Matthews’ papers are an important addition to the library’s collections of English and modern literature, Don Skemer, the library’s manuscript curator, said in a statement.
“He was a legendary managing editor,” journalism professor John McPhee ’53 said in an interview. “I’m glad they got his papers, and I hope they’re of great use to someone in the study of journalism and of the role of Time in this era,” he added.
Matthews was integrally involved in news throughout his career. He earned his bachelor’s degrees from Princeton in 1922 and Oxford in 1925, and he began his writing career as an assistant editor and then an associate editor for the magazine The New Republic in New York City. Matthews worked at The New Republic for four years.
Matthews was then hired to work at Time, where he moved up the ranks from books editor to assistant managing editor to executive editor and, finally, to managing editor. Matthews left Time in 1953 and became a freelance writer in England. During this period, Matthews wrote book reviews for The New York Times and authored a number of books.
Matthews’ papers can also be valuable as a window into the lives and work of other notable figures, Skemer said.
Though “T. S. Matthews’ principal legacy and contribution was his quarter century of excellent editing and balanced reporting at Time magazine,” he also had a “long career as an author and friend of contemporary writers,” Skemer said.
The selection of papers now available includes articles as well as letters written by Matthews to various prominent contemporaries. Matthews communicated with T.S. Eliot, Alistair Cooke, Robert Lowell, Princeton classmate Adlai Stevenson ’22 and other public figures. Matthews also wrote campaign speeches for Stevenson, the Democratic presidential candidate, during his leave of absence from Time in 1952.
Acquiring Matthews’ papers was not an easy process: Matthews’ son, John Matthews ’51, explained in an interview that a “mistake in the will” delayed the process of delivering the papers to the University Library.
“[The papers] should have gone to Princeton a long time ago,” he said, adding, “I have spent 15 years trying to get the papers here.”
The “complicated” ordeal meant that for a long time the papers were left unexamined, John Matthews said. “The longer they lie there [unread], the less use there really is of them,” he said.
John Matthews said he is relieved, though, that people will finally be able to utilize the rich resources in his father’s papers. “There’s some very good stuff in there,” he noted.
The collection will serve as a tangible reminder of Matthews’ legacy, Skemer said. “He was also a very loyal and generous Princeton alumnus who supported the Library and other parts of the University,” he added.
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