Dates: 1943-1980
Administrative Assistant in the President's Office (Personal Secretary to the President), 1945-1953
The papers of Rose A. Conway contain clippings, correspondence, financial records, invitations, memorabilia, memoranda, menus, photographs, postcards, programs, scrapbooks, telegrams, and travel logs related to her personal life and role as personal secretary to Harry S. Truman.
Size: 5 linear feet, 3 linear inches (about 10,000 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The donor gave her copyrights in this collection to the U.S. government. Documents created by U.S. government officials in the course of their duties are also in the public domain. Copyrights in documents that do not fall into these two categories presumably belong to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Dennis E. Bilger, Patrick J. Kean, and Niel M. Johnson (1981); Jim Armistead and Amy Crossley (2011).
Updated by: Shannon Lausch (2011) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and David Clark.
[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]
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c. 1900 |
Born in Emporia, Kansas |
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1911 (June 13) |
Graduated from St. Thomas' School, Kansas City, Kansas |
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1915 |
Graduated from Mt. St. Scholastica Academy, Atchison, Kansas |
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1935 |
Worked under J. Vivian Truman as a secretary with the Federal Housing Administration in Kansas City, Missouri |
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1945 |
Started work as Vice-President Truman's Secretary |
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1945 (April 12) |
Continued work as President Truman's Secretary |
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1949 (June) |
Awarded honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Mt. St. Scholastica |
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1953 |
Moved to Kansas City to continue work as former President Truman's Secretary |
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1975 |
Retired from work at the Harry S. Truman Library |
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1977 |
Made honorary member of Battery D, 129th Field Artillery |
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1980 (March 17) |
Died in Kansas City, Missouri |
The Papers of Rose A. Conway contain clippings, correspondence, financial records, invitations, memorabilia, memoranda, menus, photographs, postcards, programs, scrapbooks, telegrams, and travel logs relating to her personal life and role as personal secretary to Harry S. Truman. The collection consists of one series, a Subject File, arranged alphabetically.
The collection documents Conway's personal life and her work as Administrative Assistant in the President's Office (Personal Secretary to Harry S. Truman), 1945-1953; and her continued work as Truman's secretary until his death in 1972.
The Papers include correspondence addressed to Rose Conway, relating to her service as Truman's secretary. The correspondence includes autograph requests, employment inquiries, invitations to social events, letters accompanying advance book copies and gifts, letters of appreciation, questions on U.S. policies, requests for speaking engagements, and requests for career advice for secretaries. Correspondents include the National Secretaries Association, the White House, and Irving Geist.
Many of the Papers relate to Truman's terms in office, 1948 reelection campaign, and Inauguration. They include a nearly complete set of logs of presidential trips; schedules from Truman's "Whistlestop" campaign; menus used aboard the presidential train in 1948; and programs for such events as the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, the Inauguration and Inaugural Gala; and the National Young Democratic Dinner. Also included in the collection are financial records (1956-1967) relating to the Harry S. Truman Library, including balance sheets, checks, check registers, and deposit slips from the Library's account at Columbia National Bank.
Also in the collection are newspaper and magazine clippings from American Weekly, Life, the Washington Post, and the Washington Star.
Most of the collection consists of the contents of scrapbooks (1945-1952) compiled by Rose Conway, containing materials mostly relating to Harry S. Truman's presidency, including newspaper clippings on his administration and current events, political cartoons, photographs, and programs. Other scrapbooks document Conway's collection of invitations and souvenirs, including tickets, programs, envelopes, and periodical clippings; William Hillman's book on Harry Truman, Mr. President (including related periodical clippings and advertisements); and Truman's 1948 Presidential campaign (including related memoranda, menus, maps, schedules, programs, postcards, train timetables, tourism pamphlets, and magazines).
Books from the collection have been transferred to the book collection, photographs have been transferred to the audiovisual collection, and memorabilia transferred to the museum collections.
Related collections at the Truman Library include the Rose A. Conway Files.
