Archival Processing Work at Manuscripts and Archives, January-March 2022

The following information on recent archival processing work at Manuscripts and Archives (MSSA) was written by Alison Clemens, Head of Processing.

Since my last post in January, MSSA staff have made available the several collections and additions to existing collections, including:

New collections

Joel Sanders Papers (MS 2095)

The records, totaling 73.67 linear feet, consist of project records produced by Joel Sanders Architects (JSA) and the academic and research files and slides of Joel Sanders. There is some overlap between JSA project files and the academic research files. The research interests of Joel Sanders often led to projects and exhibitions carried out by Joel Sanders Architects. Early research notes and writings of a project can be found in the academic files, and project records documenting the realized project or exhibition can be found in the JSA project files.

Ravi D. Goel Collection on Philip Dodson Sprouse (MS 2114)

The collection, totaling 0.25 linear feet, consists of correspondence related to United States Ambassador Philip Dodson Sprouse, including letters from former Secretary of State Dean Acheson and General George C. Marshall. Also includes letters from diplomatic colleagues and family, reactions to Sprouse’s death, photographs of Sprouse, and research and biographical material relating to Sprouse compiled by Ravi D. Goel.

Charles A. Reich Papers (MS 2118)

The collection, totaling 32.25 linear feet, consists of the professional and personal papers of attorney, law professor, and author Charles A. Reich. Writings include scholarly articles by Reich regarding legal theory; commenting on legal issues of the day; court case briefs; book reviews and proposals; and transcripts of talks and lectures given on legal topics. Also included are materials related to books authored by Reich, in particular materials on the creation, development, publishing, public responses, and critical reviews and retrospectives of The Greening of America.

Additions to existing collections

Accessions 2018-M-0054, 2020-M-0005, 2021-M-0031, and 2022-M-0009 of the Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates Records (MS 1884)

Significant additions, totaling approximately 350 linear feet in sum, to the Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates project records, 1964-2010.

Accession 2018-A-0074 of the Early Yale Documents Collection (RU 1154)

Manuscript statement on the financial, administrative, and curricular state of Yale College, 1822 June.

Accession 2019-M-0040 of the Stanton Wheeler Papers (MS 1954)

This accession, totaling 2.5 linear feet, includes personal correspondence and files related to Stanton Wheeler’s scholarship and teaching on the topics of prisons, white collar crime, state supreme courts, and sentencing.

Accession 2019-M-0059 of the Ronald Dworkin Papers (MS 2071)

This accession, totaling 2.08 linear feet, primarily contains Dworkin’s professional correspondence. Correspondence includes discussions of writings and courses with colleagues, logistical correspondence related to Dworkin’s attendance at lectures or conferences, and correspondence with publishers regarding Dworkin’s writings.

Accession 2020-M-0006 of the World Academy of Art and Science Records (MS 1452)

The accession, totaling 1.04 linear feet, consists of board and committee meeting minutes, presentation notes, budgets, institutional emails, program overviews, newsletters, by-laws, and project reports from the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS).

Accession 2020-M-0016 of the Joseph Goldstein Papers (MS 1787)

The accession, totaling 2.08 linear feet, primarily includes materials documenting Joseph Goldstein’s service in the Theatre Sub-Section of the Civil Censorship Detachment, part of the Occupation General Headquarters (GHQ) in Tokyo, 1945-1946; materials documenting Joseph and Sonja Goldstein’s time as students in the Yale Law School; correspondence documenting Joseph Goldstein’s relationship with Harold Laski at the London School of Economics; and materials documenting Joseph Goldstein’s legal career.

Accession 2021-M-0020 of the Joseph Goldstein Papers (MS 1787)

The accession, totaling 9.42 linear feet, contains material documenting Joseph Goldstein’s work with local New Haven organizations, particularly the New Haven Legal Assistance Association (NHLAA), which provides legal services for New Haven County residents unable to afford or maintain legal counsel. Goldstein helped fund the organization in 1964 and served on its board from 1974 until his death in 2000. The accession also contains material relating to the Yale Law School, including various boards and committees Goldstein served on, as well as Goldstein’s personal files.

Accession 2021-A-0004 of the Yale Slavic Chorus, Yale University, Records (RU 1172)

Photograph of Yale Slavic Chorus and concert posters, 1968-1971.

Accession 2021-A-0007 of the Slavic and East European Collection, Yale University Library, Records of the Curator (RU 1132)

A 19th century samovar from Tula, Russia (the capital of the samovar production in Tzarist Russia) belonged to a member of the Russian emigre community from a village in Connecticut called Churayevka. The village disappeared with the construction of highway I-84. The samovar was later gifted to the curator of the Slavic and East European Collection.

Accession 2021-M-0011 of the Bert Hansen Papers (MS 2042)

This accession, totaling 1.92 linear feet, contains files relating to efforts, begun in 1988, by the Museum of the City of New York to create an exhibit and a book on the history of epidemics in New York City. Hansen was directly involved in both efforts. The book was published eventually, and the exhibit was not shown. The accession also includes materials documenting a movement in the late 1980s for academic fields (in Hansen’s case history), to take responsibility for bringing the then-new AIDS epidemic into their purview. Hansen organized the first panel on AIDS at the American Historical Association. Also included is a U-matic tape of a recording of Hansen interviewed for Binghamton, New York local television in 1978, along with a VHS tape.

Accession 2022-M-0010 of the John Vliet Lindsay Papers (MS 592)

This accession, totaling 0.42 linear feet, consists of files of Roswell (Rod) B. Perkins from his work with John Vliet Lindsay on a study of the Metropolitan Transit System of New York City, including reports, statements, and correspondence. Also included is a statement and a small amount of correspondence related to a 1964 healthcare bill proposed by Lindsay, then a member of the United States House of Representatives.

