Tristram Coffin papers

Tristram Coffin was an American writer and editor. He was also noted as a journalist, political aide and broadcaster. Tristram was born on July 25, 1912 in Hood River, Oregon, United States. He was the son of Clarence Eugene and Lenora (Smith) Coffin and a member of the DePauw University class of 1933. On June 26, 1933, Tristram married Margaret Avery. The couple had two children, Lynne and Stephen Avery. Coffin began his career at the Indianapolis Times as a reporter in 1933, only to leave the field briefly in 1937 when he became Governor Clifford Townsend’s press secretary. In 1941 Coffin became the assistant to the director of the Office of War Information. From 1945 until 1947 Coffin worked as a correspondent of Columbia Broadcasting System. From 1948 until 1951 he was a newspaper columnist. From 1951 until 1968 Tristram Coffin worked as a freelance writer and broadcaster. In 1968 Coffin began the Washington Watch newsletter, which later became the Washington Spectator. To produce his newsletter, which had a circulation of about sixty-five thousand, he used a typewriter until he passed over the editorship in 1993.