, n.d. Box 12 Southern Historical Association, European History Section--Meeting Reports and Miscellaneous Records 1949, 1954-1973 Box 13 (2 folders) University of Virginia--Abernathy Retirement Dinner 1961 Box 13 University of Virginia--Assembly of Professors--Darden Appointment and Resignation 1947, 1959 Box 13 University of Virginia--Book and Authors Club 1983 Box 13 University of Virginia--Centennial Committee of the Synod of Virginia 1961 Box 13 University of Virginia--Contract Relations 1946-1970 Box 13 University of Virginia--Corcoran Department of History--Departmental Records 1948-1987 Box 13 (2 folders) University of Virginia--Corcoran Department of History--Oron J. Hale's Chairmanship 1955-1962, n.d. Box 13 University of Virginia--Deiches and Blazer Lectures (Oron J. Hale) 1953-1954 Box 14 University of Virginia--"Festschrift" (Oron J. Hale) 1985-1987 Box 14 University of Virginia--Heusinger Lecture 1961-1962 Box 14 University of Virginia--Institute of Public Affairs 1940-1954 Box 14 University of Virginia--Oral History Interview of Oron J. Hale by Charles Moran--Oron J. Hale's Notes 1976 Box 14 University of Virginia--Phi Beta Kappa of Virginia 1958-1979 Box 14 University of Virginia--Retirement Letters (Oron J. Hale) 1972 Box 14 University of Virginia--ROTC Special Committee 1969-1970 Box 14 University of Virginia--Salmon Case 1959 Box 14 University of Virginia--Senate of the University of Virginia 1957, 1970-1971 Box 14 University of Virginia--University of Virginia--Sesquicentennial Convocation Panel-- Shannon Inauguration 1969 Box 14 University of Virginia--Social Science Research Council Fellowship--Oron J. Hale's Notes and Interviews 1932-1933 Box 14 University of Virginia--Thomas Jefferson Award 1970-1976 Box 14 University of Virginia--Thomas Jefferson Foundation Fellowships 1957-1960 Box 14 University of Virginia--Toynbee Lectures 1957-1958 Box 14 University of Virginia--University Book Club 1971-1973 Box 14 Group III: Government Service War Department General Staff, Intelligence Division--Records Pertaining to Germany's Wartime Activities 1937-1960, n.d. Box 15 (4 folders) War Department General Staff, Intelligence Division--News Summaries of the Wartime European Press 1943-1945 Box 16 (1-6 of 8 folders) War Department General Staff, Intelligence Division--News Summaries of the Wartime European Press 1943-1945 Box 17 (7-8 of 8 folders) War Department, Historical (Shuster) Commision Interrogation of Former German Officials--Correspondence, Interview Notes, and Report Drafts [Interrogatee index in folders] 1945 Box 17 (1-3 of 8 folders) War Department, Historical (Shuster) Commission Interrogation of Former German Officials--Correspondence, Interview Notes, and Report Drafts [Interrogatee index in folders] 1945 Box 18 (4-8 of 8 folders) War Department, Historical (Shuster) Commission Interrogation of Former German Officials--Interrogation Reports Pertaining to Germany's Military, Political, Social, Economic, and Press Activities. Includes Oron J. Hale's "Final Report," December 20, 1945 [Interrogatee index in folders] 1945 Box 19 (2 folders) --U.S. High Commission for Germany--Office of the State (Land) Commissioner for Bavaria--Oron J. Hale's Office and Personal File Records 1950-1952 Box 19 (1-2 of 10 folders) U.S. High Commission for Germany--Office of the State (Land) Commissioner for Bavaria--Oron J. Hale's Office and Personal File Records 1950-1952 Box 20 (3-6 of 10 folders) U.S. High Commission for Germany--Office of the State (Land) Commissioner for Bavaria--Oron J. Hale's Office and Personal File Records 1950-1952 Box 21 (7-10 of 10 folders) U.S. High Commission for Germany--Oron J. Hale's Media Presentations and Interviews 1950-1952 Box 22 (2 folders) U.S. High Commission for Germany--Oron J. Hale's Cultural and Social Activities 1950-1952, n.d. Box 22 (2 folders) Group IV: Publications Correspondence with Publishers 1962-1980 Box 23 (2 folders) Writings--Manuscript Drafts and Background (Oron J. Hale) 1928-1964, n.d. Box 23 (1-4 of 7 folders)

Includes Sicherung der Zukunft des Deutschen Volkes, by Martin Bormann.

Writings--Manuscript Drafts and Background (Oron J. Hale) 1928-1964, n.d. Box 24 (5-7 of 7 folders) Writings--Articles and Book Reviews (Oron J. Hale) 1929,1935-1979, n.d. Box 24 (2 folders) Writings--Miscellaneous 1930-1984, n.d. Box 25 (2 folders) Writings--Reviews and Correspondence (Oron J. Hale's Publications) 1932-1971 Box 25 Writings--Offprints (Oron J. Hale) 1932-1972 Box 25 Group V: Genealogy Hale Family History--Missouri 1822-1939, n.d. Box 26 Hale Family History--Ancestral Records 1891-1988, n.d. Box 26 Hale Family History--Washington State 1930s-1986, n.d. Box 26 (2 folders) Hale Family History--Glastonbury, Connecticut 1935-1990, n.d. Box 26 Refurbishment of Ancestral Gravesites 1979-1990, n.d. Box 26 Group VI: Photographs Early Years 1800s-1940s Box 27 (4 folders) Miscellaneous 1935-1990, n.d. Box 27 (1-2 of 4 folders) Miscellaneous 1935-1990, n.d. Box 28 (3-4 of 4 folders) Land Commissioner (Bavaria) Period 1950-1952 Box 28 (1-3 of 6 folders) Land Commissioner (Bavaria) Period 1950-1952 Box 29 (4-6 of 6 folders) Academic Career Period 1953-1970 Box 29 (2 folders) Senior Retirement Years 1970s-1990 Box 30 (4 folders) Group VII: Miscellany Awards 1952-1972 Box 31 (3 folders) Memorabilia--(Oron J. Hale) 1927-1962, 1980, n.d. Box 32 Memorabilia--(Anne Hale) 1932-1933, 1950, n.d. Box 32 Memorabilia--(Virginia Hale) ca. 1970s, n.d. Box 32 Newsclippings 1929-1984, n.d. Box 32 (2 folders) Personal Records--Academic (Oron J. Hale, Anne Hale) 1915-1930 Box 32 Personal Records--Date Books (Oron J. Hale) 1931-1985 Box 33 Personal Records--Diary (Anne Hale) 1932-1933 Box 34 Personal Records--Guest Log 1950-1969 Box 34 Personal Records--Military Service Records (Oron J. Hale) 1942-1962, n.d. Box 34 Personal Records--Miscellaneous 1935, 1970s-1980s Box 34 (1 of 3 folders) Personal Records--Miscellaneous 1935, 1970s-1980s Box 35 (2-3 of 3 folders) Personal Records--Professional, Social, and Recreational Activities 1970s-1980s, n.d. Box 35 (3 folders)