Accession 2022-M-0015 of the David Benjamin Mixner Papers (MS 1862)

The accession, totaling 0.42 linear feet, includes David Benjamin Mixner’s printed email correspondence, March-December 2021; an unpublished manuscript; and ephemera associated with the New Jersey Hall of Fame Virtual Induction Ceremony, December 2021. There is not a folder of email correspondence for July 2021.

Accession 2022-A-0020 of the American Studies Program, Yale University, Records (RU 272)

Course syllabi and section evaluations, 1986-2011 and totaling 4.75 linear feet.

Archival Processing Work at Manuscripts and Archives, October-December 2021

The following information on recent archival processing work at Manuscripts and Archives (MSSA) was written by Alison Clemens, Head of Processing.

Since my last post in October, MSSA staff have made available the several collections and additions to existing collections, including:

New collections

Environmental Action Group, Yale University, Records (RU 1183)

The records, totaling .44 linear feet, consist of letters, statements, flyers, and other records of Environmental Action Group at Yale University, clippings documenting the group’s activities, and photographic slides (with digital scans on CD) of Earth Day 1970 events in New Haven. 

Lloyd G. Reynolds Papers (MS 1943)

The Lloyd G. Reynolds Papers (previously minimally described by Manuscripts and Archives staff) received a fuller level of processing. The papers, totaling 17.5 linear feet, consist of personal and professional files of Lloyd G. Reynolds, economist, educator, and author. Personal files include correspondence and subject files concerning family, friends, and local New Haven businesses and organizations. Professional files include correspondence and subject files concerning Reynolds’s time at Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, and Yale University, as well as other organizations and institutions concerning the study of economics. The professional files also include travel files and diaries and material related to professional conferences around the globe attended by Reynolds, in particular the American Economic Association’s joint United States-Soviet symposiums of the 1970s and 1980s. Also included are articles, essays, and outlines and drafts from textbooks authored by Reynolds, and publisher correspondence.

National Institute of Social Sciences Records (MS 2110)

The National Institute of Social Sciences Records, totaling 10.5 linear feet, comprises institutional records of the National Institute for Social Science (NISS) dating from 1870 through 2016. The history of the National Institute for Social Science dates to 1912, when the Institute was created as a department of the American Social Science Association (ASSA). Any material that predates 1912 was created under the auspices of the American Social Science Association, and any material that postdates 1926 was created by the NISS, as that is the year in which the NISS assumed the ASSA’s charter. Early material is primarily correspondence, with some annual dinner records from the mid-20th century. The bulk of the material is from 1990-2008 and consists primarily of administrative materials, such as meeting minutes, financial records, member lists, and annual meeting planning materials. Also included are LPs of speeches given at award dinners.

Mary Dillman Papers (MS 2119)

The Mary Dillman Papers, totaling 8.5 linear feet, contain research files, interview materials, correspondence, class materials, presentations, conference papers, and photographs related to Jane Roberts, a spiritualist who claimed to channel a spirit known as Seth. This material details Dillman’s research into Jane Roberts and Seth and documents Dillman’s relationships with the larger network of Seth researchers. Also included are materials created by members of the community that surrounded Roberts, Seth, and Roberts’ husband, Robert Butts.

Additions or significant revisions to existing collections

Accession 2004-M-060 of the Robin William Winks Papers (MS 336)

This accession, totaling 54.58 linear feet, contains Winks’s professional correspondence from his time as a professor, student work, teaching files, conference presentations, and research files. The bulk of the accession consists of drafts, research, and notes for Winks’s book, Cloak and Gown: Scholars in America’s Secret War, which explored the relationship between universities, particularly Yale, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and its predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Also included are Winks’s undergraduate papers; his teaching files from his time as a professor at Yale; papers written by Yale students in Winks’s classes; and research materials for Winks’s unpublished biography of William Francis Drummond. The research materials for the unpublished Drummond biography consist primarily of reproductions of documents that Winks used in his research.

Accession 2018-M-0037 of the Robert A. M. Stern Architects Records (MS 1859)

This accession, totaling 1.75 linear feet, contains a New Residential Colleges Design Development Detail Precedents of Yale’s Existing Buildings booklet, 2010; stone ornamentation guides, 2017; and a Yale University Residential College Commemorative and Informational Ornament Study booklet, 2012.

Accession 2019-M-0022 of the Technoserve Records (MS 2083)

This accession, totaling 17.67 linear feet, consists of photographs, negatives, and slides documenting Technoserve’s work of combating poverty in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe. Materials document the work and projects undertaken in specific countries, as well as Technoserve’s operations, events, and staff in the United States.

Accession 2019-M-0056 of the Centerbrook Architects and Planners Records (MS 1844)

This accession, totaling 2.17 linear feet, contains project records for the Floyd House, along with Chad Floyd’s master thesis, “Reinvigorating the Ninth Square,” (New Haven, CT), 1973.

Accession 2020-M-0003 of the Thomas Collier Platt Papers (MS 727)

One letter book, 1890 March 20-1893 March 11, along with gatherings of letters, 1906-1910. The letter gatherings also include newspaper clippings documenting events related to Platt.

Accession 2020-M-0012 of the Bert Hansen Papers (MS 2042)

This accession, totaling 7.33 linear feet, documents the work and research interests of Bert Hansen, particularly his research on women in medicine, biology and sexual orientation, and medical history in advertising; his work with an academic center at the City University of New York (CUNY); and his compilation of organizational newsletters and publications pertaining to gay and feminist culture and history. The accession also includes Hansen’s personal medical files from 1994 through 2015.

