John Edward Taylor Jr. (1921–2008)

John Edward Taylor was an archivist for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). As a specialist in NARA’s World War II and postwar-era archival collections, particularly those pertaining to military intelligence, he provided research assistance for historians such as Stephen Ambrose, James Bamford, David Kahn, Jean Edward Smith, John Toland, and Barbara Tuchman, and innumerable other scholars both in America and abroad. Writing for the New York Times, author and journalist Scott Shane observed that “few Americans have been thanked in the acknowledgments of so many books.”

John Edward Taylor Jr. was born into a farm family in rural Dallas County, near Sparkman (Dallas County), on February 2, 1921. His parents were John Edward Taylor Sr. and Alice Mary Patterson Taylor. He had a younger brother, James Lee, born in 1924.

After graduating from Sparkman High School, Taylor earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County) in 1945. While still a student there, he registered for the draft in 1942 but was precluded from military service because of congenital blindness in one eye. Sometime prior to his graduation, his family moved to Los Angeles County, California, where his brother enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in June 1944. Taylor briefly joined the family in California following graduation and worked with his father at a tin can factory before accepting an unanticipated offer of employment with NARA and relocating to the Washington DC area in September 1945.

Despite lacking education or experience as an archivist, Taylor was assigned to NARA’s recently established War Records Office. He learned quickly and developed proficiency in finding and organizing military records, which became his career-long specialization.

Taylor married Dolly Maude Haney Schinker on January 29, 1952. It was his first marriage and her second. They were together until her death in 1995. They had no children.

In addition to being included in the acknowledgments of numerous books, Taylor received many honors. In 1997, in a ceremony held at the Embassy of Japan, the Japanese ambassador presented him with the Japan Association for the Study of the History of Occupation and Post War Period’s Superior Honor Award. The American Jewish Historical Society, National Intelligence Study Center, and Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Society also awarded him with special commendations for his services. NARA created the John E. Taylor Collection to commemorate his legacy. It consists of more than 1,000 books on subjects relating to espionage and military intelligence, two of his areas of expertise.

Taylor never retired. He was with NARA for sixty-three years and was still working the week before he died even as he struggled with failing health, including congestive heart failure.

Taylor died at his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on September 20, 2008. He was survived by nephew James Lee Taylor Jr. and niece Claudia Taylor Walsworth.

For additional information:
John E. Taylor Collection. National Archives and Records Administration. College Park, Maryland.

“NARA Announces Death of Legendary Archivist John Taylor. National Archives and Records Administration, September 23, 2008. https://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2008/nr08-150.html (accessed October 31, 2024).

Shane, Scott. “John Taylor, 87, Specialist on Military at Archives, Is Dead.” New York Times. September 23, 2008. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/us/24taylor1.html (accessed October 31, 2024).

Taylor, John Edward. Interviewed by Timothy Nenninger. February 3, 2006. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.

Greg A. Phelps
Columbia, Kentucky