Information in the Organizational History section, as well as descriptions of the Council's departments and functions, was gathered from material within the Council's records (notably historical information from the Administration Series and Annual Reports from the Publications Series), as well as the Council on Foreign Relations' website, http://www.cfr.org/. Of special interest are the annual reports, located at http://www.cfr.org/about/annual_report/ and Peter Grose's Continuing the Inquiry: The Council on Foreign Relations from 1921-1996, located at http://www.cfr.org/about/history/cfr/.

Accruals are expected from the Council on Foreign Relations on an annual basis.

Portions of the Council's records from 1921-1951, include Conferences, Study Groups, Meetings, and the War and Peace Project, are also available on microfiche at Princeton's Firestone Library [MICROFICHE 1637]. The creation of this microfiche was conducted between the University Publications of America and the Council on Foreign Relations and did not involve Princeton University. A guide is available, see Film B Uncataloged box for microfiche 1637 at Firestone Microforms Services (Film). Additionally, many of the Council's reports are available in published form. Please consult the Princeton University Library online catalog for available published reports.

Portions of the Council's audio records described in the Sound Recordings Series have been digitized as part on an ongoing project. Contact the library for additional details.

The collection was deposited at the Library in 1998. Title and custody of the collection were formally transferred to Princeton in 2002. Small transfers of more recent records occur annually.

A finding aid for Series 3, the Council on Foreign Relations Studies Department, 1918-2004, is available online: Council on Foreign Relations Studies Department Finding Aid.

A finding aid for Series 4, the Council on Foreign Relations Meetings Records, 1920-1995, is available online: Council on Foreign Relations Meetings Records Finding Aid .

Digital sound recordings of some Council meetings are available online. The digital recordings of meeting are described in a separate finding aid: Council on Foreign Relations Digital Sound Recordings Finding Aid .

Indices to Study Group records, Meeting records, and Conference records, spanning circa 1920 through 1973 are available in hardcopy. The Conference index has been integrated into the contents list for Series 5: Conferences, and the Study Group Index (Records of Groups) and Meetings index have been integrated into the aforementioned Studies Department and Meetings Records finding aids.

A list of Council publications held by the Mudd Manuscript Library but not included in this collection (such as Foreign Affairs, Documents on American Foreign Relations, The Political Handbook, and The United States in World Affairs, as well as the Council's Newsletter, Special Reports, Task Force Reports, and other individual publications) is also available. Please contact Mudd Manuscript Library for further information.

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.

The collection contains the audio portion of the Council's records on 5" and 7" reel-to-reel and cassette tapes and other audiovisual material.

This collection was processed by Mudd Library Staff including Jennifer Cole, Dan Santamaria, Kristine Marconi, Joanna Peery Polyn, Jennifer Walele, Stasia Karel, Helene Van Rossum, and Princeton University student workers from 2003-2006. Finding aid written by Jennifer Cole in 2006. Donations made after 2006 were processed by Mudd Library

In 2024, Will Clements rearranged the finding aid to incorporate later annual accrual series into the original series structure.

Other material at the Mudd Manuscript Library related to the Council on Foreign Relations includes the records of the first three editors of Foreign Affairs: Archibald Cary Coolidge, (within the Hamilton Fish Armstrong Papers), Hamilton Fish Armstrong, and William P. Bundy. The Library also holds the papers of members of the Council such as John Foster Dulles, Allen W. Dulles, Arthur Bullard, George F. Kennan, George W. Ball, Adlai E. Stevenson, David A. Morse, and Frank W. Notestein.

Additionally, Mudd Manuscript Library has an incomplete set of the journal Foreign Affairs and other Council serial publications such as Documents on American Foreign Relations, The Political Handbook, and The United States in World Affairs, as well as the Council's Newsletter, Special Reports, Task Force Reports, and other individual publications. Please contact Mudd Manuscript Library for further information and availability.

Researchers interested in the Council on Foreign Relations may also wish to consult the interview transcripts from Columbia University's Council on Foreign Relations Visual Oral History Project.

Since 1921, the Council has archived materials relating to its organization, study groups, meetings, and special events. The Council Library and Archives staff reviews records to discard records not conforming to its general retention policy. Items deemed private or inappropriate for transfer are retained by the Council.

People

• Armstrong, Hamilton Fish (1893-1973)
• Bundy, William P. (1917-2000)
• Campbell, John
• Diebold, William
• Frye, Alton
• Gelb, Leslie H.
• Keller, Kenneth H.
• Lord, Winston
• Manning, Bayless
• Maxwell, Kenneth (1941)
• Murphy, Richard W. (Richard William) (1929)
• Osmer-McQuade, Margaret
• Peterson, Peter G.
• Siegman, Henry
• Swing, John Temple.
• Tarnoff, Peter
• Whittaker, Jennifer

Organization

• Council on foreign relations

Subject

• Economic history. -- 20th century
• International relations. -- 20th century
• Nonprofit organizations -- United States. -- Records and correspondence -- 20th century
• Research institutes -- United States -- History. -- 20th century
• World politics. -- 20th century

Place

• United States -- Foreign economic relations.
• United States -- Foreign relations. -- 20th century

Publisher

Public Policy Papers

Finding Aid Author

Jennifer Cole

Finding Aid Date

2006

Sponsor

These papers were processed with the generous support of Francis J. Carey, Frank Carlucci, C.W. Carson, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cox, William J. Crowe, Russell DaSilva, Charles Ganoe, R. Scott Greathead, Dr. Roger Kanet, Melanie Kirkpatrick, Linda and Morton Janklow, Michael S. Mathews, Bradford Mills, Edward Morse, Joseph Nye, Dr. Gerald Pollack, Harold Saunders, Anne-Marie Slaughter, John Treat, and Ezra Zilkha, as well as the John Foster and Janet Avery Dulles Fund.

Access Restrictions

All Council on Foreign Relations records are closed for 25 years from the date of their creation with the exception of the Council's annual reports (located within Subseries 8B) which are not restricted.

Use Restrictions

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. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.