Council for Research in the Humanities Records, 1926-1968, bulk 1926-1936; 1966-1968

Council for Research in the Humanities Records, 1926-1968, bulk 1926-1936; 1966-1968

Summary Information

Abstract

This collection contains the minutes, correspondence, and reports of the Council for Research in the Humanities.

At a Glance

Call No.:
UA#0124
Bib ID:
6269676 View CLIO record
Creator(s):
Columbia University. Council for Research in the Humanities
Repository:
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Physical Description:
2.73 linear feet (6 document boxes and 1 half-sized document box.)
Language(s):
In English, French, German, Italian.
Access:
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

This collection is located offsite. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

This collection has no restrictions.

Description

Summary

The records are comprised primarily of correspondence concerning the proposals, reports, awards and financial allotments for specific projects. The correspondence files also include rejected projects arranged alphabetically by applicant. There is also some internal correspondence between the Council and the Secretary of the University, the Council and department chairs, meeting minutes and agendas, and annual reports of the Council.

Arrangement

The files are arranged in three series.

Using the Collection

Restrictions on Access

You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

This collection is located offsite. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

This collection has no restrictions.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Reproductions 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); Council for Research in the Humanities Records; Box and Folder; University Archives, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University in the City of New York.

Selected Related Material at Columbia

Council for Research in the Social Sciences records, 1922-1970 [Bulk dates: 1925-1968] (UA#0127)

Central Files, 1890-1984 [Bulk Dates: 1890-1983] (UA#0001)

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession 1997.003: Source of acquisition--University Archives. Date of acquisition--1997.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

Papers processed Marilyn H. Pettit 2004.

Papers re-processed Jocelyn Wilk June 2006.

This finding aid was adapted from a legacy finding aid. Additions were processed by Alyssa Nicole Meyers, GSAS 2009, in June 2007.

Revision Description

2009-10-29 File created.

2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.

2022-02-11 Access note changed. Collection now stored offsite. (JR)

Biographical / Historical

The Council for Research in the Humanities was officially established by the University Council at its meeting on February 21, 1928. The Research Council's founding was inspired by findings at a Conference on the Status of Humanistic Studies in the U.S. (Washington, D.C., December 10 and 11, 1926) under the auspices of the General Education Board. In short, the conference found that researchers in the area of the humanities were in need of better funding to aid their research and eventual publication. Despite the fact that humanistic research was considered important and significant, it was not as high profile as that done in the social or physical sciences and, therefore, not as well funded. By establishing the Research Council, Columbia University was able to provide much needed financial aid to selected researchers in the humanities.

Allotments were to cover expenses incurred in the research process - everything from clerical assistance, to travel funds and photographic reproductions - and sometimes were extended to publishing costs. Initially this venture was funded by the General Education Board, through a three-year grant of $112,500. When this grant ran out, funding was obtained from the Rockefeller Foundation. Later on, monies would also come from within the University itself. Many individuals received grants over the years, but among the more prominent researchers who received grants were Lynn Thorndike, Ruth Benedict, and Franz Boas. Grants continued to be distributed by the Research Council into the 1980s and very early 1990s.

The first Research Council consisted of nine members: Professors W.B. Dinsmoor, R.H. Fife, J.L. Gerig, L.R. Gray, G.P. Krapp, N.G. McCrea, S.B. Murray, H.W. Schneider, and Austin P. Evans. Professor Fife was elected Chairman and Professor McCrea was elected Secretary.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Genre/Form
Annual reports
Awards
Correspondence
Financial records
Proposals
Reports
minutes (administrative records)
Name
Benedict, Ruth, 1887-1948
Boas, Franz, 1858-1942
Coykendall, Frederick, 1872-1954
Fackenthal, Frank Diehl, 1883-1968
Fife, Robert Herndon, 1871-1958
General Education Board (New York, N.Y.)
Leland, Waldo Gifford, 1879-1966
McBain, Howard Lee, 1880-1936
Rockefeller Foundation
Rusk, Ralph L (Ralph Leslie), 1888-
Scarborough, Dorothy, 1878-1935
Schapiro, Meyer, 1904-1996
Thorndike, Lynn, 1882-1965
Subject
Education, Higher
Humanities -- Research

Series I: Meetings, 1929-1937

Includes minutes, agendas and correspondence. Correspondence most often concerns meetings and the creation of minutes. A list of the original council membership is also found in this series. Three copies of the minutes from 1928-1937 have been kept as each version has unique handwritten notes in margins.


