James R. Messenger Papers

Collection

Identifier: 1196

Staff Only

Content Description

This accession is divided into three series. Series one, the bulk of the accession, consists of James Messenger's daily journals arranged chronologically. These journals record his daily activities and thoughts on various topicsincluding his filmmaking, work in the technology sector, social and family life, theory of the Information Age, contemporary politics, and travels. Many of these journals contain envelopes of newspaper clippings collected by messenger. Series two contains work material and personal memoribilia including books, drafts, notes, personal and professional correspondence, items from the "Information Technology - At The Edge" conference, and a piece of King Tutankhamun's tomb. Series three contains magazines and journals. Many of the magazines feature material about Ayn Rand, one of Messenger's favorite authors.

Dates

1935 - 2015
Majority of material found within 1965 - 2015

Creator

Messenger, James R. (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The majority of the collection is open for research. Journals from 1995 to 2015 are closed until April 17, 2025.

Biographical / Historical

James R. "Jim" Messenger was born on September 4, 1948 to Robert and Kathryn Messenger. His family moved frequently throughout his childhood due to his father's military career, living in various locations throughout the United States and abroad in Japan. In 1970 Messenger completed a double major in journalism and computer science at the University of Georgia. His long and varied career began with filmmaking at this point. He worked both as a producer on several programs that utlized innovative broadcasting techniques and also as a filmmaker. Messenger won an Emmy award for his film The Taj Mahal and received two Academy Award nominations for his films Of Time, Tombs, and Treasure: The Treasures of Tutankahamun and Koryo Celadon. In 1982 Messenger's career changed course when he took a job working for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (A T and T). Soon after joining A T and T Messenger foresaw a new era that he termed the "Information Age" in which computers would be interconnected through telecommunications leading to user dependance on the resulting systems. He considered this theory to be the cornerstone of his life's work and called himself the Father of the Information Age. Messenger taught world leaders in various fields about his vision for the Information Age and earned the nickname "Mr. Network" as a reflection of his skill and vision. In October 1993 he organized a conference called "Information Technology - At The Edge" to create a dialogue among technology professionals about the Information Age. Messenger retired in 2001 after nearly 20 years of working in this field at A T and T and Lucent Technologies. In addition to his work as a filmmaker and technology professional, Messenger is also the author of the books If I Won the Nobel Prize: A Voice from the Common Man and The Death of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company and the editor of Educating Children for Leadership. He spent the last years of his career working for Affiliated Computer Services. Messenger died of cancer on April 21, 2015 at the age of 66.