Typed and handwritten manuscripts, interview notes, galley proofs, financial records, correspondence, audio and video tapes, clippings, research files, court documents, government publications, photographs, and memorabilia document the Watergate investigation and writings of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Reflected in these materials is their work at The Washington Post, on their two jointly written books All the President's Men (1974) and The Final Days (1976), as well as the motion picture version of All the President's Men (1976), and for Woodward's book Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate (1999).
The papers are organized in two series: I. Woodward, 1970-2001 (bulk 1972-1976) and II. Bernstein, 1964-1996 (bulk 1972-1976). The two series reflect who possessed the records at the time they were transferred to the Ransom Center. They do not indicate the creator of the materials within each series. The manner in which most of the materials were created and accumulated was highly interactive and there was much mixing and overlap of materials between the two reporters. Items created by or sent to Woodward are found throughout the Bernstein series and vice-versa.
Each series is further organized into subseries reflecting the manner in which Woodward and Bernstein each maintained their own files:
I. Woodward, 1970-2001 (bulk 1972-1976)
A. The Washington Post and All the President's Men, 1972-1977 (4 boxes)
B. The Final Days, 1972-1976, 1989 (27 boxes)
C. Shadow, 1989, 1997-2001 (3 boxes)
D. Clippings, 1973-1976, 1982 (2 boxes)
E. Personal, 1970-1999 (part of 1box)
F. Works by Others, 1976, undated (2 boxes)
II. Bernstein, 1964-1996 (bulk 1972-1976)
A. The Washington Post and All the President's Men, 1964, 1972-1977 (12 boxes)
B. The Final Days, 1972-1976 (13 boxes)
C. Correspondence, 1973-1976 (5 boxes)
D. Clippings and Videos, 1972-1979, 1996 (5 boxes)
Two subseries, A. The Washington Post and All the President's Men, and B. The Final Days are found in both the Bernstein and Woodward series and contain similar materials. The major differences between them are that the Bernstein materials contain all manuscript drafts for All the President's Men, and the Woodward materials contain the majority of research documents and manuscript drafts for The Final Days.
Other differences between the Woodward series and the Bernstein series include the presence in Woodward's papers of materials for his book Shadow, and copies or drafts of several works by other authors.
The Personal subseries in Woodward's papers is the smallest of the subseries and contains materials somewhat similar to the memorabilia files in Bernstein's Washington Post and All the President's Men subseries. Correspondence and clippings are present in both series, but the majority of these are found in Bernstein's papers. Incoming correspondence, notes, and memos, excluding routine fan mail, are indexed at the end of the finding aid. Included among the correspondents are Ben Bradlee, Tom Brokaw, William F. Buckley, Joseph Califano, Katharine Graham, Alice Mayhew, and Dan Rather.
The bulk of the collection consists of drafts of Washington Post news stories, All The President's Men, and The Final Days. Woodward and Bernstein typed all of these drafts on the six-ply carbonless paper used by The Washington Post at that time for news copy drafts. The paper is specially coated to transmit typed or written marks from the top sheet to underlying sheets without the use of traditional carbon paper. By using this paper, Woodward and Bernstein created five copies of every typed page. One or all six pages may contain handwritten comments and changes by Bernstein, Woodward, their editors, and, on manuscripts for The Final Days, from research assistants Scott Armstrong and Al Kamen. This process created numerous versions of each section of every draft. Some of the drafts retain all six sheets of paper still joined at a perforated edge. Others have only the top typed sheet, or one or more of the copy sheets. Care must be taken when using any of the sheets as inadvertent marks can still be transferred onto underlying layers. Many of the copies are faded; preservation photocopies have been made. Some are so faded that they cannot be read or reproduced by photocopying. In these cases the sheets were digitally scanned and printouts made after adjusting the contrast to best reveal the image.
Many of the book drafts were received at the Ransom Center loose in boxes without folders. Some effort was made during cataloging to place the unidentified manuscripts with those received in folders and identified by writer, draft version, editing stage, chapter order, or other labeling. Throughout the collection, copies of original file folders and headings have been retained with the materials.
In addition to the wealth of manuscript material, of great importance are hundreds of files containing interviews conducted by telephone or in person by Bernstein and Woodward for their news stories and books. Found in both the Woodward and Bernstein series, the files include interviews with major Watergate figures, presidential aides and staff, government officials and employees, congressmen, and Nixon colleagues. Examples of some of the higher profile interviews are Howard Baker, J. Fred Buzhardt, John Ehrlichman, James St. Clair, Barry Goldwater, Howard Hunt, Elliot Richardson, and Leon Jaworski.
The contents of the interview files vary greatly. Some contain a single page of handwritten notes. Others hold numerous typed pages from multiple interviews. Some include audio tapes of the interview and background material on the subject. Most files contain material from a single source, but some contain information from multiple sources regarding a particular topic or person. With the exception of interviews conducted for Woodward's book Shadow, all of the interviews were conducted with the promise of complete confidentiality and therefore remain closed for research until the death of the interview source. When a file contains interviews from several sources, the entire file will remain closed until all sources are deceased.
The bulk of the materials date from 1972 to 1976. A small number of clippings and other items from the late 1960s predate Woodward and Bernstein's work together. Some research materials, clippings, and papers related to Shadow date from the 1980s through 2001. Materials are in English, with a small number of French, German, and Spanish language clippings and one French language videotape. All videotape, audiotape, and film has been transferred to the Ransom Center's audio visual (AV) collection and digital copies are available for research use. A list of these AV materials is provided in the Associated Materials section of this finding aid. Foreign and special editions of All the President's Men and The Final Days have likewise been transferred to the Ransom Center's library and are cataloged separately. These books are also listed under Associated Materials.
Other Watergate related archival materials at the University of Texas at Austin may be found at The Center for American History, The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, and The Tarlton Law Library.
| Woodward and Bernstein Watergate Papers Finding Aid | ||||||
| Title Page | Biographical Sketch |
Scope and Contents |
Series Descriptions |
Folder List | Index of Correspondents |
Associated Materials |
Reference queries to: reference@hrc.utexas.edu
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