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Chet Huntley Papers, circa 1912-2017

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Huntley, Chet (Chester Robert), 1911-1974
Title
Chet Huntley Papers
Dates
circa 1912-2017 (inclusive)
Quantity
18.0 linear feet and 2 bronze statues
Collection Number
Mss 078 (collection)
Summary
Chet Huntley was a nationally-known television and radio reporter from Montana. This collection includes an array of materials by and about Huntley: biographical information, personal and professional correspondence; scripts written for his radio and television projects, speaking engagements, and news commentary projects; press clippings, primarily spanning his years with NBC; obituaries published in diverse outlets; an extensive photographic collection; a small sampling of news and documentary broadcasts; and some three-dimensional memorabilia. The collection also includes extensive information regarding Huntley's role with the development of Big Sky Resort in Montana.
Repository
University of Montana, Mansfield Library, Archives and Special Collections
Archives and Special Collections
Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library
University of Montana
32 Campus Dr. #9936
59812-9936
Missoula, MT
Telephone: 406-243-2053
library.archives@umontana.edu
Access Restrictions

Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of Archives and Special Collections, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and The University of Montana-Missoula.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for creating the original finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Historic Publications and Records Commission. Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

Chester Robert Huntley was born in Cardwell, Montana, on December 10, 1911. His parents, Percy "Pat" and Blanche Huntley, claimed a homestead on 960 acres of land near Saco in northern Montana. Percy Huntley was a former railroad telegrapher and Blanche was a schoolteacher. The Huntleys built a one-room schoolhouse on their land so Chet could stay close to home and help work the farm. The early 1920s was a very difficult period for wheat farmers in eastern Montana and Percy returned to a telegraphy position with the Great Northern Railroad. The Huntleys sold their Saco homestead in 1924 and the family moved frequently around southern Montana until 1926. In that year they settled in Whitehall, Montana, where Chet graduated from high school in 1929. Although he began his education at Montana State College in Bozeman with plans to become a physician, Huntley left that school in 1932 when he won a scholarship to study oratory at the Cornish School of Arts in Seattle. The experience altered his career plans, and he graduated from the University of Washington in 1934 with a degree in speech and drama.

During his senior year in Seattle, Huntley began working at radio station KPCB where his duties included advertising sales, news writing, and announcing. This job soon led to reporting positions at other radio stations: KHO in Spokane, Washington; KGW in Portland, Oregon; and KFI in Los Angeles. In 1939 Huntley joined the staff of KNX, the CBS Radio affiliate in Los Angeles. At KNX he began writing and producing short news commentary programs. Huntley continued to pursue news commentary projects under various titles throughout his broadcasting career. From 1951 to 1955 he worked for ABC Radio and Television in Los Angeles. Early in 1955, he was hired by the NBC Pacific Division to work as West Coast commentator and reporter for the Today show. In June 1955, NBC transferred him to their New York headquarters with the promise of a major news program.

His first major national assignment came in 1956 when he covered the Republican and Democratic national conventions with David Brinkley. The pairing drew the highest ratings among the three national networks for convention coverage. In October NBC chose the two men to co-anchor the network's fifteen-minute weekday evening news program. The program had an innovative format with Huntley reporting from New York and Brinkley from Washington DC. In 1963 the Huntley-Brinkley Report became one of the first thirty-minute network news programs. During its fourteen-year tenure the Huntley-Brinkley Report was one of the most professionally recognized and highly rated news programs on television, eventually winning seven Emmy and two Peabody awards. Both Brinkley and Huntley received numerous individual broadcasting awards. Huntley was also involved with several other news programs at NBC. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he edited and narrated a series of Sunday evening news broadcasts. Variously titled Outlook, NBC Kaleidoscope, and Chet Huntley Reporting, the program presented expanded commentary on various news events and issues. Through most of the 1960s he also wrote and narrated a five-minute NBC radio program of editorial commentary titled Chet Huntley's Perspective on the News, with a weekend equivalent named Emphasis: Plain Talk.

Throughout his career Huntley caused controversy by blurring the lines between news reporting and political commentary. He was a vocal critic of Senator Joseph McCarthy and entertainment industry anti-communism activists. His commentary programs spoke out against internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, advocated school integration in Little Rock, Arkansas, and critiqued the presidency of Richard M. Nixon. Huntley defended his commentary programs by declaring that he never allowed his opinions to influence newscasts; however, one industry critic accused him of editorializing with his eyebrows during the Huntley-Brinkley Report. Huntley precipitated other controversies. As the owner of a Montana cattle ranch, Huntley recorded commercials and accepted speaking engagements to promote the beef industry. These activities generated profuse criticism from other professionals concerned about maintaining the image of broadcasting objectivity and integrity. He caused a rift with David Brinkley in 1967 when Huntley crossed an American Federation of Television and Radio Artists' picket line claiming that news anchors did not belong in the same union as "actors, singers, and dancers."

During the height of his NBC broadcasting career Huntley wrote a memoir of his Montana youth. Random House published The Generous Years: Remembrances of a Frontier Boyhood in 1968. He retired from NBC on July 31, 1970. For the final broadcast of the Huntley-Brinkley Report, Huntley initiated the team's signature closing with the words "Good night, David." However, Brinkley altered form with his response "Good-bye, Chet." Before signing off Huntley addressed a final statement to the television audience, "Be patient and have courage, there will be better and happier news some day, if we work at it."

Huntley met his first wife, Ingrid Eleanor Rolin, while living in Seattle. They were married in 1936, had two daughters, and divorced in 1959. Huntley met his second wife, Lewis Tipton "Tippy" Stringer, in 1959. Tippy was a weather announcer for the DC NBC affiliate. They had no children. Huntley stayed active in retirement, broadcasting commentaries, recording commercials for American Airlines, and contracting with the airline to sponsor a new PBS program The American Experience, a series for which Huntley frequently narrated.

