Carl Becker papers, 1898-1956.
Collection Number: 14-17-132

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
Carl Becker papers, 1898-1956.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Collection Number:
14-17-132
Abstract:
This collection contains papers from Cornell University professor of history, Carl Becker, dating 1898-1956. It primarily contains lecture and course notes, correspondence, papers and photographs.
Creator:
Becker, Carl L. (Carl Lotus), 1873-1945.
Quanitities:
24.7 cubic feet.
Language:
Collection material in English
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Carl Becker (1873-1945) was a historian and professor of history at Cornell University.
RELATED MATERIALS

Includes collection #14-17-620.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
Cite As:

Carl Becker papers, #14-17-132. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
Scope and content

This collection contains papers from Carl Becker dating 1898-1956. It contains lecture and course notes on the French Revolution and Napoleon, the beginnings of the American people, other aspects of modern European and American history, and the founding and history of Cornell University; correspondence with former students and other historians concerning the study and writing of history, especially Frederick Jackson Turner and Charles Homer Haskins; papers relating to Ezra Cornell and the early history of Cornell University; lectures; reviews; articles; notes on European and American history and for a bibliography of Becker's writings; six letters to Elias R. B. Willis, a Cornell librarian and friend, concerning the Manchester Guardian, the state and its role (1925), contrasts between Cornell University and the University of Chicago (1929), John Jay Chapman, his friend George Gemmill, and a poem satirizing academicians (1924); an undated letter to Laurence Bradford Packard; an autographed book; reprints; and biographical information including letters to and from Becker, photographs, and reminiscences about Becker by friends, relatives, and former students.
SUBJECTS

Names:
Cornell, Ezra, 1807-1874.
Turner, Frederick Jackson, 1861-1932.
Haskins, Charles Homer, 1870-1937.
Willis, Elias R. B.
Chapman, John Jay, 1862-1933.
Gemmill, George.
Packard, Laurence Bradford.
Napoleon, Emperor of the French, I, 1769-1821.
Stewart, John Hall.
Cornell University
Places:
France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799.
Europe -- History.
United States -- History.
Subjects:
Historians.
Historiography.
History -- Study and teaching.
Form and Genre Terms:
Reminiscences.
Photographs.
CONTAINER LIST
Container
Description
Date
Link to a copy of the printed finding aid
Series I. Manuscripts or Typescripts of Books and Monographs
Box 1
The Art of Writing
 1873-1945
Box 1
Benjamin Franklin
 1873-1945
Box 1
Founders and the Founding Chapters 1-6
 1873-1945
Box 1
Dutch Treat Club Talk 1944
 1873-1945
Box 1
The Dilemma of the Liberals in Our Time
 1873-1945
Box 1
Reply to James Truslow Adams' Criticism of "The Declaration of Independence"
 1873-1945
Box 1
Declaration of Independence Chapter 6
 1873-1945
Box 2
The Function of the Social Sciences
 1873-1945
Box 2
The Heavenly City of the Philosophers Chapters 1 and 2 and Chapters 3, 7, 4 (2 Copies)
 1873-1945
Box 2
The Education of Henry Adams
 1873-1945
Box 2
Eve of the Revolution Chapter 5
 1873-1945
Box 2
A Federation of States and World Peace
 1873-1945
Box 2
The First National Nominating Convention
 1873-1945
Box 2
Everyman His Own Historian
 1873-1945
Box 3
How New Will the Better World Be? Chapters 1-7
 1873-1945
Box 3
The King of the Beasts
 1873-1945
Box 3
Learning and the Life of Man
 1873-1945
Box 3
Liberalism
 1873-1945
Box 4
On Historical Evidence
 1873-1945
Box 4
Making Democracy Safe in the World
 1873-1945
Box 4
The Memoirs and Letters of Madame Roland
 1873-1945
Box 4
Mr. Wells and the New History
 1873-1945
Box 4
Modern Democracy Chapters 1-3
 1873-1945
Box 4
New Liberties for Old
 1873-1945
Box 4
The First National Nominating Convention
 1873-1945
Box 4
The Nominating Convention in Massachusetts 1785-1832
 1873-1945
Box 4
The Old Disorder in Europe
 1873-1945
Box 4
On Loving Peace and Waging War Chapters 1 and 2
 1873-1945
Box 4
Political Freedom - American Style
 1873-1945
Box 4
The Political Philosophy of Thomas Jefferson (lecture)
 1873-1945
Box 5
A Commentary on "The Problem of Historical Knowledge" by Maurice Mandelbaum
 1873-1945
Box 5
Progress and Power
 1873-1945
Box 5
The Pen and the Sword
 1873-1945
Box 5
Some Aspects of the Appointment of Delegates to the Early National Nominating Conventions
 1873-1945
Box 5
Samuel Adams
 1873-1945
Box 5
Some Generalities That Still Glitter
 1873-1945
Box 5
The Spirit of '76
 1873-1945
Box 5
Story of Civilization Chapters 1-9
 1873-1945
Box 6
"The Theory and Practise of History" by Croce (Book Review)
 1873-1945
Box 6
The Story of Civilization Chapters 5, 7 and 8 [extra copies]
 1873-1945
Box 6
Thomas Hutchison
 1873-1945
Box 6
Voltaire
 1873-1945
Box 6
What Is Historiography?
