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Arthur S. Link Papers
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers. 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
Arthur Stanley Link was an author, editor, scholar and publisher, but is best known as the leading historian on Woodrow Wilson and for his leadership over the publication of Wilson's papers. Link was born to John William and Helen Link in New Market, Virginia on August 8, 1920. He received his B.A. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1941 and taught at North Carolina State College from 1943-1944. From 1944-1945 he was a Rosenwald Fellow at Columbia; he received his doctorate from UNC in 1945. In 1945 Link became an instructor in history Princeton; in 1949 he joined the faculty at Northwestern and became a full professor in 1954. Link was the Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford from 1958-1959, having received an M.A. from Oxford in 1958. In 1958 the Woodrow Wilson Foundation invited Link to be director of The Papers of Woodrow Wilson Project, and he returned to Princeton as the chief editor of the project and a professor of History in 1960. At Princeton, Link led the 69 volumes of the Papers project from its inception through completion in 1994 and was also the Edwards Professor of American History from 1965-1976 and the George Henry Davis Professor of American History from 1976-1991. Link retired from the History Department as Professor Emeritus in 1991.
Along with his editorship of the Papers of Woodrow Wilson, Link published more than 30 books, including a five-volume biography of Wilson, as well as numerous articles and reviews. He held both Guggenheim and Rockefeller fellowships, was a member of Institute for Advanced Study, and was president of Southern Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and the American Historical Association. Additionally, Link was the main organizer and first president of the Association for Documentary Editing. He also served as Vice President of the National Council of Churches.
Link married Margaret McDowell Douglas on June 2, 1945; they had 4 children. Link died on March 26, 1998 in Bermuda Village, North Carolina.
The collection consists of personal papers of Arthur S. Link. Included are correspondence, papers, writings, notes on Link's biography of Woodrow Wilson, lecture notes, office files, and presidency records of the American Historical Association.
This is an unprocessed collection and remains in its original arrangement.
The Arthur S. Link Faculty files were consulted during preparation of biographical note.
Gift of Arthur S. Link on May 5, 1992 [ML1992-10]. An additional gift of home office files and Wake Forest Medical School files was made by Link's son William A. Link in 2004[ML.2004.015]. In 2016, William A. Link donated five letters [ML.2016.001].
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 is an unprocessed collection. The contents list provided is a preliminary inventory initially written in 1999. Additional materials were accessioned in 2004 and the preliminary inventory list was updated at this time.
No information about appraisal is available for this collection.
People
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- Public Policy Papers
- Finding Aid Date
- 2001
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research.
- 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. 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.
Collection Inventory
Series 1: Correspondence contains Link's correspondence from 1968-1992, including mostly professional but some personal correspondence.
The order in which these materials were sent to Princeton has been maintained: correspondence in this series is arranged in chronological subseries followed by undated correspondence files.
Physical Description77 boxes
This subseries contains correspondence through December 1982.
The order in which these materials were sent to Princeton has been maintained: correspondence is arranged alphabetically by recipient name or organizational title.
Physical Description25 boxes
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This subseries includes correspondence through June 1968.
The order in which these materials were sent to Princeton has been maintained: correspondence is arranged alphabetically by recipient name or organizational title.
Physical Description9 boxes
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This subseries contains correspondence from 1968-1974.
The order in which these materials were sent to Princeton has been maintained: correspondence is arranged alphabetically by recipient name or organizational title.
Physical Description3 boxes
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This subseries contains office correspondence from 1968-1977.
The order in which these materials were sent to Princeton has been maintained: correspondence is arranged alphabetically by recipient name or organizational title.
Physical Description20 boxes
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This subseries contains correspondence from 1982-1992.
The order in which these materials were sent to Princeton has been maintained: correspondence is arranged alphabetically by recipient name or organizational title.
Physical Description13 boxes
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This subseries contains correspondence about the following subjects: American Historical Association, Historical Foundation, Link-Leopold Correspondence, National Committee on Social Studies, Organization of American History, and Textbook Publishing.
The order in which these materials were sent to Princeton has been maintained: materials in this subseries are arranged alphabetically by organizational name or subject.
Physical Description7 boxes
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Series 2: Miscellaneous Papers, Undated contains undated miscellaneous papers on a variety of topics and includes some personal papers.
The order in which these materials were sent to Princeton has been maintained.
Physical Description5 boxes
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Series 3: Wilson Biography - Notes to Volumes 1-5, Undated contain Link's notes for his biography of Woodrow Wilson.
The order in which these materials were sent to Princeton has been maintained.
Physical Description9 boxes
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Series 4: Miscellaneous Writings, Undated includes notes for Wilson biography, dissertation, and other writings.
The order in which these materials were sent to Princeton has been maintained.
Physical Description6 boxes
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Series 5: Lecture Notes, Undated contains Link's lecture notes for his teaching.
The order in which these materials were sent to Princeton has been maintained. The lecture notes are arranged by class number.
Physical Description2 boxes
2 boxes
Series 6: Later Additions contains Woodrow Wilson Foundation Annual Reports, Link's correspondence pre- and post-Princeton career, and some additional materials.
The order in which these materials were sent to Princeton has been maintained.
Physical Description7 boxes
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5 boxes
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