Big Sky, Montana, was Huntley's biggest post-retirement project, both in terms of personal investment and financial scale. The project started as a 15,000-acre resort in the Gallatin Valley of south central Montana that eventually became a permanent community. The primary corporation directing Big Sky development was Chrysler Realty, a conglomeration co-funded by Chrysler Motor Corporation, Conoco Oil, Burlington Northern Railroad, Montana Power Co. and Northwest Airlines. The project included one of the first privately owned ski resorts in the United States. Huntley died of cancer March 20, 1974, in Bozeman, Montana, three days before the opening ceremonies for Big Sky.

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Content Description

This collection includes an array of materials by and about Huntley: biographical information, personal and professional correspondence; scripts written for his radio and television projects, speaking engagements, and news commentary projects; press clippings, primarily spanning his years with NBC; obituaries published in diverse outlets; an extensive photographic collection; a small sampling of news and documentary broadcasts; and some three-dimensional memorabilia. The collection also includes extensive information regarding Huntley's role with the Big Sky Resort. Writings include several articles Huntley wrote for magazines and essay collections as well as extensive materials relating to The Generous Years, an autobiographical account of his Montana childhood. Subject files reflect Huntley's varied research interests and clipping files consist of newspaper and magazine articles about Huntley, published through out his professional career and after his death. Big Sky materials include written proposals, correspondence with potential investors, development blue prints, promotional materials, and press clippings. Audio-visual materials include an extensive photographic collection, a small sampling of news and documentary broadcasts, and a few audiotape recordings. Mounted artifacts range from bronze sculptures to framed awards, from appreciation plaques and medals to oversize certificates.

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Use of the Collection

Alternative Forms Available

Film reels 78(X):10, 78(X):12, and 78(X):13 were transferred to VHS video during original processing. The VHS tape is designated as 78(X):18.

Audio reel 78(X):7 was transferred to cassette tape at an unknown time. This cassette is designated as 78(X):19.

Restrictions on Use

Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. and any other applicable statutes. Copyright to the portions of the collection in which Huntley held literary rights was transferred to The University of Montana-Missoula.

Preferred Citation

Chet Huntley Papers, Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana-Missoula.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is divided into thirteen series:

Series I: Biographical, 0.25 linear feet and partial oversize box, 1928-1975

Series II: General Correspondence, 0.25 linear feet, 1928-1977

Series III: Radio and TV Scripts, 2.5 linear feet, 1942-1974

Series IV: Speeches, 0.5 linear feet, 1964-1973

Series V: Writings, 1.0 linear feet, 1965-1973

Series VI: Subject, 0.5 linear feet and partial oversize box, 1964-1973

Series VII: Clippings, 1.0 linear feet and partial oversize box, 1957-1974

Series VIII: Big Sky Resort, 0.5 linear feet and partial oversize box, 1965-1975

Series IX: Photographs, 2.0 linear feet and one oversize box, circa1920-1974

Series X: Audio and Moving Images, 1.0 linear feet, 1963-1974

Series XI: Awards, Memorials, and Memorabilia, 6.0 linear feet 1954-1974

Series XII: Artwork, 2 items, 1972

Series XIII: Accession 2019-003, 2.5 linear feet, 1912-2017

Custodial History

Portions of this collection, mostly television/radio transcripts, were housed in the radio-television collections at Montana State University-Bozeman and the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman prior to accession into the K. Ross Toole Archives collections.

Acquisition Information

The majority of the collection was received from Tippy Huntley in 1979. Additional materials were received from the Museum of the Rockies, 1980; Callie Allison, 1980; and the Special Collections department at Montana State University, 1999. The Chrysler Realty Corporation donated the two bronze sculptures in 1980. In 2018 Huntley's daughter, Sharon Huntley Kahn, donated additional materials which are considered Accession 2019-003. Series XIII comprises the majority of this donation.

Processing Note

This collection was originally processed in 1981. Additional materials were received after original processing. In 2003 the collection was extensively reorganized and re-described to integrate the additional materials, re-associate most separated materials, and clarify overall structure. The film and video materials in Series Ten were separated out during original processing (designated as Archives Film Collection 12 and Video Collection 11). During 2003 reprocessing, these materials were reintegrated into Manuscript Collection 78. Additionally, documents in the awards series were de-framed for preservation purposes. For these paired awards, item numbers were attached to document content descriptions for cross-reference. In Series VIII: Big Sky Resort, embedded photographs had experienced significant deterioration from the original adhesive used for the document and storage conditions prior to donation to the K. Ross Toole Archives. During 2003 reprocessing archival quality photocopies of the photographs were created and placed in the same folder as the original document to best preserve the represented images at the time of reprocessing. In 2017, tapes that were originally separated from the collection and identified as OH 064 were added to this collection. In 2018, materials donated by Sharon Huntley Kahn were added to the collection.

Related Materials

The State Historical Society of Wisconsin holds a significant collection of Chet Huntley papers in its Mass Communication History Center, and there are also Huntley materials in the records of the National Broadcasting Company, Inc.

The John F. Kennedy Library holds a small collection of Chet Huntley papers exclusively regarding reports and commentary following the assassination of President Kennedy.

The Montana Historical Society holds some radio recordings of Huntley in its general Montana History Collections.

The Museum of the Rockies holds some artifacts, including an Emmy award and Huntley's typewriter.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Finding aid prepared by Aron Langley, Jack Rowan and Donna McCrea
2003

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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