Wolfe Pack members visited the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum at Hyde Park, New York (less than two hours north of Manhattan) on Tuesday, July 15, 2014. The goal was to locate materials pertaining to Rex and Pola Stout. The Stouts were active supporters of the Roosevelt administration and the war effort.
During the trip, members researched the historical papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt. Based on information from the archivists and the Library's online finding aids, there are several files in the Library's collection containing correspondence between the Roosevelts and Rex Stout, as well as his wife, noted fashion designer Pola Stout. In addition, the collection contains recordings of radio shows featuring both Rex and Pola Stout.
Al Goller and Herb Aronson met the Amtrak train carrying the Wolfe Pack members at Poughkeepsie and drove us to the Library and back.
Some members also took a tour of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Museum, located in the former Roosevelt home adjacent to the library, walked through the spacious grounds and toured Eleanor Roosevelt's home at nearby Val-Kil Extensive information about the Library and Museum can be found at https://fdrlibrary.org/. See the Wikipedia pages noted below for a better understanding of The Writer's War Board, Our Secret Weapon, and post-war efforts to establish "world government organization," (future United Nations), as well as the.
- Wikipedia's Writer's War Board Article
- Wikipedia's "Our Secret Weapon" Article
- Wikipedia's Society for the Prevention of World War III
- NY Times Obituary of Pola Stout, textile/ fabric designer
ARCHIVAL MATERIAL (There are links to this material on the Pola Sout page and the Rex Stout "activism" page)
- Eleanor Roosevelt/Pola Stout Correspondence regarding fabrics and clothing from Pola
- Eleanor Roosevelt correspondence with Rex Stout regarding World Government (United Nations)
- Pola Stout correspondence with White House secretary & FDR regarding shirts for FDR
- Autographed photo of FDR in a Pola Stout shirt, with photo framed in the same material as the shirt
- "Our Secret Weapon" -- correspondence relating to the radio show's production
- "Our Secrect Weapon" radio broadcast (surviving audio recording in MP3 format)
- Correspondence with FDR and his office relating to a proposed meeting of Stout (Chairman of Writers' War Board) and FDR about the planned post-war treatment of Germany