Guide to the Curtis Putnam Nettels papers,
1917-1981

Collection Number: 14-17-1256

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library

Contact Information:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
2B Carl A. Kroch Library
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
(607) 255-3530
Fax: (607) 255-9524
rareref@cornell.edu
http://rmc.library.cornell.edu
Compiled by:
A. Lipsky
M.E. Warren
Date completed:
July 1982
August 1992
EAD encoding:
Ann Hubert, December 2003

© 2002 Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library


DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
Curtis Putnam Nettels papers, 1917-1981.
Collection Number:
14-17-1256
Creator:
Curtis Putnam Nettels, 1898-1981.
Quantity:
3 cubic ft.
Forms of Material:
Includes correspondence, clippings, congressional voting lists, articles and letters to editors.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
Abstract:
Includes papers relating to political issues.
Language:
Collection material in English


BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Professor of American history.
Curtis Putnam Nettels taught American History at Cornell University from 1945-1967. His memberships included the American Historical Association and Phi Beta Kappa.

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

Includes correspondence, clippings, congressional voting lists, articles, letters to editors, and other papers relating to political issues such as the Panama Canal treaties (Feb. 1978-Dec. 1979), the Taiwan Treaty (1979), U.S. isolationism, foreign aid, the Marshall Plan, and other topics; book reviews; articles by Nettels; correspondence with politicians including Robert Dole, Samuel J. Ervin, Gerald R. Ford, William Loeb, George McGovern, Matthew F. McHugh, Edmund Muskie, William Proxmire, Margaret Chase Smith, and John Tunney; other correspondence files, including correspondence with Van Wyck Brooks; autobiographical sketch, "Boyhood Days in a Prairie Town: Memories of Life in Topeka, Kansas, 1905-1917;" statement by Nettels, "The Doctrine of Containment," and a revised edition of the statement; American history bibliography; and other papers of Curtis Putnam Nettels.

SUBJECTS

Names:
Nettels, Curtis Putnam, 1898-1981.
Brooks, Van Wyck, 1886-1963.
Dole, Robert J., 1923-
Ervin, Sam J., 1896-
Ford, Gerald R., 1913-
Loeb, William, 1905-
McGovern, George S. (George Stanley), 1922-
McHugh, Matthew F. (Matthew Francis), 1938-
Muskie, Edmund S., 1914-
Proxmire, William.
Smith, Margaret Chase, 1897-
Tunney, John.
Panama.

Subjects:
Economic assistance, American.
Politics, Practical.
Neutrality--United States.

Places:
United States--Foreign policy--Taiwan.
United States--Politics and government.


INFORMATION FOR USERS

Cite As:
Curtis Putnam Nettels papers, #14-17-1256. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

