The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Committee on Science and Freedom Records 1953-1962
© 2006 University of Chicago Library
| Title: | Committee on Science and Freedom. Records |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1953-1962 |
| Size: | 6.5 linear ft. (13 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | The Committee on Science and Freedom was an outgrowth of the Congress for Cultural Freedom held in Hamburg in 1953. The Records contain correspondence, press clippings, and copies of the Committee on Science and Freedom Bulletin. The collection also includes topical files that track the Committee's support of Hungarian scholars during the Hungarian Revolution and its investigation of conditions at universities in Tasmania and South Africa. |
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When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Committee on Science and Freedom. Records, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
The Committee on Science and Freedom was an outgrowth of the Congress for Cultural Freedom held in Hamburg in 1953. From 1954 until 1962 the Committee published occasional bulletins with articles on the relationship between society and scholarship in general and on the university as an institution in particular. In 1962 the bulletins were replaced by the journal Minerva, under the editorship of Edward Shils. The Minerva Papers, which are also at the University of Chicago, are organized as a separate collection.
The Committees involvement with scholars who participated in the Hungarian revolution began on November 3, 1956, shortly after the Hungarian uprising was quelled, the Committee on Science and Freedom received a telegram from the rector and seventeen professors of Szeged University, appealing to "all the universities in the world to rally to their side with their moral authority." In compliance with this appeal the Committee, on November 6, 1956, mailed a circular to scholars all over the world, asking them to declare their solidarity with their Hungarian colleagues.
fter the Hungarian uprising the Committee on Science and Freedom attempted to obtain the names and addresses of Hungarian scholars in order to arrange a cultural exchange between them and their Western colleagues. The collection includes miscellaneous correspondence written and received by the Committee in pursuit of this aim.
nother portion of the collections tracks the Committees involvement in conditions, which existed at the University of Tasmania between 1954 and 1956.
In October 1954, an inquiry into the university's affairs was demanded in a letter written by Professor S. S. Orr and endorsed by a number of other faculty members. The charges made against the university ultimately led to an investigation conducted by a Royal Commission. His criticisms made Orr persona non grata with university authorities. Rumors concerning his moral conduct began to circulate on campus, and in November 1955, he was accused by one of his students of having seduced her. Orr eventually lost his position and in turn sued the university for wrongful dismissal. Since fundamental issues of academic freedom were raised in connection with this case, the Committee took considerable interest in it.
The Committee on Science and Freedom Records contain correspondence, press clippings, and copies of the Committee on Science and Freedom Bulletin. The collection also includes topical files that track the Committees support of Hungarian scholars during the Hungarian Revolution and its investigation of conditions at universities in Tasmania and South Africa.
fter the Hungarian uprising the Committee on Science and Freedom attempted to obtain the names and addresses of Hungarian scholars in order to arrange a cultural exchange between them and their Western colleagues. The collection includes miscellaneous correspondence written and received by the Committee in pursuit of this aim.
The Tasmanian materials track the Committees involvement in conditions, which existed at the University of Tasmania between 1954 and 1956. In October 1954, an inquiry into the university's affairs was demanded in a letter written by Professor S. S. Orr and endorsed by a number of other faculty members. The charges made against the university ultimately led to an investigation conducted by a Royal Commission
Materials in the collection also deal with the Committees involvement with protests against the university situation in South Africa, especially with the problems and hardships caused by the policy of apartheid.
The correspondence in the collection was received by the Committee between 1953 and 1962. Most of the letters and postcards simply acknowledge receipt of copies of the Bulletin, which was widely distributed free of charge. Occasionally comments on the bulletin articles are added.
