Neal Spelce papers

Collection

Identifier: camh-arc-004706

Staff Only

Content Description

The Neal Spelce Papers, 1964-2008, consist of video and audio cassettes, film reels, yearbooks, and business materials comprised of clippings, articles, speech and news transcripts, travel itineraries, calendars and planners, photographs, and phonograph records, which represent Spelce's newscasting career. A large portion of the collection is composed of materials related to Charles Whitman, the UT Tower shooter. Papers also represent Spelce's production company Ninth Wave Productions and their syndicated project An American Moment, as well as Spelce's consultancy work with The Neal Spelce Company.

Dates

Creation: 1938 - 2008

Conditions Governing Access

Access to some audiovisual formats requires an appointment; contact repository for more information.

A portion of this collection is stored remotely; contact repository in advance for retrieval.

Conditions Governing Use

Donor maintains copyright of unpublished materials.

Biographical / Historical

Born in 1936, Neal Spelce is an award winning Austin-based journlist, memoirist and business owner. Splece's career began in 1956 when he was hired to replace Bill Moyers at the hybrid radio / television station KTBC, which was then Austin's CBS affliate. He is best known for his coverage of Charles Whitman, the UT Tower Sniper. Splece was the first journalist on site. Using KTBC's radio waves, he was able to keep people away from the university while giving a first person account of Whitman's shooting spree as it unfolded.

This would lead to a six decade career in news broadcasting. Spelce's work has garnered several awards, and he has earned three degrees in Communications at the University of Texas at Austin. He founded a video company titled Ninth Wave Productions and created, produced and syndicated the popular Charles Kuralt television series An American Moment. In 2021, Spelce's With the Bark Off: A Journalist’s Memories of LBJ and a Life in the News Media was published through the Briscoe Center for American History.

Outside of news reporting, Spelce also created and managed the consultation firm The Neal Spelce Company.