George I. Blanksten (1917-2001) Papers

The George Blanksten Papers fill two archival boxes and span the years 1952 to 2002, with the bulk of the papers falling between 1960 and 1976. The papers provide an overview of Blanksten's career at Northwestern University and of his contribution as a consultant/Latin America expert to the U.S. government during that time.

Biographical materials include C.V.s, obituaries, clippings and press releases.

Spanning the years 1960 to 1973, Correspondence is arranged chronologically. Included are letters and a few memos. The majority of the letters is outgoing and concerns an Institute on Latin America to be held at Northwestern University in 1962.

Most of Blanksten's Non-Northwestern University Activities—such as his Ford Foundation Fellowship and his consultation work for the U.S. government—are documented by a few reports and memoranda. Records include a report on his expenditures and activities relating to his 1959-60 Ford Foundation Fellowship in Economic Development and Administration; a research concept paper, meeting minutes, and report on “Project Camelot,” circa 1964; and a copy of Blanksten's 1967 testimony before a U.S. Senate sub-committee on government research. More fully documented is his involvement in the National Council for Freedom in Democracy in Greece in 1969-70. Materials include copies of outgoing correspondence, such as a form letter seeking support from faculty and political leaders. Incoming correspondence includes a response to the appeal from Hubert H. Humphrey. There are also articles (two in French), an agenda, transcripts from radio interviews and notes. A memo from Blanksten to NU president Robert Strotz recommends against allowing a planned anti-Papandreou student protest.

Blanksten's Speeches/Addresses/Papers include a transcript of a 1952 appearance on Northwestern's “Reviewing Stand” radio program and typescripts of papers delivered before the American Political Science Association. One undated paper is based on Blanksten's Ford Foundation Fellowship research.

Publications include a copy of a 1962 booklet, aimed at high school/college-age students, on The United States' Role in Latin America, as well as a number of offprints of Blanksten's articles from books, journals, and conference proceedings, dating between 1952 and 1973. One article is a 1966 Spanish translation of a paper on “Local Government in a Rising Technology” originally delivered at the APSA in 1964 (see Speeches/Addresses/Papers). Two undated book reviews and a typescript article for the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences on “Latin-American Political Thought” are also included.

The Teaching Files, as a whole, are rather bare with only a few documents per folder. The dated material spans 1960-1983. The lecture notes are handwritten, from unidentified classes and undated. Some are written in Spanish. Teaching files are arranged by department and then by class number.

Student Survey: Political Science C95, 1960-65, contains student name, local address grades received on other political science courses and approximate grade point average.

Student Examinations, 1975-76, are graded test essays for Latin American Politics C34 and Political Science C35. There are also loose sheets of papers in the back that may be student notes or the essays continued from the blue/yellow books onto regular paper.

Student Papers, Ph.D. Proposals/Doctoral Exams/Questionnaires span the years 1966 -1970. They are arranged by department, then by class number. Within each folder they are arranged by date and then by student's surname.

Dictated letters, proposals, reports are on blue microgroove phonograph records made of a thin floppy plastic. While several of these are unidentified, others retain notations that they contain letters to Latin American Institute participants (January 23, 1962), a Latin American Proposal (May 1962) and a Ford Report (June 1, 1962).