Center for Archival Collections

Introduction | Biographical Sketch | Scope and Content | Series Description | Inventory

 Introduction

The George F. Jenks Papers consists of 0.3 linear feet of material related to the career of newspaper reporter George F. Jenks along with family photographs. The donation and transfer of these records to the Center for Archival Collections was arranged through the cooperation of Louise Jenks of Bowling Green, Ohio, in November 1986. No restrictions exist on the use of this collection and duplication is permitted for the purposes of preservation and research. The collection was processed by Ann Jenks and the register was completed by Stephen W. Badenhop, Archival Assistant, in September 2008.

 Biographical Sketch

Toledo Blade editor and reporter George Francis Jenks (1908-1988) was born on October 19, 1908, in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Frank Jenks (1879-1952) and Julia Pennington (1885-1966). George attended school in Detroit, El Paso, Texas and Colorado Springs, Colorado, before entering Colorado College where he graduated in 1929. Afterwards he came to northwest Ohio as an employee of the Wood County News, Bowling Green, but the paper folded shortly after his arrival. In 1933, he joined the staff of the (Toledo) Blade where he would work for the next forty-two years.

Jenks began mastering his craft as a reporter on general assignments, the police beat, city hall and the Statehouse in Columbus. In 1942, he began his first of three assignments to the Blade’s Washington Bureau. He became bureau chief in 1958 and during his years in Washington traveled extensively, covering political assignments. Most notable among them were as follows: the Bikini Atoll atomic tests in 1946, the 1953 Eisenhower-Churchill conference in Berlin, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Vice President Richard Nixon’s trip to the Soviet Union, President Eisenhower’s “good-will” excursion through Asia and Africa and Nikita Khrushchev’s tour of the United States along with presidential elections from 1944 to 1972. Jenks retired from the Blade in 1975 after a long successful career.

“George Jenks was not only a fine reporter, but an excellent news writer as well,” former Blade managing editor William Rosenberg reminisced. “He was able, better than anyone else with whom I was associated in my years at the Blade, to organize the facts he gathered into an intelligent, readable news story.” He was a member of the National and Toledo Press clubs, the Newspaper Guild, and at one time served as secretary to the Toledo Zoological Society. He married Louise McMahon on July 19, 1937, and had four children: Ann, Judith, G. Michael and Frank. George died on July 7, 1988, in Bowling Green, Ohio.

 Scope and Content

The George F. Jenks Papers consists of 0.3 linear feet of material including articles, columns and book reviews written by newspaper editor and reporter George F. Jenks, along with numerous family photographs and an original artwork political cartoon. The photographic materials are from Jenks’ family and include Baldwin, Jenks and Pennington family members.

The literary materials cover the editorial career of Jenks and consist of national and political news topics authored by Jenks from 1942 to 1980, while he worked as an editor in the Blade’s Washington Bureau and as the paper’s National Affairs Editor. Especially interesting is his coverage of Vice President Richard Nixon’s 1959 trip to the Soviet Union and Nikita Khrushchev’s tour of the United States. This is along with his reporting on Presidential elections from 1960 to 1972. Any Cold War investigator would find this compilation of political materials from the era useful for their research, as would researchers related to the Jenks family.

 Series Description

LITERARY PRODUCTIONS

ARTICLES
1942-1980
Arranged chronologically
Newspaper articles authored by Jenks while working as a Blade staff writer in the office’s Washing Bureau and as the paper’s National Affairs Editor

BOOK REVIEWS
1969-1974
Arranged chronologically
Book reviews written by Jenks while working at the Blade covering national and political topics

COLUMNS
1961-1975
Arranged chronologically
Editorial columns penned by Jenks while working as a Blade staff writer

SCRAPBOOK AND SCRAPBOOK MATERIALS

NEWSCLIPPINGS
1942-1975
Arranged chronologically
Newspaper articles about the life and activities of George F. Jenks

PRINTED MATERIAL

MISCELLANEOUS
1956
Campaign map of Vice President Nixon’s campaign tours in 1956 along with Sky Scribers membership card

PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIALS

POSITIVE PRINTS
1890s-1910s
Arranged alphabetically
Family pictures of the Baldwin, Jenks and Pennington families

ARTWORK

ORIGINAL ARTWORK
c1975
Production piece political cartoon for the Toledo Blade about the kidnapping of Jimmy Hoffa; signed and inscribed by the artist Ed Ashley; item is oversized

 Inventory

Box 1

Folders

1. Articles, 1942-1959
2. Articles, 1960-1980
3. Articles, n.d.
4. Book Reviews, 1969-1974
5. Columns, 1961-1970
6. Columns, 1971
7. Columns, 1972-1973
8. Columns, 1973-1975
9. Columns, n.d.
10. Newsclippings, 1942-1975
11. Nixon Campaign Tour, 1956
12. Baldwin, c1890s
13. Lulu Baldwin, c1890s
14. George Jenks, c1909
15. Julia Pennington Jenks, c1890s
16. Sanford Jenks, c1900s-c1910s
17. Pennington (?), c1890s
18. Nellie Baldwin Pennington, c1890s

Oversize

1. Political Cartoon, c. 1975

Manuscripts by Subject | Family Collections | Political Collections