This series pertains to Aron's entire academic career, including his undergraduate and graduate school coursework. A small amount of material is in Russian. Before going into finance, Paul Aron was a professor of Russian and Soviet history at Sarah Lawrence College, having attained a master's degree and all but dissertation in the field from Columbia University. However, Aron's academic career was cut short when the American Legion accused him and several of his Sarah Lawrence colleagues of being Communists. In 1953, at the height of the Second Red Scare, he testified before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, declining to answer whether he had ever been a member of the Communist Party. A few weeks later, Aron resigned from Sarah Lawrence College. Though he would never again find employment as a history professor, Aron remained active in the Soviet and Russian history community through the 1970s, editing the journal Soviet Studies in History.
Subseries II.I: College Coursework, 1939-1940
This subseries contains Aron's coursework while a student at the City College of New York from 1939 to 1940. Material includes syllabi and notes for classes, mainly on American history.
Box 10
American Revolution, undated
Box 10
Colonial America, undated
Box 10
Confederation and Constitution, undated
Box 10
Historiography--United States;Geography--United States, undated
Box 10
Lead Up to Civil War, undated
Box 10
Miscellaneous--American History, undated
Box 10
Religion/Documents of Labor History, undated
Box 10
United States, 1788-1800, undated
Box 10
United States, 1800-1816, undated
Box 10
United States, 1816-1840, undated
Box 10
United States, 1932-1941, undated
Subseries II.2: Graduate School Coursework, 1940-1945
This subseries encompasses materials from Aron's graduate school coursework at Columbia University's Russian Institute, undertaken in 1940-1941 and again, following his military service, in 1946-1950. This material includes syllabi, notes, and term papers for classes in Soviet and Russian history, U.S. history, and world politics.
Box 31
"The West," 1865-1900, undated
Box 31
20th Century Foreign Relations, undated
Box 31
Agriculture, 1865-1900, undated
Box 31
Class notebook, undated
Box 25
Columbia University M World Politics--class notebook, undated
Box 31
Early 20th Century Social Thought, 1940-1941
Box 16
Historiography of Soviet Russia, undated
Box 16
History of Economic Thought, undated
Box 31
Industry, 1865-1900, undated
Box 31
Labor, 1865-1900, undated
Box 31
Notebook--Outline of Recent American History Part I (1865-1900), undated
Box 31
Politics, 1865-1900, 1941
Box 16
Soviet Literature: Historical Fiction and Plays, undated
Box 16
Term Papers: The Pirenne Thesis and The Supreme Court and Minimum Wage Legislation, undated
Box 31
United States, 1840-1860, undated
Box 31
United States, 1900-1912, undated
Box 31
United States, 1912-1920, undated
Box 30
United States Civil War, undated
Box 30
United States Reconstruction, undated
Subseries II.3: Dissertation Materials, 1938-1967
This subseries includes materials related to Aron's PhD dissertation on the Soviet historian Mikhail Pokrovsky and Soviet historiography during the First Five-Year Plan (1928-1932). Though he completed his oral examinations, Aron never submitted his dissertation to finish his PhD. In the early 1950s he was working on adapting it into a book manuscript on Soviet historiography in the 1930s, but this was never published. Most of the material in this subseries are research notes, but there are also drafts, including the completed manuscript of a biography of Pokrovsky.
Box 14
Application of New Theory, undated
Box 11
Attack on Pokrovsky, undated
Box 32
Biography of Pokrovsky: Chapter 1 and introduction, undated
Box 32
Biography outline, undated
Box 32
Biography research, undated
Box 33
Case Study--Kiev Rus, 1932-1935 (Part II), undated
Box 13
Chapter VI: The Theory and Practice of Bolshevik Historiography, undated
Box 14
Conflicts with Bourgeois and Revisionist Histories VII, undated
Box 33
Copy of completed manuscript: Biography of Pokrovsky, undated
Box 14
Data on [?] Book, 1938-1940
Box 32
Decline of Pokrovsky's organization, undated
Box 32
Decline of Pokrovsky's theories, undated
Box 13
Dissertation Notes, undated
Box 33
Diversity and Uniformity in Soviet Historiography: A Case Study, undated
Box 13
Dominant Position, 1928-1932 II, undated
Box 15
Evaluation of MNP [Mikhail Nikolayevich Pokrovsky], undated
Box 33
Evaluation of Pokrovsky, 1932-1935, undated
Box 32
Evaluation of Pokrovsky after his death, undated
Box 14
Evaluation of Pokrovsky (1932 April-1932 December), undated
Box 31
IASP Translations from Original Soviet Sources, 1964-1967
Box 15
IV. B. Role of Historical Scholarship--New School, undated
Box 11
Journal, undated
Box 31
Miscellanous notes, undated
Box 15
MNP Theory of Research Historical Development, undated
Box 15
MNP's Theory of History, undated
Box 14
Part III, II The Theory of History, undated
Box 32
Pokrovsky in Exile, undated
Box 32
Pokrovsky Theory of Historiography, undated
Box 13
Pokrovsky's Application of His Theory of Historiography VI, undated
Box 13
Pokrovsky's Application of His Theory of History to Russia IV, undated
Box 13
Pokrovsky's Theory of Historiography V, undated
Box 13
Pokrovsky's Theory of History III, undated
Box 31
Proposed outline for thesis--Columbia University Russian Institute, 1965-1966
Box 14
Research on Kiev, Russia and Fedualism, undated
Box 31
Texts in Russian, undated
Subseries II.4: Russian History Textbook Materials, 1950-1952
In 1950-1952 (and possibly earlier) Aron was editing a new edition of Alfred A. Knopf's A History of Russia textbook, authored by the late historian Bernard Pares (1867-1949). Though Aron produced copious research notes and manuscript edits for the project, it was never published—presumably, due to the allegations of Aron having been a Communist. This subseries contains these research notes and manuscript edits, as well as correspondence with Knopf.
