Alfred Balk Papers

Copies of magazine and newspaper articles Balk wrote throughout his career, as well as miscellaneous other publications and a folder of unpublished and rejected manuscripts. Balk's earliest writing dates from his college days at Northwestern, and he also wrote for a variety of Iowa newspapers, military newspapers, and the Chicago Sun-Times. Later published articles include work for Coronet, Editor & Publisher, Harper's, Kiwanis Magazine, The New York Times, The Quill, Reader's Digest, The Saturday Evening Post, Saturday Review, and Today's Health.

There is also a small amount of correspondence from readers and editors about miscellaneous articles. Correspondence pertaining to Balk's more significant pieces is filed with those materials.

Copies of speeches Balk wrote, primarily concerning journalism and media issues and delivered at various seminars and conferences. Also included is a draft of a speech Balk wrote for Nelson Algren and Studs Terkel in support of Joseph D. Lohman's candidacy for governor of Illinois in 1958.

Notes, correspondence, and research related to Balk's prolific Chicago freelance writing period spanning roughly 1958-1966. Balk wrote many significant articles during this time, including "Confessions of a Block-Buster" in 1962 for the Saturday Evening Post, which exposed racist real estate practices in Chicago and led to a landmark court case protecting a journalist's right to confidential sources.

Also for the Saturday Evening Post, Balk collaborated with Alex Haley for an article about Black Muslims and the Nation of Islam, resulting in Balk's interviews with Malcolm X and other NOI members. He also interviewed an FBI agent and other law enforcement personnel, and collected FBI and police reports while researching the piece.

Other notable work includes articles about the Dust Bowl, fallout shelters, television game show winners, and the defection of a Presbyterian minister, as well as profiles of community organizer Saul Alinsky, children's television personality Captain Kangaroo, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Ebony magazine founder John H. Johnson, Chicago newspaper columnist Irv Kupcinet, and Illinois Senator Paul Simon.

Notes, correspondence and publicity related to Alfred Balk's published books. Balk began writing and editing books after his freelance period in Chicago; his first book, The Religion Business (1968), grew from an article he wrote for Harper's detailing the tax exemptions enjoyed by religious organizations. He published another six books intermittently over the next forty years, covering issues in journalism and American economics, as well as a general history of radio and efforts to save a historic movie theater in Syracuse, NY.

Materials related to Balk's tenure as Feature Editor and Editor-at-Large at Saturday Review from 1966–1970, reflecting a period of career growth as well as his influence on the magazine. Includes memos, correspondence with editor Norman Cousins, manuscripts, and other internal communication.

Correspondence, manuscripts, and other materials related to Columbia Journalism Review, which Alfred Balk edited from 1969-1973. Also included are documents related to a libel suit against Balk and CJR, concerning an article that appeared in the magazine during his tenure.

As editor of World Press Review, a monthly foreign press digest, from 1973-1986, Alfred Balk shepherded the magazine through a name change and sale, mail fraud crisis, and criticism of the magazine's Israel/Palestine coverage. He also established the International Editor of the Year award, which helped illuminate critical journalism issues in other countries. There are items related to these issues as well as correspondence, internal communication, and publicity and advertising materials.

Balk was managing editor at IEEE Spectrum, a technology trade publication, for about a year and a half. He helped streamline procedures and establish policy guidelines which improved the magazine's overall content and work atmosphere, and also contributed some writing.