1949-1980
Guide to the Collection
Restrictions on Access
The Mason Sears 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.
Abstract
This collection consists of the papers of Mason Sears, a Republican politician from Massachusetts who served as U.S. representative to the United Nations Trusteeship Council from 1953-1960. The collection includes notes, correspondence, clippings, itineraries, and working papers created and kept by Sears during his professional and personal travels to Africa. Also included are typescripts, drafts and revisions, and proofs for Sears's book, as well as clippings and papers relating to his domestic political career.
Biographical Sketch
Philip Mason Sears (1899-1973) was born 29 December 1899 to Philip Shelton Sears (1867-1953) and Mary Cabot (Higginson) Sears. He graduated from Harvard College in 1922 and later worked for the U.S. Department of State following graduation and was assigned to Beijing, China. He married Zilla MacDougall (1902-1988) in 1924, with whom he had a son, Philip M. Sears, Jr. (1926-1976), and a daughter, Charlotte (1929-1956). Sears served in the United States Navy in both World War I and World War II.
A resident of Dedham, Sears held office as a Republican in the Massachusetts General Court, variously representing Dedham and Norfolk County as a representative from 1935-1938 and as a senator from 1939-1942 and 1947-1948. He served as chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party from 1949-1950. Sears was an advisor to and also worked on the staff and campaigns of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (1902-1985). Sears was active in the Draft Eisenhower movement and was a delegate to the 1952 Republican National Convention.
In 1953, Sears was nominated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to serve as the United States representative to the United Nations Trusteeship Council. In 1955, Sears was president of the Council's 16th Session. Sears attended both 1954 UN Visiting Missions to West Africa and East Africa and chaired the 1960 UN Visiting Mission to East Africa among several other professional assignments, some of which included the independence ceremonies for Ghana as part of Vice President Richard Nixon's delegation, the independence of Cameroon alongside Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., the 1955 Buganda Agreement, and the Silver Jubilee of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. Sears resigned from government service in 1960 but attended the independence ceremonies of Tanzania and continued to take personal trips to Africa into the 1970s.
Sears later authored Years of High Purpose: From Trusteeship to Nationhood, a memoir on his UN and Eisenhower Administration service. Sears died on 13 December 1973, and Years of High Purpose was published posthumously in 1980.
Collection Description
The Mason Sears papers include materials relating to Sears's career in Massachusetts politics, his service as part of the United Nations Trusteeship Council primarily in relation to Africa, and the writing of his memoir of UN service. Specific Massachusetts and Republican topics include the issue of state funding for parochial school transportation in the Massachusetts General Court, Sears's term as chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party, the 1952 Republican National Convention, and his advisory role for Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. Materials are primarily newspaper clippings with some notes, statements, petitions, and correspondence. In relation to Sears's UN service and visits to Africa, material types include newspaper clippings, correspondence, his nomination and commissions, statements, notes, travel plans and itineraries, diaries, articles and letters to the editor, and UN statements and reports. Nations visited include Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda, among others.
Common subjects include apartheid, colonialism, decolonization, and United States-Africa relations. Correspondence includes letters from American officials Lodge, John Foster Dulles, and Christian Herter. Among others, African leaders include Julius K. Nyerere and Kwame Nkrumah. Many papers relate to the 1954 United Nations Visiting Mission to Trust Territories in West Africa, the 1954 United Nations Visiting Mission to Trust Territories in East Africa, and the 1960 United Nations Visiting Mission to Trust Territories in East Africa. Other specific events and groups documented include the 1955 Buganda Agreement between Mutesa II and Andrew Cohen in Uganda (1955), Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia's Silver Jubilee (1955), Vice President Richard Nixon's delegation to Ghana's independence ceremonies (1957), Lodge's delegation to Cameroon's independence ceremonies (1960), the independence of Tanganyika (1961-1962), the Congo Crisis (1960-1965), wildlife conservation, and the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation.
Materials relating to the writing of Sears's book include proofs, typescripts, drafts, notes, clippings, and reference material. The book reflects Sears's personal opinions regarding U.S. foreign policy towards African nations and territories.
Arrangement Note
The file entries in this collection guide refer to several African nations by their territorial names for pre-independence materials. For these countries, access terms have been provided for their current names.
Additionally, Sears's papers were likely rearranged and integrated with notes and other papers used in the writing of his memoir, which was published and likely edited posthumously in 1980. Many of the original folders contained the text "/Dedham/8 July, 1980." Due to the state of the materials, papers within folders have not been rearranged. Folders were arranged alphabetically, chronologically, or by material type when appropriate.
Processing Information
This collection guide supersedes an online inventory prepared by Michael Rush in 2002.
Acquisition Information
Gift of David Sears, 1997.
Restrictions on Access
The Mason Sears 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
I. Massachusetts and Republican Party Politics, 1949-1952, 1964
Arranged by subject.
