Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions records, 1950-1991, bulk 1961-1987

Summary

Title:

Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions records

Dates:

1950-1991, bulk 1961-1987

Creators:

Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions

Abstract:

Records of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, a Santa Barbara-based think tank, as well as materials related to individuals in similar academic and professional fields.

Extent:

650 Linear Feet (942 boxes; 191 reels of microfilm; ca. 6,500 audiotapes, 127 reels of film, and 57 videotapes [various formats])

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions records, Mss 18. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains records of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, a Santa Barbara-based think tank that focused on issues such as education, freedom of the press, international relations, public policy, religion, and science and technology in modern society. The records are predominantly from the 1959-1987 period, when the Center was located in Santa Barbara, and include materials relating to CSDI leaders such as Robert Hutchins, Harry Ashmore, Elisabeth Mann Borgese, W. H. Ferry, Frank Kelly, Stanley K. Sheinbaum, and Harvey Wheeler. Also included are papers, talks, correspondence, and other materials relating to hundreds of other related public figures such as Mortimer Adler, Alexander Comfort, William O. Douglas, Mircea Eliade, J. William Fulbright, Hubert H. Humphrey, Clark Kerr, Eugene McCarthy, Gunnar Myrdal, Reinhold Niebuhr, Linus Pauling, James A. Pike, B. F. Skinner, Adlai Stevenson, Arnold Toynbee, UN Secretary-General U Thant, and Earl Warren.

Materials include paper records, microfilm, photographs, audiotapes, films, videotapes, artwork, and artifacts. The paper records, photographs and microfilm have been processed, with partial funding by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The audiovisual materials, artwork, and artifacts have largely been left unprocessed.

The collection's strengths lie in areas such as the dialogue discussion papers and transcripts of taped gatherings and interviews. They offer a view into the examination of basic issues confronting contemporary society from the 1950s through the 1980s by hundreds of the time's academic, political, diplomatic, and societal figures. Correspondence and accompanying materials provide further insight into participants responses to their colleagues' views. The photographic holdings bring to life the numerous and varied Center programs, as well as the individuals participating in them. The microfilm holdings depict the early years of the Center and its closely associated institution, the Fund for the Republic. Finally, the unedited audiotaped recordings of hundreds of conferences, convocations, meetings and interviews, provide an account of the proceedings as they actually occurred.

The collection, however, does have some gaps. Although the files of many, but not all, of the Center's administrators are found in the collection, documentation is increasingly incomplete after the Center's 1979 move to the University of California, Santa Barbara campus. There are conspicuous gaps in a number of correspondence series, particularly in cases where only a portion of an alphabetical sequence is present. Records of some conferences and convocations also are largely absent.

Biographical / historical:

The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions grew out of the 'Basic Issues' program of the Fund for the Republic. The Fund emerged from a desire to combat the rampant abuses of American civil liberties that characterized the McCarthy era. With a fifteen million dollar grant from the Ford Foundation, the Fund set in 1954 to provide support to church, educational, and social service organizations in their efforts to protect the rights enumerated in the first ten Amendments to the Constitution.

In 1957, unsatisfied with administering a grant making institution, Robert Maynard Hutchins, former president of the University of Chicago, assembled a group of, in his words, "great minds" to study "the current status" of corporations, trade unions, the common defense, religion, the mass media, political parties, pressure groups, and professional associations. With a core group of twelve consultants drawn from a variety of disciplines and careers, Hutchins attempted to foster interdisciplinary discussion on these 'basic issues.' Between 1957 and 1959 the core group was joined by more than 300 scholars and experts. Over a million copies of the Funds' fifty-four pamphlets, occasional papers, transcripts, and reports to the Fund were distributed from the Basic Issues program. As the consultants were unable to devote themselves entirely to these discussions, however, the level of these exchanges failed to meet Hutchins' expectations. He persuaded the Funds' Board of Directors to devote their remaining resources to the establishment of what he called a "center of operations that would allow us to enlarge the residential group and to extend the time that non-residential members might visit headquarters and take part in the Program." Thus, in 1959, the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions was born.