Accession 2020-M-0022 of the Joseph Barrell Papers (MS 778)

This accession, totaling .42 linear feet, contains manuscript and typescript writings of Joseph Barrell, including the Genesis of the Earth, Circa 1917; Relations of Pleistocene Warping to Strength of Crust, 1914-1915; Significance of the Equatorial Acceleration in the Sun’s Rotation, 1916; and The Strength of the Earth’s Crust, Part IX, 1915-1919.

Accession 2020-M-0038 of the George Alexander Kubler Papers (MS 843)

Letters, housed in one envelope, between George and Betty Kubler to Barbara Anderson, 1989. Kubler was Anderson’s PhD adviser in Yale University’s Department of the History of Art in the 1970s. The letters pertain primarily to their personal lives and publications in art history.

Accession 2021-M-0003 and 2021-M-0018 of the David Benjamin Mixner Papers (MS 1862)

These accessions, totaling 1.75 linear feet together, primarily contain printed email messages between October 2019 and May 2020 (Accession 2021-M-0003) and June 2020 and February 2021 (Accession 2021-M-0018). Accession 2021-M-0003 also includes a proclamation by Philip D. Murphy, governor of New Jersey, recognizing Mixner for his work in support of LGBTQ+ and human rights, and a Blu-ray disc recording of an oral history with Mixner.

Accession 2021-M-0006 of the World War II Collection (MS 688)

A pamphlet, circa 1943, titled “Poland Fights the Nazi Dragon,” published by Polish War Relief, Chicago, Illinois.

Accession 2021-M-0007 of the Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, LLC, Records (MS 1971)

This accession, totaling .33 linear feet, contains a Sedacca Residence construction drawing set, 1968.

Accession 2021-A-0010 of the May Day Rally and Yale Collection (RU 86)

Additional material documenting May Day and Yale, totaling .25 linear feet, and including ephemera, news clippings, newspapers, “Strike Newspaper,” and Yale publications, all dated 1970.

Accession 2021-M-0015 of the Katherine Mayo Papers (MS 345)

A letter, March 10, 1917, from Katherine Mayo to reader Lewis W. Robinson of Cresskill, New Jersey in response to his letter regarding Mayo’s book Justice to All: History of the Pennsylvania State Police. In the letter, Mayo encourages Robinson to “help along the movement to follow Pennsylvania’s example wherever you find it” and support the “state police movement.” Robinson’s March 6, 1917 letter can be found in Series I (box 2, folder 13).

Accession 2021-M-0024 of the Charles Augustus Lindbergh Gift Collection (MS 325A)

A 1977 statement written by Herman W. Liebert on his observations of Charles A. Lindbergh’s personality. Liebert says he observed Lindbergh playing mean-spirited practical jokes intended to embarrass others and observed he had a “need to command.”

Accession 2021-A-0028 of the Kingman Brewster, Jr., President of Yale University, Records (RU 11)

Additional material in the record, totaling 68.42 linear feet and dating 1959-1977. Includes administrative files, correspondence, and paper copies and audio recordings of speeches and addresses.

Accession 2022-A-0009 of the Whiffenpoofs, Yale University, Records (RU 156)

Original songbook, 1936.

Accession 2022-A-0013 of the Spizzwinks, Yale University, Records (RU 211)

50th anniversary album recorded by the Spizzwinks. Includes autographs from the members of the group.

Upcoming Lectures on the Coeducation and the Yale Campus Exhibit

The following post was authored by Michael Lotstein, university archivist in Manuscripts and Archives.

The Yale University Archives, in collaboration with the Yale Alumni Association, are pleased to announce a pair of lectures for the fall semester on the exhibit, “We thought of ourselves as architects”: Coeducation and the Yale Campus, 1968-1973.

Image of an aerial view of the two new residential colleges proposed by the Brewster administration in 1972 that were not built due to opposition from the city of New Haven and Yale students.

An aerial view of the two new residential colleges proposed by the Brewster administration in 1972 that were not built due to opposition from the city of New Haven and Yale students. Yale Events and Activities Photographs (RU 690), Box 17, Folder 267.

Hosted by co-curators Michael Lotstein, university archivist, and Charlotte Keathley, Class of 2022 (Ezra Stiles College), the lectures will delve into the history of coeducation in Yale College through the lens of the buildings and physical spaces of the Yale campus, which were an integral part of this important period in Yale history.

The lectures will be offered on Zoom and scheduled for Thursday, October 14, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., and Wednesday, November 17, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. RSVPs are not required to attend.

Please send any questions to the University Archives at archives@yale.edu.

Zoom link for October 14th:

https://yalelibrary.zoom.us/j/91796381847?pwd=QVArUFRKZGR1Vzd1SVQraGE2VHdXZz09
Passcode: 055595

Zoom link for November 17th:

https://yalelibrary.zoom.us/j/97966310424?pwd=TTQ2ZllDcUZtMGZMM0RoNjgvb0VrZz09
Passcode: 128150

Archival Processing Work at Manuscripts and Archives, July-October 2021

The following information on recent archival processing work at Manuscripts and Archives (MSSA) was written by Alison Clemens, Head of Processing.

Since my last post in July, MSSA staff have made available the several collections and additions to existing collections, including:

New collections

George Bundy Smith Papers (MS 2088)

The George Bundy Smith papers, totaling 1.69 linear feet, document Smith’s life and career as a judge, author, and activist. Materials consist of writings and speeches by Smith; clippings, photographs, correspondence, and ephemera documenting Smith’s career as a judge and lawyer; his activism as a Freedom Rider in Alabama; his work as a writer of legal author and professor; and his education and family life.

