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Granville Austin Papers
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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
Granville Seward Austin (1927-2014) was the author of two seminal works on the political history of the Indian Constitution: The Indian Constitution, Cornerstone of a Nation (1966), and Working a Democratic Constitution: A History of the Indian Experience (1999, 2003).
Known familiarly as "Red," Austin at times called himself an "independent scholar" and "journalist historian." Born in Boston in 1927 and raised in Vermont, he was a longtime resident of the Washington, D.C. area, working for various government agencies during the thirty-some years between the publications of his two books. His primary research subjects were both India and the Middle East, in particular the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and peace process.
Austin was a private in the U.S. Army 1945-1946, and was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1950 with a degree in American literature. After college, he worked as a reporter and photographer for a Vermont-New Hampshire newspaper. He and Nancy McConnell were married in 1954, and the couple's four children were born between the years 1955 and 1962. Austin worked for the U.S. Information Service as a photographer and reporter in Vietnam from 1954 to 1956, as well as heading the U.S.I.S. office in Haiphong. He moved on to Beirut, Lebanon, serving the U.S.I.S. as reporter, political analyst, and press attaché at the American Embassy (1957-58). Austin noted that in Beirut he was introduced to Israeli-Palestinian issues, which remained a lifelong interest.
Austin studied Modern Indian History at St. Antony's College at Oxford University, earning his DPhil in 1964. At the same time, from 1960 to 1966, he was a Fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs (ICWA), living at times in India as well as in Oxford, and writing the requisite newsletters for ICWA under then-Executive Director Richard Nolte. Through his pursuit of contacts in India, Austin gained access to personal papers in private collections and conducted interviews with framers of the Indian Constitution. His original research for his Oxford thesis was the basis for his first book, The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation, published with Oxford University Press in 1966. The book became essential reading for Constitutional scholars within the republic of India as well as other parts of the world.
From 1966 to 1970, Austin worked for the U.S. State Department as Director in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Office for the Near East and South Asia, 1966-1970, with a focus on Near Eastern and South Asian issues. In 1970, he worked for part of the year as Executive Assistant to U.S. Senator Clifford P. Case. From 1971 to 1974, he worked for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare as Special Assistant for International Affairs to the Secretary of DHEW. He then returned to the State Department as a member of the Policy Planning Staff, focusing on the Middle East, from 1974 to 1977. Some of Austin's State Department memoranda are represented in the collection. Austin also taught Modern Indian History at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), 1975-1976. His occasional paper "Public Policy in Education" was published in 1977.
He moved on to the Department of Energy, where he was Acting Deputy Inspector General from 1977 to 1978. He spent 1978-1979 as a contract consultant before becoming the Director of Communications for the Council on Foundations (1979-1982). Austin was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Current World Affairs from 1981 to 1983.
During the mid-1980s, Austin wrote primarily about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He published "Palestinian Nationalism" with Johns Hopkins' SAIS in 1984. During the mid-1980s, he worked on building a Committee for Arab-Israeli Peace among American Christians, Jews and Muslims.
Files in his papers reflect that between 1985 and 1987, Austin worked on an intended book about Israeli-Arab relations (called the "Two Societies" book in his notes), to be co-authored with David Schoenbaum—this book did not come out as planned, though David Schoenbaum did publish The United States and the State of Israel with Oxford University Press in 1993.
Austin took up research on India again by the late 1980s. Working independently and as the recipient of grants from the Fulbright Program, the American Institute of Indian Studies, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and St. Antony's College Oxford, Austin traveled to India from 1990 to 1991 and completed research for a book to follow up on the workings of the Indian Constitution. Once again Austin used his network to gain access to private papers in India, and to conduct hundreds of personal interviews with politicians and judges, as well as undertaking archival research at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, among others.
The resulting book, Working a Democratic Constitution: A History of the Indian Experience was published by Oxford University Press in 1999, with a second edition in 2003. Like Austin's first book, the work became an indispensable resource for those studying India's Constitutional history.
