Noted diplomatic historian Frank Costigliola of the University of Connecticut has been selected to edit the diaries of George F. Kennan, the renowned 20th century diplomat, historian, and public intellectual. Professor Costigliola holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University and is the author of the forthcoming Roosevelt’s Lost Alliances: How Personal Politics Helped Start the Cold War(Princeton University Press, January 2012), in addition to two other books and more than two dozen articles, including an essay on Kennan that appeared in The Journal of American History. He is also a past president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations and has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the NEH, the Norwegian Nobel Institute, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
Costigliola’s was one of nine submissions received for the project which was announced last December with ads in the New York Review of Books and The Chronicle of Higher Education, as well as on numerous listservs, and the Mudd Manuscript Library blog. He plans a single volume of approximately 600–700 pages and projects a completion date of December 2014. (See Costigliola’s proposal .) Notified of the selection, Costigliola commented, “I am honored by the opportunity to make available to Kennan buffs, scholars of U.S. and international history, and general readers the magnificent, 80-year-long chronicle of this most gifted diplomat, public intellectual, and writer.”
The Kennan Papers are one of the most used collections at the Mudd Manuscript Library and the diaries themselves were only opened in 2009. Kennan was a diplomat and a historian, noted especially for his influence on United States policy towards the Soviet Union during the Cold War and for his scholarly expertise in the areas of Russian history and foreign policy. While with the Foreign Service, Kennan advocated a policy of “containment” that influenced United States relations with the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War, and he served in various positions in European embassies, as well as ambassador to the Soviet Union. His career as a historian was spent at the Institute for Advanced Study, where he continued to analyze the history of Russia, the Soviet Union and United States foreign policies, and foreign affairs.
Attention Mudd blog readers — Princeton University Records Manager Anne Marie Phillips has created a new blog. Titled Just For The Records and located at http://blogs.princeton.edu/justrecords/, her blog will help University departments and offices manage their records and information in ways that make work easier, ensure compliance with Princeton’s information management goals and responsibilities, and identify records that are of permanent value to Princeton that should be transferred to the University Archives.
In the coming months, Phillips will also provide updates about records-related news, links to Princeton-specific information about how to store items, and discussions and best practices related to issues like managing e-mail, setting up filing systems, and more.
If you have questions or suggestions for the blog, or would like to set up a consultation regarding your office’s needs, you can contact Anne Marie Phillips at .
On January 3, 2011 we welcomed Anne Marie Phillips to the Princeton University Archives staff. Anne Marie is Princeton’s first University Records Manager, her appointment underscoring Princeton’s commitment to maintaining its records at a level of quality that will best support the work of the University and ensure the comprehensive documentation of Princeton’s history. Though part of the Archives, Anne Marie’s portfolio is to serve the entire University community’s records needs.
Anne Marie is responsible for expanding and improving Princeton’s current records management program, which was created in conjunction with the Office of General Counsel and other University administrative units, and consists of records transfer information and procedures, as well as a General Records Schedule. Records transferred to the Mudd Manuscript Library are accessioned, processed, and made available as a component of the University Archives function of Mudd. Anne Marie will be updating and expanding the General Records Schedule, creating specialized schedules for records that are unique to various administrative units, and developing and providing a constellation of policies, procedures, and services that will make it easier for University staff to determine what to do with the records they create and use as they perform their jobs.
The Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton University holds the papers of renowned diplomat George F. Kennan (1904–2005); upon the passing of Kennan and his wife, copyright in the unpublished materials in those papers passed to Princeton. Within the more than 300 boxes that make up the collection, twelve boxes contain the diaries that Kennan kept nearly continuously throughout his adult life (they date from 1924–2004).
As Kennan remains prominent in scholarly discourse, there is great interest in these diaries. Several individuals have expressed an interest in publishing them in some form. In order to ensure that they receive the benefit of the best possible treatment, the University is soliciting proposals from all interested scholars and will award one the right of first publication.
Kennan kept the diaries throughout much of his adult life and they detail his private thoughts on the issues facing him both professionally and personally. Kennan’s authorized biographer, John Lewis Gaddis, has read them all and described their self-critical character as resembling those of John Quincy Adams. In the diaries, Kennan recorded with whom he was meeting, including brief descriptions of the subject of the conversations, and his professional and personal appointments. The earlier diaries, from the period when he was in the diplomatic service, contain his impressions of the countries and the issues they faced. The diaries from his scholarly career include discussions of his research projects and publications, his travels and speaking engagements, and his opinions on public policy matters. Personal details are also found throughout each volume, with a separate “dream journal” covering the period from 1964 to 1977.
Request for proposals
The Library seeks proposals for the publication of the Kennan diaries that answers the following questions:
How will your proposed publication be formatted? (number of volumes, amount of annotation, level of indexing, etc.)
