Subseries: Tape Recordings

Personal Correspondence

1971 September 28, from Bill Nunn
Scope and Content Note: Henry Nunn's nephew Bill discusses his recent trip to Japan and describes business practices there: company identification among workers, paternalism, and bonus and stock sharing plans. Suggests that company identification may have been key to Nunn's Share the Production plan. Approximate running time: 30 minutes.

1971 December 27 and , 1972 January 26, to Mary
Scope and Content Note: Opens with brief conversation between Mary and Nunn in which he reminisces about the founding of Nunn-Bush. Letter interweaves a variety of topics--Black activist Dick Gregory, Eula Lee, Eldridge Cleaver and the Black Panthers, workers' status--and then focuses on his declining health. Tape ends with conversation between Nunn and Margie. Approximate running time: 60 minutes.

1972 March, to Mary
Scope and Content Note: Uncharacteristically pessimistic, Nunn discusses his health and old age, George Wallace's prospects in the Florida Presidential primary and those of the other Democratic candidates, a Tolstoy novel, and plans to play golf and bridge. He reads letters from a former employee which suggests a paternalistic relationship between Nunn and his workers. He returns to Tolstoy, his health and family visits, and he describes conflicts between Margie and himself at length. Concludes with comments on the Republican Party. Approximate running time: 60 minutes.

circa 1972 June 27, to Mary
Scope and Content Note: Nunn describes his health problems and then focuses on politics. Says that Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm is his choice as Vice Presidential candidate, comments on Senators Hubert H. Humphrey, Edmund S. Muskie, and George McGovern, expresses concern about Common Cause, and offers his opinion on abortion. Tape ends with a woman (apparently Margie) reading selections from Unbought and Unbossed by Shirley Chisholm. Approximate running time: 60 minutes.

1972 July 12, to Eula Lee and Mary
Scope and Content Note: Nunn comments on Mary's trip to visit Eula Lee in Copenhagen and their plans to go to the Soviet Union, his interest in the Soviet economic and social system, and his “passion” for Tolstoy. Discusses Senators George McGovern and Edmund S. Muskie and the Democratic Convention. Describes his recent vacation at length and returns to the Democratic Convention and critiques other Democratic candidates. He and Margie talk, and she adds a postscript. Approximate running time: 60 minutes.

1972, from Ginny (Virginia)
Scope and Content Note: She reports on family and personal news including brief references to Synanon, where she works. Bulk of tape is a reading from an unidentified book which deals with American atrocities in Vietnam. End of tape includes additional family news. Approximate running time: 60 minutes.

1972, Seven letters to friends
Scope and Content Note: First six minutes is recorded over by Bill Nunn, reading a eulogy for Henry Nunn (see Reel 22). Letters, which were dictated for transcription, are to seven different friends; they are primarily personal and tend to be repetitive in subject matter. In the third letter (to Mr. and Mrs. Walter Bellin), Nunn describes how he dictates and exchanges cassettes with his daughters.

Writings

1961, Book Conference, Santa Monica, California; Nunn, Ted Jones, Curren Shields (a union official), et al.
Scope and Content Note: Nunn expresses doubt over the ability of union leaders to develop imaginative programs. Jones asks Curren Shields to describe the steel workers union's social education project, and Shields outlines the program's structure and goals in detail. Nunn reiterates his original view. Jones emphasizes that Nunn's book must not appear anti-union and says that he's unsure whether Nunn understands the permanency of organized labor. Approximate running time: 30 minutes.

1961, Book Conference (continued)
Scope and Content Note: Jones and Nunn discuss the latter's thesis that labor and stockholders should have equal power, and Jones argues that management, not stockholders, wields effective control. Jones insists that Nunn must expand the focus of the book from workers to a consideration of the entire economy. Approximate running time: 30 minutes.

, 1961 Book Conference (continued)
Scope and Content Note: Opens with discussion of the structure of the book. Unidentified speaker says that Nunn's industrial system may be dismissed either as philanthropy or as depending on his personality. Nunn responds to the latter point, maintaining that the Nunn-Bush system functioned well during his six-month absence in 1918. Approximate running time: 30 minutes.

circa 1961, Partners in Production
Scope and Content Note: Identified as chapter two, Nunn describes technical aspects of the Nunn-Bush Share the Production plan, including union eligibility requirements and the method used in computing shares. Approximate running time: 30 minutes.

circa 1961, Partners in Production (continued)
Scope and Content Note: Identified as chapter ten, it represents the conclusion. Although similar to the final chapter in the published volume, it is arranged differently, and Nunn uses stronger, more polemical language in describing differences between capitalism and communism. Approximate running time: 30 minutes.

circa 1961, Partners in Production (continued)
Scope and Content Note: Brief segment at beginning of tape recorded over with radio broadcast, 1965, by Clark Irving, an advocate of “natural living.” Irving mentions Nunn's vegetarian lifestyle. Dictation for book resumes with a discussion of the aggregation of capital in a few hands. Nunn argues that conflict between capital and labor arises from competition and rejects socialism as a solution. Approximate running time: 30 minutes.