Greenwood Plantation and Greenwood Seed Company Records (MS 2089)

The collection, totaling 33.5 linear feet, comprises the records of Greenwood Plantation and Greenwood Seed Company of Thomasville, Georgia. It includes documentation of hybrid corn seed production, business records, finances associated with farm properties and employees, legal records compiled by the Whitney estate, and correspondence. This collection is open to the Yale community for research and teaching. Other researchers require the written permission of the Greentree Foundation to access the collection prior to January 1, 2050, after which the papers are open for research without restriction.

Richard D. Weigle Papers (MS 2090)

The collection, totaling 9.42 linear feet, consists of material related to Richard Weigle’s time as a Yale-in-China bachelor and his service in the United States Army Air Force and the Chinese Army in India during World War II. The collection also contains material related to Richard Weigle’s father, Luther Weigle.

Kent A. Leslie Collection on Robert Bradford Williams (MS 2098)

The collection, totaling 0.25 linear feet, documents the life and career of Robert Bradford Williams, African American lawyer and graduate of Yale College, 1885, who settled in New Zealand. Materials include a copy and transcription of Williams’ diary from his trip to Australia and New Zealand in 1887; published articles about Williams; and correspondence between the donor, Kent A. Leslie and Williams’ granddaughter, Jane Paul.

Gus Hall Papers (MS 2113)

Gus Hall (1910-2000) was an activist, politician, and prominent member of the Communist Party of the United States, and was one of the people arrested in the 1949-1958 Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders. The Gus Hall Papers, totaling 17.5 linear feet, contain the professional papers of Hall throughout his time as secretary-general and president of the Communist Party of the United States of America as well as his personal correspondence to his family during his time in jail.

Carolyn Davidson Hill Diary and Family Papers (MS 2122)

The Carolyn Davidson Hill diary and family papers, totaling 3 linear feet, consist of the diary Hill kept during the Battle of Shanghai in 1949. The diary, photographs, and related material document the experiences of Hill, her husband Horace “Hod” Hill, and other workers at the Caltex Oil Terminal outside of Shanghai as the Nationalist and Communist forces engaged in intense fighting. The diary also discusses the Nationalist bombing of the Anchises, a British freighter in the Huangpu (Whangpoo) River on June 21, 1949. Carolyn subsequently compiled and edited the diary and wrote an introduction to it, which is part of this collection.

L. Paul Bremer III Papers (MS 2123)

The collection, totaling 22.25 linear feet, documents the career of L. Paul Bremer III in the United States State Department and his work in the private sector. The bulk of material in the collection centers on Bremer’s tenure as administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq from May 2003 until June 2004. This material includes subject files, correspondence with his family, contemporaneous notes, speeches, and his daily schedules while in Iraq. Material related to the writing of his 2006 memoir, My Year in Iraq, is also part of the collection. Additional material including editorials, interviews, working papers, and notes provide insight into United States foreign relations during the final decade of the Cold War and the global war on terrorism. For more information on the Bremer papers, see the recent blog post by Joshua Cochran, archivist for American diplomacy in Manuscripts and Archives: L. Paul Bremer III Papers (MS 2123) Now Available for Research at Yale Manuscripts and Archives.

Additions or significant revisions to existing collections

Balmori Associates Records (MS 1885)

The records, totaling 185.8 linear feet and 15.5 megabytes, were reprocessed to incorporate its multiple accessions into a single organizational scheme. The records document projects completed by Balmori Associates in the United States and Europe under principal Diana Balmori, as well as the professional papers of and writings by Diana Balmori. Series I is comprised of project records; Series II is comprised of writings; Series III is comprised of Balmori’s professional papers; and Accession 2019-M-0052 is comprised of born-digital office and project records, publications, publicity files, and lectures and presentations.

Accession 2018-M-0033 of the Harold Jackson Gordon Jr. Papers (MS 246)

This series consists of index cards containing biographical information of early members of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP), Freikorps members, police officers, figures on the political left, and others during the Weimar Republic and later.

Accession 2020-M-0019 of the Johnson family Papers (MS 305)

This series contains letters written to Anna Muirson Johnson Bellamy (1839-1922) upon the death of her sister, Katherine Livingston Bayard Johnson (1845-1906), 1906. Also includes four volumes on the history of the Cedar Grove Cemetery in Dorchester, Massachusetts and photographs of Grove Street Cemetery and Connecticut by Robert Bayard Severy.

Accession 2020-M-0026 of the Francis Griffith Newlands Papers (MS 371)

This accession contains an article titled “John Caldwell Kirkpatrick and the Palace Hotel,” 2017, by Richard L. Kirkpatrick, with related notes and images. John Caldwell Kirkpatrick managed the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California. He was a relative of Clara Adelaide Sharon Newlands, first wife of Francis Griffith Newlands.

Accession 2020-M-0028 of the George Alexander Kubler Papers (MS 843)

Letters from George Kubler to Barbara Anderson, 1972-1992. Kubler was Anderson’s PhD adviser in Yale University’s Department of the History of Art in the 1970s. The letters pertain primarily to their professional lives and work and include Kubler’s thoughts on publications and events in art history.

Accession 2021-A-0003 of the Yale College Records of Classes (RU 491)

Letter from Alyse Otvos Baker, Yale College class of 1972, to Henry (Sam) Chauncey reflecting on her experience as an early woman student at Yale, 2020.

Accession 2022-M-0003 of the World War II Collection (MS 688)

Scrapbook containing several hundred newspaper cartoons related to the United States war effort during the Second World War. Cartoons illustrate efforts to encourage the United States in joining the war effort and to mobilize the homefront for the war.