Box 1 Folder 1

Agenda, 1929-1936


Box 1 Folder 2

Correspondence and Memos, 1929-1933


Minutes


Box 1 Folder 3

1928-1930 (copy 1), 1928-1930


Box 1 Folder 4

1931-1937 (copy 1), 1931-1937


Box 1 Folder 5

1928-1930 (copy 2), 1928-1930


Box 1 Folder 6

1931-1937 (copy 2), 1931-1937


Box 1 Folder 7

1928-1930 (copy 3), 1928-1930


Box 1 Folder 8

1931-1937 (copy 3), 1931-1937


Box 1 Folder 9

Resolutions, 1930s

Series II: Projects, 1927-1968

Includes award and rejection letters, budgets, and lists of projects for particular years. Project correspondence from the 1929-1933 includes some project proposals in addition to award letters and budgetary information. Correspondence concerning projects #1-108, spanning the years 1958-1964, were taken out of individual project files and placed together in three files. For these documents, when necessary, the project number from the folder was written in brackets at the top of the document. Multiple documents from one project file, even if they span more than one year, have been kept together. Correspondence is primarily with the Secretary of the University and/or the Chair of the Council.


Correspondence


Box 1 Folder 10

1929-1937


Box 2 Folder 1

President Butler, 1930-1936


Box 2 Folder 2

Capps-Research Council, 1929-1930


Box 2 Folder 3

Frederick Coykendall, 1929-1930


Box 2 Folder 4

F.D. Fackenthal, 1929-1933


Box 2 Folder 5

Funding, 1928-1933


Box 2 Folder 6

General Education Board, 1928-1933


Box 2 Folder 7

P.M. Hayden, 1930-1936


Box 2 Folder 8

C.J. Hayes, 1928


Box 2 Folder 9

Waldo G. Leland, 1932


Box 2 Folder 10

Howard Lee McBain, 1929-1932


Box 2 Folder 11

C.A. Manning, 1929-1930


Box 2 Folder 12

S.B. Murray, 1928-1932


Box 2 Folder 13

Projects #1-35, 1958-1963


Box 2 Folder 14

Projects #36-65, 1960-1965


Box 2 Folder 15

Projects #66-108, 1962-1966


Box 2 Folder 16

Rejected Projects, 1929-1935


Box 2 Folder 17

Rockefeller Foundation, 1928-1933


Box 2 Folder 18

David H. Sterns (Rockefeller Foundation), 1930-1935


Box 2 Folder 19

E.H. Wright,1928


Correspondence and Budgets


Box 3 Folder 1-4

1962-1967, (4 folders)


