A. New Jersey/Regional Professional Affiliations and Historical Organizations

Summary: The "New Jersey/Regional" files are divided into three sub-subseries: New Jersey State Historical Records Advisory Board, New Jersey Tercentenary Commission, and Other. Please note that the New Jersey Historical Commission and the New Jersey Historical Society are not included in the New Jersey/Regional subseries, as they are large enough to merit their own distinct series.

The "New Jersey State Historical Records Advisory Board" files include material from McCormick's role on the Board—for whom he reviewed grant proposals and attended meetings—and background material to the board including the minutes to the first meeting of the Archives Series Advisory Board (June 6, 1974). Other items include grant proposals, meeting minutes, membership lists, guidelines and procedures listings, newsletters, and annual reports.

The "New Jersey Tercentenary Commission" records contain proposals, research, correspondence, legislation, reports, membership lists, meeting minutes and agendas, resolutions, photographs, and financial documentation related to the New Jersey Tercentenary Commission. McCormick was instrumental in helping establish and organize the commission, through the help of his friends including New Jersey reporter and historian John Cunningham, and Roger H. McDonough, New Jersey State Librarian, Governor Robert B. Meyner, and Acting Secretary Brendan Byrne. These men, among others including Paul L. Troast and Henry Haines, played a significant role in the growth of the New Jersey Tercentenary Commission. Consequently, their names figure prominently in the correspondence found in this subseries.

The "Other" category contains material from McCormick's involvement and affiliation with other professional and historical organizations such as Colonial Williamsburg, General Board of Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey, New Jersey Historic Sites Advisory Committee, and the Westminster Historical Society (renamed the Proprietary House Association), for example. The folders include correspondence, meeting minutes and agendas, membership applications and lists, reports, notes, memoranda, research proposals, membership lists, financial statements, clippings, event programs and transcripts, and newsletter drafts and layouts.

McCormick was also affiliated with the Governor's Committee on Morven (1954-1957) and the Drumthwacket Use Sub-Committee (1968-1970), both of which were Governor-appointed committees that were concerned with the future use of the buildings. Drumthwacket was eventually remodeled as the Governor's official residence. Morven—a historic building and property that dates back to William Penn and Richard Stockton—was a gift to New Jersey from former Governor Walter E. Edge. Although it was also planned that Morven be remodeled as a Governor's residence, instead it was restored and converted into a museum.

There is also material concerning the Conference of New Jersey Historians at Rutgers (1948-1949, 1949-1950), which was conceived of and organized by McCormick, Conference Chairman. Historians involved in the 1949-50 conference included William Ellis, Jack Lamping, S. K. Stevens, Julian Boyd, Earle Newton (editor of American Heritage and director of the Vermont Historical Society), Roger H. McDonough (New Jersey State Librarian), and there is correspondence documenting these attendees.

The "National Professional Affiliations and Historical Organizations" files include material dating back to McCormick's early involvement in historical ventures, including his role as advisor to the American Historical Research Center in Wisconsin (for which he was unsuccessfully wooed by Clifford Lord of the State of Wisconsin, State Historical Society to be director). The folders contain the following types of material: clippings, photocopied articles, correspondence, court documents, fellowship applications and program information, reports, research notes and data, budgets, agendas, newsletters, and contracts. The subseries spans a broad time period and also includes significant material from the Thomas A. Edison Papers project, a multi-institutional (National Park Service, the New Jersey Historical Commission, Rutgers University and the Smithsonian), national project involving the organization and publication of an edition of papers by Thomas A. Edison, of which McCormick was very proud.

An item of interest in this subseries is the material related to the Defense of the Rights of Historians under the First Amendment, which became a permanent Joint Standing Committee of the Organization of American Historians and the American Historical Association that serves to protect the rights of historians. The Joint Committee was formed in response to the Stevens-Frick Case in 1965, which involved legal action enacted by Helen Clay Frick, daughter of steel tycoon, Henry Clay Frick, to stop the publication of a book by historian S. K. Stevens that made references to her father. The files contain article photocopies, court documents related to the case, and correspondence between Stevens and McCormick, as well as between both men and other members of the committee.