 1873-1945
Box 6
What We Didn't Know Hurt Us A Lot
 1873-1945
Box 6
The Will of the People
 1873-1945
Box 6
What are Historical "Facts"?
 1873-1945
Box 6
When Democratic Virtues Disintegrate
 1873-1945
Box 6
Why De Tocqueville Wrote "Democracy in America"
 1873-1945
Series II. Correspondence
 1923-1951
Box 7
Correspondence
 Date unknown
Box 8
Correspondence
 Date unknown
Box 9
Correspondence
 Date unknown
Box 10
Correspondence
 Date unknown
Box 11
Correspondence
 Date unknown
Box 12
Correspondence
 Date unknown
Box 13
Correspondence
 Date unknown
Box 14
Correspondence
 Date unknown
Box 15
Correspondence
 Date unknown
Box 16
Correspondence
 Date unknown
Box 17
Correspondence
 Date unknown
Box 18
Undated Correspondence
 Date unknown
Scope and Contents
List of correspondents' names available in digital accession file.
Box 19
Received from Professor Paul W. Gates
 Date unknown
Scope and Contents
Smith, Charlotte Watkins, "Carl Becker: The Historian As A Literary Craftsman," The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 9, No. 3, July 1952.
Box 19
The Crocean Origin of Becker's Historical Relativism
 1970
Creator: Destler, Chester McArthur
Scope and Contents
History and Theory: Studies in the Philosophy of History, IX, 3, 335-342
Box 19
Carl Becker: The Historian as a Literary Craftsman
 1952-07
Creator: Smith, Charlotte Watkins
Scope and Contents
The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 9, No. 3
Electronic Accession File
Chronological list of correspondence
Series III. Articles by Others
Box 20
Calvinist Republicanism and its Historical Roots
 1939-03
Creator: Baron, Hans
Scope and Contents
Church History, Vol. VIII, 3-15
Box 20
Literature of the Ph.D.
 1940-02
Scope and Contents
Journal of Higher Education, Vol. XI, No. 2, 57-63
Box 20
Ireland - No Man's Land
 1941-11
Creator: Bromage, Arthur W. and Mary C.
Scope and Contents
International Conciliation, No. 374, 692-710
Box 20
Jones Very
 1922-06
Creator: Burns, Percy Pratt
Scope and Contents
Howard College Bulletin, Vol. LXXX, No. 3, 42-60
Box 20
Loyalty and Liberty
 1919-07
Scope and Contents
Indiana University Alumni Quarterly, 310-328
Box 20
Classical Rhetoric and the Mediaeval Theory of Preaching
 1933-04
Scope and Contents
Classical Philology, Vol. XXVIII, No. 2, 73-93
Box 20
Reason and Feeling
 1921-09
Creator: Creighton, J. E.
Scope and Contents
Philosophical Review, Vol. XXX, No. 5, 465-481
Box 20
A Note on the Criticism of Records
 1924-01
Creator: Crump, C. G.