CONTAINER LIST

Date
Description
Container
1927-1940
Book reviews
Box 1 Folder 1
Reviews which have appeared in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, English Historical Review, Mississippi Valley Historical Review, New England Quarterly, The Journal of Modern History, American Historical Review
1941-1951
Book reviews
Box 1 Folder 2
Reviews which have appeared in the Journal of Southern History, The New England Quarterly, Pennsylvania Magazine of History of Biography, Mississippi Historical Review, Annals of the American Academy, Journal of Economic History, William and Mary Quarterly, Political Science Quarterly, English Historical Review
1951-1956, 1958-1962, 1965, 1974, 1978
Book reviews
Box 1 Folder 3
Reviews which have appeared in The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Tribune Magazine of Books; Annals of the American Academy, Pennsylvania History, American Historical Review, Journal of Political Economy, Saturday Review Magazine, New York Times Book Review, New England Quarterly, New York History, The Historian, Presidential Studies Quarterly
1934-1939, 1946, 1954, 1962-1963
Various book reviews
Box 1 Folder 4
Some of Professor Nettel's writings are reviewed, for example: The Money Supply of the American Colonies before 1720, The Roots of American Civilization, and George Washington and American Independence. The reviews were published in newspapers, magazines and professional journals across the United States, Canada and England
Printed copies of historical writings by Professor Nettels
Box 1 Folder 5
1924, 1947-1953, 1960, 1962, 1965
Two xerox copies and one typescript copy of the Ithaca Journal's 150 year Anniversary section, May 22, 1965. The newspaper includes the article "Pioneer Conditions Prevailed in 1815." Two printed copies of "The English Colonies in America, 1607-1763;" one typescript letter dated Sept. 19, 1947, and several published reviews
1971-1980
Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 6
Correspondence is of a poltical nature to and from senators, congressmen, and govenors. Some examples are: Robert Dole, Sam J. Ervin, Gerald R. Ford, William Loeb, George McGovern, Margaret Chase Smith, John Tunny
1959, 1971-1980
Articles pertaining to political controversy and thought wirtten by Porfessor Nettels
Box 1 Folder 7
Letters written to the New York Times, Manchester New Hampshire Union Leader, and the Ithaca Journal. Many of these newspaper clippings are related to letters in folder six
1975, 1979-1980
Foreign Banks and Government Debts
Box 1 Folder 8
Correspondence, letters to newspapers and printed reports re the issue of foreign ownership of portions of United States banks
Feb. 1978-Dec. 1979
Correspondence, newspaper clippings, congressional voting lists re Panama Canal Treaties
Box 1 Folder 9
1917, 1922-1925, 1946-1950
Articles and letters written to various newspapers around the country
Box 1 Folder 10
The topics deal with United States isolationism, Kansas populism, foreign aid, the Marshall Plan, and the North Atlantic Pact
1979
Correspondence and articles re the Taiwan Treaty
Box 1 Folder 11
1968-1981
Letters to editors of various newspapers
Box 1 Folder 12
Letters mainly to the New York Times and the Ithaca Journal, and also to professional journals re former and current United States presidents, presidential power, impeachment, Richard Nixon, the United States Constitution, and Ronald Reagan's candidcay and election
1969-1970, 1977
Press conference of New York's Gov. Nelson Rockefeller on Mar. 4, 1969
Box 1 Folder 13
Also, a bill to deal with college campus disorders, which was made into state law. Act of Apr. 21, 1969
1923, 1931-1934, 1941, 1951-1953, 1977, 1981
A - Correspondence with other historians (people actively involved in the field), colleagues, publishers
Box 1 Folder 14
1928-1981
B - Correspondence with historians, colleagues, publishers, and others
Box 1 Folder 15
1924, 1932, 1936, 1943, 1947-1953, 1960-1966, 1978-1981
C - Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 16
1931, 1933, 1937, 1975-1981
D - Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 17
1947-1949, 1956, 1963-1964, 1976, 1980-1981
E - Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 18
1931-1937, 1947-1952, 1961, 1975-1980
F - Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 19
1939, 1941, 1962-1977
G - Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 20
1922-1924, 1931-1938, 1944-1953, 1966-1967, 1975-1981
H - Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 21
Mar. 16, 1944
I - Letter
Box 1 Folder 22
1932-1941, 1955-1956, 1975, 1978-1979
J - Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 23
1921, 1930-1934, 1938-1949, 1955-1956, 1961-1963, 1976, 1980-1981
K - Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 24
1962, 1972-1980
L - Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 25
1951, 1975-1980
Mc - Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 26
1925, 1933, 1939, 1945, 1951-1980
Me - Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 27
1932-1933, 1937, 1946, 1951-1953, 1957-1959, 1976-1981
Mi - Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 28
1922-1924, 1930-1939, 1946-1981
N - Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 29
Articles and letters which have appeared in The Nation, The New Republic, The New York Times
1921, 1923, 1934, 1938, 1956, 1981
O - Letters
Box 1 Folder 30
1933-1934, 1938-1943, 1955, 1974-1981
P - Correspondence, articles
Box 1 Folder 31
1974, 1980
Q - Letters
Box 1 Folder 32
1925, 1931-1934, 1938-1945, 1952-1964, 1968-1969, 1976-1981
R - Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 33
1922-1924, 1931-1933, 1937-1942, 1946-1968, 1975-1981
Sa - Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 34
1934, 1952, 1981
Sm - Correspondence
Box 1 Folder 35
1925, 1977-1980
T - Letters
Box 1 Folder 36
Nov. 6, 1967
V - One copy of a letter and monograph: Benjamin Franklin by Alexander Vianu
Box 1 Folder 37
1929, 1935, 1943-1944, 1951, 1955, 1958, 1962, 1969, 1972-1981
W - Correspondence, journal articles
Box 1 Folder 38
Mar. 26, 1981
Z- Letter
Box 1 Folder 39
Three repreints of published articles:
Box 1 Folder 40
1. "A Link in the Chain of Events Leading to American Independence," from the William and Mary Quarterly, Jan. 1946
2. "The American Doctrine of Containment." 1980 (2 copies)
3. The Origins of the Union and of the States. Separate from the Proceedings of the Massachusettes Historical Society. Vol. 72, (1957-1960)
1952-1954, 1958-1963
Twenty-six letters from Curtis Nettels to Van Wyck Brooks, the American author, critic, and translator
Box 1 Folder 41
The letters deal mainly with American writers and American literature, some political issues and also discussion of Mr. Brook's books. Some examples of his well known books are: The Wine of the Puritans, 1909; America's Coming of Age, 1915; The Ordeal of Mark Twain, 1920; The Pilgrimage of Henry James, 1925; The Life of Emerson, 1932; The Flowering of New England, 1936; New England: Indian Summer, 1940; The World of Washington Irving, 1944; The Confident Years, 1952; The Writer in America, 1953; Helen Keller, Sketch for a Portrait, 1956; Days of the Phoenix, 1957
1952, 1959
Letters
Box 1 Folder 42
This folder contains seven photocopies of letters from Van Wyck Brooks to Mr. Nettels. Also, one photocopy of a newspaper clipping written by Curtis Nettels re Van Wyck Brooks
1905-1917
One seventy-two page typescript manuscript: "Boyhood Days in a Prarie Town, Memories of Life in Topeka, Kansas, 1905-1917," by Curtis Nettels (2 copies)
Box 1 Folder 43
Students of Curtis Nettels listed in Who's Who in America
Box 1 Folder 44
1975
"A Bibliography of Works on American History Published before 1966" (598 works are listed). Presented by Curtis Nettels. Privately printed
Box 1 Folder 45
"The Doctrine of Containment," by Curtis P. Nettels. Introductory note and article. 9 pages
Box 1 Folder 46
Apr. 1941-Sept. 30, 1947
Box 2 Folder 1-7
Nov. 1947-Dec. 31, 1947
Box 2 Folder 8-13
Jan. 1948-Oct. 31, 1948
Box 2 Folder 14-18
Nov. 1948-Apr. 30, 1949
Box 2 Folder 19-23
May 1949-Dec. 31, 1949
Box 2 Folder 24-28
Jan. 1950-1973
Box 2 Folder 29-30
Jan. 1950-1973
Box 3 Folder 1-3