A memoir, Retrieving Times, about Austin's childhood and hometown of Norwich, Vermont, was published by White River Press in 2008. In 2011, the Republic of India presented Austin with the Padma Shri Award, the republic's fourth highest civilian award, in recognition of distinguished contribution in Literature and Education. Austin continued to collect material on and correspond about India and the Middle East until his death in 2014.
The collection is composed primarily of Granville Austin's research files on India following the republic's independence from British rule. The bulk of the collection comprises research material for Austin's second major work of political history, Working a Democratic Constitution, much of which was compiled between 1988 and 1999. The collection also includes some research material for Austin's first book, The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation (1966).
Most of the research files are published articles or book excerpts that Austin collected and often annotated. Some of Austin's notes on his interviews and records of meetings, travel plans, names and addresses of sources, and drafts of his writings are included. Research material on India also includes original booklets and pamphlets from the Indian government and political parties, speech transcripts, news clippings from Indian newspapers, copies of correspondence and memoranda between leaders in India's government, and copies of oral history transcripts housed at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.
Topics covered by these sources include the Indian constitution, center-state relations in India, Indian politicians and political parties, U.S. foreign relations with India, cases tried before the Indian Supreme Court, and various other subjects related to India's political and legal systems. The research primarily covers the period in India's political history from 1946 to 1985.
The collection also documents Austin's work in between and following his two major books—his writing on the Middle East, specifically the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and peace process; his work at the State Department and other government agencies; his work in Beirut as press attaché with the U.S. Information Service; his writing on public policy in education; and his involvement with the organization ICWA and with the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
The collection also contains both professional correspondence (including that related to his work with the U.S. State Department), personal correspondence, and appointment books, documenting some of Austin's job searches as well as his work, travel, and social life. Travel notebooks, datebooks, and account books, as well as published travel guides, maps and ephemera reflect some of Austin's research trips, including those to India. The collection contains some of Austin's early photographs and negatives, mostly from Vietnam, when he worked as a photographer and reporter for the U.S. Information Service.
The order in which these materials came to Princeton has been maintained, which means that each box (particularly boxes 1-15) may contain a mix of material from different series. Not every folder is listed, but folder lists and box descriptions should illuminate the main contents of each box.
The collection has been organized into four series:
This collection was donated by Hilary Mac Austin, Granville Austin's daughter, in August 2016. The accession number associated with this donation is ML.2016.020. A second accession, ML.2017.021, donated by Hilary Mac Austin in July 2017, was added in June 2018.
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 Phoebe Nobles in February 2017 and June 2018.
Approximately four linear feet of maps were separated to Princeton University Library's Maps and Geospatial Information Center.
Four boxes containing household address books, material relating to Austin's 2008 memoir Retrieving Times, and clippings from American newspapers (most relating to the Middle East) and photocopies of books were returned to the donor.
Subject
- Publisher
- Public Policy Papers
- Finding Aid Date
- 2016
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. For quotations that are fair use as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission to cite or publish is required. For those few instances beyond fair use, researchers are responsible for determining who may hold the copyright and obtaining approval from them. Researchers do not need anything further from the Mudd Library to move forward with their use.
Collection Inventory
Series 1 contains Granville Austin's research and writings on India since its independence from Britain—specifically, on the framing of its Constitution and on the workings of the Constitution as it neared its fiftieth anniversary.
The bulk of the material in this series, and in the collection as a whole, consists of research material for Working a Democratic Constitution: A History of the Indian Experience, but some files relate to Austin's earlier work, The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation,. Research material for the second book may overlap with that for the first book, Some material in this series post-dates publication of Working a Democratic Constitution, but pertains to the same subject—clippings on Indian elections between 2007 and 2009, for instance.
Work on Working a Democratic Constitution took place from around 1988 to the book's first publication in 1999, and continued through the publication of a second edition in 2003. The files reflect Austin's research style and process, as well as the help of research assistants and Austin's wife Nancy. These research files include notebooks Austin kept to document some of his interviews, questions, records of meetings, names and addresses of sources, and to-do lists. Austin's notebooks also include historical chronologies and lists of requests from libraries and archives. The papers also include Austin's correspondence in the service of research.
