Series IV. Inner Circle Show, 1956-2017

Formed in 1922, the Inner Circle of New York Political Journalists (known commonly as the Inner Circle) is an organization of New York City political reporters and journalists that performs an annual amateur parody show lampooning city, state and national political figures. The show is a fundraiser for charity and has become a major event in which political figures, including the mayor of New York, now commonly perform. Henry Walter became a member in 1956, served as the organization's president in 1963, and performed in at least some of the shows. He also collected materials from the annual shows and those documents form this series.

The series includes the programs from the annual Inner Circle shows for every year from 1956 to 1999. For the 2000s, programs are missing from 2000, 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013; the final year in the series collected by Walter is 2014. The programs include satirical cover art illustrating the theme of the year's show (which is often linked to a current pop cultural reference), the cast of characters and the performers, the lyrics to the show's many musical numbers, and reference to the commonly-recognized tune to which the lyrics were sung. For most years, the seating chart for the event is also included. The series also holds other documents for many of the years, including dress rehearsal programs (the dress rehearsal was held before the main event for members, family and friends), invitations/flyers (bearing the program's cover art), tickets to the dress rehearsal or President's reception, some scripts, and some miscellaneous documents, such as invitations to members to attend Inner Circle meetings.

The series also includes the program and seating chart for the 2017 show, the first to follow Walter's death in November 2016. The program includes a memorial statement for Walter on page 28 and a photo of him visiting the rehearsal on page 23 (4th row from top, 2nd from left).