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William Reuben is an investigative reporter and author who wrote, most notably, about the Rosenberg espionage case and the Alger Hiss-Whitaker Chambers libel and perjury trials. The Collection includes correspondence, research and interview notes, drafts of books and articles, published and unpublished, on the trials of the "Trenton Six," Morton Sobell and Robert Soblen, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and Alger Hiss, with much research on Whittaker Chambers.

In general, most of the series consist of similar kinds of material: Reuben's research notes, drafts of his writings, correspondence, clippings, and reviews of other writings about the case or individual. Some of the series have further value because they include Reuben's collection of printed material about the case. For example, Reuben was particularly active in the Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case, and the Rosenberg series includes some of the printed matter put out by this organization. Reuben also collected correspondence of the Civil Rights Congress, a major organization lobbying on behalf of the Trenton Six.

In many ways, the Reuben papers are an assemblage of secondary material. Reuben had little first-hand dealings with either the Rosenbergs or the Trenton Six. Nevertheless, the files have value for their documentation of the manner in which this one investigative reporter worked. Reuben was a meticulous and persistent researcher, who tracked down a variety of leads in a story, first analyzing the available court transcripts and other official records, then corresponding as much as he was able with the people involved in the case (including other writers like himself), and finally monitoring the amount and kind of press coverage given to the case. Unfortunately, Reuben did not gain as much first-hand contact with the principals in his investigations as he would have liked, and thus the collection is not as substantive as the researcher might like. Reuben 's correspondence, furthermore, is often superficial and anecdotal in character. Another disappointment of the collection are Reuben 's notes and drafts, which because they are fragmentary or unidentified, are difficult to use and of questionable research value.