Scope and Contents
The Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1-10
Box 20
Baron D'Holback
 1914
Creator: Cushing, Max Pearson
Scope and Contents
New York
Box 20
Letters of Charles Davenant
 1941-04
Creator: Davies, Godfrey
Scope and Contents
The Huntington Library Quarterly, Vol. IV, No. 3, 309-342
Box 20
The Little Flower of Encouragement in the Poetic Contests of the College of Rhetoric at Toulouse
 1922-06
Creator: Dawson, John C.
Scope and Contents
Howard College Bulleton, Vol. LXXX, No. 3, 132-38
Box 20
Henry Adams on Things in General
 1919-06
Creator: Dunning William A.
Scope and Contents
Political Science Quarterly, Vol. XXXIV, No. 2, 305-11
Box 20
The Constitution of the United States
 1937
Scope and Contents
San Marino, Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, 25pp.
Box 20
If James Madison Had Had a Sense of Humor
 1938-04
Scope and Contents
The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 130-39
Box 20
New Light on the Origins of the War, I, II., III.
 1920-07-1921-01
Creator: Fay, Sidney B.
Scope and Contents
American Historical Review, Vols. XXV., No. 4; XXVI., Nos. 1, 2
Box 20
Presidential Address
 1914-02
Scope and Contents
The Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Third Series, Vol. VIII, 1-16
Box 20
The Political Significance of Gulliver's Travels
 undated
Scope and Contents
Proceedings of the British Academy, Vol. IX
Box 20
The Portraits of Historians in the National Portrait Gallery
 undated
Scope and Contents
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 4th Series, Vol. VI, 93-125
Box 20
The Exaggeration of the Social
 1907-07
Creator: Fite, Warner
Scope and Contents
The Journal of Philosophy Psychology and Scientific Methods, Vol. IV, No. 15, 393-396
Box 20
The Case of the College Professor
 1911-03
Creator: Fite, Warner
Scope and Contents
Popular Science Monthly, 273-282
Box 20
The Prussian Peasantry Before 1807
 1919-04
Creator: Ford, Guy Stanton
Scope and Contents
American Historical Review, Vol. XXIV, No. 3, 358-378
Box 20
Turner's Theory of Social Evolution
 undated
Creator: Freund, Rudlof
Scope and Contents
20pp.
Box 20
The Brochures on the Eve of the Elections to the States General
 1922-06
Creator: Garrett, Mitchell Bennett
Scope and Contents
Howard College Bulletin, Vol. LXXX, No. 3, 1-20
Box 20
The Controversy Over the Composition of the States General, September 25-November 6, 1788
 1924-05
Creator: Garrett, Mitchell Bennett
Scope and Contents
Howard College Bulletin, Vol. LXXXIV, No. 1, 37 pp.
Box 20
Communism During the French Revolution, 1789-1793
 1925-09
Creator: Gottschalk, Louis R.
Scope and Contents
Political Science Quarterly, Vol. XL, No. 3, 438-450
Box 20
The American
 undated
Creator: Gottschalk, Louis R.
Box 20
Leon Trotsky and the Natural History of Revolutions
 1938-11
Creator: Gottschalk, Louis R.
Scope and Contents
The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. XLIV, No. 3, 339-354
Box 20
The Evaluation of Historical Writings
 1940
Creator: Gottschalk, Louis R.
Scope and Contents
The Practice of Book Selection, Chicago, 101-115
Box 20
The Spread of Ideas in the Middle Ages
 1926-01
Creator: Haskins, C. H.
Scope and Contents
Speculum, Vol. 1, No. 1, 19-30
Box 20
Shakespeare and the Troy Story
 1922-06
Creator: Haynes, French
Scope and Contents
Howard College Bulletin, Vol. LXXX, No. 3, 67-131
Box 20
The Rise of Alabama
 1922-06
Creator: Hendricks, James Albert
Scope and Contents
Howard College Bulletin, Vol. LXXX, No. 3, 20-41
Box 20
Hosea Holcombe and Early Alabama Baptists
 1924-05
Creator: Hendricks, James Albert
Scope and Contents
Howard College Bulletin, Vol. LXXXII, 1-35
Box 20
The Literary Motive in the Writing of History
 1926-03
Creator: Hockett, Homer C.
