Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Donation, 1975.
- Language:
- English.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection is divided into several alphabetically arranged series, followed by photographs and oversize materials. More detailed information about Hopper, including resumes and Who's Who entries, may be found in the Biographical/Personal Material.
The extensive Correspondence series covers the period 1930-1970. Correspondence for earlier periods, however, was left as found in other folders, and is located in the World War I series (1917-1919), the Tours and Trips series (1919-1923), the Harvard series (1923-1926), the Institute of Current World Affairs series (1926-1929).
Materials relating to Hopper's extensive travels from 1917 through 1930s are found throughout the collection. Of particular note are the World War I, Institute of Current World Affairs, Research Files, and Tours and Trips series. Included in those series are a diverse mix of correspondence, travel notes, articles, reports and documents.
- Biographical / historical:
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Bruce Campbell Hopper was born August 24, 1892 in Litchfield, Illinois, and grew up in Montana. From 1913 to 1916 he attended the University of Montana, and Harvard 1916-1917. During World War I he served with the American Field Service (1917), the Air Service, A.E.F. (1917-1919), the Historical Section, G.H.Q., Chaumont (1919) and Sorbonne Detachment (1919). In 1919-1920 he attended the Sorbonne and Oxford University.
From 1920 to 1923 Hopper traveled widely in Europe, the Middle East, India, Burma, and China, including an exploratory trip to the Upper Yangtze and Szechuen. During this time he was a newspaper reporter in Honolulu, Montana, and Shanghai. He returned to Harvard, obtaining a B.S. in 1924 and an M.A. in 1925. From 1926 to 1929 he was an observer in the U.S.S.R for the Institute of Current World Affairs, his work involving studies in the Communist Academy and frequent field trips to areas such as the Urals, Caucasus and Arctic.
Hopper received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1930. He taught there in the Department of Government, from 1930 on, and also lectured in the U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island., and the Army War College. During World War II he was Historian for the 8th Air Force and U.S. Strategic Air Forces, and was an O.S.S. Observer in Sweden. He also was Special Consultant for General Spaatz at the Pentagon, and was a civilian member of the Board to Select the Air Academy Site (Colorado Springs).
In the 1950s he participated in a number of lecture tours, including one to Panama in 1953 (as part of a counter-Communism mission), to 11 countries in Europe during 1954, and to German institutions and universities in 1958.
Hopper also served as Trustee of the World Peace Foundation, member of the Institute of Pacific Relations and the American-Russian Institute; and member of the Council of the Foreign Policy Association and the Council on Foreign Relations.
After retiring in 1961 from teaching at Harvard, Hopper spent his later years in Santa Barbara. He died in 1973.
Hopper's publications include: a series of articles "Through China's Back Door," 1921-1922; Pan-Sovietism, the Issue Before America and the World, 1931 (also published as What Russia Intends: The Peoples, Plans & Policy of Soviet Russia, 1931); Soviet Sovereignty in the Arctic, 1937; Potentials of Soviet Foreign Policy, 1939; The Second World War -- Why?, 1940; How Much Can and Will Russia Aid Germany?, 1940; Narkomindel and Comintern, Instruments of World Revolution, 1941; The War for Eastern Europe, 1941. He also contributed numerous articles and book reviews to The Spectator, Harvard Alumni Bulletin, American Political Science Review, American Historical Review, Foreign Affairs, and others.
- Physical location:
- For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
- Physical description:
- 18 linear feet (44 boxes).
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
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UC Santa Barbara LibrarySanta Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
- Contact:
- (805) 893-3062