Box 3 Folder 5

Projects #173-211, 1967-1968


Box 3 Folder 6

Form Letters, 1928-1933


Box 3 Folder 7

General Information, 1929


Box 3 Folder 8

Internal Correspondence and Budgets, 1957-1966


Box 3 Folder 9

Lists of Awards, 1928-1933 1958-1967, 1928-1933, 1958-1967


Box 3 Folder 10

Organization, 1927-1928


Projects


Box 3 Folder 11

Ayres, H.M. and W.C. Greet, 1928-1933 1, 1928-1933


Box 3 Folder 12

Barry, F.P., 1929-1936 30, 36, 1929-1936


Box 4 Folder 1

Benedict, Ruth, 1931-1937 39, 1931-1937


Box 4 Folder 2

Bongiari, Dino,1930-1936 42


Box 4 Folder 3

Boas, Franz,1927-1937 13, 26, 38


Box 4 Folder 4

Boas-Hertzog, 1929-1934 13, 1929-1934


Box 4 Folder 5

Boas-Weltfish, 1930-1934 26, 1930-1934


Box 4 Folder 6

Christy, Arthur E., 1933-1937 53, 1933-1937


Box 4 Folder 7

Clamens, Pierre E., 1932-1937 43, 1932-1937


Box 4 Folder 8

Coleman, A.P., 1928-1937 37, 1928-1937


Box 4 Folder 9

Coss, J.J., 1928-1937 56, 1928-1937


Box 4 Folder 10

Dinsmoor, W.B., 1929-1937 2a, 2b, 22, 1929-1937


Box 4 Folder 11

Evans, A.P. and W.W. Rockwell, 1929-1937 23, 1929-1937


Box 4 Folder 12

Fife, R.H., 1928-1937 3, 1928-1937


Box 4 Folder 13

Gerig, J.L., 1928-1937 14, 1928-1937


Box 4 Folder 14

Gibbs, W.E., 1930-1937 40, 1930-1937


Box 4 Folder 15

Gottheil, Richard, 1930-1936 35, 1930-1936


Box 4 Folder 16

Gray, L.H., 1929-1936 24, 1929-1936


Box 4 Folder 17

Gray, L.H., 1930-1937 32, 1930-1937


Box 5 Folder 1

Greene, E.R., 1929-1937 4, 1929-1937


Box 5 Folder 2

Greet, W.C., 1930-1937 1, 1930-1937


Box 5 Folder 3

Haller, William, 1929-1937 5, 1929-1937


Box 5 Folder 4

Heuser, F.W.J., 1931-1937 34, 1931-1937


Box 5 Folder 5

Hoffher, F.G., 1929-1937 28, 1929-1937


Box 5 Folder 6

Hume, R.E., 1932-1935 47, 1932-1935


Box 5 Folder 7

Keyes, C.L., 1929-1937 6, 1929-1937


Box 5 Folder 8

Krapp, G.P., 1929-1936 15, 1929-1936


Box 5 Folder 9

Loomis, R.L. and L. Cons, 1933-1937 59, 1933-1937


Box 5 Folder 10

McCrea, N.G.,1928-1936 7


Box 5 Folder 11

McKeon, Richard, 1929-1937 8, 1929-1937


Box 5 Folder 12

Muller, H.F., 1929-1937 29, 1929-1937


Box 5 Folder 13

de Onis, F., 1929-1937 16, 17, 18, 19, 1929-1937


Box 5 Folder 14

Prezzolini, Guiseppe, 1929-1937 33, 1929-1937


Box 5 Folder 15

Puckett, W., 1929-1937 27, 1929-1937


Box 5 Folder 16

Randall, John H. Jr., 1932-1937 51, 1932-1937


Box 5 Folder 17

Reichard, Gladys A., 1930-1937 38, 1930-1937


Box 5 Folder 18

Religion and Culture in Mexico, 1929-1933 39, 1929-1933


Box 5 Folder 19

Riccio, P.M.,1929-1937 29


Box 6 Folder 1

Roosbroeck, Gustave van, 1929-1935 25, 1929-1935


Box 6 Folder 2

Rusk, R.L., 1928-1937 9a, 9b, 1928-1937


Box 6 Folder 3

Scarborough, Dorothy, 1930-1936 41, 1930-1936


Box 6 Folder 4

Schapiro, Meyer, 1930-1937 31, 1930-1937


Box 6 Folder 5

Schinnerer, C.P., 1931-1935 10, 1931-1935


Box 6 Folder 6

Schneider, H.W., 1931-1937 11, 1931-1937


Box 6 Folder 7

Sprietsma, Cargill, 1934-1937 52, 1934-1937


Box 6 Folder 8

Swift, Emerson H., 1928-1937 48, 1928-1937


Box 6 Folder 9

Taupin, Rene, 1931-1932 44, 1931-1932


Box 6 Folder 10

Thorndike, A.H., 1930-1934 15, 1930-1934


Box 6 Folder 11

Thorndike, Lynn,1929-1937 12


Box 6 Folder 12

Westermann, W.L., 1929-1938 21, 1929-1938


Box 6 Folder 13

Wolff, Samuel L., 1933-1936 58, 1933-1936


Box 6 Folder 14

Publications, 1928-1935


Box 6 Folder 15

Research Council Agenda, 1933-1934

Series III: Reports, 1928-1967

Includes annual reports of the Council to the University Council, drafts of some of these reports (so one can examine the evolution of the document), reports sent to the General Board for Humanities Studies, and financial statements for the organization. Also includes a report from a conference held in 1926 that ultimately led to the creation of the Council. There is a gap in annual reports between 1957 and 1961 and no report for 1967.


Box 7 Folder 1-4

Annual Reports to University Council, 1928-1967, (4 folders)


Box 7 Folder 5

Conference on the Status of Humanistic Studies in the United States, 1926


Box 7 Folder 6

Financial Statements, 1930-1936


Box 7 Folder 7

Reports to the General Education Board in the Humanities, 1929-1930