Box 30
Chapter 01--The Country and its Earliest Inhabitants, undated
Box 30
Chapter 03--The End of Kievan Russia, undated
Box 30
Chapter 04--Russia under the Tartar Rule and the Rise of Muscovy (1240-1462), undated
Box 30
Chapter 05--The Creation of the Russian National State (1462-1533), undated
Box 30
Chapter 06--Ivan IV (1533-1584), undated
Box 30
Chapter 07--"The Troubled Times", undated
Box 29
Chapter 08--Autocracy and Enserfment in the Seventeenth Century (1613-1682), undated
Box 29
Chapter 09--Russia and Europe: Ukraine 1613-1682, undated
Box 29
Chapter 10--Peter the Great and the Emergence of Russia as a European Power (1682-1725), undated
Box 29
Chapter 11--Peter and Russia (1689-1725), undated
Box 29
Chapter 12--Peter's Successors and Russia (1725-1762), undated
Box 29
Chapter 13--Catherine the Great (1762-1796), undated
Box 29
Chapter 14--Society and Culture in Eighteenth Century Russia, undated
Box 29
Chapter 15--Catherine, Poland, and Europe (1762-1796), undated
Box 30
Chapter 16--Napoleon, Paul, and Alexander, undated
Box 30
Chapter 17--Triumph and End of Alexander I (1812-1825), undated
Box 30
Chapter 18--The Reign of Nicholas I (1825-1855), undated
Box 30
Chapter 19--The Great Reforms (1855-1874), undated
Box 30
Chapter 02--Kievan Russia (Ninth-Thirteenth Centuries), undated
Box 29
Chapter 20--From Reform to Reaction: The End of Alexander (1861-1881), undated
Box 23
Chapter 21--Economy, undated
Box 29
Chapter 21--Autocracy, undated
Box 23
Chapter 21A--Culture, undated
Box 25
Chapter 22--notes, undated
Box 29
Chapter 22--Liberalism, Socialism, Industrialization, undated
Box 29
Chapter 23--The Liberation Movement (1804-1914), undated
Box 23
Chapter 24--Pares, War and Revolution, undated
Box 29
Chapter 24--War and Revolution (1905-1917), undated
Box 25
Chapter 25--The Provisional Government and The Bolshevik Revolution, undated
Box 19
Chapter 26--Civil War and Intervention, undated
Box 23
Chapter 27--Stalin's Russia, Cultural and Social, undated
Box 23
Chapter 27--in progress, undated
Box 18
Chapter 27--NEP Russia, undated
Box 23
Chapter 28--in progress, undated
Box 29
Chapter 28--Stalin's Russia (1928-1941), undated
Box 29
Chapter 29--Diplomacy on the Eve of War, undated
Box 29
Chapter 30--Mobilization on the Home Front, undated
Box 23
Pares XXV War, Communism and New Economic Policy, 1917-1929, undated
Box 30
Pares-Aron writing notes, maps of Russia, 1950-1952
Box 30
Untitled Pares-Aron drafts, undated
Subseries II.5: Teaching and Research, 1938-1969
Most of this subseries are lecture notes, syllabi, and research materials for classes on Russian/Soviet, European, and economic history that Aron taught as a professor, first at the Jefferson School of Social Science (1946-1948)–an adult education institution in New York City founded by the Communist Party–and then at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY (1948-1953). Also included are submissions and correspondence for academic journals and conferences during and after the end of Aron's formal academic career. Of particular note are non-coursework materials pertaining to Sarah Lawrence College, including several issues of the school newspaper and letters from college president Harold Taylor (1914-1993) (president, 1945-1959) regarding Aron's teaching style.