Early in the Center's existence, it entered into an agreement with the Encyclopaedia Britannica to undertake an ambitious project to revise the structure of the encyclopaedia. The project, scheduled for completion in time for the Britannica's 200th anniversary in 1968, called for the production of fifteen overarching 'Roof Articles' that would address the Political Order, the Economic Order, Religion, Philosophy, the Technological Order, the Legal Order, Nature, Human Nature, Education, Communications, Mathematics and Logic, the Social Order, the World Order, the Fine Arts, and Medicine. While the proposed restructuring of Britannica was not completed in time for the anniversary, the Roof Article project did result in the publication of Britannica Perspectives in 1968. The issues addressed by the Roof Articles, combined with the Basic Issues program, set the agenda for the Center's dialogues in the years to come.

Over the years Hutchins tried to explain this unusual institution, the Center. In a speech at the University of Chicago in 1967, he described it this way:

"The Center consists of twenty-five men who meet every day in a Spanish style building known to the members as El Parthenon. The men, one of whom is a woman, are writers, philosophers, scientists, social scientists, and lawyers, with two bishops and two ex-college presidents thrown in... It is not a think tank hired to do the planning that public agencies or private businesses cannot or will not do for themselves. Neither is it a refuge for scholars who want to get away from it all and do their research and write their books. It is an organized group, rather than a collection of individuals. It is an organization of men who are free of any obligation except to join in an effort to understand the subjects they have selected for study. It is a community. And, since its members are trying to think together, it may be called, at least in potentiality, an intellectual community."

Guided by Hutchins' vision of truly interdisciplinary discourse, this intellectual community flourished and the daily dialogue discussions brought together a wide variety of individuals to investigate these issues and their relationship to the world. Practically, however, the Center struggled to establish financial independence and political harmony among the staff. Over two-thirds of the original fifteen million dollars from the Ford Foundation was distributed as grants during the early years of the Fund, with grants going to the Anti-Defamation League, the Southern Regional Council, the NAACP, the American Friends Service Committee, and other organizations working to protect basic constitutional rights. The Encyclopaedia Britannica project helped finance the Center's operations during the early years but the need to generate new sources of funds continued to plague its administration.

Over and beyond Hutchins' intellectual vision, he demonstrated a talent for raising funds for the Center's operations. Outside of the Academic Program, many of the programs undertaken by the Center were attempts to raise capital. The Membership Program provided the Center with the means to raise funds, interact with interested individuals across the country, share some of the Center's discussions, and receive feedback from outside sources. In the latter 1960s Chester F. Carlson, inventor of the Xerox process, provided the Center with the funds, in the form of Xerox stock, to expand its publications program. This included the Center Magazine, which served as the main source of communication between the Center and its membership.

Perhaps predictably, the administrative course of the Center was not always smooth. Hutchins was a brilliant judge of ideas, and the men (and a few women) with whom he surrounded himself met his intellectual standards. But the Center was in many ways an extension of his formidable ego and his colleagues had their own agendas, which did not always match Hutchins' conception of the Center. By 1969, internal disputes made consensus among the staff impossible and, with the support of the Board, the Center underwent reorganization.

With reorganization, the legal authority remained vested in the Board of Directors of the Fund for the Republic, Inc., the legal entity. The offices of Chairman of the Board and the Chief Executive Officer of the Center were combined, with Hutchins assuming both roles. The status of Fellow was stratified into Senior Fellows, Visiting Fellows, Associates, and Consultants. The Senior Fellows became the governing body for the Academic Program. Hutchins appointed the first Senior Fellow and, as the group grew, each Fellow participated in the election of the other Fellows.

The Office of President of the Center (Chief Operating Officer) answered to the Chief Executive Officer and assumed responsibility for all Center functions except the academic program. The Center's publications came under the direct control of the Editor of the Center Magazine. While the Senior Fellows determined the content of the Academic Program, from which much of the mateial for the publications was drawn, the Editor decided what material would be selected for publication.