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Container Nos. |
Series |
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1-12 |
SUBJECT FILE, 1943-1980 Clippings, correspondence, financial records, invitations, memorabilia, memoranda, menus, photographs, programs, postcards, scrapbooks, telegrams, and travel logs. Arranged alphabetically. |
Box 1
- American Weekly
- Books
- The Campaign of '48 in Star Cartoons: A Publication of The Washington Star
- Columbia National Bank
- Correspondence—B
- Correspondence—C
- Correspondence—D
- Correspondence—E
- Correspondence—F
- Correspondence—G
- Correspondence—H
- Correspondence—Invitations
- Correspondence—J
- Correspondence—K
- Correspondence—L
- Correspondence—M
- Correspondence—Mc
- Correspondence—N
Box 2
- Correspondence—National Secretaries Association
- Correspondence—O
- Correspondence—P
- Correspondence—Q
- Correspondence—R
- Correspondence—S
- Correspondence—T
- Correspondence—U
- Correspondence—V
- Correspondence—W
- Correspondence—X, Y, Z
- The Democratic Digest
- Harry S. Truman Inauguration, 1949
- Jefferson-Jackson Dinner
- Life Magazine
- Memorabilia
- Menus
- Mr. President Galley Proof
- News Releases from Life Magazine
Box 3
- Photographs
- Postcards
- President Truman’s Travel Logs, 1945
- President Truman’s Travel Logs, 1946
- President Truman’s Travel Logs, 1947
- President Truman’s Travel Logs, 1948
- President Truman’s Travel Logs, 1949
- President Truman’s Travel Logs, 1950
- President Truman’s Travel Logs, 1951
- President Truman’s Travel Logs, 1952
- Presidential Schedules
- Programs
- Scrapbook—Volume 1 [1 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 1 [2 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 2 [1 of 2]
Box 4
- Scrapbook—Volume 2 [2 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 3 [1 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 3 [2 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 4 [1 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 4 [2 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 5 [1 of 2]
Box 5
- Scrapbook—Volume 5 [2 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 6 [1 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 6 [2 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 7 [1 of 3]
- Scrapbook—Volume 7 [2 of 3]
Box 6
- Scrapbook—Volume 7 [3 of 3]
- Scrapbook—Volume 8 [1 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 8 [2 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 9 [1 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 9 [2 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 10 [1 of 2]
Box 7
- Scrapbook—Volume 10 [2 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 11 [1 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 11 [2 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 12 [1 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 12 [2 of 2]
Box 8
- Scrapbook—Volume 13 [1 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 13 [2 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Volume 14 [1 of 3]
- Scrapbook—Volume 14 [2 of 3]
- Scrapbook—Volume 14 [3 of 3]
Box 9
- Scrapbook—Volume 15 [1 of 3]
- Scrapbook—Volume 15 [2 of 3]
- Scrapbook—Volume 15 [3 of 3]
- Scrapbook—Mr. President, 1952 [1 of 2]
Box 10
- Scrapbook—Mr. President, 1952 [2 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Campaign 1948 [1 of 3]
- Scrapbook—Campaign 1948 [2 of 3]
- Scrapbook—Campaign 1948 [3 of 3]
- Scrapbook—Invitations—Souvenirs [1 of 4]
Box 11
- Scrapbook—Invitations—Souvenirs [2 of 4]
- Scrapbook—Invitations—Souvenirs [3 of 4]
- Scrapbook—Invitations—Souvenirs [4 of 4]
- Scrapbook—Invitations—Souvenirs—Volume 2 [1 of 2]
- Scrapbook—Invitations—Souvenirs—Volume 2 [2 of 2]
Box 12
- Scrapbook—Invitations—Souvenirs—Volume 3 [1 of 3]
- Scrapbook—Invitations—Souvenirs—Volume 3 [2 of 3]
- Scrapbook—Invitations—Souvenirs—Volume 3 [3 of 3]
- Truman, Harry S.—Biographies
- Washington Post
- Washington Star