2 Typed Letters Signed ("Herbert Hoover"), 2 pp, New York and n.p., January 15 and April 6, 1940, to Edward D. Lyman (Overton, Lyman, and Plumb), on personal letterhead, dated receipt stamps and secretarial annotations, in reply to letters from Lyman regarding payment and retainer arrangements for legal representation.
WITH: Telegram, January 26, 1940, Herbert Hoover ("H.H.") to Lyman, regarding the same.
AND WITH: 7 Typed Letter carbons, 11 pp January-April, 1940, from Lyman to Hoover; Telegram carbon from Lyman to Hoover; 2 Typed Documents, "Herbert Hoover. Libel and Slander: Preliminary Analysis of Problem" and "Libel - General Consideration," 5 and 10 pp, December 12, 1939 and February 5, 1940; Typed Letter draft to "Mr. Luce," 2 pp, regarding Life Magazine's "persistent smearing"; 3 pp of related material.

An intriguing archive of material related to legal investigations on Hoover's behalf into libel suits against the Fox Corporation and Life magazine for their uses of the term "Hooverville." Letters and documents from Lyman refer to Life's use of "Hooverville" in captions of several photos in the magazine. The two preliminary analyses explore whether naming a migrant camp "Hooperville" (sic) in the film version of The Grapes of Wrath - then in production - constitutes libel.