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Special Committee on Sponsored Research Records
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Held at: Princeton University Library: University Archives [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: University Archives. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The executive committee of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC), chaired by President Robert Goheen, established the SCSR in May 1970 in response to growing faculty and student outcry over ties between researchers in the Princeton University community and the U.S. Department of Defense. The committee became known as the Kuhn Committee after its chairman, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science Thomas S. Kuhn. CPUC charged the committee to recommend how best the University could eliminate sponsored military research activities, but the committee later expanded its mission to cover sponsored research in general. The members of the committee included faculty (both scientists and non-scientists), graduate students, undergraduates, and staff members, as well as two non-voting administrators to advise on technical and financial matters.
During the summer of 1970, Professor Kuhn hired a graduate student assistant, Harold Feiveson, to handle the administrative and much of the research needs of the committee. The two initiated correspondence with dozens of research universities across the United States seeking materials and feedback regarding sponsored research policies and practices. The committee also sought information and advice from Princeton University department chairs and project coordinators involved in sponsored research, as well as professors who had sat on the University Research Board. In August 1970, a few members of the committee visited Washington, where Representative Emilio Daddario (D-Conn.) was conducting hearings on government-sponsored research at universities, and to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which had just finished reformulating its own sponsored research policies.
In the fall, the Kuhn Committee wrote reviews of sponsored research at Princeton and other universities, and sponsored a series of public meetings to canvass the views of the faculty and the student body. Throughout, Kuhn kept the President and Provost William Bowen informed of the committee's progress, and sometimes asked for their reactions and advice. The committee issued its controversial preliminary report in December 1970 and its final report the following June. Kuhn's committee recommended that the University's sponsored research policy be strengthened and its research board be granted more oversight so that ethically inappropriate research projects could be rejected. The committee could find no reason to phase out Department of Defense research altogether, but suggested the University look into the potential negative influence of outside funding in general. Most controversially, the committee recommended that the Classified Library on campus (which required military clearance for access) be slowly phased out. CPUC adopted the committee's recommendations in January 1971, and the faculty agreed to most of the committee proposals in February and March. The faculty did not, however, approve the committee's recommendation regarding the Classified Library, preferring instead to adopt the library committee's proposal to permit access to classified materials by individuals with clearance. The Undergraduate Assembly belatedly took up the subject following the last faculty discussions in March.
The collection provides access to the heart of a debate over the University's mission. The committee wrestled with issues such as the transparency of the administration and the morality of accepting conditional funding from outside sources-especially those tied to the Department of Defense. But the debate also raged among Princeton faculty over the existence of and access to restricted collections, particularly the Classified Library, and the role of the University in restricting faculty freedom to research. Series 7 of the collection provides an excellent introduction to the responses to sponsored research dilemmas at universities across the country.
This collection contains Chairman Thomas S. Kuhn's personal papers relating to his committee work; administrative files of the committee, including its minutes, budget, membership files, and memos; a collection of documents produced by the committee and its members; is a compilation of material about the influence of the federal government and national special interest groups on sponsored research collected during a trip to Washington involving a few of the committee members in August 1970; documents about sponsored research and research policy at Princeton University that was open to committee members; documentation from universities throughout the United States about their sponsored research projects and policies.
The collection is arranged into seven series, organized as closely as possible to the original filing system. Within each series, folders are arranged alphabetically by name or topic.
Received by the University Archives in February 1978.
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by Matthew Reeder in December 2002. Finding aid written by Matthew Reeder in December 2002.
Appraisal information was not available at time of accessioning.
People
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- University Archives
- Finding Aid Author
- Matthew Reeder
- Finding Aid Date
- 2003
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. The Trustees of Princeton University hold copyright to all materials generated by Princeton University employees in the course of their work. For instances beyond Fair Use, if copyright is held by Princeton University, researchers do not need to obtain permission, complete any forms, or receive a letter to move forward with use of materials from the Princeton University Archives.
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Collection Inventory
No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Series 1, Kuhn Personal Files, 1965 May-1971 February, contains Chairman Thomas S. Kuhn's personal papers relating to his committee work. Materials include his handwritten notes; drafts of reports, memos, and correspondence; documents of particular interest to him; and some material also found in other series.
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No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Series 2, Administrative Files, 1966 January-1971 May, contains the administrative files of the committee, including its minutes, budget, membership files, and memos. The series also includes files on sponsored research controversies, possible sources of testimony to the committee, and Daily Princetonian newspaper clippings reporting on and editorializing about the committee and its proposals.
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No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Series 3, Correspondence, Proposals, and Reports, 1970 April-1972 March, is a collection of documents produced by the committee and its members. This includes drafts and final copies of reports and proposals, memos, correspondence, report distribution information, meeting announcements, report outlines and summaries, and various reactions to the committee's findings.
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No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Series 4, Consultant Correspondence, 1968 October-1971 June, includes correspondence with individuals who assisted the chairman and the committee in the technicalities of its work. Consultants included other committee chairmen, scientists, and Washington insiders. Occasionally notes from interviews and material supplied by the consultants are also present in these files.
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No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Series 5, Federal Government and National Organization Influence Files, 1966 June-1972 March, is a compilation of material about the influence of the federal government and national special interest groups on sponsored research. Publications about the intersection between government and education are included in this series, as are notes taken by Thomas Kuhn about the roles of specific governmental bodies and departments. Much of this material was collected during a trip to Washington involving a few of the committee members in August 1970.
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No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Series 6, Sponsored Research at Princeton, 1965 April-1971 December, is a collection of documents about sponsored research and research policy at Princeton University that was open to committee members. The University Research Board, various academic departments, and administrators contributed materials and advice to these files. There is also some information about the role on campus of the U.S. Department of Defense.
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No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Series 7, Sponsored Research at Other Universities, 1965 October-1971 August, contains documentation from universities throughout the United States about their sponsored research projects and policies. These files were collected for the benefit of committee members and contributed substantially to the formation of a review of sponsored research policies at other universities found in series 3 (box 3, folder 4).
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