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Guide to the Francis William Herron Papers

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Collection Overview
Date Span: 1938-1978
Creator: Herron, Francis William (1914-1978)
Extent: 1.50 linear feet.
Collection Number: MSC0378
Repository: University of Iowa Special Collections
Summary: U.S. Foreign Service Officer. Correspondence, speeches, articles, and subject files relating to his foreign service postings in Latin America.

Alternate Extent Statement: Photographs in Box 3.

Access: This collection is open for research.

Use: Copyright restrictions may apply; please consult Special Collections staff for further information.

Acquisition: These papers were donated to the University of Iowa Libraries by Ellen D. Herron in 1979 .

Preferred Citation: Francis William Herron Papers, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa.

Repository: University of Iowa Special Collections
Address: Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, IA 52242
Phone: 319-335-5921
Curator: Greg Prickman
Email: lib-spec@uiowa.edu
Website: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sc

Francis William Herron was born in Boone, Iowa, on August 9, 1914. He attended the University of Missouri where he received his journalism degree in 1934. His first job after graduation was as the news editor for the Sibley Gazette-Tribune in Sibley, Iowa. In 1941 he became an associate in the Institute of Current World Affairs. The following year, Herron traveled to Argentina to study at Cordoba University. He joined the United States Foreign Service in 1946, and was posted as the assistant press officer in the American Embassy in Buenos Aires. For more than ten years he served in a variety of positions in American Embassies in places such as Quito, San Salvador, and Montevideo. Returning to the United States, Herron first took a job with the State Department and then with the Bureau of Public Affairs. In 1964, he once again found himself in South America, this time in the American Embassy in Venezuela. He retired from this posting in 1970. During his retirement he wrote about current affairs and was a consultant for the Brookings Foundation. Francis W. Herron died in 1978, at the age of sixty-three.

The papers of Francis William Herron date from 1938 to 1978 and consist of three boxes of manuscripts arranged chronologically within an alphabetical sequence. Most of the collection relates to Herron's postings in the foreign service. Subject files range from the petroleum industry throughout Latin America to the politics of Venezuela. There is also correspondence with Bob Woodward.

Browse by Series:
Series 1: GENERAL

  • Series 1: GENERAL
  • Box 1:
  • Articles - 1971-1976
    9 folders
  • Correspondence - 1938-1962
    3 folders
  • Box 2:
  • Correspondence - 1963-1978
    including letters from Robert Woodward, 1977-1978 (3 folders)
  • Dept. of State - 1946-1963
    4 folders
  • Fija bituminosa report - 1967
  • Journal - 1941-1942
  • Latin American Aspects of Energy Policy, 3 drafts - 1973
    3 folders
  • Latin American Miscellaneous Papers
  • Letters from the Argentine Miscellaneous
  • Letters to Walter S. Rogers on his retirement - 1959
  • Meetings, conferences, etc. - 1942-1969
  • Memoranda of conversations - 1973-1976
  • Box 3:
  • Naval service and discharge - 1942-1952
  • Newspaper articles about Herron - 1938-1970
  • Notes on Argentina
  • Notes on "The Atom, A New Source of Energy"
  • Notes on "The Petroleum Industry"
  • Outline of "The Yankee Traders" - 1963
  • Personal and miscellaneous
  • Photographs
  • Press information kit for Nixon visit to Venezuela - 1958
  • Speeches and remarks
  • U. S. - Venezuela Symposium, January 26-29 - 1975

This collection is indexed under the following subject terms.


Topics:
Diplomatic and consular service
Petroleum industry and trade Latin America

Geographic Names:
Argentina
Venezuela

Genre/Form of Materials:
Speeches