Based on the research question developed in response to the QR prompt, each student will request a maximum of 2 boxes to explore in the April 2nd class session that will meet in the International Room at Sterling Library. Boxes must be requested by Thursday, March 28th, at Noon to ensure that they are on site by Tuesday morning’s class session.
The following is a list of some key collections on the topics of Yale and World War II/the Cold War. The description of each collection contains a link to the online finding aid, or to relevant, specific parts of the collection. As noted by Professor Engerman in your QR prompt, you can go “off-list” if you find other useful material that you’d like to explore in class on April 2.
| World War II (left-hand column) | Cold War (right-hand column) |
Link to the Archives at Yale finding aid
Correspondence, reports, memoranda, photographs, newspaper clippings, and memorabilia documenting the activities and operations of the Army and Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) at Yale.
Link to the Archives at Yale finding aid
Correspondence, transcripts, photographs, instructional materials, and administrative files documenting the Army Specialized Training Division at Yale, particularly the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) and the Civil Affairs Specialists Training School.
Note: Unfortunately much of this collection is closed because of the presence of student records scattered throughout. There are two accessions of publications and reports that are open for research:
Link to the Archives at Yale finding aid
Student files, memoranda, correspondence, and rosters documenting the Navy V-12 Unit at Yale. Included is correspondence between the Navy and Yale University documenting the establishment of the Navy V-12 program at Yale.
Note: Unfortunately much of this collection is closed because of the presence of student records scattered throughout.
Correspondence, minutes of meetings, financial records, membership lists, program records, committee records, scrapbooks, subject files, conference records, publications and printed material, and related materials concerning the activities of Dwight Hall at Yale.
Link to the Archives at Yale finding aid
The American Student Union, founded in 1935 in Columbus, Ohio, was a left-leaning organization of high school and college students. The literature of the organization contained in this collection stresses pacifism, human rights, equality, unionism, and the dissemination of education. Also stressed are anti-fascism and support for the Spanish Republic. Among the materials in the papers are a constitution, newsletters, minutes of meetings, convention proceedings, guides for chapters, programs, financial statements, resolutions and position statements, several pamphlets by Joseph P. Lash, clippings, ephemera, and related items.
Materials relating to the Yale University Chapter of the American Student Union are cataloged separately in Orbis: minor publications and newsletters.
Link to the Archives at Yale Finding Aid
Link to Archives at Yale finding aid
One folder consisting of letters, photographs, and a handbook documenting Richard Willstater's (1943S) service during World War II.
Link to the Archives at Yale finding aid
One folder with only a few letters of Lawrence M. DiFilippo (Yale 1938) to Ellsworth Mason, his roommate in Saybrook College at Yale. The letters document DiFilippo's experiences of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines during World War II.
Link to the Archives at Yale Finding Aid
The following World War II-related photograph collection boxes will be in class on November 19th. You do not have to request any of these boxes if you’re interested in looking at them.
Link to the Archives at Yale finding aid
The Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) was founded at Yale University in 1949. Its mission is to “encourage and facilitate worldwide comparative studies of human behavior, society, and culture.” Records consist of minutes, correspondence, memoranda, bibliographies, reports, and papers documenting the activities and operations of the HRAF.
Link to the Archives at Yale finding aid
The Institute of Human Relations (IHR) was established in 1929 at Yale University as an interdisciplinary center for cooperative research on problems of human welfare. The Institute’s efforts at interdisciplinary programs to study social and cultural issues were largely funded by outside agencies. A wide range of publications and studies resulted from the Institute’s projects. The administrative structure of the Institute created organizational difficulties, and the IHR was absorbed by regular departments and schools in the 1950s. Records consist of administrative and subject files, annual reports, financial records, publications, and correspondence documenting the activities of the IHR at Yale.
Note: Financial records in boxes 44, 46, 47, and 48 are restricted. Financial records in boxes 45 and 49 are open for research.
Link to the Archives at Yale finding aid
Especially files on specific topics, for example, files on academic freedom in boxes 1-4.
Link to the Archives at Yale finding aid
Emerson, a passionate civil libertarian throughout his life, graduated from Yale College in 1928 and Yale Law School in 1931. He worked in several capacities in the New Deal during the Roosevelt administration, and taught on the Yale Law School faculty from 1946-1976.
See especially files on specific topics:
Link to the Archives at Yale finding aid
Duncan Chaplin Lee graduated from Yale College in 1935 and was a Sterling Fellow at the Yale Law School, 1938-1939. The collection consists of the personal papers of Duncan Chaplin Lee and his son, John Lee. Materials include Duncan Chaplin Lee’s correspondence, writings, photographs, and biographical material regarding his personal and work life. Key within these materials are documents that chronicle Lee’s evolving interest in Marxism-Leninism in the 1930s, his military service, and the events that surfaced after he was accused of espionage in 1948.
Link to the Archives at Yale finding aid
Lavietes graduated from Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University, in 1927 and from the Yale Medical School in 1930. The papers consist of correspondence, writings, and research material relating to his career, and include items relating to his investigation for possible Communist sympathies by the Veterans Administration and the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC).
Link to the Archives at Yale finding aid
Peters graduated from Yale College in 1908, and was affiliated with the Yale School of Medicine and the New Haven Hospital from 1921 until his death in 1955. The papers contain correspondence, reports, writings, and personal papers documenting his crusade for national health insurance and his support for progressive causes, and include materials on his disloyalty charge.
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