COLLECTION GUIDES

1902-1982; bulk: 1919-1976

Guide to the Collection

Restrictions on Access

The John Bryant Paine Jr. papers are stored offsite and must be requested at least two business days in advance via Portal1791. Researchers needing more than six items from offsite storage should provide additional advance notice. If you have questions about requesting materials from offsite storage, please contact the reference desk at 617-646-0532 or reference@masshist.org.


Collection Summary

Abstract

This collection consists of the papers of John Bryant Paine, Jr., primarily newspapers clippings and published articles on various controversial topics and conspiracy theories. The collection also contains personal papers, including correspondence and diaries.

Biographical Sketch

John Bryant Paine, Jr. (1901-1976), known as Jack, was born 19 November 1901 in Boston to John Bryant Paine (1870-1951) and Louise Rue Frazer Paine (1879-1968) and lived in Weston, Mass. He was the eldest, and only son, of seven children which included sisters Helen Sumner Paine Dickson (1904-2003), Caroline Satterthwaite Paine Ganson (1906-2000), Julia Lee Paine Wakefield (1909-1943), Louise Frazer Paine Erickson (1911-2005), Charlotte Jackson Paine (1913-1966), and Sarah Cushing Paine Forbes (1919-2011). He attended Middlesex School and Harvard University (Class of 1923) and entered Harvard Business School, but withdrew before the 1925 class graduation.

In 1925, Paine began work at Old Colony Trust Co. in the statistics department. From 1929 to 1932, he worked as a statistician at Spencer Trask and Co. before leaving to set up his own business as an investment advisor and later as an investment and financial consultant. By 1937, he had to stop taking on new clients, and throughout his career he maintained a select group of clients. He was also appointed a trustee for his grandfather, Charles Jackson Paine, in 1932 before becoming a paid trustee in 1952. John Paine also worked as a trustee for various other family trusts.

He closed his business in 1942 when he received a commission as lieutenant in the United States Naval Reserve. During this time, he served as a detail officer and regiment adjutant, Transition Training Squadron Atlantic Fleet (TTSA), in Norfolk, Va., December 1941-August 1943; personnel officer, Bombing Squaron 112 in Port Lyautey, French Morocco, August 1943-December 1944; and executive officer, United States Naval Auxiliary Air Station at Harvey Point, N.C., January 1945-August 1945. He resigned as lieutenant commander on 3 December 1945. Following the war, he reopened his business.

Paine maintained life-long hobbies which included hunting; shooting; sailing; skiing; maintaining a metal and woodworking shop for various projects; toy trains; photography; and collecting books, recorded music, minerals, moths, butterflies, live turtles, stamps, and arrowheads. Following a car accident in 1963, he stopped his more physically active hobbies. He also held numerous offices, including member of the finance committee of Weston, 1940-1942; commissioner of cemeteries and parks of Weston, 1956-1963; and treasurer of the Massachusetss Historical Society (MHS), 1957-1970. He was also a member of the MHS, Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Manchester Yacht Club, and Somerset Club. In 1967, he became a sponsor and member of Business Executives Move for Vietnam Peace (BEM).

In order to provide the best financial advice to his clients, Paine read newspapers intently as a way to debunk propaganda that he viewed as hiding key facts behind major trends. This practice also applied to the numerous interests he had outside of work, many of which were controversial topics and conspiracy theories. They included Pearl Harbor, the Korean War, U.S. involvement in Vietnam and Indo-China, the arms race with Russia, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, business and government corruption and profiteering, and nuclear disarmament. In 1956, he wrote a pamphlet, Common Sense: Now More Urgent Than on the First Occasion in 1776, in which he outlined his argument for global disarmament. With his wife, he devoted significant time to the causes of avoiding nuclear disaster and bringing back "honesty, justice, and intelligence into the government and business."

John Paine married Henrietta Rutgers Crosby Nash (1919-2013), daughter of James Rowland Nash and Agnes Givan Crosby Allen Nash of Warrenton, Va., on 23 December 1942. They lived in Weston, where they raised their family. He died 11 May 1976.

Collection Description

The John Bryant Paine, Jr. papers consist of 32 record cartons and 2 document boxes, including 38 manuscript volumes. The collection documents Paine's personal life and his interest in numerous topics and causes, mainly from 1919-1976. Material is largely newspaper clippings with his handwritten comments, as well as printed material. Also included is correspondence from family, friends, and acquaintances within the groups in which he was active, as well as other personal papers.

Paine took an interest in numerous controversial topics and conspiracy theories. These included Pearl Harbor, U.S. involvement in Vietnam and Indo-China, the arms race with Russia, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the military industrial complex, conspiracies across numerous industries, and government and business corruption and profiteering. He was also active in supporting nuclear disarmament. Material from these interests mainly include newspaper clippings, as well as correspondence and printed material from other people and organizations with similar interests. These people include Hugh Bryan Hester, Mae Brussell, and Robert Bradley Cutler.