| Box 1 Folder 1 | The Hungarian Revolt |
| Box 1 Folder 2 | Bacteriological warfare |
| Box 1 Folder 3 | The arts in communist countries |
| Box 1 Folder 4 | The Pasternak case |
| Box 1 Folder 5 | Intellectual ferment in Eastern Europe |
| Box 1 Folder 6 | Culture in Communist China |
| Box 1 Folder 7 | Turmoil in Indonesia |
| Box 1 Folder 8 | Academic freedom in Turkey |
| Box 1 Folder 9 | Developing countries |
| Box 1 Folder 10 | India, Iraq |
| Box 1 Folder 11 | Academic freedom in Spain |
| Box 1 Folder 12 | Secret Service "spying" in British universities |
| Box 1 Folder 13 | British teachers' right to express political opinion |
| Box 1 Folder 14 | The hazards of the hydrogen bomb |
| Box 1 Folder 15 | School integration in the southern U.S. in general |
| Box 1 Folder 16 | School integration in Little Rock, Arkansas |
| Box 2 Folder 1-8 | Apartheid in South Africa, especially in universities |
| Box 3 Folder 1 | British Universities, general I |
| Box 3 Folder 2 | British Universities, general II |
| Box 3 Folder 3 | British Universities, general III |
| Box 3 Folder 4 | British Regional Universities |
| Box 3 Folder 5 | British Universities: Oxford and Cambridge |
| Box 3 Folder 6 | Irish Universities |
| Box 3 Folder 7 | American Universities |
| Box 4 Folder 1 | African Universities |
| Box 4 Folder 2 | Universities in Communist countries |
| Box 4 Folder 3 | Science and international events I |
| Box 4 Folder 4 | Science and international events II |
| Box 4 Folder 5 | Science and international events III |
| Box 5 Folder 1 | Correspondence, 1953-1955 |
| Box 5 Folder 2 | Correspondence, 1953-1955 |
| Box 5 Folder 3 | Correspondence, 1953-1955 |
| Box 5 Folder 4 | Correspondence, 1953-1955 |
| Box 5 Folder 5 | Correspondence, 1953-1955 |
| Box 5 Folder 6 | Correspondence, 1953-1955 |
| Box 5 Folder 7 | Correspondence, 1956 |
| Box 5 Folder 8 | Correspondence, 1956 |
| Box 5 Folder 9 | Correspondence, 1956 |
| Box 5 Folder 10 | Correspondence, 1956 |
| Box 5 Folder 11 | Correspondence, 1956 |
| Box 5 Folder 12 | Correspondence, 1956 |
| Box 5 Folder 13 | Correspondence, 1956 |
| Box 5 Folder 14 | Correspondence, 1956 |
| Box 5 Folder 15 | Correspondence, 1956 |
| Box 6 Folder 1 | Correspondence, 1957 |
| Box 6 Folder 2 | Correspondence, 1957 |
| Box 6 Folder 3 | Correspondence, 1957 |
| Box 6 Folder 4 | Correspondence, 1957 |
| Box 6 Folder 5 | Correspondence, 1957 |
| Box 6 Folder 6 | Correspondence, 1957 |
| Box 6 Folder 7 | Correspondence, 1957 |
| Box 6 Folder 8 | Correspondence, 1957 |
| Box 6 Folder 9 | Correspondence, 1957 |
| Box 6 Folder 10 | Correspondence, 1957 |
| Box 6 Folder 11 | Correspondence, 1957 |
| Box 6 Folder 12 | Correspondence, 1958 |
| Box 6 Folder 13 | Correspondence, 1958 |
| Box 6 Folder 14 | Correspondence, 1958 |
| Box 6 Folder 15 | Correspondence, 1958 |
| Box 7 Folder 1 | Correspondence, 1958 |
| Box 7 Folder 2 | Correspondence, 1958 |
| Box 7 Folder 3 | Correspondence, 1958 |
| Box 7 Folder 4 | Correspondence, 1958 |
| Box 7 Folder 5 | Correspondence, 1959 |
| Box 7 Folder 6 | Correspondence, 1959 |
| Box 7 Folder 7 | Correspondence, 1959 |
| Box 7 Folder 8 | Correspondence, 1959 |
| Box 7 Folder 9 | Correspondence, 1959 |
| Box 7 Folder 10 | Correspondence, 1959 |
| Box 7 Folder 11 | Correspondence, 1959 |
| Box 7 Folder 12 | Correspondence, 1960 |
| Box 7 Folder 13 | Correspondence, 1960 |
| Box 7 Folder 14 | Correspondence, 1960 |
| Box 7 Folder 15 | Correspondence, 1960 |
| Box 8 Folder 1 | Correspondence, 1960 |
| Box 8 Folder 2 | Correspondence, 1960 |
| Box 8 Folder 3 | Correspondence, 1960 |
| Box 8 Folder 4 | Correspondence, 1960 |
| Box 8 Folder 5 | Correspondence, 1960 |
| Box 8 Folder 6 | Correspondence, 1960 |
| Box 8 Folder 7 | Correspondence, 1960 |
| Box 8 Folder 8 | Correspondence, 1960 |
| Box 8 Folder 9 | Correspondence, 1960 |
| Box 8 Folder 10 | Correspondence, 1961 |
| Box 8 Folder 11 | Correspondence, 1961 |
| Box 8 Folder 12 | Correspondence, 1961 |
| Box 8 Folder 13 | Correspondence, 1961 |
| Box 8 Folder 14 | Correspondence, 1961 |
