Access
Use
Acquisition Information
Preferred Citation
Alternate Forms Available
Historical Note
Scope and Content Note
Title: Mont Pèlerin Society records
Date (inclusive): 1938-2022
Collection Number: 81123
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
German
Physical Description:
166 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box, 1 card file box, 10 envelopes, 4 digital files (.001GB), digital media
(70.5 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, conference papers, programs, meeting materials, schedules, minutes, financial and membership records, essays,
printed matter, sound recordings, and photographs relating to economic policy, laissez-faire, and liberty. Digital copies
of select records also available at
https://digitalcollections.hoover.org.
Creator:
Mont Pèlerin Society
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Access
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
Use
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquisition Information
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1981, with increments received in subsequent years.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Mont Pèlerin Society records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Alternate Forms Available
Historical Note
International organization of laissez-faire economists.
Scope and Content Note
The first installment of the Mont Pèlerin Society records held at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives was received in
1981 and described in a preliminary inventory that is now superseded by the present register.
Those initial records consisted mainly of Albert Hunold's correspondence, which now constitutes the bulk of the
Correspondence series, and of his files relating to the general and regional meetings he organized as secretary of the society from 1948
to 1960, which are to be found in the
Meetings File series and which also includes material relating to subsequent meetings up to 1990. It should be noted that the correspondence
for the first meeting in 1947 also contains important letters dating back to 1945 regarding the founding of the Society.
The remainder of Albert Hunold's papers received in 1981 can be found in the
Office File series, particularly the circulars and minutes of meetings. Also included are issues of
The Mont Pèlerin Quarterly, edited by Hunold, and his 1962 writing "How the Mont Pèlerin Society Lost Its Soul," which gives his perspective on the
so-called "Hunold Affair."
Later, in 1987, the Hoover Archives received the papers of several treasurers of the society, which can be found in the
Treasurers' File series. Here too, the correspondence of these officers is particularly noteworthy, as is the correspondence with foundations,
especially the Relm Foundation, regarding travel and other grants for members of the Society. Financial records and other
materials relating to the meetings, however, were added to the Meetings File series.
The records in the smaller
Newsletter File series, received in 1995, are also interesting, especially for the correspondence of Eric Brodin, one of the editors of
The Mont Pèlerin Society Newsletter.
Finally, the collection includes a large amount of photographs, photographic negatives, and sound tape reels, mostly relating
to the Society's meetings.
Researchers interested in the activities of the society should also consult the Friedrich A. von Hayek papers at the Hoover
Archives, particularly its series on the Mont Pèlerin Society in boxes 71-89, as well as the papers of several other prominent
members such as John Davenport, Milton Friedman, Gottfried Haberler, F. A. Harper, Fritz Machlup, G. Warren Nutter, Karl Popper,
and Gordon Tullock.
Also available for consultation in the reading room of the Hoover Archives is the excellent book by R. M. Hartwell,
A History of the Mont Pèlerin Society (1995).
Additional records of the Mont Pèlerin Society were received by the archives in 2011 from Edwin J. Feulner, the treasurer
of the Mont Pèlerin Society. The
2011 Incremental Materials series covers aspects of the Society's activities from 1974 to 2001, particularly meetings, membership, fellowships and awards.
The papers are in roughly chronological order in the boxes, though an intellectual arrangement has been established for this
finding aid..
The
2013 Incremental Materials series covers the activities of the Mont Pèlerin Society from 1976 to 2012 and includes institutional financial records,
meetings, conference materials, membership information, the F. A. Hayek Essay Competition materials, various newsletters,
and institutional correspondence.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Audiotapes
Free enterprise
Liberty
Economic policy
Economists