Center programs continued through the 1970s and Hutchins remained the Center's guiding force until his death in 1977. His one attempt to retire in 1973 met with failure when the changes proposed by his replacement, Malcolm Moos, proved unacceptable to the Board and the majority of the Senior Fellows. Moos resigned in 1975 amid controversy and Hutchins was reinstated. Without Hutchins presence and leadership after 1977, however, the Center was unable to continue as a freestanding institution.

Further reorganization and association with the University of California, Santa Barbara, occurred in late 1979. The Center moved from its home on Eucalyptus Hill to new quarters on the UCSB campus. The Fund for the Republic was dissolved, assets transferred to the university, and the Center's name changed to the Robert Maynard Hutchins Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. The Center's programs also underwent a change, with full-time Fellows being replaced with visiting scholars. Despite some encouraging developments in the early years of the Center's association with UCSB, financial and administrative problems continued. Following a series of short-term directors, the Center closed in 1987.

Acquisition information:

Original donation by the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions after it ceased operations in 1987. Subsequent donations by Harry S. Ashmore and Otis L. Graham, Jr. , which are found in their respective sections of the Administrators' Files, 1995.

Processing information:

The UCSB University Libraries wishes to express its gratitude to the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, and to the California State Historical Records Advisory Board, not only for much needed funding support to process the collection, but also for numerous helpful suggestions which assisted in the planning and completion of this project.

Arrangement:

The organization of the collection generally follows the original order of the records, to the extent that it could be determined. For the most part it also reflects the administrative structure of the Center. The collection is organized by series, then sub-series. Each sub-series has received a unique alpha-numeric designation, e.g. M18-0102. 'M' indicates manuscripts, 'F' microformats, and 'P' photographic images. '18' indicates collection number 18, '01' series one, and '02' sub-series two. More detailed information about the individual series and sub-series is located in the container list.

This collection has been arranged by topic into 12 series:

• Series 1, Administrative Records
• Series 2, Academic Program
• Series 3, Communications Program
• Series 4, Continuing Education Program
• Series 5, Development Program
• Series 6, External Affairs
• Series 7, Membership Program
• Series 8, Microformats
• Series 9, Photographs
• Series 10, Oversize
• Series 11, Artifacts and ephemera
• Series 12, Audiovisual materials

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related resources

Related material:

Additional information on the history of the Center and Robert Maynard Hutchins may be found in the following sources:

• Adler, Mortimer J. Philosopher at Large: An Intellectual Autobiography. New York: Macmillan, 1977.
• Humanistic Education and Western Civilization: Essays for Robert M. Hutchins. New York, 1964.
• Ashmore, Harry S. Unseasonable Truths: The Life of Robert Maynard Hutchins. Boston: Little, Brown, 1989. Contains a detailed annotated bibliography of published and unpublished sources.
• Douglas, William O. Go East Young Man: The Early Years. New York: Random House, 1974.
• Dzuback, Mary Ann. Robert M. Hutchins: Portrait of an Educator. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. Contains an extensive annotated bibliography of published and archival sources.
• Hyman, Sidney. The Lives of William Benton. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969.
• Kelly, Frank K. Court of Reason: Robert Hutchins and the Fund for the Republic. New York: Free Press, 1981.
• Kogan, Herman. The Great EB: The Story of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958.
• Macdonald, Dwight. The Ford Foundation: The Men and the Millions. New York: Reynal and Company, 1956.
• McNeill, William H. Hutchins' University: A Memoir of the University of Chicago,1929-1950. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
• Mayer, Milton Sanford. Robert Maynard Hutchins: A Memoir. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
• Reeves, Thomas. Freedom and the Foundation: The Fund for the Republic in the Era of McCarthyism. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969.

