Richard Hofstadter papers, 1944-1970
Creator:
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Hofstadter, Richard, 1916-1970,. |
Phys. Desc:
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29 linear feet (47 document boxes, 5 record storage cartons of books) |
Call Number:
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MS#0603 |
Location:
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Rare Book & Manuscript Library |
View CLIO Record and Request Material >> |
Biographical Note
The historian Richard Hofstadter was a core member of the group of postwar Columbia intellectuals that included Lionel Trilling,
Jacques Barzun, Robert Merton, and Daniel Bell. At a time when politics were assumed essentially to reflect economic interests,
Hofstadter began studying alternative explanations for political conduct: unconscious motives, status anxieties, irrational
hatreds, paranoia. Hofstadter wrote some of the most influential books to appear in American political and cultural history,
among them "The Age of Reform" (1955) and "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life" (1963), both recognized with Pulitzer Prizes,
and the celebrated "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" (1965). His "American Political Tradition (1948), an enduring
classic, remains today a standard work in both college and high-school history classes and has been read by millions outside
the academy. After earning his MA and PhD from Columbia, Hofstadter joined the faculty in 1946. He was named the DeWitt Clinton
Professor of American History in 1959 and remained at the University until his untimely death from leukemia in 1970. Many
of Hofstadter's graduate students have gone on to important scholarship and teaching. One of them, Eric Foner, the current
DeWitt Clinton Professor, says“He played brilliantly the role of intellectual mentor so critical to any student's graduate
career. For all his accomplishments, he was utterly without pretension, always unintimidating, never too busy to talk about
one's work.” In 1968, following the campus disruptions that spring, Hofstadter delivered the commencement address, in which
he defended Columbia as “a center of free inquiry and criticism--a thing not to be sacrificed for anything else.".
Scope and Contents
Correspondence, manuscripts, and notes. This collection contains the manuscripts for most of his books and articles. There
are also copies of his many book reviews and articles by other authors analyzing the impact of his interpretations of American
history. The correspondents include: H.S. Commager, C. Vann Woodward, Stuart Bruchey, S.E. Morison, Clarence Ver Steeg, Alfred
A. Knopf, Helen Frankenthaler, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and others. There are also 70 books from his library
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