L. Paul Bremer III Papers (MS 2123) Now Available for Research at Yale Manuscripts and Archives

The following post was authored by Joshua Cochran, archivist for American diplomacy in Manuscripts and Archives.

Photograph of L. Paul Bremer III with Jalal Talabani, member of the Iraq governing council on February 13, 2004.

Photograph of L. Paul Bremer III with Jalal Talabani, member of the Iraq governing council on February 13, 2004. L. Paul Bremer Papers (MS 2123), Series IV, box 45, folder 5.

For scholars exploring the history of United States foreign relations during the final decade of the Cold War and the emerging the global war on terrorism of the early twenty-first century, the L. Paul Bremer III Papers (MS 2123) are now open for research at Yale Manuscripts and Archives. The material highlights Bremer’s tenure as Presidential Envoy to Iraq, where he also served as Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority, from May 2003 until June 2004. This collection includes subject files, correspondence with his family, contemporaneous notes, speeches, and his daily schedules while in Iraq. Speeches, editorials, interviews, working papers, and notes from his early career with the State Department and in the private sector are also available for researchers.

Letter from Amb. Bremer to his wife Frances discussing the coalition's progress on conversations with Iraq Governing Council. January 30, 2004.

Letter from Amb. Bremer to his wife Frances discussing the coalition’s progress on conversations with Iraq Governing Council. January 30, 2004. L. Paul Bremer Papers (MS 2123), Series III, box 13, folder 7.

Bremer’s papers include daily emails sent to his wife, Frances Bremer, while in Iraq, which provide a journal-like account of his observations and analyses of the day-to-day situation there. In this correspondence, Bremer provides a firsthand account of the experiences, challenges, setbacks, and successes he and other coalition officials had in Iraq. Here, he describes his work in the Baghdad Green Zone, his travel throughout the country, and his meetings with members of Iraq’s Governing Council, United States and coalition political officials, military planners, contractors, and representatives of international organizations.

In addition to Bremer’s daily emails, researchers can review his daily schedules, working files, background readings, photographs, and contemporaneous notes from his thirteen months in Iraq. Reports, presentations, briefing memos, budgets, surveys, strategic plans, and legal orders maintained by the Coalition Provisional Authority Executive Secretary Jessica LeCroy, who reported directly to Bremer, are also part of the collection. Issues highlighted in the files include the removing of Ba’athist influence in Iraq, reconstructing the disbanded Iraqi army, fostering civil society, addressing a growing insurgency directed against United States and coalition forces, restoring basic public services, and responding to torture and human rights abuses by United States soldiers at the Abu Ghraib Prison. Also discussed are the capture of Saddam Hussein by United States forces on December 14, 2003, President George W. Bush’s secret trip to Baghdad on Thanksgiving Day 2003, and the formal transfer of sovereignty to the Iraq Interim Government on June 28, 2004.

Bremer’s handwritten notes from an April 13, 2004, meeting with Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and Generals John Abizaid and Peter Pace on increased violence in Fallujah, Iraq.

Bremer’s handwritten notes from an April 13, 2004, meeting with Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and Generals John Abizaid and Peter Pace on increased violence in Fallujah, Iraq. L. Paul Bremer Papers (MS 2123), Series III, box 10, folder 1.

Bremer’s papers additionally document his career in the United States foreign service and in the private sector from the mid-1970s through the early 2000s, preceding his appointment as Presidential Envoy to Iraq. Records cover his foreign service assignment to Norway in the 1970s and as Ambassador to the Netherlands (1983-1986).  His speeches address the dominant issues of the Cold War’s final decade: arms control, international trade and commerce, tensions between the United States and Soviet Union, relations with NATO allies, and cultural diplomacy. Bremer’s speeches, editorials, and interviews from his work on terrorism and counterterrorism policy beginning in the mid-1980s when he served as United States Ambassador-at-Large for Counterterrorism are housed in the collection. Supplementing these records are documents from Bremer’s consulting work as managing director of Kissinger Associates, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Marsh Crisis Consulting, and as Chairman of the bipartisan National Commission on Terrorism, known as the “Bremer Commission” from 1999 to 2000, which predicted a massive terrorist attack on the American homeland.  Researchers interested in consulting the Bremer Papers may direct their inquiries to Yale Manuscripts and Archives at mssa.assist@yale.edu or Josh Cochran, Archivist for American Diplomacy, at Joshua.cochran@yale.edu.

Ambassador Bremer’s speech at the Haarlem, Netherlands Rotary Club in February 1986 discussing the NATO alliance.

Ambassador Bremer’s speech at the Haarlem, Netherlands Rotary Club in February 1986 discussing the NATO alliance. L. Paul Bremer Papers (MS 2123), Series I, box 11, folder 33.

 

New Online Exhibit on Coeducation at Yale, 1968-1973

The following post was authored by Michael Lotstein, university archivist in Manuscripts and Archives.

Image of Ezra Stiles College petition against housing women in the tower, February 1969

Ezra Stiles College petition against housing women in the tower, February 1969. [RU 821, Accession 19ND-A-086, Box 28, Folder 965]

This month the University Archives posted a new online exhibit entitled, “We thought of ourselves as architects”: Coeducation and the Yale Campus, 1968-1973.  Co-curated by University Archivist Michael Lotstein and Charlotte Keathley, Class of 2022 (Ezra Stiles College), this exhibit explores how the sudden decision to bring coeducation to Yale College in 1969 impacted the buildings and spaces of the Yale campus, which had been conceived and built to house and educate men for the previous 250 years.

