Lawrence H. Suid Collection

The collection documents cooperation between U.S. military officials and the film industry in the 20th century. It consists of oral history interviews (recordings and transcripts) conducted by Lawrence Suid with screenwriters, producers, directors, actors, military technical advisors, public relations officers, and others, as well as subject files on films that were studied by Suid in the preparation of his groundbreaking study "Guts and Glory: The Making of the American Military Image", first published in 1978, and again in 2002 and 2015. In addition to "Guts and Glory", Mr. Suid also authored "The Army's Nuclear Power Program" (1990), an academic study of the ANPP, and "Sailing on the Silver Screen" (1996), which provided a detailed treatment of the U.S. Navy in film as "Guts and Glory" had for the Army, Air Force, and Marines.

The collection is divided into three series:

1. Film reference files: subject files on over 700 films that were studied by Suid, arranged alphabetically by title.

2. Interview files: Over 700 interviews conducted by Suid with members of the film industry, the media, the government, and the military. The interviews are further divided into two sub-series: 1. Transcripts and reference files, containing correspondence, notes, and transcripts (or portions of transcripts) with individuals that were interviewed by Suid and 2. Interview recordings, containing all of Suid's recorded interviews stored on audio cassette tapes. Please note that not every interview file includes a transcript. A complete list of recorded interviews compiled by Suid can be found using the link in External Documents, below.

3. Manuscripts of published works: Correspondence, research matter, and photographs with drafts and gallies of Suid's various books, divided into two sub-series, 1. Photograph files and 2. Book manuscripts. It includes photographs arranged alphabetically by film title, and manuscripts of "Guts and Glory", "Sailing on the Silver Screen”, and "The Army's Nuclear Power Program".