The John Foster Dulles ’08 Library

The establishment in the University Library of the John Foster Dulles Library of Diplomatic History, centering around the papers of the recently retired Secretary of States, has been announced. The Department of State and Princeton simultaneously made public an agreement concerning the establishment in the Library of a collection of copies of official documents of the Department of State relating to Mr. Dulles’ tenure as Secretary. At the same time President Goheen announced Mr. Dulles’ gift to Princeton of his own personal papers covering his long career in diplomatic and international affairs.

To house these collections a group of Mr. Dulles’ friends is providing for the construction, furnishing and maintenance of a new wing of the Princeton Library. The John Foster Dulles Library will provide one of the nation’s major resources for scholarly research in American diplomatic history, especially since the Dulles collection will be housed with Princeton’s extensive collections of papers of other American statesmen, including Woodrow Wilson ’79 and James Forrestal ’15.

Adjacent to the Dulles Library will be the editorial and research offices occupied by Dr. Julian P. Boyd and his staff, who are editing The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, the massive 52-volume project which has made Princeton a center for the study of the country’s first Secretary of State.

The collection of official documents which consists of microfilmed copies of original documents in the Department of State will present an accurate picture of the six eventful years in the field of foreign affairs during Mr. Dulles’ service as Secretary of State. Copies of documents collected under this project will be physically located at Princeton, under approved safe-guarded conditions as prescribed by applicable laws and Executive Orders; and these copies will, in all respects, be subject to the same restrictions, limitations and controls as are the originally documents in the Department of State. Title and control of these copies will remain with the Federal Government until such time as all classification and restrictions have been removed from the original documents.

The purpose of establishing this collection now is to bring together in one place, while events are freshly in mind and participants available for consultation, a significant group of documents even though most of them will not become available for research for a number of years.

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Princeton Alumni Weekly. November 29, 1959.

 The task of preparing for transfer to Princeton of microfilmed copies of Mr. Dulles’ “state papers” will be carried forward at Princeton’s expense in the Department of State by a Research Associate of the University Library, Dr. Philip A. Crowl, who is now an official of the Department of State. Formerly an Assistant Professor of History at Princeton and co-author with the late Professor Jeter A. Isely of United States Marines and Amphibious Warfare (Princeton University Press, 1951), he has already devoted considerable time to preparatory work in anticipation of the agreement between Princeton and the Department. The Library already has received from Secretary and Mrs. Dulles a considerable number of the Secretary’s personal papers, described by President Goheen as “one of the most meaningful gifts the Princeton Library has ever received.” Materials already in the manuscript rooms of the Firestone Library pertain to The Hague Peace Conference of 1907, the World War I Peace treaties, the creation of the United Nations and the meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers in London, Paris and Moscow in the years immediately following World War II.

In giving his personal papers to Princeton as a research collection for the study of American diplomatic and political institutions, Secretary Dulles, Valedictorian of the Class of 1908, has spelled out the conditions under which scholars will be given access to the collection. These conditions reflect his wish that: “Access to my personal papers, for the purposes of furthering bona-fide research in the fields of history, political science, international relations and related subjects, shall be granted as widely as possible. The presumption shall be that access should be granted in any particular instance unless compelling reasons exist to withhold such access.” Scholars seeking access to Mr. Dulles’ personal papers, once they are annotated and completely organized in the new library wing, must receive through the University Library the written approval of Mr. Dulles or his representatives.

“The construction of the John Foster Dulles Library of Diplomatic History,” Dr. Goheen has said, “will provide appropriate and functional facilities for the preservation, organization and use of these outstanding collections. The architectural concept of an addition to the Firestone Library permits interior and exterior identification of the Dulles Library as a two-story separate unit and yet allows full and effective integration with the library services which are essential to the support of research using original manuscripts.”

This was originally published in the November 29, 1959 issue of PAW.