Most of the research files are copies of published articles or book excerpts that Austin collected and often annotated, along with a few original pamphlets and booklets, such as Communist Party publications from the 1970s and 1980s, and installations of The Alladi Diary by Alladi Ramakrishnan. The collection includes publications of the Indian government, such as reports and transcripts of Commissions of Inquiry, reports of the National Police Commission, the Code of Civil Procedure, directories and biographies of Indian government officials.
Austin kept lists of his subject files on India (two lists, one dated 1991, appear in Box 33). Some, but not all of those files are represented in the collection.
Materials remain in their original physical order as received from the donor.
Physical Description36 boxes
These notes are undated but were contained in an envelope postmarked 1966.
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Includes copies of Austin's letters to Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajendra Prasad requesting meetings.
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These ten notebooks document research for Working a Democratic Constitution.Each contains a handwritten table of contents. Contents include notes for interviews, records of meetings and sources.
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Research material in Box 3 includes reports, papers (draft/unpublished versions), printed material, publishers' catalogs, notes, limited correspondence, conference materials, and syllabi.
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Two promotional cds from India's Ministry of External Affairs (1998) and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (2000).
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Most of the printed material in Box 6 is stamped as a gift from Austin to South Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and includes occasional underlining or annotation by Austin. Subjects of the printed material include the Indian Parliament and elections, Indian politics, law, constitution and judicial system, education, the press, foreign policy and strategy, Pakistan and Kashmir. Pamphlets include the Alladi Diary by Professor Alladi Ramakrishnan. Publications include those from the Indian Law Institute, the Bar Association of India, Asian Survey, the Asia Society, Foreign Policy Institute briefs, and occasional papers from the Stimson Center, among many others.
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Most of the printed material in Box 6 is stamped as a gift from Austin to South Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and includes occasional underlining or annotation by Austin. Subjects of the printed material include the Indian Parliament and elections, Indian politics, law, constitution and judicial system, education, the press, foreign policy and strategy, Pakistan and Kashmir. Pamphlets include the Alladi Diary by Professor Alladi Ramakrishnan. Publications include those from the Indian Law Institute, the Bar Association of India, Asian Survey, the Asia Society, Foreign Policy Institute briefs, and occasional papers from the Stimson Center, among many others.
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Most of the printed material in Box 6 is stamped as a gift from Austin to South Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and includes occasional underlining or annotation by Austin. Subjects of the printed material include the Indian Parliament and elections, Indian politics, law, constitution and judicial system, education, the press, foreign policy and strategy, Pakistan and Kashmir. Pamphlets include the Alladi Diary by Professor Alladi Ramakrishnan. Publications include those from the Indian Law Institute, the Bar Association of India, Asian Survey, the Asia Society, Foreign Policy Institute briefs, and occasional papers from the Stimson Center, among many others.
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Most of the printed material in Box 6 is stamped as a gift from Austin to South Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and includes occasional underlining or annotation by Austin. Subjects of the printed material include the Indian Parliament and elections, Indian politics, law, constitution and judicial system, education, the press, foreign policy and strategy, Pakistan and Kashmir. Pamphlets include the Alladi Diary by Professor Alladi Ramakrishnan. Publications include those from the Indian Law Institute, the Bar Association of India, Asian Survey, the Asia Society, Foreign Policy Institute briefs, and occasional papers from the Stimson Center, among many others.
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Most of the printed material in Box 6 is stamped as a gift from Austin to South Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and includes occasional underlining or annotation by Austin. Subjects of the printed material include the Indian Parliament and elections, Indian politics, law, constitution and judicial system, education, the press, foreign policy and strategy, Pakistan and Kashmir. Pamphlets include the Alladi Diary by Professor Alladi Ramakrishnan. Publications include those from the Indian Law Institute, the Bar Association of India, Asian Survey, the Asia Society, Foreign Policy Institute briefs, and occasional papers from the Stimson Center, among many others.