This series consists of newspaper clippings and two subject folders relating to Sears's career in Massachusetts state politics. The majority of clippings were acquired by Sears through clipping services. They are stored alongside clippings removed from two binders covering his service as chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party. The subject folders cover the issue of state-funded transportation for parochial schools in the Sears-Rugg Bill, as well as the 1952 Republican National Convention, for which Sears served as a delegate.
News clippings - Massachusetts politics, January-March 1949
News clippings - Massachusetts politics, July-December 1949
News clippings - Massachusetts politics, February-June 1950
News clippings - Massachusetts politics, September 1964
News clippings - Chairman of the Republican State Committee, 1949-1950
Parochial school transportation, 1949-1950
1952 Republican National Convention, 1952
II. United Nations and Africa, 1953-1972
Arranged chronologically by event or subject, then alphabetically.
This series concerns Sears's service as United States ambassador to the United Nations Trusteeship Council from 1953-1960 and his multiple trips to Africa on behalf of the United Nations and the U.S. State Department, as well as for personal interest. Also included are United Nations commissions and statements, reports, correspondence, articles, clippings, diaries, travel information, notes, and working files. Subjects include United Nations Visiting Missions to nations such as Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi; independence ceremonies of Ghana, Cameroon, and Tanganyika; wildlife conservation; apartheid; decolonization; and independence. Clippings were removed from one binder detailing Sears's UN tenure.
United Nations [UN] Charter, ca. 1953
UN commissions, 1953-1957
News clippings - UN/Africa, 1953-1965
UN correspondence, 1953-1965
UN lists of names, 1953-1960
UN notes and personal statement, 1954-1960
UN statements - index of press releases, 1953-1960
UN statements, 1953-1960
UN Visiting Mission to West Africa (1954) - correspondence files and memoranda, 1954-1955
UN Visiting Mission to West Africa (1954) - diaries, March-April 1954
UN Visiting Mission to East Africa (1954) - diaries, July-October 1954
UN Visiting Mission to East Africa (1954) - files and itineraries, 1954-1959
Lists of Africa visits and locations, 1955-1959
Africa trip (1955-1956) - clippings and newspapers, 1955-1956
Africa trip (1955-1956) - files and itineraries, 1955-1956
Africa trip (1955-1956) - notes, 1955-1956
Independence of Ghana, 1956-1957
UN study group - "The Colonial Problem" - attendees and memoranda, 1956-1957
UN study group - "The Colonial Problem" - papers and reports, 1956-1957
Africa trips (1957) - Timbuktu, 1957
UN statement - notes and correspondence, 1957-1958
Africa trip (1958), October-December 1958
Christmas cards, 1958-1962
Articles, letters to the editor, and statements, 1959-1960
Independence of Cameroon, 1959-1960
Congo crisis - notes and clippings, 1960-1961
East African Federation - notes, 1960-1961
UN report - Portuguese Africa, July 1960
UN Visiting Mission to East Africa (1960) - itineraries and notes, 1959-1960
UN Visiting Mission to East Africa (1960) - Ruanda-Urundi - files and notes, 1959-1960
UN Visiting Mission to East Africa (1960) - Ruanda-Urundi - UN reports and publications, 1954-1961
UN Visiting Mission to East Africa (1960) - Ruanda-Urundi - U.S. position, 1958-1960
UN Visiting Mission to East Africa (1960) - Tanganyika - files and notes, 1954-1960
UN Visiting Mission to East Africa (1960) - Tanganyika - statements, 1960
Africa trips (1961-1962) - independence of Tanganyika, 1961-1962
Africa trips (1961-1962) - travel information, 1961-1962
Wildlife conservation, 1961-1962
Wildlife conservation - African Wildlife Leadership Foundation, 1968-1970
Africa trip (1971) and correspondence, 1971-1972
III. Years of High Purpose, 1955-1980
Arranged chronologically.
This series relates to the writing and publication of Sears's memoir, Years of High Purpose: From Trusteeship to Nationhood, and includes proofs, typescripts, drafts, notes, clippings, and reference material. Additional notes and reference files may also exist in Series II.
Notes, clippings, and reference material, 1955-1976
Chapter drafts - forward, undated
Chapter drafts - summary of chapters, 1971
Chapter drafts - opening, undated
Chapter drafts - chapter 7 (partial), undated
Chapter drafts - chapter 8, undated
Chapter drafts - chapter 9, undated
Chapter drafts - loose pages, undated
Incomplete typescripts, undated
Typescripts, undated
Proof covers, ca. 1980
Proof, 1980
Preferred Citation
Mason Sears 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:
Organizations:
Subjects:
Materials Removed from the Collection
Photographs from this collection have been removed to the Mason Sears photographs (Photo. Coll. 422).