Breig began his professional career in 1924 when he went to work for the Vandergrift News. He later became the editor and continued there until 1934. Starting in 1930 he also worked for the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph as rewrite and feature writer. He had his own column ("One Man's Opinion", 1940-1945) and covered City Hall for the paper. During 1943-1944 he also wrote a column for the Pittsburgh Catholic Observer.
With his increasing interest in Catholicism, Breig decided that he would rather work for a Catholic newspaper. For this reason he moved to Cleveland in 1945 and became assistant editor of the Universe Bulletin there. Breig had his own column and worked as a rewrite man and headline writer. He edited National Catholic News Service copy, condensed stories, and answered phone calls and letters of complaint, often from readers objecting to things Breig had written in his columns.
Over the years the topics for his columns included a vast number of subjects, including his efforts to outlaw boxing, his doubts of the genuineness of the apparitions of Garabandal and Bayside, his defense of the Vietnam War, and his opposition to the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. He also commented on statements by opponents of his Catholic beliefs such as Father Andrew Greeley, Father Hans Küng, the John Birch Society, and others who, in his view, tried to alter the Church's teachings on divorce, artificial birth control, and papal infallibility.
Breig stayed at the Universe Bulletin until his retirement in March 1975. He continued to write his columns after 1975. They appeared not only in the Universe Bulletin but also in several other Catholic newspapers in the USA. Besides being a newspaper writer, Breig also wrote for many magazines (Ave Maria, Our Lady's Digest, The Family Digest, Crozier, and others) and published eight books and several short stories and plays. In honor of his work he received two honorary doctorates (St. Vincent College, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, 1954, and Carroll College, Helena, Montana, 1967). He also won several awards, one of which was the St. Francis de Sales Award from the Catholic Press Association in 1966. Joseph Breig died of a heart attack at Longwood, Florida, on February 6, 1982.
Index :
Breig, Joseph A. (Joseph Anthony), 1905- Wolf, Earl. Abortion. Birth control -- Religious aspects. Journalism, Religious. Journalists, Religious -- United States. Press, Catholic.
Letters sent and received by Breig and a smaller amount of family correspondence. Divided into two sub-series (FAMILY LETTERS and GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE). Each sub-series is arranged chronologically with a few folders arranged by subject. Correspondence after 1974 is filed in the CHRONOLOGICAL FILE below.
FAMILY LETTERS (1888-1947, 2.5") consists of letters exchanged between Breig's parents, siblings, and other relatives as well as of letters Breig wrote to his family during his time away at school and after he left home, through 1947. The letters with the Universe Bulletin letterhead are found in this sub-series because of their private nature. One can also find a few official letters from Notre Dame to Breig's parents.
Breig must have inherited some of these letters from his parents because they are not addressed to him -- some even date from a time when he wasn't yet born. Some of these letters are from his siblings to his parents and others are letters between his parents, letters from other relatives to his parents, and so on. But most of these letters somehow deal with Joseph Breig.
The letters are generally only news updates to inform other family members of what was going on. The bulk of this sub-series consists of letters from Joseph Breig to his family while at Notre Dame (1923- 1927?). Some letters carry the letterhead of the Scribblers Club and one folder consist only of undated letters with the Scholastic letterhead. These letters deal for the most part with things of a private nature -- more money for expenses, sending his washing home, etc. He also writes about his teachers (Shuster -- Literature; Kaczmarek -- Biology; Cooney -- Journalism; Phillips -- English, Poetry, world literature, Dante, playwriting; Fr. Cavanaugh -- drama class; Becker -- History of Music; Fr. Healy --