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Most of the printed material in Box 6 is stamped as a gift from Austin to South Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and includes occasional underlining or annotation by Austin. Subjects of the printed material include the Indian Parliament and elections, Indian politics, law, constitution and judicial system, education, the press, foreign policy and strategy, Pakistan and Kashmir. Pamphlets include the Alladi Diary by Professor Alladi Ramakrishnan. Publications include those from the Indian Law Institute, the Bar Association of India, Asian Survey, the Asia Society, Foreign Policy Institute briefs, and occasional papers from the Stimson Center, among many others.
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Most of the printed material in Box 6 is stamped as a gift from Austin to South Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and includes occasional underlining or annotation by Austin. Subjects of the printed material include the Indian Parliament and elections, Indian politics, law, constitution and judicial system, education, the press, foreign policy and strategy, Pakistan and Kashmir. Pamphlets include the Alladi Diary by Professor Alladi Ramakrishnan. Publications include those from the Indian Law Institute, the Bar Association of India, Asian Survey, the Asia Society, Foreign Policy Institute briefs, and occasional papers from the Stimson Center, among many others.
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Most of the printed material in Box 6 is stamped as a gift from Austin to South Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and includes occasional underlining or annotation by Austin. Subjects of the printed material include the Indian Parliament and elections, Indian politics, law, constitution and judicial system, education, the press, foreign policy and strategy, Pakistan and Kashmir. Pamphlets include the Alladi Diary by Professor Alladi Ramakrishnan. Publications include those from the Indian Law Institute, the Bar Association of India, Asian Survey, the Asia Society, Foreign Policy Institute briefs, and occasional papers from the Stimson Center, among many others.
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Most of the printed material in Box 6 is stamped as a gift from Austin to South Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and includes occasional underlining or annotation by Austin. Subjects of the printed material include the Indian Parliament and elections, Indian politics, law, constitution and judicial system, education, the press, foreign policy and strategy, Pakistan and Kashmir. Pamphlets include the Alladi Diary by Professor Alladi Ramakrishnan. Publications include those from the Indian Law Institute, the Bar Association of India, Asian Survey, the Asia Society, Foreign Policy Institute briefs, and occasional papers from the Stimson Center, among many others.
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Most of the printed material in Box 6 is stamped as a gift from Austin to South Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and includes occasional underlining or annotation by Austin. Subjects of the printed material include the Indian Parliament and elections, Indian politics, law, constitution and judicial system, education, the press, foreign policy and strategy, Pakistan and Kashmir. Pamphlets include the Alladi Diary by Professor Alladi Ramakrishnan. Publications include those from the Indian Law Institute, the Bar Association of India, Asian Survey, the Asia Society, Foreign Policy Institute briefs, and occasional papers from the Stimson Center, among many others.
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Box 8 contains primarily publications about India, including books, booklets, and pamphlets, as well as some transcripts of lectures and speeches. Much of the material was printed in India, as well as in England and the United States, and ranges from 1922 to 2006. The publications include a booklet by Upendra Baxi on reading Granville Austin's The Indian Constitution, Indian government white papers, Indian Communist Party publications from the 1970s and 1980s, a directory and biographies of Indian government officials from the late 1980s, and a booklet of Indian Constitutional amendments from 1986—among many others. Other material in this box includes a Republic Day Parade invitation and program (1991) and two folders of Austin's research notes from the 1990s.
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"Substantive" correspondence constitutes research for Working a Democratic Constitution. Correspondents include Fali Nariman, B.N. Tandon, Soli Sorabjee, N.A. Palkhivala, Pran Nath Lekhi, S. Guhan, Anand Mavalankar, K.R. Narayanan, P. Jagan Mohan Reddy, L.P. Singh, E.N. Mangat-Rai, Jim Manor, Anil B. Divan, Abid Hussain, P.B. Venkatasubramanian, M. Ravindran, Mohan Dharia, Y.V. Chandrachud, Rustom S. Gae, Ranjit Singh Sarkaria, V.R. Krishna Iyer, B.G. Verghese, P.N. Dhar, H.R. Khanna, O. Chinappa Reddy, Rajindar Sachar, K.K. Venugopal, Naresh Chandra, and M.N. Venkatachaliah—some of whom were Additional Solicitor-General, Senior Advocates, Chief Justices on India's Supreme Court, ambassadors and professors.
