Samuel H. Beer (#22)

An Inventory of His Personal Papers
1945-1962
At the John F. Kennedy Library
National Archives and Records Administration

Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Collection Overview
List of Series
Series Description
 

Administrative Information

Abstract
Papers 1945-1962 [bulk 1955-1962]
Military officer, historian, educator, Massachusetts political figure. Captain, Office of the U.S. Military Government of Germany (OMGUS) (1945); Americans for Democratic Action, Massachusetts chairman (1955-57), national chairman (1959-62). Analyses of German history and public opinion; notes, reports, interviews with German officials and citizens about the Nazi era; ADA records include correspondence, reports, administrative files, name files, chapter files.

Access
Open.

Usage Restrictions
According to the deed of gift, copyright of these materials has been assigned to the United States.  Documents in this collection that were prepared by officials of the United States as part of their official duties are in the public domain. Users of these materials are advised to determine the copyright status of any document from which they wish to publish.

Copyright
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material.  Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction.  One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.”  If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement.  This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.  The copyright law extends its protection to unpublished works from the moment of creation in a tangible form.  Direct your questions concerning copyright to the reference staff.

Provenance
Received from Samuel Beer of Cambridge, MA on October 1975 (Acc. 1976-013).

Extent
About 2400 items (2 linear feet, 7 linear inches ; 3.0 cubic feet)

Revised by
Jeremy P. Schmidt, September 2003

Encoded by
Jeremy P. Schmidt

Personal Papers of Samuel H(utchison) Beer (1911- )

Biographical Note
Samuel H(utchison) Beer was born on 28 July 1911, in Bucyrus, OH, the son of William Cameron and Jesse Blanche (Hutchison) Beer. He married Roberta Frances Reed on 22 June 1935. His formal education included studies at the University of Michigan (A.B., 1932), Oxford University (B.A., 1935), and Harvard University (Ph.D., 1943). Prior to his graduate studies, Beer was a staff member at the Democratic National Committee in Washington, DC (1935-36), followed by position as a reporter for the New York Post (1936-37), and later, a writer and researcher at Fortune (1937-38). Dr. Beer began his academic career at Harvard University in 1938, which was interrupted by his service in the U.S. Army during World War II. Following the war, Beer returned to Harvard, served as department chair from 1954 to 1958, and has held the Eaton Professor of Science of Government chair since 1971. He held memberships in the American Political Science Association, Americans for Democratic Action (chair of Massachusetts chapter, 1955-57, and national chair, 1959-62), and Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Beer’s awards included: Rhodes Scholar, 1932-35; Fulbright and Guggenheim fellow, 1953-54; Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award, 1966, for British Politics in the Collectivist Age. (“Samuel H. Beer,” Biography Resource Center online database accessed 29 September 2003).
  

Collection Overview
The Personal Papers of Samuel H. Beer documents his career in Americans For Democratic Action, and the U.S. Military.  This collection contains two series: Series 1, Americans For Democratic Action Files, 1958-1962; and Series 2, U.S. Military Government in Germany, 1945.  Series 1, organized in four sub-series (Administrative Files; Subject Files; Name Files; and Chapter Files), covers all of the basic administrative duties performed by the Americans for Democratic Action, including conventions and meetings.  Series 2, organized in two sub-series (Interviews; and Reports), is a record of the attitudes of the German people immediately after the end of the World War II. 

  List of Series

Series Description

Series 1.  Americans For Democratic Action Files, 1958-1962.

This series is organized in four sub-series: Administrative Files; Subject Files; Name Files; and Chapter Files.  This series covers all of the basic administrative duties performed by the Americans for Democratic Action, including conventions and meetings. 

Series 2. U.S. Military Government in Germany, 1945.

This series is organized in two sub-series: Interviews; and Reports.  It is a record of the attitudes of the German people immediately after the end of the World War II.