Contents

Collection Overview

Historical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Organization of the Collection

Search Terms

Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences Records, 1927-1934

Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by Susan A. Dayall.

Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

© 2002

Historical Note

The Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences originated as a jointly sponsored project of ten leading American scholarly associations in the field of social science. (They are: the American Anthropological Association, the American Association of Social Workers, the American Economic Association, the American Historical Association, the American Political Science Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Sociological Society, the American Statistical Association, the Association of American Law Schools, and the National Education Association.) The intent was to construct a comprehensive synthesis of the knowledge provided by different disciplines, in such a way that their differing prespectives would shed new light on the common problems of the social sciences. The enterprise was placed under Edwin R.A. Seligman as editor-in-chief; Alvin Johnson was named associate editor. Financial support was obtained from the Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Russell Sage Foundations, and the Macmillan Company was enlisted as publisher.

Having already a broad base of support in the American intellectual community, in 1927 Seligman went abroad to meet with leading European scholars, and met with an enthusiastic reception. The procedure worked out for the organization and composition of the Encyclopaedia was as follows. Lists of possible topics were widely circulated for comment and criticism, then responsibility for individual articles carefully assigned to authorities in each field. Translation or Englishing, if needed, fact checking, and bibliographical checking of completed articles were all performed by the editorial staff in New York, and any doubtful points as well as editorial revisions were referred back to the original author. Final proofreading of the typeset galleys was also done by the editorial staff. The 15 individual volumes were published between 1930 and 1935.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

Correspondence; original manuscripts, translations and drafts of articles; organizational files and business records. Widely supported by the American and European intellectual communities, correspondents and contributors include Ruth Benedict, Franz Boas, Max Eastman, Felix Frankfurter, Carl J. Friedrich, Louis R. Gottschalk, Melville J. Herskovitz, Granville Hicks, Sidney Hook, John Maynard Keynes, Kenneth S. Latourette, Max Lerner, Bronislaw Malinowski, Karl Mannheim, Margaret Mead, Paul Miliukov, Lewis Mumford, Joseph Needham, Frederick Law Olmsted, Henri Pirenne, Roscoe Pound, Edward Sapir, and Arthur M. Schlesinger. Note, however, that many of the more famous authors wrote only one article for the encyclopaedia, and their correspondence files are accordingly small.

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Search Terms

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into six series:

• 1. Business Records
• 2. Lists, Outlines, Abstracts, Card Files
• 3. Manuscript Folders
• 4. Correspondence Files
• 5. Killed Files
• 6. Printed Editions of the Encyclopaedia

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Series 1: Business Records 1927-1934

This series contains the business records of the staff which produced the Encyclopaedia. It includes correspondence with Macmillan (the publisher of the Encyclopaedia), with sponsoring organizations, and with subscribers. Also present are financial records, including bills and invoices, checkbook ledgers, account books, and information on Encyclopaedia staff and salaries. Files of press notices, reviews of the Encyclopaedia, and a scrapbook of press clippings are also present in this series.

Series 2: Lists, Outlines, Abstracts, Card Files 1927-1934

This series contains an assemblage of files used in planning the Encyclopaedia. First is a set of lists of suggested topics, arranged by broad subject field. These lists were circulated to eminent authorities in each field for comment. Each file consists of the lists, comments by the outside authorities, and related correspondence. Second there is a set, also filed by broad subject area, of outlines and abstracts of articles, including enumerations of suggested word lengths for each article. This is followed by a series of Memoranda to Authors, filed alphabetically by subject, giving the scope for each suggested article or series of related articles. A set of miscellaneous files relating to these lists and outlines follows. The remainder of the series consists of the card files used in the preparation of the Encyclopaedia. First, a set of Topic Cards with brief summaries of articles, suggested word lengths, and often notes on who suggested the topic, and possible authors for the articles. Then there is a set of Abstract Cards (A through L only), which mainly seem to include suggested authors for the articles, although some outlines and suggested word lengths are also present. Finally is a set of Biography Cards, which are identical to Topic Cards except that they treat personal name subjects.

Series 3: Manuscript Folders 1927-1934

This series contains the original manuscripts and edited drafts of the articles of the Encyclopaedia. Often included are notes on background information and statistics, as well as slips for sources consulted at the New York Public Library in the course of the factual checking done by the Encyclopaedia staff. Occasionally correspondence relating to the article will be found in these files, but most correspondence is filed in the next series.

The folders are arranged alphabetically by the title of the article.

Series 4: Correspondence Files 1927-1934

This series contains the correspondence of the editors with the contributing authors, advisers and potential contributors. Most of the correspondence is in English, but French and German are commonly employed by European correspondents. The list of correspondents below is not exhaustive, but includes only major sets and famous names: the series as a whole contains correspondence with more than 1200 persons. Much of the correspondence with famous people, such as W.E.B. DuBois and Oliver Wendell Holmes, consists merely of polite refusals, but many, such as Margaret Mead and Felix Frankfurter, did make substantial contributions to the Encyclopaedia.

A large gap exists in this series: there are no files from correspondents with names beginning with the letter C; in fact, none between the letters BR and DR. This material was not present when the collection was first inventoried in 1984, and must have been lost prior to that time.

Series 5: Killed Files 1927-1934

This series contains files of manuscripts and index cards for projected articles that were "killed", that is, not used in the printed version of the Encyclopaedia. The contents of these files correspond to those of the "live" files from which they were drawn.

Series 6: Printed Editions of the Encyclopaedia 1927-1934

This series contains the published editions of the Encyclopaedia. First is an incomplete set of the first printing, and next a complete set of the 16th printing. Finally is a complete set of the new International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, the successor edition published in 1968.

Series 1: Business Records 1927-1934

Series 2: Lists, Outlines, Abstracts, Card Files 1927-1934

Series 3: Manuscript Folders 1927-1934

Series 4: Correspondence Files 1927-1934

Series 5: Killed Files 1927-1934

Series 6: Printed Editions of the Encyclopaedia 1927-1934