Missing Title

1. Berea College, Berea, Kentucky. Berea College Archives.
   • Hutchins [Francis S.] Papers
   • Hutchins [William James] Papers
2. Columbia University, New York, New York.
   • Oral History Research Office: Reminiscences of Richard Flacks (Lowenstein Project)
   • Rare Book and Manuscript Library: Fadiman [Clifton] Papers
3. Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. Dartmouth College Archives.
   • Ferry [Wilbur H.] Papers
4. Ford Foundation, New York, New York (includes records of Hutchins tenure as Associate Director).
   • General Correspondence
   • Grant Files
   • Office of the President
     • Gaither [H. Rowan] Papers
     • Heald [Henry T.] Papers
   • Oral History Transcripts: Clarence Faust, W. H. Ferry, Robert M. Hutchins
   • Unpublished Staff and Consultant Reports
5. Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York.
   • Tugwell [Rexford G.] Papers
6. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Houghton Library.
   • Buchanan [Scott] Papers
7. Institute for Philosophical Research, Chicago, Illinois.
   • Adler [Mortimer J.] Files (includes Hutchins correspondence)
8. Library of Congress.
   • Douglas [William O.] Papers (includes Hutchins correspondence)
9. New York Public Library, New York, New York. Rare Books and Manuscripts Division.
   • Carlson [Chester F.] Papers
10. Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. Oberlin College Library, Oberlin College Archives (includes records relating to Hutchins undergraduate days).
    • Bailey [Walter K.] Papers
    • Faculty Records
    • Fullerton [Kemper] Papers
    • Osborn [Logan Omer] Papers
    • Presidents' Papers - Henry Churchill King
    • Student Life Memorabilia (scrapbooks, albums, diaries)
    • Student Records
11. Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey. Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library.
    • Fund for the Republic Archives.
      Also can be reached via the Mudd Library homepage
    • Stevenson [Adlai] Papers (includes Hutchins correspondence)
12. Rockefeller Archive Center, Pocantico Hills, New York (includes material regarding support for the University of Chicago during the Hutchins era).
    • General Education Board Files
    • Hutchins [Robert Maynard] (some material transferred from Princeton in 1999)
    • Rockefeller [Laura Spelman] Memorial Files
    • Rockefeller Foundation Archives
13. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Rutgers University Libraries.
    • Case [Clifford P.] Papers
14. Stanford University, Stanford, California. Stanford Univesity Libraries, Department of Special Collections.
    • Sheinbaum [Stanley K.] Oral History Interview
15. State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. Archives Division.
    • Schoenbrun [David] Papers (includes material on hist 1967 tour of Asia for CSDI)
16. University of California, Berkeley. Bancroft Library.
    • Tyler [Ralph] Interview
17. University of California, Santa Barbara. Davidson Library, Special Collections.
    • Ashmore [Harry S.] Collection
    • Hutchins [Robert M.] Collection
    • Mitchel [Maurice B.] Collection
    • UCSB Oral History Program
      • Ashmore [Harry S.] Interview
      • Kelly [Frank K.] Interview
      • Mitchell [Maurice B.] Interview
    • University Archives, Public Information Office, Subject Files - Hutchins Center
18. University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. Joseph Regenstein Library, Special Collections (includes records of Hutchins' tenure as President and Chancellor).
    • Archival Biographical Files
    • Benton [William] Papers
    • Dean of the College Records
    • Dell [George] Interviews with Robert M. Hutchins, Lawrence Kimpton, Richard P. McKeon, and Ralph Tyler
    • Hutchins [Robert M.] Papers, Addenda, and Unprocessed Addenda
    • Nef [John U.] Papers
    • Presidential Papers
    • Redfield [Robert] Papers
    • Schwab [Joseph J.] Papers
    • Swift [Harold H.] Papers
19. University of Connecticut, Hartford, Connecticut. Thomas J. Dodd Research Center.
    • Roper [Elmo] Papers
20. University of Denver, University Library, Special Collections Department.
    • Mitchell [Chancellor Maurice B.] Papers
21. University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky. University Archives and Records Center.
    • Miller [James Grier] Personal Papers
    • Office of the President - - James Grier Miller
22. University of Minnesota, Walter Library, University Archives.
    • Moos [Malcolm] Papers
23. Yale University
    • Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library: Wilder [Thornton] Papers (includes Hutchins correspondence)
    • Law School Library: Faculty, Governing Board, and Board of Permanent Officers' Minutes

Separated material:

Boxes 270 and 272 transferred to Princeton University.

