Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: The collection documents the career of Larry Kramer as a playwright and author, an advocate for gay rights, and an activist in the fight against AIDS. The collection consists of writings, including manuscripts and drafts of plays, books, screenplays, and articles; AIDS-related material; diaries; correspondence; photographs; printed material; audiovisual material; and other papers. There is also substantial material relating to the founding of GayMen's Health Crisis and the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) in particular, and to the AIDS movement in general.

Collection materials used in class session:

• August 2007 Acquisition, Box 47, folder 1: Correspondence related to the Utah wilderness (1995)

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: Records of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an American environmental action organization founded in 1970. The records consist of correspondence, legal files, meeting minutes, press clippings, technical reports, photographs, and publications, including annual reports, magazines, and newsletters; documenting NRDC's administration and programs.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Accession 2012-M-056, Box 32, folder 8: Testimony of Thomas B. Cochran, NRDC, before the House Committee on Science and Technology on U.S. post-INFCE proliferation policy, 1980.

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: Anne Nelson-Black (Class of 1976) is a journalist who has worked extensively in Central America. The papers consist of material from El Salvador, including guerrilla propaganda, internal guerrilla memoranda, and U.S. and Salvadoran government documents; material from Puerto Rico relating to the Cerro Maravilla case and the Culebra island controversy; and documents on the 1981-1982 national elections of Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Accession 2016-M-076, Box 4, folder 2El Salvador, research materials, 1980-1987.

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: The records consist of correspondence, notes, memoranda, newsclippings, and flyers, maintained by Christopher Lowe (PhD 1987) and Ann Braude (PhD 1987) documenting student activism, sexual harassment, affirmative action, and women's groups at Yale. Records concerning the following groups and events are included: the Yale Student Labor Support Group; the Coalition Against Apartheid; T. A. Solidarity (TAS) and the Graduate Employees and Students Organization (GESO); the1984 and 1988 labor strikes at Yale; and the student anti-war movement against the Gulf War.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Accession 1994-A-089, Box 1, folder 47: Coalition Against Apartheid (CAA), clippings and drafts of correspondence, 1981-1986.

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: The Vance papers primarily document Cyrus R. Vance's professional and personal activities. Of particular significance are background materials, correspondence, position papers, and handwritten meeting notes relating to SALT II negotiation between the United States and the Soviet Union; the Camp David Summit and the signing of the Middle East Peace Treaty; diplomatic relations with the Far East, especially China; and negotiations to release the American hostages in Iran. Proposals, reports, handwritten notes, and correspondence provide insight into the dispute between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus in 1967, federal recovery assistance to Detroit after the riot of 1967, and the Paris Peace Talks on Vietnam in 1968. Among many other government positions, Vance served as Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from January 20, 1977, through April 28, 1980.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Accession 1997-M-081, Box 19, folder 9: Release to the New York Times regarding Reagan's position on the SALT II treaty, October 7-8, 1980.

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: Diary entries, memos, calendars, and other papers created by, or related to, Donald Lyman. Materials also include a sixty-five page diary documenting Lyman's work in Mexico as Special Assistant to U. S. Ambassador John Gavin and Acting Deputy Chief of Mission from 1981-1984.

Collection materials used in class session: ​​​​​​

• Series I, Box 1, folder 2: Diary entries, 1982-1984.

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: Correspondence, subject files, writings, printed material, newspaper clippings, photographs, and memorabilia documenting the professional and personal life of Eugene V. Rostow, Yale Law School professor and dean. Rostow also held various governmental positions including that of undersecretary for political affairs during the Lyndon Baines Johnson administration and director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency under President Reagan. He was a leader of the Coalition for a Democratic Majority and was a founder of the Committee on the Present Danger. He published widely in the fields of foreign relations and international security.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Accession 2021-M-0016, Box 18, folder 7: Opening statement, Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Soviet-American relations, 1983.

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: Personal and travel diaries, academic writings, speeches, research and lecture notes, and correspondence of Gaddis Smith (1932-2022). Topics covered in the collection are Smith’s early life, living in New Haven, marriage and family, aging, hobbies, running and fitness, archival and general research, attending Yale and Duke University, work at Yale University as a professor, chair of the Department of History, and directorship of the Yale University MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies (formerly known as Yale Center for International and Area Studies), international travel and politics, Iraq War, 9/11, Vietnam War protesting and arrest records, maritime history of US Great Lakes region and Atlantic Ocean, and Yale Alumni associations

Collection materials used in class session:

• Series II, Box 23, folder 5: Public lectures and talks, CONTRA scandal talk at Yale, December 9, 1986.

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: Correspondence, diaries, legal documents, speeches, writings, printed material, photographs, and audiovisual materials that document the career of Arthur Liman. The papers emphasize the 1987 Iran-Contra hearings (Liman was appointed chief counsel to the Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition in 1987), but also document many of Liman's other professional activities, including the Attica Prison uprising investigation and the Michael Milken trial. The papers contain an extensive collection of audiotapes and videotapes featuring conversations with and interviews of Liman.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Series I, Box 2, folder 40: Iran-Contra, Arthur Liman closing statement, 1987.
• Accession 2024-M-0018, Box 3, folder 3: Iran-Contra files, diversion, 1987.

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: Correspondence, scrapbooks, speeches, topical files and photographs documenting primarily Reed's service as ambassador to Morocco (1981-1985), in various posts representing the U.S. at the United Nations (1985-1989), and his tenure as special assistant to David Rockefeller at Chase Manhattan Bank, which includes materials documenting Rockefeller's role in gaining permission for the exiled Shah of Iran to undergo medical treatment in the United States in 1980.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Series III, Box 37, folder 6: Newspaper clippings and public statements, United Nations, Book V, 1987-1988.

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: Correspondence, clippings, and subject files document the work and research interests of academic and activist Bert Hansen, especially his work in the early 1980s with the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT). The ACT records consist of administrative files related to operations of the group, board and committee related minutes, agendas, and correspondence, and printed ephemera. These files date from 1983 to 1984. Newspaper and magazine clippings are generally focused on the AIDS epidemic in Canada and the United States, starting from the early period of the epidemic in 1982 until 1996. 

Collection materials used in class session:

• Accession 2016-M-0023, Box 2, folder 5: AIDS Committee of Toronto, subject files, AIDS, 1982-1984.

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: William F. Buckley, Jr. (Class of 1950) was a conservative writer and public figure who was the founding editor of The National Review. The papers include primarily correspondence, campaign materials, and subject files. Researchers interested in using the papers must request permission for access from Christopher Buckley per the Conditions Governing Access note in the finding aid.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Part II, Series I, Box 227, folder 1878: Correspondence, Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Reagan and staff, 1970-June 1971.
• Accession 2009-M-035, Box 2, folder 19: Correspondence and subject files, Ronald Reagan, 1989-2004.

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: The collection 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.  Additional material including editorials, interviews, working papers, speeches, and notes provide insight into United States foreign relations during the final decade of the Cold War and the global war on terrorism. From 1986-1989 Bremer served in the Reagan State Department as U.S. ambassador-at-large for counter terrorism. 

Collection materials used in class session:

• Series I, Box 2, folder 6: Speech before the U.S. Senate anti-terrorism caucus, March 18, 1987.