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Includes several of Austin's letters to his wife Nancy during a 1989 research trip to India.
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Includes Austin's occasional paper "Democracy in India: A Glass more than Half Full" (1994)
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Box 11 contains the combined contents of three smaller boxes. The box contains primarily photocopies. Box 11 contains some research and source material for Working a Democratic Constitution. This material is primarily photocopied articles, acts, law commission reports, and papers, (1951-1998).
Box 11 also contains a folder of Austin's travel notes from India (1994); notes on a research trip to India in 2002; copies of oral history transcripts from the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library; typescripts by Austin (1990 and undated, on "Property and the Constitution" and "Culture references"); and a folder of photocopies labeled "Personalities" (1953-1977).
The latter third of the copies and printouts in Box 11 come from the period 1982-2006 (but primarily 1998-2006), and include the following: typescripts by others, mostly on India; copies of books and chapters from Indian publishers; materials relating to the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, including syllabi; area briefs from the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad (2006); and a booklet from the All India Seminar on Judicial Reforms (1998). Date ranges reflect the original dates of photocopied material.
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The first half of box 13 contains clippings from Indian newspapers such as The Hindu, The Hindustan Times, The Patriot, and so on, from 1990-1991. Many of these clippings have been labeled with Austin's subject headings.
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Research material for Working a Democratic Constitution
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Time line spans 1948 to 1969, with annotations by Austin.
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Box 17 contains notebooks (1990 to 1994) of handwritten material Austin used for researching Working a Democratic Constitution. The notebooks include lists of photocopy requests at libraries and archives, lists of papers Austin saw and had copied at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, the Parliament Archives, and the National Archives of India, historical chronologies, lists of interviews to do, and a consolidated address list.
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Box 18 contains research and source material for Working a Democratic Constitution, primarily photocopies and clippings, compiled around the early 1990s. Many of the photocopies have been tabbed by one of Austin's research assistants with title, subject, and/or date. The box also includes some original handwritten notes. The box was labeled with a sticky note "Indian Constitution; Preventive Detention; Fundamental Rights; Liberty; Press." Some of the photocopied article subjects are: the Preventive Detention Act, Defense of India Ordinance, the restriction of liberties in Israel, the Bennett Coleman case, human rights, liberty in the press, women and social justice, freedom of speech, Supreme Court, the Emergency. Articles here were originally printed between 1939 and 1997. Date ranges on folders reflect the original dates of photocopied material.
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Includes a typescript by Austin ("Options on the Anvil," 1988).
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Box 20 contains research and source material for Working a Democratic Constitution compiled around the early 1990s. The material includes photocopies of articles on Factionalism, party-building, Supreme Court judges, the takeover of coal mine, among others, and the Representation of the People Act. Material from a large folder Austin marked "India—Bibliography" includes lists of books, publishers' catalogs, lists of private papers in archives, library guides and request lists, and some handwritten lists. The box also contains printouts of journal articles, some addresses and lists of names, lists of basic interview questions, handwritten notes and to-do lists. Date ranges reflect the original dates of photocopied material. Any handwritten notes, the majority of which are undated, were created circa 1990-1994.
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Box 21 contains research and source material for Working a Democratic Constitution compiled around the early 1990s. Folders "Education" through "Dharia" are labeled as they were originally, and loose material was gathered into the remaining folders. Date ranges reflect the original dates of photocopied material. Any handwritten notes, the majority of which are undated, were created circa 1990-1994.
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Box 24 contains material taken from three separate binders: 1) a chronology on the Constitution, amendments, political parties and government action 1950-1987; 2) a typescript "Centre-State Relations" (1990); and 3) a typescript "Property and the Constitution" (1993 and earlier).
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"The Governor's 'Acutely Controversial' Position" and "The Long Arm of Emergency Provisions"
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Miscellaneous notes and questions (for the "Oxford paper," on Indira, the Emergency, documents to be sought) from 2003 and earlier.
