Personal, administrative, political, and investigative files of Nickerson. The papers deal almost entirely with his eight years as County Executive, and consist of correspondence, memoranda, manuscripts of speeches, notes, press releases, photographs, and clippings. Among the major correspondents are James A. Farley, Hubert H. Humphrey, Robert F. Kennedy, Edward I. Koch, and Percy E. Sutton. The Investigation Files, which amount to nearly half the collection, document investigation into corruption and mismanagement in numerous Long Island businesses and governmental departments. These investigations, instigated and overseen by Nickerson, were carried out largely by the Commissioner of Accounts, Milton Lipson, and later by Samuel Greason, the first governmental ombudsman in the United States. These files consist primarily of memoranda, transcripts of hearings, payroll and financial accounts, notes, and tape recordings.
The office files of the American Institute of Pacific Relations and the international Institute of Pacific Relations, containing correspondence and reports concerned with international conferences, research programs, and publications programs of both Institutes, and relating to the political, economic, and social problems in eastern and southern Asia and the South Pacific, as well as with problems of American foreign policy. There are many travel letters and on-the-spot reports relating to conditions in China, Japan, Russia, Australia, the Philippines, India, and Pakistan during the period 1933 to 1954.