Box 27
1871-1914 Political and Social, undated
Box 27
Absolutism, undated
Box 28
Age of Reason, undated
Box 23
American-Russian relations, undated
Box 16
American Historical Association, 1950
Box 27
Ancient history--"Ancient Orient", undated
Box 27
Ancient history--foundations, undated
Box 26
British Empire--India, 1940-1946
Box 20
Clippings--continued, 1950-1953
Box 26
Colonial expansion, undated
Box 22
Columbia University, 1958
Box 21
Columbia University, 1963-1965
Box 27
Commercial Revolution and Renaissance, undated
Box 20
Daniels, R.V., "Soviet Thought in the Nineteen-Thirties: An Interprative Sketch", 1954
Box 26
Diplomacy, 1921-1931, undated
Box 27
Early Middle Ages, undated
Box 27
Economics, 1871-1914, undated
Box 17
Essays on Communism, 1948-1962
Box 20
Essays on Revolution, undated
Box 17
Essays on Soviet Education and Thought, 1954-1963
Box 18
Essays on the USSR, 1950
Box 19
Essays on the USSR, 1954-1964
Box 18
Essays on the USSR--continued, 1954-1961
Box 27
European status quo 1815, undated
Box 19
Foreign Policy, undated
Box 26
Germany, 1918-1941, undated
Box 26
Greece, undated
Box 25
GTR class notes, undated
Box 25
GTR Class Notes--Russia of Kiev and Muscovy, undated
Box 25
GTR notes, history 1700-1905, undated
Box 17
Handbook of International Accounting, 1990-1991
Box 22
Harvard Law and Business Reivew, 1954-1960
Box 22
Harvard Review of Economics and Statistics, 1947-1962
Box 28
Historiography, undated
Box 25
History, 1240-1462, undated
Box 25
History, 1462-1613, undated
Box 25
History 1613-1682, undated
Box 23
History, 1796-1825, undated
Box 23
History, 1905-1941, undated
Box 25
History, 1914-1921, undated
Box 25
History up to 1240, undated
Box 27
Industrial Revolution and Politics of England, undated
Box 18
Institute for the Study of the USSR Publications, undated
Box 32
Interchem, undated
Box 20
International Cartels, War Profits, U.S. Complicity in Nazi Economic Domination, 1941-1945
Box 28
International relations, 1933-1939, undated
Box 32
Istoriia SSR Journal--article drafts, 1967
Box 26
Italy, 1918-1941, undated
Box 24
John N. Hazard--Soviet Law--materials on, 1947
Box 24
Lecture, undated
Box 27
Liberalism and Nationalism, 1815-1876, undated
Box 22
Miscellaneous--Russia--pamphlets on, 1956-1964
Box 23
Miscellaneous--notes and clippings, undated
Box 21
Miscellaneous--pamphlets, 1935-1969
Box 24
Miscellaneous--Russia--pamphlets on, 1948-1964
Box 27
Nineteenth Century Social Thought, undated
Box 18
Notebook, undated
Box 20
Notes on Foreign and Economic Policy, undated
Box 25
Notes on Russia, 1725-1796, undated
Box 24
Notes on Russian history, 1825-1855, undated
Box 24
Notes on Russian history, 1880-1905, undated
Box 23
Notes on Soviet Government, undated
Box 22
Pamphlets and journals on Economics, 1946-1962
Box 21
Pamphlets on Russia, 1949-1968
Box 24
Pamphlets on Soviet Law, 1938-1964
Box 26
Pre-war diplomacy, undated
Box 32
Radical Education Project, undated
Box 27
Reformation and Religion, undated
Box 22
Religion and Nationalism, 1940-1963
Box 22
Research on Russia, 1942-1964
Box 27
Rome, undated
Box 17
Russian History--correspondence, 1948-1962
Box 32
Russian publications, 1965
Box 19
Russian Research Center--Harvard University, 1956-1967
Box 24
Russian Research Center--Harvard University, 1960-1963
Box 22
Russian Research Center--Harvard University, 1949-1963
Box 21
Russian Research Center--Harvard University, 1955-1961
Box 21
Russian Research Center--Harvard University, 1962-1964
Box 21
Russian Research Center--Harvard University, 1965-1968
Box 32
Sakharov, 1967
Box 20
Sarah Lawrence College, 1948-1953
Box 23
Simmon's letter re, statistical article, 1949
Box 24
Source book for Russian History, 1956
Box 20
Soviet Drama, Revolutionary and Civil War Plays, undated
Box 23
Soviet Economy, 1948-1949
Box 25
Soviet Economy, undated
Box 19
Soviet Literature, undated
Box 20
Soviet Philosophy--Political Economy and Marxist Theory, undated
Box 20
Soviet Union--clippings, 1952-1953
Box 26
Stabilization, 1924-1929, undated
Box 28
The French Revolution, undated
Box 24
USSR--after the war, undated
Box 23
William Korey--Zinoviev, undated
Box 26
World War I--conduct, undated
Box 28
World War II, undated
Box 28
Yugoslavia--after 1945, undated