Speeches

1947 May 1, “Can Industry Pay an Annual Wage,” Milwaukee Speaks, Milwaukee Station WTMJ
Scope and Content Note: Debate between Nunn and Russel Hibbard of the Wisconsin Industrial Commission. Nunn and Hibbard present formal statements and then respond to one another and to audience questions. Nunn distinguishes between annual income and hourly wages, emphasizes that labor must be seen as an integral part of industry rather than a commodity, and describes how this was achieved by the Nunn-Bush Company. Hibbard argues that industrial stabilization must be reached before guaranteed wage plans can be instituted. Nunn disagrees and stresses the urgency of industrial reform. Approximate running time: 45 minutes.

1961, “How Can Free Enterprise Survive the Economic Challenge of Communism,” Sounding Board, San Diego Station KGB
Scope and Content Note: Debate between Nunn and Col. Thomas D. Drake, a retired army officer, who each present formal statements and then respond to audience questions. Nunn argues that it is essential to recognize the flaws of capitalism, especially conflict between capital and labor, and to remedy them by developing collective cooperation. Drake presents a conservative view, maintaining that the U.S. must return to a laissez faire economy. Approximate running time: 25 minutes.

1971 July 4, “Democracy in Industry”
Scope and Content Note: Nunn records an address which he originally delivered before a meeting of the Personnel Association of the Pacific Northwest in Vancouver, Canada, on October 21, 1954. In a lengthy introduction he depicts the parallel evolution of capitalism and democracy. He argues that industry has employed many schemes to secure cooperation from labor but that their plans have been badly conceived and unsuccessful. He posits production sharing as an effective means of achieving industrial democracy, and he describes the development of the system at Nunn-Bush in 1915. Approximate running time: 40 minutes.

1954 October 1, Third Game, 1954 World Series
Scope and Content Note: Nunn served as the “chief World Series announcer” for the Nunn-Bush factory, and this broadcast seems intended for his employees. From comments on the tape it is unclear whether he is viewing the game in person or watching it on television. Another person, whom he refers to as Dave, assists Nunn and provides technical commentary. Approximate running time: 150 minutes.

Miscellaneous Personal Records

1966 May 26, Accumulated Disc and Tape Recordings, Henry L. and Josephine Nunn
Scope and Content Note: Originally recorded and later re-taped by their son, Ewing. Segment one, November 21, 1950: Mrs. Nunn plays the organ and talks with Ewing. Segment two, September 3, 1951: Nunn discusses his 1951 trip to Europe with the Economic Cooperation Administration, describes his role, and offers anecdotal impressions of the Dutch and German people and industrial systems. Approximate running time: 50 minutes.

1966 May 26, Accumulated Disc and Tape recordings, segment two (continued)
Scope and Content Note: Nunn comments on a variety of topics relating to his European trip: industrial co-determination, factory visits, ECA conferences, social security systems, Hitler as a socialist, German attitudes toward Russia. Mrs. Nunn mentions their interpreters, and Nunn joins her in discussing German attitudes toward atrocities against Jews. Nunn reads an interview with two members of the workers council of a German coal mine and comments on their intelligence and passivity. Segment three, undated: Mrs. Nunn plays the piano and talks with Ewing. Approximate running time: 80 minutes.

1969 June 7, Conversation with Harry H. Scott, Milwaukee Inn
Scope and Content Note: Nunn, who had returned to Wisconsin on a visit, talks about moving into his La Jolla, California, apartment and describes his neighbors as plutocrats, comments on a planned trip to Denver, and discusses platonic friendships with women. He describes his relationship with Margie at some length and talks about cooking and vegetarianism. Approximate running time: 25 minutes.

1970 November 29, Opinions on Thirty-Two Social and Political Topics
Scope and Content Note: Speaking extemporaneously, Nunn gives his consistently humanitarian views on apartheid, alcohol, the atom bomb, attorneys, atheism, the American Medical Association, National Association of Manufacturers, American Legion, American Labor Party, anarchy, bankers, Baptists, baseball, Beatitudes, the Bible, Buddha, capitalism, conscientious objectors, Darwinism, diet, death, Fabian socialism, faith healing, the FBI, religious fundamentalism, Gandhi, idealism, Abraham Lincoln, Marxism, and the NAACP. Approximate running time: 115 minutes.

circa 1972, Memorial Service for H.L. Nunn
Scope and Content Note: Bill Nunn reads the brief eulogy which he gave for Nunn at a memorial service, September 17, 1972. Margaret Phelps reads newspaper obituaries and other articles concerning Nunn.