What qualifications do you bring to this project?
What is your plan of work, including a timetable and strategy?
What publishers might you work with? Have you worked with them in the past or have they evinced an interest in working with this project?
Why do you want to undertake this project?
If you plan to seek outside support, what experience do you have with fundraising?
Please include a c.v. for all project participants.
Proposals should include contact information for possible follow-up questions. Word or PDF documents sent as email attachments can be mailed to . Any supplementary materials that need to be sent via USPS can be mailed to:
Dan Linke
Mudd Manuscript Library
Princeton University
65 Olden Street
Princeton, NJ 08540
All proposals will be confidentially evaluated by a panel of scholars with an understanding of Kennan’s role in 20th century diplomatic history.
Kennan Diaries Project Advisory Committee
John Lewis Gaddis, Yale University, Robert A. Lovett Professor of History and Kennan’s authorized biographer.
Richard Immerman, Temple University. Edward J. Buthusiem Family Distinguished Faculty Fellow and Department Chair; Director of the Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy.
Daniel J. Linke, Princeton University Archivist and Curator of Public Policy Papers.
Paul Miles *99, Princeton University, Lecturer in History.
Bradley Simpson, Princeton University, Assistant Professor of History and International Affairs.
Deadline for submission is: May 2, 2011 with an anticipated announcement by August 1, 2011.
Behind the scenes tours of Mudd Manuscript Library offered
On Saturday, October 23, Princeton University’s Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library will host a special Open House from 9 a.m. until noon. This event will feature the library’s current exhibit, John F. Kennedy: From Old Nassau to the New Frontier, which highlights objects, photographs, and documents created during Kennedy’s time as a Princeton student and throughout his political career.
John F. Kennedy: From Old Nassau to the New Frontier is the first exhibit to feature objects from both major collections of the Mudd Library, the Princeton University Archives and the 20th century Public Policy Papers. Highlights include his handwritten application to Princeton, a Jackie Onassis letter to Adlai Stevenson, and documents from the Warren Commission.
Seeley G. Mudd was a Harvard educated cardiologist and later dean and professor at the University of Southern California. During his lifetime, he contributed more than $10 million to various colleges and universities, and posthumously established a $44 million fund for the development of buildings for higher education, known as the Seeley G. Mudd Fund.
When was the Mudd Manuscript Library built?
Construction on the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library was completed in 1976.
But I’ve been to another Seeley G. Mudd library…
As the Mudd Fund gave grants to many other colleges and universities, there are other facilities with similar names, including some libraries, such as those at Yale University, Duke University, Lawrence University (Appleton, WI), and Pomona College (Clairmont, CA).
What kind of collections does the Mudd Library hold?
The Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library has recently completed an 18-month project to process the papers of former Senator George S. McGovern. The collection is especially noteworthy for its comprehensive documentation of George McGovern’s lifelong work on food and nutrition issues.
Bumper Sticker from George McGovern’s 1974 re-election campaign to the U.S. Senate.
McGovern served as the United States Representative for the First District of South Dakota from 1956–1960 and was a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, where he advocated strongly for issues that would characterize his entire political career, including rural development, food stamp legislation, and foreign food aid.
Memorabilia from John F. Kennedy’s brief stint as a Princeton student and items from his political career– including a 1935 Christmas card depicting Kennedy with his Princeton roommates dressed in top hats and suits in homage to Fred Astaire from the motion picture Top Hat (which opened earlier that year), and photographs and documents from the Warren Commission’s investigation into the circumstances surrounding Kennedy’s assassination– are part of a new exhibition in the Wiess Lounge at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library. Running through September 2, 2011, John F. Kennedy: From Old Nassau to the New Frontier commemorates the 50th anniversary of the election of our 35th President and his Princeton connections.
This exhibition showcases the rarely-seen Princetonian side of Kennedy, who attended the University late in the fall semester of 1935 despite his father’s desire that he attend Harvard University. Unaware of his future in politics, Kennedy had declared his intended profession to be “banking” on his application and stated that the campus environment of Old Nassau was “second to none.” Kennedy was admitted to the entering freshmen class in 1935 and shared a dormitory with his former Choate high school classmates Kirk LeMoyne Billings and Ralph Horton, Jr. in #9 Reunion Hall South. However, after a brief few weeks as a member of the Class of 1939 he left Princeton due to health reasons and later graduated from Harvard with the Class of 1940. The other presidents to have attended Princeton were James Madison and Woodrow Wilson.
In conjunction with the Library’s Preservation Office and the New Media Center, the University Archives has worked to digitize over 40 items and these, along with some films from our Public Policy Papers and additional materials, will be posted on a regular basis.