Included in the exhibit are university records, photographs, and digitized audio-visual materials which document how in a few short months university administration planned and reconfigured both Vanderbilt Hall and the residential colleges to safely and comfortably house the incoming women; how the implementation of coeducation impacted student life on campus; how the women, through sheer force of will, successfully carved out spaces for themselves on this previously all-male campus; and how the male and female students united in the face of the mounting social and political changes of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

For more information about the exhibit, please contact the University Archives at: archives@yale.edu.

Archival Processing Work at Manuscripts and Archives, April-July 2021

The following information on recent archival processing work at Manuscripts and Archives (MSSA) was written by Alison Clemens, Head of Processing.

MSSA processing staff have begun to transition back to regular onsite work in the Sterling Memorial Library (SML) building and have therefore processed both traditional and born-digital archival materials (i.e., materials that were created in computer environments) over the past three months. Since my last quarterly processing update post in April, MSSA staff have made available the several collections and additions to existing collections, including:

New collections

Yale Egyptological Institute in Egypt, Yale University, Records (RU 1158)

The collection consists of approximately 4 linear feet of photographs of the Church of Saint Shenoute (White Monastery) taken in Sohag, Egypt in 2006 and 2007. Digital copies of the photographs are accessible to members of the Yale community: http://search.library.yale.edu/academic_commons?q=church+of+saint+shenoute

East Asian Languages and Literatures, Yale University, Records (RU 1167)

Administrative files, faculty files, and two scrapbooks of news clipping and ephemera (totaling 8 linear feet) from the Institute of Far Eastern Languages (IEFL), an affiliated organization of the Yale University Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures.

Stephen Kellert Papers (MS 2104)

The collection, totaling 3.83 linear feet, comprises the papers of social ecologist and Yale University faculty member Stephen Kellert. The papers cover his career from the late 1960s through the 2010s with the bulk of material from the late 1970s through the 2000s. The papers include Kellert’s extensive writings and lectures on the “biophilia hypothesis” documenting humans’ social attitudes and relationships with nature. Kellert’s papers include surveys, research studies, design proposals, and writings for academic and general audiences.

Love Makes a Family Political Action Committee Records (MS 2106)

The collection, totaling approximately half a linear foot, primarily consists of questionnaires created by the Love Makes a Family Political Action Committee sent to political candidates in Connecticut to assess their positions on marriage equality and other LGBT rights issues. The collection also contains correspondence, committee files, meeting minutes, and information on the committee’s political endorsements.

Additions to or portions of existing collections

Accession 2019-M-0031 Michael Ivanovitch Rostovtzeff Papers (MS 1133)

This accession contains an album of photographs of Michael Ivanovitch Rostovtzeff’s family before he immigrated to the United States from Russia in 1918, and a CD of scanned photographs from the album.

Accession 2020-M-0021 of the Charles Hill Papers (MS 2070)

This series, totaling 2.17 linear feet, includes Charles Hill’s correspondence, course materials, research files, and his published and unpublished writings between 2007 and 2020. Material in this series reflects Hill’s teaching and research interest in diplomacy and statecraft as well as his administrative duties at the Yale Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy. The files also contain materials related to his professional relationships with former United States secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Shultz.

Accession 2020-M-0023 of the G. Evelyn Hutchinson papers (MS 649)

This accession, totaling 0.25 linear feet, comprises pre-prints, correspondence, and research data related to Lake Huleh, Israel.

Accession 2020-M-0027 of the Robert P. Joyce Papers (MS 1901)

This series, totaling 0.25 linear feet, comprises autobiographical writings by Robert Joyce on a variety of topics, including Panama; Ernest Hemingway; Havana in the 1940s; Max Hayward; foreign service; and life in Spetsai, Greece. Also includes a page of a 1994 letter from Joyce to Wendy Hazard regarding Romania and the Volunteer Freedom Corps.

Accession 2020-M-0031 of the Edward Joseph Logue Papers (MS 959)

This series contains approximately 150 photographic prints from the 1940s through the 1990s. Most prints document Edward Logue’s professional and political life during this period. One folder of prints includes personal photographs taken during Logue’s youth, college years, and service in the Second World War. The photographic prints vary in size from 8×10 inches to 1×3 inches. Writing on the verso of many of the photographs provides additional information about the individuals and settings depicted.

Accession 2020-M-0033 of the Sylvanus Dyer Locke Papers (MS 327)

This accession, totaling 0.42 linear feet, comprises forty-five photographs of members of the Locke family, including Sylvanus Dyer Locke, Ellen Josephine Locke, Norman Walter Locke, Helen Locke Norman, John Parker Locke, Sylvanus Dyer Locke, Jr., Lilla Josephine Locke, Norman Wentworth Locke, “Virgil Parker, Brother of Mrs. S.D. Locke [Ellen Josephine Locke],” Helen Scott Locke, “Mamie (Sister of Helen G. Scott Locke),” and “Aunt Bess – John Scott’s mother, at East Lyme.” Photograph subjects also include Edwin P. Young, “The Three Johns – Grandpa Comstock, Uncle John Comstock, Uncle John Scott,” John Paul Young, Abram Baldwin, Plymat [?] Mattoon, Lewis Lauerbrei, and J.E. Gomez of Bogota Colombia, as well as several unidentified people. Also includes one silhouette image, 1957, of an unidentified person.

Accession 2021-M-0017 of the Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates Records (MS 1884)

Project records, correspondence, studies, photographs, scrapbooks, sketches, and drawings pertaining to more than thirty projects. This accession, totaling 446.5 linear feet, has been interfiled into the records.

