Wagner, Allen Papers

Assistant to the Chairman, U.S. Civil Service Commission, 1951-1953

The papers of Allen Wagner consist chiefly of speeches, press releases, and correspondence from Mr. Wagner’s tenure as Assistant to the Chairman of the United States Civil Service Commission. These documents primarily relate to the Civil Service Commission Public Relations Program.

[Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List]

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ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Size: Less than one linear foot (approximately 400 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: Wagner gave to the United States of America his copyright interest in all of his unpublished writings in this collection. Documents created by U.S. government employees in the course of their duties are also in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents presumably belongs to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Philip D. Lagerquist (1977); Kelley McNabb (2010).

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

1903 (September 19)		Born, Minneapolis, Minnesota
1921-1933		Reporter and editor for newspapers in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota and Fargo, North Dakota
1933-1941		Executive Secretary, Minneapolis-St. Paul Sanitation District
1941-1945		Assistant to the Secretary, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
1945-1949		American Society of Civil Engineers, New York City
1949-1951		Director of Public Relations, American Road Builders Association
1951-1953		Assistant to the Chairman, U.S. Civil Service Commission
1954-1956		Director of Public Relations, American Transit Association, New York City
1956-1958		Manager of Public Information, American Council to Improve Our Neighborhoods, New York City
1958-1959		Manager, Public Relations Department, General Foods Corporation
1959-1960		Director, Public Relations Department, General Foods Corporation
1960-1968		Vice President of Public Relations, General Foods Corporation
1995 (September 4)		Died, Salt Lake City, Utah

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

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COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The papers of Allen Wagner consist chiefly of speeches, press releases, and correspondence from Mr. Wagner’s tenure as Assistant to the Chairman of the United States Civil Service Commission. These documents primarily relate to the Civil Service Commission Public Relations Program and its efforts to respond to increasing criticism of government employees and federal offices.

Included in the collection are speeches, written by Wagner and delivered by Civil Service Commission Chairman Robert Ramspeck, that are rich with facts and statistics about the state of the U.S. Civil Service in the early 1950s. These statements, as well as advertisements and press releases in the collection, speak to the issues of fiscal responsibility at the federal level.

Reflecting Mr. Wagner’s long career in public relations, documentation of an award he received from the American Public Relations Association is included in the collection. Documents outlining the job description of the Assistant to the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission and internal communications within the department exhibit the management of a federal agency during the Truman administration.

Other collections at the Truman Library that relate to the U.S. Civil Service Commission include the papers of Harry S. Truman (Official File 2), Francis P. Brassor, and Frederick J. Lawton.

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

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