Browse the Corporate Records collection
The Corporate Series consists of ten cubic feet and one oversized box of materials dating from 1964 to 1974. Records within the series document the ten years John Glenn spent as a business executive between his retirement from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1964 and his election to the U.S. Senate in 1974. The series is arranged into the three major categories of correspondence, subject files, and personal files.
The five and one-half cubic feet of correspondence (boxes 90-95) consist of chronologically arranged files dating from January 1964 to September 1968. Other files, arranged alphabetically by author, cover the years from 1969 through 1974. Although during these years John Glenn was an executive with the Royal Crown Cola Company and a consultant for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the files contain few letters relating to these activities. Most of the letters are invitations for Glenn to attend or speak at events held by a wide variety of businesses and public and private organizations. Also included are letters requesting Glenn to provide an organization with some kind of service, typically a statement or object, to be used in an event sponsored by the organization. Other letters are from children and adults requesting advice or requesting information on Glenn's experience during his Friendship 7 space flight. Paired with the majority of the letters is a carbon copy of Glenn's reply.
The three cubic feet of alphabetically arranged subject files (boxes 95-98) date from 1964 to 1974, though the bulk of the records date from 1967 to 1974. Located within the files are records from Glenn's various business activities outside of his position with the Royal Crown Cola Company. The majority of the records pertain to the investments he made during the early 1970s in a number of Holiday Inn motels located near the Disney World entertainment complex in Florida, and to his investment in another Holiday Inn located in Columbus, Ohio. The Holiday Inn files consist of correspondence, site studies, legal and financial documents, and a variety of construction related records. Another series of files document Glenn's work from 1967 to 1974 as an author and consultant for Field Enterprises, the publishers of the World Book Encyclopedia and Yearbook. Included in these files are correspondence, notes, drafts of articles, and background materials. A few files contain materials compiled by Glenn from 1972 to 1974 when he served on the Board of Directors of the Questor Corporation, an international consumer products conglomerate comprised of companies manufacturing automotive parts and sporting goods. Also located within the subject files are records of Glenn's association with Wolper Productions, Inc. In 1967, this company employed Glenn to retrace the route through Africa taken during 1871 by Sir Henry Stanley in his search of Dr. David Livingstone. Footage of Glenn's trip was broadcast nationally as part of the "Great Explorations" television program. Other Wolper Productions, Inc. files date from 1971 to 1972 and contain correspondence and scripts for a proposed documentary program the company planned to produce for television using Glenn as the commentator.
The one and one-half cubic feet of personal files (boxes 98-99) contain records pertaining to the charitable organizations and other institutions that John Glenn actively supported during the 1964 to 1974 time period. Prevalent among these organizations and institutions was the Boy Scouts of America and the U.S. Marine Corps. Files for these two entities contain correspondence, speeches, and articles written by Glenn. During this time period Glenn also served on the Board of Trustees for Muskingum College. Materials on the college include correspondence, meeting agendas and minutes, reports, and miscellaneous publications. Also located within the personal files is a series of background materials compiled by Glenn for speech writing purposes. Arranged by subject, the files include materials on such topics as crime, drugs, education, health care, and religion.
Box 100 of the Corporate Series contains two oversized scrapbooks of documents and photographs pertaining to Glenn's business activities. The first scrapbook is from the Life Magazine Executive Space Tour of 1964, in which Glenn participated as a NASA consultant. The second scrapbook contains photographs from a trip Glenn took in 1967 to Thailand while he was an executive with the Royal Crown Cola Company.