- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Collection Overview
- Title:
- Corliss Lamont Papers
- Repository:
- Public Policy Papers
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dcr494vz28x
- Dates:
- 1920-1995
- Size:
- 71 linear feet and (71 boxes)
- Storage Note:
- Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1-71
- Language:
- English
Abstract
Corliss Lamont was a humanist philosopher and socialist who served as a director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from 1932 to 1954. The Corliss Lamont Papers document the breadth of Lamont's career as a humanist, civil libertarian, and philanthropist.
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Scope and Contents
The Corliss Lamont Papers document the breadth of Lamont's career as a humanist, civil libertarian, and philanthropist. The majority of the papers consist of correspondence and writings regarding Lamont's involvement in organizations such as the American Humanist Society, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, and the Council on Soviet-American Friendship, as well as the numerous charitable and environmental organizations to which Lamont donated. There is also correspondence regarding charitable involvement with Columbia University and Harvard University.
In addition to materials related to the organizations with which Lamont was involved, there are materials related to his family history and estate, his support of the preservation of materials related to poets George Santayana and John Masefield, his interest in and support of socialist causes domestically and abroad, and his struggle to obtain a passport after refusing to disclose whether he was a member of the Communist Party.
Amongst the correspondence are numerous drafts of written work, correspondence with publishers regarding Lamont's publications, and some materials regarding the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory.
The collection appears to have once been organized alphabetically by name of correspondent, organization, and topic (at least in part), but that organization scheme has been lost over the course of several relocations. Because the materials were once arranged alphabetically and topically rather than chronologically, most boxes contain materials from a 50-year period.
- Collection Creator Biography:
Lamont
Corliss Lamont was a humanist philosopher and socialist who served as a director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from 1932 to 1954. Born in Englewood, New York in 1902, Lamont was educated at Harvard University, graduating in 1924. He earned a PhD. in philosophy from Columbia University in 1932. In 1928 Lamont married Margaret Hayes Irish, with whom he had four children. They remained married until the 1960s. In 1932 (the same year he began working with the ACLU), Lamont visited the Soviet Union and would become chairman of the Friends of the Soviet Union. Four years later, Lamont was a founder and financial supporter of Marxist Quarterly magazine. Beginning in 1947, Lamont taught a course at Columbia on Naturalistic Humanism. He would later donate land along the Hudson River to Columbia University. During the 1960s, Lamont was active in protesting U.S. involvement in Cuba and Vietnam through his writing and other campaigns. Lamont's suit against the Postmaster General for interfering with his mail under a 1962 anti-propaganda mail law targeting communist political material ultimately went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1965 (Lamont v. Postmaster General), which invalidated the law. In 1962, Lamont married Dr. Helen Boyden Lamb, a research analyst who was active in protesting the Vietnam War. She died in 1975. In 1986 he married Beth Keehner, to whom he remained married until his death in 1995. With Beth Lamont, Lamont produced a television program espousing their humanist beliefs. Lamont authored many books, among them The Peoples of the Soviet Union (1946); The Philosophy of Humanism, (1949); Soviet Civilization (1952); Freedom Is As Freedom Does: Civil Liberties in America (1956); A Lifetime of Dissent (1988).
Collection History
- Acquisition:
The collection was donated by Beth K. Lamont in 2023. The accession number associated with this donation is ML-2023-005.
- Appraisal
Processor separated clippings and other published materials from the collection, as well as a small amount of personal family materials belonging to Beth K. Lamont.
- Processing Information
Will Clements processed the collection in 2024. He removed some fasteners and rehoused some materials into acid free folders, but otherwise imposed no physical arrangement at this time.
Clements minimally described the collection, and because most boxes contain up to 50 years of materials he did not add dates to the file descriptions. Researchers may discern remnants of earlier arrangements, but because the collection has been relocated several times the original arrangement is lost.
Princeton Environmental Health and Safety evaluated the collection and a vendor later treated it for mold and water damage in 2023.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research use.
- Conditions Governing Use
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, any copyright vested in the donor has passed to The Trustees of Princeton University and researchers do not need to obtain permission, complete any forms, or receive a letter to move forward with use of donor-created materials within the collection. For materials in the collection not created by the donor, or where the material is not an original, the copyright is likely not held by the University. In these instances, 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. 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 a question about who owns the copyright for an item, you may request clarification by contacting us through the Ask Us! form.
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
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.
- Credit this material:
Corliss Lamont Papers; Public Policy Papers, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dcr494vz28x
- Location:
-
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library65 Olden StreetPrinceton, NJ 08540, USA
- Storage Note:
- Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1-71
Find More
- Topics:
- Communism
- Subject Terms:
- Communism -- Soviet Union
Humanism
Philanthropists -- United States -- 20th century
Socialism - Names:
- American civil liberties union
American Humanist Society
National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee
Council on Soviet-American Friendship
House Committee on Un-American Activities