Scope and Contents
Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. XII, No. 4, 469-82
Box 20
Henry Adams and the Johns Hopkins University
 1938-09
Creator: Holt, W. Stull
Scope and Contents
The New England Quarterly, Vol. XI, No. 3, 632-8
Box 20
Herbert Joseph Davenport
 1931-12
Creator: Homan, Paul T.
Scope and Contents
American Economic Review, Vol. XXI, No. 4, 696-700
Box 20
The Role of Mathematics in Congressional Apportionment
 1941
Creator: Huntington, Edward V.
Scope and Contents
Sociometry, Vol. IV, No. 3, 278-98
Box 20
The Challenge of International Lawlessness
 1941-11
Creator: Jackson, Robert H.
Scope and Contents
International Conciliation, No. 374, 683-91
Box 20
A Word More About Truth
 1907-07
Scope and Contents
The Journal of Philosophy and Psychology and Scientific Methods, Vol. IV, No. 15, 396-406
Box 20
Turnips and Romanticism
 1938-07
Creator: Johnstone, Paul H.
Scope and Contents
Agricultural History, 12, 224-55
Box 20
The Unity of Science
 1912-01
Creator: Lovejoy, Arthur O.
Scope and Contents
The University of Missouri Bulletin, Science Series, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1-34
Box 20
Russian Policy in 1911-12
 1940-03
Creator: Mosely, Philip E. (Philip Edward), 1905-1972.
Scope and Contents
The Journal of Modern History, Vol. XII, No. 1, 69-86
Box 20
Intervention and Noninterventino in Spain, 1838-39
 1941-06
Creator: Mosely, Philip E. (Philip Edward), 1905-1972.
Scope and Contents
The Journal of Modern History, Vol. XIII, No. 2, 195-217
Box 20
The "Noble Savage"
 1933-03
Scope and Contents
The Scientific Monthly, Vol. XXXVI, 250-7
Box 20
Azilum: French Royalist Colony of 1793
 1937
Scope and Contents
Tioga Point Museum, Athens, PA, 40 pp.
Box 20
From Philadelphia to Philadelphia
 1938-02
Creator: Powell, Thomas Reed
Scope and Contents
The American Political Science Review, Vol. XXXII, No. 1, 1-27
Box 20
The Current Current of the Commerce Clause and State Taxation
 1940-09
Creator: Powell, Thomas Reed
Scope and Contents
presented at the thirty-third National Tax Conference, New York City
Box 20
Some Aspects of American Constitutional Law
 1940-02
Creator: Powell, Thomas Reed
Scope and Contents
Harvard Law Review, Vol. LIII, No. 4, 529-53
Box 20
Conscience and the Constitution
 1941
Creator: Powell, Thomas Reed
Scope and Contents
Democracy and National Unity, The University of Chicago Press, 1-31
Box 20
Patterns of Culture in History
 1939-01
Creator: Ratner, Sidney
Scope and Contents
Philosophy of Science, Vol. 6, No. 1, 88-97
Box 20
The Petition of Right
 1917-12
Creator: Relf, Frances Helen
Scope and Contents
Minneapolis, 75pp.
Box 20
Chroniclers of Medieval Spain
 1938-07
Creator: Russell, J. C.
Scope and Contents
Hispanic Review, Vol. VI, No. 3, 218-35
Box 20
Turner's Early Writings
 1938-12
Creator: Schafer, Joseph
Scope and Contents
Wisconsin Magazine of History, Vol. XXII, No. 2, 213-31
Box 20
Letters of Charles Davenant
 1941-04
Creator: Scofield, Marjorie
Scope and Contents
The Huntington Library Quarterly, Vol. IV, No. 3, 309-42
Box 20
The Discovery of Time
 1915-04
Creator: Shotwell, James T.
Scope and Contents
The Journal of Philosophy Psychology and Scientific Methods, Vol. XII, No. 8, 197-206
Box 20
The Discovery of Time
 1915-05
Creator: Shotwell, James T.
Scope and Contents
The Journal of Philosophy Psychology and Scientific Methods, Vol. XII, No. 12, 309-18
Box 20
A Key to the Colloquies of Erasmus
 1927
Scope and Contents
Harvard Theological Studies, XIII, 62 pp.