Most of the records of the related Fund for the Republic, Inc., 1952-1959 and to some extent, 1959-1965, are located at Princeton University. Some of the post-1961 records at Princeton were returned to UCSB in 1999. These currently are unprocessed, although a box-level list is available upon request.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Lifespan Conference (1970 : Santa Barbara, Calif.)
Conference on United Nations and the Third World (1970 : Santa Barbara, Calif.)
Basic Issues Program
Pacem in Maribus Convocation
William O. Douglas Inquiry into the State of Individual Freedom (1978 : Washington, D.C.)
White House Conference on Balanced National Growth and Economic Development (1978 : Washinton, D.C.)
Conference on the Public Interest in Education (1973 : Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions)
United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea
Structuralism Conference (1970 : Santa Barbara, Calif.)
Pacem in Terris Convocation

Names:

Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions
Ford Foundation
Goldman, Eric Frederick (1915-1989)
Hoffman, Paul G. (Paul Gray), 1891-1974
Graham, Otis L.
Crowther, C. Edward (Clarence Edward), 1929-2021
Douglas, William O. (William Orville), 1898-1980
Comfort, Alex, 1920-2000
Fadiman, Clifton, 1904-1999
Benton, William, 1900-1973
Adler, Mortimer J. (Mortimer Jerome), 1902-2001
Brown, Harrison, 1917-1986
Brucan, Silviu, 1916-2006
Clark, Ramsey, 1927-2021
Case, Clifford P. (Clifford Philip), 1904-1982
Carlson, Chester Floyd, 1906-1968
Capps, Walter H.
Mordy, Wendell A., 1920-2002
Moos, Malcolm, 1916-1982
Mayer, Milton, 1908-1986
McDonald, Donald, 1920-1993
Rabi, I. I. (Isidor Isaac), 1898-1988
Pauling, Linus, 1901-1994
Niebuhr, Reinhold, 1892-1971
Myrdal, Gunnar, 1898-1987
Tugwell, Rexford G. (Rexford Guy), 1891-1979
Shuster, George N. (George Nauman), 1894-1977
Skinner, B. F. (Burrhus Frederic), 1904-1990
Wheeler, Harvey, 1918-2004
Wilkinson, John, 1915-1988
Hutchins, Robert Maynard, 1899-1977
Jacoby, Neil H. (Neil Herman), 1909-1979
Kelly, Frank K., 1914-2010
Kerr, Clark, 1911-2003
Jacobs, Paul, 1918-1978
Laucks, I. F. (Irving Fink), 1882-1981

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:

Arrangement and description by Deborah Kennedy, David C. Tambo, Yolanda Blue, Louisa Dennis, and Elizabeth Witherell; also student assistants Elizabeth Aburto, Julie Baron, Marisela Bautista, Liz Bittner, Michelle Bowden, Chris Caldow, Jacqueline Chau, Alison Church, Hubert Dubrulle, Sivakumar Elambooranan, Richard Frausto, Michael Fry, Joseline Garde, Joseph Gardner, Tim Hagen, Arlene Hebron, Kara Heerman, M. Pilar Herraiz, Ain Hunter, Sandra Jacobs, Derek Jaeger, Gisele Jones, Julie Kravets, Annie Leatt, Kurt Morrill, Chris Shea, Robert Simons, Kay Wamser, Leon Zimlich, and other Library and Special Collections staff and student assistants. Machine-readable finding aid created by Xiuzhi Zhou. Latest revision D. Tambo. Finding aid updated by Rebecca Vasquez, October 2026.

Date Encoded:

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-10-23 15:25:10 -0700 .

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research. The collection is stored offsite. Advance notice is required for retrieval

Terms of access:

Property rights to the collection and physical objects belong to the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at the UCSB Library. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and may be retained by the creator and the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns.

All requests to reproduce, quote from, or otherwise reuse collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB at special@library.ucsb.edu. Consent is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or their assignees for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions records, Mss 18. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Location of this collection:

UC Santa Barbara, Special Research Collections

UC Santa Barbara Library

Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US

Contact:

(805) 893-3062

special@library.ucsb.edu

Website

UCSB ArchivesSpace