Personal Papers
Personal Papers (1.5 linear feet, 1936-1962) is composed of three main subseries: Correspondence, Education, and Newspaper Clippings. There are also some photographs.
Personal Papers (1.5 linear feet, 1936-1962) is composed of three main subseries: Correspondence, Education, and Newspaper Clippings. There are also some photographs.
14 linear feet
The Robert Ball papers are roughly divided into two subgroups according to the focus of material, personal or professional. Within this framework, the personal papers are arranged in series by type then by chronological order. The professional papers are arrayed in strict chronological order regardless of type, except for the cassette tapes which stand as a distinct series. Ball's organization of the materials in binders both necessitated and facilitated strict adherence to chronology in ordering the professional papers. The researcher should note that the division of materials into personal and professional groups can not be absolute given the dual nature of reportorial writing. Such writing is both personal and professional. Some blurring of the categories is evident, especially for the years 1948 to 1951 when Ball's nascent career did not permit rigid distinctions to be drawn in the materials.
(includes portrait, snapshot of commencement address, and photos of Ball with other people)
41 folders
The bulk of the Personal Papers series is comprised of Correspondence (0.75 linear feet, 1936-1974). Most of the correspondence is addressed to Ball's father and mother although there are business letters interspersed in the years 1948 to 1954. Topics of the letters include student life at the University of Michigan during the 1940s, his war-time experiences as a naval officer in the Pacific theater, and his life as an American in Europe from the late-1940s to the mid-1970s. His mother evidently transcribed Ball's overseas missives to forward to Adele Ball. The transcripts were only retained if Ball's original letter was missing. The correspondence is arranged chronologically
Education (0.5 linear feet, 1933-1949) centers on his years as a student and is comprised mainly of his writings. The series documents his early writing style and world-view, especially in the papers from Owosso High School and the University of Michigan essays. Also included are drafts from a historical novel that he never finished, "The Cock and the Cross," about the plague and the Swiss Reformation.