Don Dedera Papers

Collection

Identifier: MSS-280

Scope and Content Note

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The Don Dedera Papers consist of records spanning early family history, college journalism experience, civic and community involvement, military service, and Dedera's well documented writing career.

Series I: Correspondence (Boxes 1-4) includes general personal and professional communications spanning Dedera's entire writing career (1955-2008).

Series II: Military Service (Boxes 5-7) documents Dedera's military service as a United States Marine during WWII and as a Vietnam War correspondent embedded with U.S. Marines. It houses personal correspondence, a plethora of publications, memorabilia, and other materials.

Series III: Personal Papers (Boxes 8-15) includes a variety of materials Dedera's showing family history, educational career, and civic involvement.

Series IV: Professional Papers (Boxes 16-21) documents Dedera's career as editor, foreign correspondent, and screen writer.

Series V: Publications (Boxes 22-79) contains a vast number of published and unpublished monographs, journal articles, columns, and feature articles on such subjects as Arizona history, environmental impact, humor, and satire.

Series VI: Research (Boxes 80-100) houses a variety of materials used as source materials for writing projects, including biographical files, publications by other writers, and subject files.

Series VII: Calendars (Boxes 101-103) contains calendars spanning the years 1959 to 1997. They bear witness to Dedera's personal and professional career as a writer, journalist, and photographer.

Series VIII: Miscellaneous Files (Boxes 104-111) houses awards, brochures, ephemera, maps, and memorabilia.

Series IX: Oversized Materials (Box 112) includes supplemental items pertinent to the collection that require special housing due to their size.

Series X: Photographs (Boxes 113-142) contains a wide range of images providing significant support to the written materials in this collection.

Dates

Creation: 1955-2008

Creator

Dedera, Don (Person)

Language of Materials

Material in English

Access Restrictions

To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Tuesday through Thursday, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.

Copyright

The Arizona Board of Regents retains copyright to this collection for and on behalf of the Arizona State University Library. Requests to publish, display, or redistribute information from this collection must be submitted via our online application.

Biographical Note

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Donald Everett Dedera was born March 16, 1929 in Arlington, Virginia. In 1946 he graduated from Washington-Lee High School in Arlington County, Virginia. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as a photographer. After an honorable discharge in 1948 he enrolled in Arizona State College in Tempe, Arizona and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism in 1951.

After graduation from Arizona State College (now known as Arizona State University), Dedera worked for The Arizona Republic from 1951 to 1969. During his first 12 years he worked as a general assignment reporter and became a daily feature columnist in 1953. In 1958 he won the Ernie Pyle Memorial Award for his work. Over the next several years his journalistic and photographic abilities were acknowledged by the Arizona Press Club and the International Association of Business Communicators. Dedera represented the Phoenix Press Club as President in 1957. In 1960, Dedera's first book, A Mile in His Moccasins, was published. Dedera went on to successfully cover Europe and the Soviet Union and made two tours as a Vietnam War correspondent in 1966 and 1969. This service earned him an Alumni Achievement Award from Arizona State University in 1975. In 1985 he became a charter inductee into the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism Hall of Fame at Arizona State University.

In 1983, Dedera was appointed editor of Arizona Highways magazine. After leaving the magazine as editor in 1985 to pursue his first-love of writing, he completed A Little War of Our Own: The Pleasant Valley Feud Revisited. Dedera's prolific writing career continued with many more publications, a monthly magazine column, and accolades and awards that include the National Society of Arts and Letters Literary Award in 1988 and the Lowell Thomas Award in 1990. Dedera was recognized in 2007 as part of the Arizona Culturekeepers program for his dedication to Arizona's history.

Dedera's communications career spans 60 years and includes approximately 23 books ranging from history to ecology, from folklore to fine arts. As a frequent contributor to magazines and newspapers around the world, he has published over 2,000 journal and newspaper articles. His 1000th journal article was published in America West Airlines magazine in 1989. He was a teacher, public speaker, publisher, editor, photographer, and community activist for the Phoenix Indian School Park. He was the only journalist permitted to travel with Senator Barry Goldwater to Vietnam in 1969 on his first-hand tour of the war zone and inspection of the Air Force MARS (Military Auxiliary Radio System) station.

Full extent

142 Box(es)

Full extent

71.0 Linear Feet

Additional description

Abstract

The Don Dedera Papers consist of records spanning early family history, college journalism experience, civic and community involvement, military service, and Dedera's well documented writing career.

Arrangement

This collection consists of one hundred and forty two boxes divided into ten series:

Series I: Correspondence
Series II: Military Service
Series III: Personal Papers
Series IV: Professional Papers
Series V: Publications
Series VI: Research
Series VII: Calendars
Series VIII: Miscellaneous Files
Series IX: Oversized Materials
Series X: Photographs

Other Finding Aids

Item-level indexes to the articles that Dedera wrote as a Vietnam war correspondent for the Arizona Republic, about Europe and Russia, and for newspapers and magazines are available upon request. Contact Archives and Special Collections for more information.

Provenance

Don Dedera donated the bulk of his papers in 2008 (ACC #2008-04214).

Processing Note

Due to the sheer magnitude of publications, drafts have been placed with published articles.

Consideration must be given to allow for those articles and titles that appear in various locations under the same title or different title but appear to have the same text.

While every effort was made to match a publication to its draft, not all drafts could be matched to a specific publication.

A Little War of Our Own: The Pleasant Valley Feud Revisited/Research - People Files. The term people files is used to maintain consistency with original arrangement.

A Little War of Our Own: The Pleasant Valley Feud Revisited: the correction copy includes original Post-It notes as well as handwritten notes and highlights throughout text.

Sky Stones, the original working title of Don Dedera's Southwestern Stories: Navajo, Zuni and Hopi Silver Jewelry appears to be a draft of a book manuscript but never published. However, Chapter 4 of Sky Stones and Sea Gems was submitted and published as a feature article in the December 1974 issue of Westways magazine.

The phrase Publications by Others is used in this guide to describe the complete text or significant portion of material used by Dedera for the research of his work.