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Box 25 contains research and source material for Working a Democratic Constitution compiled around the early 1990s. Material includes copies of correspondence, memoranda, and speeches by Rajendra Prasad, copies of correspondence by Keshava Deva Malaviya, Chandra Shekhar, and C. Rajagopalachari, and Shiva Rao (1950s-1970s), as well as transcribed notes from a copy of handwritten text by Patanjali Sastri (1992-1993). The bulk of the box contains photocopied material on the Indian Constitution and the judiciary, 1957-1999. Date ranges reflect the original dates of photocopied material. Any handwritten notes, the majority of which are undated, were created circa 1990-1994.
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Box 26 contains research and source material for Working a Democratic Constitution compiled in the 1990s. The box contains predominantly photocopies. Material was not housed in folders or in any particular order. Few notes are present. Topics include centre-state relations, national unity and integration, article 370, the role of the governor and president, and others.
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Box 27 contains research and source material for Working a Democratic Constitution compiled around the early 1990s. The box contains Austin's note cards for various subjects and chapters, including bank nationalisation, integration, division/reorganization, amendments to the Constitution, the Emergency, legislative lists, Nehru, socialism, secularism/communalism, the judiciary, working democracy, social revolution, directive principles, the roles of the president and governor, union-government powers, and so on. Note cards were created 1990-1991. The box also contains library request slips and photocopies of articles on bank nationalization, originally 1967-1976, collected circa 1992. The box also contains a list of computer files from 1998.
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Box 28 contains research and source material for Working a Democratic Constitution compiled around the early 1990s. This material consists entirely of photocopies of papers collected at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. Correspondence and memoranda come from the period 1948-1974. Personal papers include those of K. Hanumanthaiya, H.K. Mahtab, K.M. Munshi, A.P. Jain, Jawaharlal Nehru, G.D. Birla, Seth Govind Das, papers of the All India Congress Committee, and others including correspondence of Indira Gandhi. Subjects include secularism, centre-state relations, Congress, elections, and others.
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Box 29 contains research and source material for Working a Democratic Constitution compiled during the 1990s. The material includes copies of oral history transcripts from the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (H.V.R. Iengar, Mahtab, Desia, Dharma Vira, A.P. Jain, P. Sundarayya, Sandar Ujjal Singh, Krishnamachari, Diwan Chaman Lall, Hari Vishnu Kamath, and C.D. Deshmukh). The box also includes photocopies, notes and clippings on liberty (notes 1990-1991), the makeup of the Lok Sabha, minorities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the Kesavananda Bharati case and the review bench (1973), the justices' case (S.P Gupta vs. Union of India, 1981), and photocopies from the Jayaprakash Narayan papers.
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Box 30 contains research and source material for Working a Democratic Constitution compiled during the 1990s. Most material was found loose in box. Agriculture and land reform are subjects included here among others. The box includes draft typescripts by others on land reform and on Karnataka (1987, 1990 and undated); excerpts from the Report of the Study Team on Centre-State Relationships; a report of the Law Commission of India (1988); photocopies of works by S. Mohan Kumaramangalam and Kuldip Nayar (1969-1973); and other photocopies and printouts used for research. Date ranges reflect the original dates of photocopied material. Any handwritten notes, the majority of which are undated, were created circa 1990-1994.
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Box 31 contains research and source material for Working a Democratic Constitution compiled during the 1990s. The material was found loose in box and consists of occasional papers and conference papers, typescript drafts by others, a photocopy of the book Judges and the Judicial Power (1985, Dhavan, Sudarshan and Khurshid, eds.), and photocopies of articles, including several by D.L. Sheth. Date ranges reflect the original dates of photocopied material, or publication dates of conference proceedings and occasional papers, as well as dates of creation of typescripts when identifiable. Handwritten notes are minimal.
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The articles and acts were found loose in Box 32. All other folder titles in Box 32 were created by Austin.
