Netzorgs' correspondence constitutes the largest part of the series. It contains correspondence between Morton J. and Petra, as well as their correspondence with family members, friends, business partners, customers, and various organizations and institutions; annual newsletters from friends and family in the United States, the Philippines, and from around the world; as well as material related to Morton J. and Petra's business travel. The Correspondence subseries is organized in alphabetical order by name of correspondent or organization, with the exception of a small segment for select years. Morton and Petra tended to separate personal from business in their correspondence with friends who were also customers, but filed both types of letters together.
Most of the business correspondence relates to scholarly subjects and publishing in the field of Southeast Asian and Pacific studies, rare books and periodicals, and inquiries. Netzorgs' business correspondence is a rich source of bibliographic information and complements material located in the Cellar Book Shop series described below.
Over the years the Netzorgs have exchanged letters with a number of important scholars, writers, and artists, as well as American and foreign politicians and diplomats, religious leaders, educators, and entrepreneurs. The series includes correspondence with Lydia (Lyd) Arguilla (1914-1969), noted Filipino artist, and her sister Remedios Piñon; Tita Ayala (b. 1931), Philippine writer, poet and multi-media artist; Father Miguel A. Bernad (1917-2009), Filipino Jesuit priest, scholar, author, and editor of several Philippine academic journals; Charles T. R. Bohannan (1914-1982) U.S. counter-guerilla expert who advised the Philippine military forces, and took part in U.S. military operations in South Vietnam and Cuba; Filipino American historical and political fiction writer Linda Ty Casper (b. 1931); author Bernard Covit (1907-1978) who was prisoner in Manila civilian internment camp with Morton I. and Katherine Netzorg; leader of the Thirteen Moderns art movement Filipino painter Victorio C. Edades (1895-1995) and his wife Jean Edades (b. 1907), founder of the Philippine Theatre Davao; Randall Gould (1898-1979), Shanghai Evening Post and Mercury editor and publisher between 1931 and 1949; Congresswoman Martha W. Griffiths (1912-2003), a key figure in bringing women's rights legislation to successful passage in Congress; author and The New Yorker writer Emily Hahn (1905-1997); James J. Halsema (1919-2005), Philippine scholar, war correspondent, Japanese internment camp prisoner, and US Foreign Service officer; Lt. Col. Ray C. Hunt (b. 1919), writer and survivor of the Bataan Death March who fought among Filipino guerilla forces against the Japanese Imperial Army; Thelma James (1899-1988), Detroit teacher, collector, and archivist of urban folk traditions; military and diplomatic history scholar Ricardo T. Jose (b. 1957); Rolf M. Kneller, Israeli photographer who headed a team of camera operators during the Adolf Eichmann trial in 1961; Oscar Lopez, who corresponded with the Netzorgs on behalf of his father, Eugenio Lopez, Sr. (1901-1975), owner of the Manila Chronicle and founder of the Philippine Chronicle Broadcasting Network; Salvador P. Lopez (1911-1993), Ilokano writer and journalist, Philippine's Secretary of Foreign Affairs and diplomat, and president of the University of the Philippines; a small exchange of letters with President of the Philippines Ramon Magsaysay (1907-1957); founder and first president of the Philippine Writers' League Federico Mangahas (1904-1979); Maung Maung (1925-1994), Supreme Court Chief Justice and civilian president of Burma (Myanmar) in August-September 1988; Henry (Hank) Miller (1919-1985), U.S. Information Agency officer and creator of Southeast Asian and African regional programs centers for the Voice of America; Colonel John E. Olson (b. 1917), survivor of the Bataan Death March; Yay Panlilio (1913-1978), journalist and leader in Philippine resistance against the Japanese; Carlos L. Quirino (1910-1999), Filipino historian and writer, and Bataan survivor; noted scholar and Detroit native William Henry Scott (1921-1993); Alma G. Stallworth (b. 1932), Michigan state legislator and founder of the Black Caucus Foundation in Michigan; Romeo V. Tabuena (b. 1921), Philippines-born painter and printmaker; Admiral Kemp Tolley (1908-2000), U.S. Navy historian; Manuel A. Viray, Philippine diplomat and author; American writer Erich V. Von Neff; abstract painter Fernando Zóbel (b. 1924); among many other noted individuals, as well as companies, businesses and organizations.
