Call Number:

C0676

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 13 boxes
• 5.2 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Cyril E. Black Papers, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1932-1989 (inclusive)

Creator:

Black, Cyril E. (Cyril Edwin), 1915-1989

Form:

Articles -- 20th century., Bibliographies., Journals (notebooks) -- 20th century., and Lectures -- 20th century.

Abstract:

Consists of papers of Cyril E. Black, a Princeton University professor of history.

Cyril E. Black, from Dryson City, North Carolina, graduated from Duke University and later earned master's and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. Black joined the Princeton faculty in 1939 and, in 1946, instituted the study of Russian history at Princeton. During World War II, Black served with the State Department, including assignments as United States Political Adviser on the Allied Control Commission in Bulgaria (1944-1945) and adviser to the Ethridge Mission to Bulgaria, Romania, and the Soviet Union (1945). Black, along with other diplomats, was later accused of espionage by the Bulgarian government. In 1958, Black was a member of the United States Delegation to Observe Elections to the Supreme Soviet. Black served as director of Princeton's Center of International Studies from 1968 to 1985.

The collection consists of articles, lectures, addresses, correspondence, notes, and other research material of Black, a Princeton University professor of history (1946-1970s) who instituted the study of Russian history at Princeton and also taught courses on comparative revolutions and comparative modernization. Included are articles and notes on the history and modernization of Russia, modern world history, the Balkans, Yugoslavia, and George F. Kennan, as well as material relating to the false accusations of espionage against Black by the Bulgarian government in 1945 and the subsequent spy trials, his association with the State Department, and his role as a member of a delegation to observe elections in the U.S.S.R. in 1958, where he met with Nikita Krushchev.

Also present are letters (1936-1953) to his parents, a typed journal (1932-1939), a chronology of his life, a bibliography, a copy of his Harvard thesis, The Beginnings of Constitutional Government in Bulgaria, 1878-1885 (1940), and printed matter containing articles and book reviews by Black.

Unprocessed.