The personal papers of John Bryant Paine, Jr. cover his time as a student at Harvard University (1919-1923), service in the United States Naval Reserve (1942-1945), work on his treatise on global disarmament, and tenure as treasurer of the Massachusetts Historical Society (1957-1970). Included is fundraising material for Harvard; student papers; alumni information; Harvard ephemera; Naval service papers; muster rolls; Navy memoranda; editions of Breezy Points of TTSA, TTSA Mariner, and the Quonset Kiwi newsletters; personal gift receipts to the MHS; treasurer reports; meeting and event material; articles pertaining to the MHS; and correspondence from Thomas Boylston Adams and Stephen T. Riley.

Diaries detail Paine's time as a student at Middlesex School in Concord, Mass. and Harvard University; as a statistician at Old Colony Trust Company and Spencer Trask Co.; starting his own financial advising business; and his enlistment in the Naval Reserve during World War II. Entries depict his school, family, and work life; concerns for his future; social anxieties; courting, including his future wife Henrietta Rutgers Crosby Nash; numerous hobbies that included wood and metal working, hunting, sailing, skiing, and horseback riding; attending theater performances, dinners, dances, and parties, especially for debutantes throughout the 1920s-1940s; commentary on politics and current events; and his travels throughout the U.S., Great Britain, and Europe. Mentioned are his friends from Middlesex School and Harvard and business associates. Pasted throughout the diaries are letters, market reports written by Paine, photographs, Christmas cards and valentines, ephemera, and specimens from hunting trips and his travels.

Arrangement Note

The collection retains most of the original order as arranged by John Bryant Paine, Jr., including original folder names.

Acquisition Information

Gift of John Bryant Paine, Jr., July 1976, with later additions.

Restrictions on Access

The John Bryant Paine Jr. papers are stored offsite and must be requested at least two business days in advance via Portal1791. Researchers needing more than six items from offsite storage should provide additional advance notice. If you have questions about requesting materials from offsite storage, please contact the reference desk at 617-646-0532 or reference@masshist.org.

Detailed Description of the Collection

Expand all

I. Correspondence, 1902-1947

Correspondence relating to John Bryant Paine, Jr.'s interests can be found throughout the collection.

Close I. Correspondence, 1902-1947

II. Personal papers, 1919-1976

Close II. Personal papers, 1919-1976

III. Topical files, 1920-1976

This series contains files on topics of interest to John Bryant Paine, Jr., mostly pertaining to controversial subjects and conspiracy theories. The bulk of the material is comprised of newspaper clippings, with Paine's handwritten notes and comments. Also included is correspondence and printed material.

Recurring material throughout the following subseries includes correspondence and printed material from R. B. Cutler, Mae Brussell, Joseph S. Clark, Tristram Coffin, Computers and Automation, The Washington Watch, The Washington Spectator, The Dan Smoot Report, The Truth Newsletter: All the News Unfit to Print, I. F. Stone's Weekly, The Minority of One, The Byers Newsletter, National Guardian: The Progressive Newsweekly, BEM, Citizen's Commission of Inquiry, Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy, Assassination Information Bureau, Women's International Peace League, and Women Strike for Peace.

Close III. Topical files, 1920-1976

Preferred Citation

John Bryant Paine, Jr. papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.

Persons:

Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963--Assassination.
Paine, John Bryant, 1870-1951.
Paine, Louise Rue Frazer, 1879-1968.
Paine, John Bryant, 1901-1976.
Dickson, Helen Sumner Paine, 1904-2003.
Ganson, Caroline Satterthwaite Paine, 1906-2000.
Wakefield, Julia Lee Paine, 1909-1943.
Erickson, Louise Frazer Paine, 1911-2005.
Paine, Charlotte Jackson, 1913-1966.
Forbes, Sarah Cushing Paine, 1919-2011.
Barnes, Charles Benjamin, 1900-1980.
Churchill, Winthrop Hallowell, 1900-1960.
Clark, William Oakes, 1902-1957.
Forbes, William Hathaway, 1902-1995.
Forbes, John Malcolm, 1901-1941.
Weld, Stephen Minot, 1901-1982.
Payson, William Lincoln, 1901-1980.
Cummings, Charles Kimball, 1901-1981.
Lichauco, Marcial Primitivo, 1902-1971.
Hester, Hugh B. (Hugh Bryan), 1895-1983.
Coffin, Tristram, 1912-1997.
Brussell, Mae, 1922-1988.
Cutler, R. B. (Robert Bradley), 1913-2010.
Kimmel, Husband Edward, 1882-1968.
Theobald, Robert A. (Robert Alfred), 1884-1957.
Adams, Thomas Boylston.
Riley, Stephen T.
Paine family.

Organizations:

United States. Navy Reserve.
Harvard College (1780- ). Class of 1923.
Middlesex School (Concord, Mass.).
Massachusetts Historical Society.

Subjects:

Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941.
World War, 1939-1945.
Korean War, 1950-1953.
Vietnam War, 1961-1975.
Cold War.
Conspiracy theories.
Corporations--Corrupt practices--United States.
Political corruption--United States.
Political atrocities--United States.
Political assassination--United States.
Military spending.
Chemical warfare.
Biological warfare.
Ecocide.
Nuclear disarmament.
Weapons.
Economics.
Capitalism.
Voyages and travels--Diaries.
Scrapbooks--1919-1944.
Massachusetts--Social life and customs.

Materials Removed from the Collection

Photographs from this collection have been removed to MHS Photo Archives.

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