Accession 2019-A-0003 of the Cambodian Genocide Program, Yale University, Records (RU 902)

This series, totaling 37.33 linear feet, comprises records of the Cambodian Genocide Program, 1941-2009. The material is restricted until January 1, 2045 by Yale University policy.

Accession 2004-M-087 of the Jane Roberts Papers (MS 1090)

Consists of copies of taped ESP class sessions taught by Jane Roberts. The tapes from which these compact discs were made were originally recorded by a variety of people. These compact discs fill in the missing dates of compact discs in Accession 2001-M-058.

Series VII: Computer disks, 1980-2007 of the Allen R. Maxwell Papers (MS 2017)

The series consists of born-digital material containing lexico-statistical analyses of the Syair Awang Simawn, a classical oral epic focused on the founding of Brunei. Maxwell analyses linguistic variations in six versions of the epic poem (A, B, C, D, E, and F), and studies the epic’s creation and significance. The material also includes diaries of Sir Hugh Low, a British administrator of the Malay Peninsula, and diaries relating to the Belaga District of Malaysia translated by Maxwell. Writings include a collection of Maxwell’s unpublished papers on anthropology and the Kadayan people, bibliographies of sources used in his research, and software used to analyze linguistic data relating to the kinship structures of Brunei and Sarawak people. Dates for the materials were determined by the files’ last modified date.

Accession 2009-A-124 of the Yale University Library Materials Concerning Events and Exhibits (RU 368)

1 DVD-R recording of a Yale University Library and Oxford University Press sponsored panel lecture on October 1, 2008 to celebrate the 80th birthday of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the comprehensive dictionary of the English language. The speakers were Fred Shapiro, Simon Winchester, Jesse Sheidlower, and Ammon Shea. Each brought unique and engaging insights to this discussion of the history, function and future of the dictionary.

Accessions 2004-A-096, 2007-A-186, 2008-A-102, and 2010-A-016 of the School of Architecture, Yale University, Records Concerning Events and Exhibitions (RU 886)

Born-digital materials documenting exhibitions at the Yale School of Architecture, 2003-2009.

John Clayton Tracy (1890 Ph.B.) and Jesse Owens’ 1935 World Record

The following post was authored by Genevieve Coyle, public services assistant in Manuscripts and Archives.

In 1890, John Clayton Tracy earned his Ph.B from the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University, and then his Civil Engineer (C.E.) degree from the Yale Graduate School in 1892. He went on to teach in the Department of Civil Engineering at Yale for 46 years, including serving 22 years as the department chairman. Tracy is known to many engineering students for his important work on plane surveying. His 1907 book Plane Surveying: A Textbook and Pocket Manual is still considered by many scholars to be a key piece of work in building today’s knowledge on the topic.

At the very beginning of his extensive time at Yale, Tracy participated in some extracurricular activities, including the 1890 Yale Track Team. While he may not have made a career out of his speed, he was certainly competitive as seen at a track meet on October 26, 1889 where he ran the 100-yard dash in 10.6 seconds. He also served as a judge for several Yale track meets for events including the javelin throw and dashes.

Yet it was his seemingly forgotten role in a track world record that truly merged his two passions for running and civil engineering.

Jesse Owens was a young, Black track runner who had a brief, impressive career in the track world. He is largely known for the four gold medals won at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and the many world records he held throughout his career. Perhaps most notably, at a May 25, 1935, collegiate track meet at the University of Michigan’s Ferry Field, Owens broke four world records in the timeframe of 45 minutes. Today, Owens is also known as the first man to ever run the 100-meter dash in 10.2 seconds, setting a record that stood until Willie Williams ran it in 10.1 seconds two decades later. Owens held the 100-meter dash world record longer than anyone since.

However, this record was almost never awarded to Owens, through no fault of his own.

On June 20, 1936, Jesse Owens ran 100 meters in 10.2 seconds, which was a tenth of a second faster than the current world record. Unfortunately, a standard post-race measurement of the course found the length to be 1.5 centimeters short. Despite the fact that Owens was clearly on track to still beat the record if he had gone an extra 1.5 centimeters, officials determined this race would not stand as a world record.

Letter from John C. Tracy to Paul R. Jordan, May 8, 1937

Letter from John C. Tracy to Paul R. Jordan, May 8, 1937

Although little record of this incident can be easily found today, Tracy caught wind of the almost world record, and the John Clayton Tracy Papers (MS 502) hold documentation of his attempt to correct the situation. In March 1937, John Tracy wrote to Jesse Owens’ Ohio State University track coach, Larry Snyder, inquiring about how the measurements of the track were performed. Over the next few months, Tracy was brought into the fold of several other individuals all working to prove Owens’ record should be ratified. In addition, the men discussed a broader goal of setting permanent, international measurement standards to prevent these issues in the future. It is worth noting that their discussion includes the effect temperature would have on a steel measuring tape, and today the World Athletics Organization’s current Track and Field Facilities Manual has detailed instructions on exactly how to account for temperature.

As you can see in the May 8, 1937 letter above, Tracy wrote to Paul R. Jordan, chairman of the Records Committee at the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) of the United States, about the issue. Tracy explains that his expertise on the issue of errors in measurement is two-fold, stemming both from his experience as a judge at track meets as well as his extensive work on plane surveying.

"Permissible Errors in Measurements on Running Tracks" by John C. Tracy, C.E. typescript, page 1

“Permissible Errors in Measurements on Running Tracks” by John C. Tracy, C.E. typescript, page 1

Eventually, on June 11, 1937, John C. Tracy submitted his report, entitled “Permissible Errors in Measurements on Running Tracks,” to the AAU Records Committee. Regrettably, there is no further correspondence on this subject in Tracy’s papers, but we know that Jesse Owens was eventually recognized for having set a new world record that day in 1936.