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Box 34 contains research and source material for Working a Democratic Constitution. The box contains primarily photocopied books or chapters of books (1973-1989), as well as an excerpt from a dissertation by Vernon Marston Hewitt (1987), and Kumaramangalam's thesis and commentary (1964-1973). The box also includes a folder of clippings and articles on Indira Gandhi (1971-1991), and copies of letters by P.B. Gajendragadkar (1975-1977). Date ranges reflect the original dates of photocopied material. Handwritten notes are few and undated.
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Box 35 contains research and source material for Working a Democratic Constitution. The box contains primarily photocopied books, chapters and articles (1954-1994). Handwritten notes are few and undated.
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Box 36 contains miscellaneous clippings and photocopies, as well as some notes and library research slips for Working a Democratic Constitution. Clippings are primarily focused on India as well as U.S. foreign relations (1949-1987, most 1970s). Included are a 1971 pamphlet by N.A. Palkhivala, "The Constitution and the Common Man" and a photocopy of Rajeev Dhavan's "The Amendment: Conspiracy or Revolution?" (1978). One folder includes ephemera from Austin's travel to India 1990-1991—a list of people interviewed in Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Madras, questions for sources, requisition slips from the National Archives of India, and a few receipts.
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Box 37 contains research and source material for Working a Democratic Constitution. The box contains primarily photocopied books or chapters of books (1953-1991), including those by Rajeev Dhavan, Upendra Baxi, A.R. Antulay, David Bayley, Mohan Dharia, and P.M. Bakshi, as well as three Alladi Diary pamphlets by Krishnaswami Alladi. Date ranges reflect the original dates of photocopied material. Handwritten notes are few and undated. Two notes from P.M. Bakshi (1991) accompany photocopies of his writing.
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Box 38 contains clippings from Indian newspapers and magazines, including The Hindu, The Hindustan Times, the Times of India, Mainstream, India Today, and others. Most are dated 1990-1998 (bulk 1991), though one folder contains clippings from 1963-1965. The box also contains photocopies of various published book chapters and Indian Supreme Court cases (1957-1992). Some of the 1991 clippings were labeled "Roots" by Austin (for roots of legislatures or democracy).
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Series 2 contains Granville Austin's research and writings on the Middle East. This material includes clippings, papers, handwritten notes, memos, limited correspondence, printed remarks and records of conference proceedings, press releases and briefings covering a period between 1957 and 2013. Austin's typescripts and drafts on the Middle East in the collection date from 1972 to 1993. He wrote many newspaper op-eds on the region, as well as the 1984 article "Palestinian Nationalism: Is it Viable?" in SAIS Review.
Also included in this series is material Austin compiled for an intended book to be co-authored with David Schoenbaum on Israel and the United States. Box 7 includes a contract with Oxford University Press for a book to be titled A Special Relationship: The United States and Israel since 1948, and Austin's notes refer to the book as the "Two Societies" book. The material in the collection includes book proposals and notes as well as correspondence, much of which involves efforts to fund the writing of the book through foundation grants. This material covers the period from 1985 to 1987.
Austin's interest in the Middle East began when he was working in Beirut, Lebanon in the late 1950s for the U.S. Information Service. The region was also an area of Austin's focus both times he served in the State Department. See Series 3 for material related to Austin's time in Beirut, as well as Austin's State Department correspondence relating to the Middle East. Series 3 also includes correspondence relating to his submission of articles on the region to journal, magazine and newspaper editors.
Materials in this series remain in their original physical order as received from the donor.
Physical Description10 boxes
Includes clippings, papers, notes, memos, limited correspondence, printed remarks and records of conference proceedings. Countries covered include Lebanon, Israel and Syria.
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Clippings in Box 3 concern the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular.
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The second half of Box 7 contains correspondence, notes, proposals and contracts for a book to be titled A Special Relationship: The United States and Israel since 1948, co-authored with David Schoenbaum. Austin had labeled his folders on this topic "Two Societies Book." Much of the correspondence involves efforts to fund the book through foundation grants, as Austin was working independently at the time as an unpaid Adjunct Fellow with Georgetown University's Center for Strategic and International Studies. The material includes Austin's and Schoenbaum's book contract with Oxford University Press, and covers a period between 1985 and 1987 (Schoenbaum alone did publish The United States and the State of Israel with OUP in 1993).
