Summary Information
Abstract
Kenneth Waltz (1924-2013) was a professor and scholar of Political Science
and International Relations. Waltz was influential in helping to shape the field of
International Relations and published extensively. The collection contains materials
related to his scholarship and teaching, including many handwritten notes alongside
articles and newspaper clippings on topics within International Relations, as well
as a small amount of personal material and correspondence.
At a Glance
| Call No.: | MS#1769 |
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| Bib ID: | 11527453 View CLIO record |
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| Creator(s): | Waltz, Kenneth Neal, 1924- |
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| Title: | Kenneth Neal Waltz Papers,
1940-2012
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| Physical description: | 11.25 linear feet (9 record cartons)
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| Language(s): | In English
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| Access: |
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least
two business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript
Library reading room.
Student letters of recommendation are restricted for 75 years from their date of
creation.
More information » |
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Arrangement
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in 3 series:
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Description
Scope and Content
The collection contains the papers of Kenneth Waltz, relating to his teaching and
scholarship in the fields of Political Science and International Relations and to
his work at Columbia’s Institute of War and Peace Studies. The majority of the
collection consists of printed articles and handwritten notes covering subjects
about which Waltz taught or published. It also contains Waltz’s published articles
as well as some drafts of his books and related materials. There is a small amount
of professional correspondence and personal material, including photographs and his
stamp collection.
Series I: Scholarship,
1950-2012
Series I contains Waltz’s research and writing from his graduate work through his later career.
Much of the series consists of files of research on specific topics in
International Relations and Waltz’s collection of articles by other
scholars. Some of this material relates directly to his published work, also
contained in the series, while some is more generally on topics connected to
studies in the field. A number of the topics covered here are also
referenced in the files of teaching materials in series II.
Subseries I.1: Research
1950-2007
Subseries I.1 includes Waltz’s reading notes, folders of articles, and newspaper clippings. Two
boxes in this subseries comprise his vertical file, in which he kept
printouts and clippings of articles alphabetized, usually by author. The
rest of the files are labeled by their subject, covering theories and
concepts of international relations, organizations, key terms, and areas
of the world. A set of alphabetically filed, typed reading notes appear
to be from Waltz’s graduate work in the early 1950s, while the rest of
the material was collected in the course of his scholarly career between
the late 1950s and early 2000s.
Subseries I.2: Writing,
1950-2012
Subseries I.2 contains Waltz’s published works, including files of printouts of his articles from
the 1960s to the 2000s. There are a few chapter drafts of his books,
including Theory of International Politics (1979), The Spread of Nuclear
Weapons: a Debate (1995), Structural Realism after the Cold War (2000),
and Realism and International Politics (2008), on which he commented and
made notes for revision. The subseries also includes correspondence,
contracts, and royalty statements from various publishers.
Series II: Teaching,
1950-2011
Series II documents Waltz’s teaching at Columbia University, Swarthmore College, Brandeis
University, and the University of California Berkeley. It consists mainly of
his lecture notes, some of which are organized by subject and others by
course. These are handwritten and also include pages of articles and
newspaper clippings. There are also course syllabi, student recommendation
letters, and coursebooks containing class readings.
Series III: Correspondence and Personal,
1940-2012
Series III is a small series that includes a range of documents and objects related to Waltz’s
personal life and professional correspondence. There are folders of reviews
and letters about his work, interviews, and copies of his CV and bio. There
is also a file of materials from Waltz’s wife Helen’s (also called Huddie)
death. The series also includes photographs, collected stamps, and military
patches and ribbons. Gloves should be used when handling the
photographs.
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Using the Collection
Offsite
Access Restrictions
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least
two business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript
Library reading room.
Student letters of recommendation are restricted for 75 years from their date of
creation.
Restrictions on Use
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Kenneth Waltz Papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Related Material
William T. R. and Annette Fox Papers:
William T. R. and Annette Fox were other
leading scholars of International Relations at Columbia University. Waltz was a
student of William T. R. Fox and later worked alongside Annette Fox at the Institute
of War and Peace Studies.
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About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries. Rare Book and Manuscript Library; machine readable finding aid created by Columbia University Libraries Digital Library Program Division
Processing Information
Papers processed by Rachel Klepper. Finding aid written by Rachel Klepper, July 2018.
When the collection was acquired from the Institute of War and Peace Studies, the
boxes were not numbered and there was not a clear order to them. Therefore they were
reordered during processing. The physical arrangement of documents within boxes and
folder titles were not changed. Moving boxes were replaced with record cartons and
new folders were supplied when original folders were damaged or did not exist.
Duplicates of Waltz’s publications and unfiled articles by other scholars were
removed from the collection. In addition, two boxes of objects from Waltz’s desk and
shelf that were acquired along with his papers were removed.
Machine readable finding aid generated from MARC-AMC source via XSLT conversion August 9, 2018
Finding aid written in English.
Finding aid adheres to that prescribed by Describing Archives: A Content Standard
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Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.
Genre/Form
Subjects
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History / Biographical Note
Biographical Note
Kenneth Waltz (1924-2013) was a Columbia University Professor and influential scholar
of Political Science and International Relations. He received a B.A. from Oberlin
College in Economics and a PhD in Political Science from Columbia. In the middle of
his studies he served in the Army during both World War II and the Korean War. He
then taught at Columbia until 1957, after which he held positions at Swarthmore
College, Brandeis University and the University of California, Berkeley. In 1997 he
returned to Columbia as an adjunct professor of Political Science and a Senior
Research Scholar at the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute for War and Peace Studies.
Waltz was influential in helping to shape the field of International Relations. He is
best known for his theory of neorealism, also called structural realism, which
explains how states behave and interact with each other within the international
system. Waltz’s two most successful books included Man, the State, and War: a
Theoretical Analysis (1959) and Theory of International Politics (1979). From
1987-1988 he was the President of the American Political Science Association and in
1999 won the association’s James Madison award. His work later in life focused on
nuclear weapons and he held a controversial position that nuclear proliferation
would prevent nuclear war. Waltz continued to teach and write on the subject until
his death in 2013.
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