| Box 8 Folder 15 | Correspondence, 1961 |
| Box 9 Folder 1 | Correspondence, 1961 |
| Box 9 Folder 2 | Correspondence, 1961 |
| Box 9 Folder 3 | Correspondence, 1961 |
| Box 9 Folder 4 | Correspondence, 1961 |
| Box 9 Folder 5 | Correspondence, 1962 |
| Box 9 Folder 6-11 | Carbon copies of letters sent by the Committee, 1957. |
| Box 9 Folder 12 | Report on the Committee's Activities, July 1954 - August 1955 |
| Box 9 Folder 13 | Report on the Committee's Activities, December 1955 - February 1956 |
| Box 9 Folder 14 | Report on the Committee's Activities, February - August 1956 |
| Box 9 Folder 15 | Report on the Committee's Activities, September 1956 - April 1957 |
| Box 9 Folder 16 | Report on the Committee's Activities, May - December 1957 |
| Box 9 Folder 17 | Report on the Committee's Activities, January - September 1958 |
| Box 9 Folder 18 | Report on the Committee's Activities, September 1958 - May 1959 |
| Box 9 Folder 19 | Report on the Committee's Activities, January - February 1960 |
| Box 9 Folder 20 | Report on the Committee's Activities, October 1960 |
| Box 9 Folder 21 | Report on the Committee's Activities, November - December 1960 |
| Box 9 Folder 22 | Report on the Committee's Activities, January 1961 |
| Box 9 Folder 23 | Report on the Committee's Activities, February - March 1961 |
| Box 10 Folder 1 | Copy of the circular of November 6, 1956, the text of a statement on the plight of Hungarian intellectuals handed to the Soviet ambassador in London on December 4, 1956, and a press release announcing the demarche at the embassy. |
| Box 10 Folder 2 | Letters received in response to the appeal |
| Box 10 Folder 3 | Letters received in response to the appeal |
| Box 10 Folder 4 | Letters received in response to the appeal |
| Box 10 Folder 5 | Letters received in response to the appeal |
| Box 10 Folder 6 | Letters received in response to the appeal |
| Box 10 Folder 7 | Letters received in response to the appeal |
| Box 10 Folder 8 | Letters received in response to the appeal |
| Box 10 Folder 9 | Letters received in response to the appeal |
| Box 10 Folder 10 | Letters received in response to the appeal |
| Box 10 Folder 11 | Letters received in response to the appeal |
| Box 10 Folder 12 | Miscellaneous correspondence in connection with the appeal |
| Box 10 Folder 13 | Miscellaneous correspondence in connection with the appeal |
| Box 10 Folder 14 | Miscellaneous correspondence in connection with the appeal |
| Box 10 Folder 15 | Miscellaneous correspondence in connection with the appeal |
| Box 10 Folder 16 | A list of scholars from whom replies were received |
| Box 11 Folder 1-6 | Hungarian Correspondence |
| Box 11 Folder 7 | A "Historical survey" of the case against the University of Tasmania; the published Report of the Royal Commission on the University, and the text of "A Bill to amend the Tasmanian University Act 1951." |
| Box 11 Folder 8 | Correspondence by and to the Committee relating to the U. of T., mimeographed circulars, etc. |
| Box 11 Folder 9 | Correspondence by and to the Committee relating to the U. of T., mimeographed circulars, etc. |
| Box 11 Folder 10 | Correspondence by and to the Committee relating to the U. of T., mimeographed circulars, etc. |
| Box 11 Folder 11 | Newspaper clippings |
| Box 11 Folder 12 | Newspaper clippings |
| Box 11 Folder 13 | Newspaper clippings |
| Box 12 Folder 1-4 | Letters relating to race segregation in universities |
| Box 12 Folder 5-15 | Correspondence relating to an appeal in January, 1958, made by the Committee on Science and Freedom for funds to help non-white South African students to enter one of the still "open" universities in that country, before the government's Separate University Education Bill, excluding non-whites from these universities, came into force. |
| Box 13 Folder 1-3 | Correspondence with the contributors to the bulletin |
| Box 13 Folder 4 | Bulletin No. 1. |
| Box 13 Folder 5 | Bulletin No. 1-6 (2 copies) |
| Box 13 Folder 6 | Bulletin No.13.(2 copies) |
| Box 13 Folder 7 | Bulletin No.16-18. |