The Hearst family papers date from about 1762 to 1996 and contain correspondence, photographs, clippings, journals, unpublished drafts, published works, and more related to the lives and careers of members of the Hearst family.

Hearst family members who materials are represented in the collection include James Schell Hearst, Charles Ernest Hearst, Katherine Schell Hearst, Charles Joseph Hearst, Helen Louise Hearst, Camelita Calderwood Hearst, Meryl Norton Hearst, and Gladys Henderson Hearst.

The collection is arranged into series according to the materials' creators, including Charles E. Herast, Charles J. Hearst, and James S. Hearst. Please see the arrangement note for further details about the collection's organization and the inventory for a complete folder listing.

Series 1: Charles E. Hearst

Series 1, the Charles E. Hearst materials, consists of records created and used by Charles E. Hearst, as well as biographical information and other documents related to the Hearst family as a whole. The materials created by Charles E. Hearst include notes about agricultural issues, records from the Maplehearst family farm, and his work in passing agricultural legislation. The bulk of his records consist of his personal and professional correspondence. Some of this correspondence has been photocopied due to the originals' fragility and deteriorating condition. Most of the correspondence written to and from Hearst were written during his term as the Iowa Farm Bureau president from 1924 to 1935. The correspondence, and his records in general, reflect the range of problems which farms and agriculture faced during the 1920s and 1930s. The correspondence also related to Hearst's work shepherding legislation through the Iowa legislature and United States Congress, including the Mc-Nary Haugen Bill and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration of the New Deal. Other types of materials in the Charles E. Hearst series include news releases, American Farm Bureau Federation circulars, position statements from various agricultural organizations, and ephemeral agricultural publications.

The remainder of the Charles E. Hearst series includes a handful of items created by other Hearst family members, photographs of the Hearst family and farm, and news clippings.

Series 2: Charles Joseph Hearst and Gladys Henderson Hearst

The Charles Joseph Hearst and Gladys Henderson Hearst series contains materials related to both Charles Joseph and Gladys. Gladys Henderson Hearst's files consist of documents related to and representative of her time in the Women's Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service (WAVES) during World War II. Types of materials include papers and photographs. The photographs are a combination of the WAVES training program at the Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa) and nationally. Many include types and handwritten captions. The Russia trip materials consist of news clippings related to an agricultural exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1955. Charels Joseph Hearst was part of the American delegation that visited the Soviet Union. These materials were likely collected by Charles or Gladys.

Note: Charles Joseph Hearst's personal papers are held at Iowa State University.

Series 3: James S. Hearst

The bulk of this collection consists of materials created, used, or collected by James S. Hearst. Many different types of materials are represented in the James S. Hearst series, including correspondence, publications, diaries, audiovisual materials, financial documents, drafts, and more. Examples include cash journals, containing entries for purchases and expenses; biographical information about Hearst's wives, Carmelita Calderwood Hearst and Meryl Norton Hearst; Hearst's United States Army records; and clippings. Also included are two of Hearst's diaries, dated 1934 and 1939, which contain near daily entries in which Hearst details his daily activities, such as reading, farm work, and weather.

The photographs in this series are of James S. Hearst, Meryl Hearst, the Hearst farm, and more. This series includes a scrapbook, dated 1927-1980, which includes news clippings, programs, poems, publications, correspondence, and other items relating to James Hearst. Its contents are arranged chronologically and were most likely maintained by James, Carmelita, and Meryl Hearst.

The rest of the James S. Hearst series is organized into groupings according to material type and content.

James Hearst's correspondence comprises the majority of this series. It contains approximately 1000 incoming and outgoing letters, which are a mix of personal and professional topics and correspondents, such as with Hearst's first and second wives, friends, publishers, discussions about his writing, his employment at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI), and much more.

One of Hearst's most frequent correspondents was UNI president James William Maucker, who often signed off his letters as "Bill." Other notable correspondents include Ferner Nuhn, Bess Streeter Aldrich, Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, and Jesse Stuart. Also included are letters from United States Vice President H.A. Wallace; one letter from former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to Carmelita Hearst (August 21, 1951); and one letter from Randolph Hearst (May 22, 1974). Some of the correspondence is addressed to Carmelita Hearst, James Hearst's first wife, and Meryl Norton Hearst, his second wife. There are also many letters between Hearst and editors, publishers, and presses discussing his work and publications.

There is a name index to most correspondents available in the University Archives and digitally. "T.L.S." means Typed Letter Signed. "A.L.S." means autograph letter signed. This index was updated to include newly-processed material March 2017.Physical copies of the updated index are available by request. A date, a name, or a portion thereof within parentheses () indicates that the information was added on the basis of the processor's knowledge or information from an envelope.

A major component of James Hearst's papers are the publications included in the collection. Within this grouping are iterations of Hearst's work, such as drafts and published forms. Hearst's typescripts and drafts for his publications Snake in the Strawberries, Time Like a Furrow, My Shadow Below Me, and Bonesetter's Brawl, make up part of this grouping.

The Periodicals grouping consists of periodicals, newspapers, magazines, and journals in which James Hearst's work appeared. The materials are arranged chronologically. Please note that this is not a complete run of Hearst's work that appeared in this publication type. Also included are publication logs of James Hearst's work. Family members and Hearst himself kept these logs in an attempt to record when where his work was published. The logs represent a record of his publication history.

The Unpublished material drafts, and notes for later publication and speeches includes a variety of written material prepared for and / or delivered by James S. Hearst across many situations. The materials range from speeches and lectures to poetry and short stories. These materials arrived in two separate installments. Most of the materials are undated and some have titles based on their subject, while others were titled based on why they were prepared. Please note that previous Special Collections & University Archives archivists chose to create titles for materials that Hearst himself had not provided a title. The archivists based their chosen titles for a work on that work's contents. It is unclear at this time which titles were original to Hearst and which were created by former SC&UA staff.

The audiovisual materials included in this series consist of audiocassettes, 1/4" open reels, and phonographs. Their contents include interviews, conversations with Hearst, Hearst reading his poetry, and tributes. Please see the inventory for an itemized list. The interviews grouping consists of print interviews with James Hearst in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

In addition to these distinct groupings, the James Hearst series contains a variety of other documents. Please refer to the inventory for a complete folder listing.

Series 4: Hearst legacy materials

In addition to the materials created and used by the Hearst family, materials related to James Hearst's legacy and impact have been included in this collection. These materials were not created by Hearst and were generally created following his death in 1983. They were likely added to the collection by SC&UA staff over the course of many years. As such, they have been arranged into their own series to keep them separate from the Hearst family papers. Examples include the Hearst Lecture Series, the Hearst Center for the Arts, and collections of Hearst's work.