Box 20
The Individualism of John Stuart Mill
 1923-01
Scope and Contents
Philosophical Review, Vol. XXXII, No. 1, 1-17
Box 20
The Papal Registers
 1938-10-1938-12
Creator: Thompson, James Westfall
Scope and Contents
Church Quarterly Review, Vol. CXXVII, 37-75
Box 20
Greater New England in the Middle of the Nineteenth Century
 1919-10
Creator: Turner, Frederick J.
Scope and Contents
Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 1-22
Box 20
The Significance of the Section in American History
 1925-03
Creator: Turner, Frederick J.
Scope and Contents
Wisconsin Magazine of History, Vol. VIII, No. 3, 255-80
Box 20
The Children of the Pioneers
 1926-07
Creator: Turner, Frederick J.
Scope and Contents
The Yale Review, 646-70
Box 20
Science is Sciencing
 1938-10
Creator: White, Leslie A.
Scope and Contents
Philosophy of Science, Vol. 5, No. 4, 369-89
Box 20
Summoning and Dissolving Parliament, 1603-25
 1940-01
Creator: Willson, David Harris
Scope and Contents
Americna Historical Review, Vol. XLV, No. 2, 279-300
Series IV. Additional Papers
 1925-1945
Box 22 Folder 1
Correspondence between Alfred A. Knopf and Carl L. Becker.
 1925-04-08-1925-04-22
Scope and Contents
In the letters Knopf urges Becker to write a book on Benjamin Disraeli (Carl Van Doren made the suggestion to Knopf) but Becker politely turns down the offer.
Box 22 Folder 2
Correspondence between Alfred Knopf and Carl Becker
 1939-04-08-1942-02-05
Scope and Contents
Knopf is eager to publish works by Becker, but a series of articles are committed to the Yale University Press. An agreement is then made by Becker to publish The Declaration of Independence and much of the correspondence deals with changes or deletions in the manuscript before publication.
Box 22 Folder 3
General correspondence between Alfred Knopf and Carl Becker
 1943-03-23-1944-04-15
Scope and Contents
Mentioned is Becker's Penrose Lecture on Jefferson which appeared in the American Historical Review and the working over, publishing, and expected income (with suggestions from Knopf) of Becker's new book entitled, How New Will the Better World Be? The Circulating by Knopf of advance copies of the book to notable people like Samuel Eliot Morrison, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Archibald MacLeish, Carl Van Doren, and U.S. Supreme Court Justices Black, Frankfurter, Jackson, Douglas and Stone.
Box 22 Folder 4
Correspondence between Carl Becker and Alfred Knopf, and between Alfred Knopf, E. Blythe Stason (Dean of the University of Michigan Law School) and George H. Sabine of Cornell University.
 1944-05-12-1944-12-26
Scope and Contents
The letters deal with the publishing of Carl Becker's five William W. Cook Lectures on American Institutions: Lecture I, The American Political Tradition, Lecture II, Freedom of Speech and the Press, Lecture III, Freedom of Learning and Teaching, Lecture IV, Constitutional Government, Lecture V, Private Economic Enterprise
Box 22 Folder 5
Correspondence between Alfred Knopf and Carl Becker, and Alfred Knopf and E. Blythe Stason
 1945-01-01-1945-04-10
Scope and Contents
All concerning Becker's Michigan lectures (The Cook Lectures) and the publication and contract for the manuscript, "Freedom and Responsibility in the American Way of Life"
Box 22 Folder 5
Letters to and from Becker family concerning Carl Becker's death on April 10, 1945
 1945-04-10-1945-04-14
Box 22 Folder 5
Balance of the correspondence between Alfred A. Knopf, E. Blythe Stason and George H. Sabine
 1945-04-17-1945-11-23
Scope and Contents
All in regard to the publication of Becker's manuscript, Freedom and Responsibility in the American Way of Life
Box 22 Folder 5
Typescript copy of CBS Broadcast concerning Becker's book, The Declaration of Independence
 1948-02-22
Box 22 Folder 5
Letters to John Hall Stewart
 1927-03-23-1942-12-07