Archival Processing Work at Manuscripts and Archives, January-April 2021

The following information on recent archival processing work at Manuscripts and Archives (MSSA) was written by Alison Clemens, Head of Processing.

I typically share quarterly updates about collections and additions to collections for which MSSA has recently acquired and completed processing. MSSA processing staff are still working primarily remotely but have had occasional access to the Sterling Memorial Library (SML) building. We have therefore processed both traditional and born-digital archival materials (i.e., materials that were created in computer environments) over the past three months. MSSA processing staff have improved descriptions for approximately twenty born-digital accessions of materials since January 2021, and I’ll point to some highlights of that work in this post.

Since my last post in January, MSSA staff have made available the several collections and additions to existing collections, including:

Phineas Fiske Lesson Book, Circa 1706 (addition to Yale Course Lectures Collection, RU 159)

The Phineas Fiske lesson book was compiled by Phineas Fiske, a graduate of the class of 1704 of the Collegiate School, which was renamed Yale University in 1717. The lesson book was likely used while Fiske was a tutor between 1706 and 1713. The book contains material covering logic, physics, and ethics, and is written primarily in English, except for the section on ethics, which is written in Latin.

School of Architecture, Yale University, Records Concerning Events and Exhibitions (accessions 2005-A-085 and 2005-A-099, additions to RU 866)

Accession 2005-A-099 includes 2 CDs containing digital images documenting the 2004 exhibit “PSFS: Nothing More Modern.” Accession 2005-A-085 includes 1 CD containing digital images of the 2004 exhibition “Light Structures – The work of Jorge Schlaich and Rudolf Bergermann.”

Centerbrook Architects and Planners Records (MS 1844 born-digital material)

The records document projects undertaken by Centerbrook Architects and Planners, LLC. MSSA processors provided additional description for born-digital records from eleven DVDs; these DVDs contain videos documenting the 1984 Festival on Architecture and Planning and Centerbrook’s River Design Dayton and Watkins Glen Development Plan (“Watkins Glen Tomorrow”) projects.

Patricia Marx interview with Thomas Wilfred (MS 2076)

One digital copy of an audiorecording, with transcript, of an interview with Thomas Wilfred conducted on 1968 July 18 at New York Public Radio (WNYC) by Patricia Marx.

School of Architecture, Yale University, Lectures and Presentations (accession 2017-A-0058, addition to RU 880

Twenty-two .mp4 computer files of recordings from the spring 2016-fall 2017 architecture lecture series. Lecturers include Andrew Altman, Keller Easterling, Jonathan Emery, Marianne McKenna, Lukasz Stanek, Tsurumaki, Allison Williams, Elaine Scarry, Jacques Rancière, Mark Foster Gage, Pier Vittorio Aureli, Karsten Harries, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Michael Young, David Erdman, Majora Carter, George Knight, and Elihu Rubin.

Yale Student Papers Collection (accessions 2009-a-072, 2009-a-122, 2009-a-132, and 2010-a-013, additions to RU 331

Four computer files (.pdf and .ppt) documenting Yale student papers. Includes Brooks Swett’s 2008 paper “A Portrait of the Webster Family During the Civil War”; Olivia Martinez’s 2008 paper “On Broadway: A Timeline of New Haven Business”; Shannon Lee Connors’s 2008 paper “New Haven and the American City: Visual Representation of the City, Wooster Square”; Nikolas Bowie’s 2009 paper “Class Warfare, Inc.: James L. Buckley and the Conservative Origins of Corporate Class Consciousness in the 1970s”; Jennifer K. Lin’s 2009 paper “From Chemical Terror to Clinical Trial: The Development of Chemotherapy at Yale in World War II”; Kevin Michel’s 2009 paper “A Struggle Between Brothers: A Re-Examination of the Idea of a Cohesive Conservative Movement Through the Intellectual Life and Personal Conflict Surrounding L. Brent Bozell”; Emily St. Jean’s 2009 paper “Louise Bryant: A Reconsideration”; and Anna Wipfler’s 2009 paper “The Making of the ‘Gay Ivy’: A History of Lesbian and Gay Student Organizing at Yale, 1969-1987.”

Yale University’s 300th Anniversary Commemoration Records (accession 2004-a-160’s born-digital material, RU 844)

Digital images and topical papers for promotional materials and websites for the Yale Tercentennial Program, 1997-2001, originally stored on ten CDs and one zip disk.

New “Virtual Bookshelf of Undergraduate Publications” – Yours to Explore!

The following post was authored by Michael Lotstein, University Archivist, Manuscripts and Archives.

This week the University Archives has updated the undergraduate publications section of the Yale Publications research guide to include a new website called Virtual Bookshelf of Undergraduate Publications.  The Virtual Bookshelf is the brainchild of Jarron Long, Class of 2023 (Grace Hopper College) and contains links and information on dozens of current undergraduate publications featuring a wide variety of topics and interests.  Jarron tackled this project single-handed, mostly over the 2020 holiday break, and aims to promote and celebrate the hard work and dedication that goes into the production of these important publications.  Jarron’s admitted favorites are the Yale Epicurean because, who doesn’t love food(!) and the Turnaround, which is the official magazine of the Yale Undergraduate Jazz Collective.

Screen shot of the Virtual Bookshelf of Undergraduate Publications home page

Screen shot of the Virtual Bookshelf of Undergraduate Publications home page

So take a moment and visit this amazing new site to learn more about the multitude of journals, ‘zines and publications the Yale undergraduate community is hard at work creating!