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Includes memos written by Austin and others, as well as clippings and reports, primarily concerning the Middle East and Israel, 1967-1975.
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Austin's work at the State Department in the mid-1970s reflects a particular focus on Israel and the Middle East, as well as on human rights policies and arms sales.
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Includes a statement of purpose for the Committee for Arab-Israeli Peace (1985).
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Interview questions and notes, drafts, and maps, for article on Israeli-Arab relations.
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Interview questions and notes, drafts, and maps, for article on Israeli-Arab relations.
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Series 3 includes professional and personal correspondence. Austin's professional correspondence includes letters from his two separate tenures at the State Department (dates), reflecting his focus on Israel and the Middle East, as well as human rights policies and arms sales. Other professional correspondence includes material relating to Austin's job searches, copies of his resume and State Department evaluation forms and qualification statements.
The series also includes material relating to Austin's writings outside of his three published books—such as his occasional paper "Public Policy in Education" (1977), ICWA newsletters, and various other pieces.
Lastly, the series includes travel-related material; printed guide books and maps (from India and elsewhere in South Asia and in Europe), household account books the Austins used while traveling, souvenir material and some ephemera and receipts.
Materials in this series remain in their original physical order as received from the donor.
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Box 4 contains material from the Institute of Current World Affairs (for which Austin was a Fellow from 1960 to 1966), in particular the newsletters written to executive directors by fellows in India and Pakistan, South Vietnam, England and Sweden. Correspondence here shows that Austin was also involved in planning for the ICWA in 1982.
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Correspondence files in Box 4 mix personal and business matters, and cover Austin's time as Special Assistant to the Secretary for International Affairs at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
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Austin kept files on Saudi businessman Suliman S. Olayan between 1981 and 1984, along with correspondence relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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Box 7 contains nine folders derived from one folder Austin labeled "Correspondence—Business (July 1966 onwards)" and three additional folders that were labeled "mostly job-related." The correspondence covers the period between 1966 and 1988. During this span of time, Austin worked as Director of the Office of Research and Analysis for the Near East and South Asia at the State Department (1966-1970); as Executive Assistant to Senator Clifford P. Case; as Special Assistant to the Secretary for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (1971-1974); as Member of the Policy Planning Staff at the State Department (1974-1977)—also teaching Modern Indian History at Johns Hopkins' SAIS 1975-1976; as Acting Deputy Inspector General at the Department of Energy (1977-1978); as a contract consultant (1978-1979); as Director of Communications at the Council on Foundations (1979-1982); as well as freelance writer and advisor (1982-1988). The box also contains two copies of letters from the Korean Goodwill Mission, 1957, when Austin was Assistant Information Officer at the American Embassy in Beirut. Much of the correspondence relates to job searches, and is mixed with some personal correspondence. The business correspondence also includes letters submitting articles for publication and acceptances or rejections of those articles, as well as correspondence concerning Austin's book reviewing activity, and royalty statements from Oxford University Press.
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Box 16 contains appointment books (2000-2013), a Diplomatic List from the US State Department, and a list of members of the India International Centre. The box also includes a datebook from India, 1966, and an undated small spiral-bound notebook including some household accounts from the Austins' travel in India and Europe. Small, blue paper-bound books contain addresses in India.
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Photographs, negatives and contact sheets in Series 4 derive primarily from Austin's work in Vietnam for the U.S. Information Service. Photographs are of refugee camps, politicians, military and ceremonial activities, in Saigon, Haiphong and elsewhere. Some photographs of Austin himself and of Nancy Austin are included. A few miscellaneous photographs taken by others show Austin on ceremonial occasions. Also included in this series is a small amount of printed and written material on Vietnam.
Materials in this series remain in their original physical order as received from the donor.
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Box 12 contains Austin's photographs and contact sheets from the 1950s and 1960s, taken for the United States Information Agency. The bulk of the photographs were taken in Vietnam, of refugee camps, politicians, military and ceremonial activities. Some photographs are housed together with their negatives.
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