Listening copies of all recordings on lacquer discs in the Emmet papers, 1913–1974, are now available in the Hoover Archives reading room. A list of the newly digitized recordings is also available. Most are radio programs on foreign affairs that were broadcast from 1944 to 1967, with a panel of guests discussing communism, Nazism, and other topics. Emmet was a guest on many of these programs; other panelists include Allard K. Lowenstein, William Rusher, and Norman Thomas.

Emmet was an officer and organizer of anti-Nazi and anticommunist organizations. He served as chairman of the American Friends of the Captive Nations and executive vice president of the American Council on Germany. In 1942 he was a moderator for the Foreign Affairs Round Table (WEVD, New York), one of the programs on the recordings.

The original recordings on lacquer disc were digitized to archival specifications and then derivative use copies were made by Hoover Archives audio preservation staff. Lacquer discs are increasingly difficult to play because the equipment is becoming obsolete; thus the archives’ emphasis is on digitizing those in its archival collections. Many sound recordings on audiotape in the Emmet papers have not yet been digitized.

In addition to sound recordings, the Emmet papers include correspondence, memoranda, reports, and photographs. Major subjects of this collection, which spans more than 130 boxes, are anti-Nazi and anticommunist movements in the United States, American foreign policy during the cold war, and American-German relations. A guide to the collection is available.

To set up an appointment to listen to the recordings at the archives or purchase copies if you cannot visit, please see Audiovisual Services.

overlay image