Dale Mortensen (1939-2014) and Beverly Mortensen (1939- ) Papers

The Dale and Beverly Mortensen Papers fill 171 boxes, includes approximately 8.96 megabytes of born-digital files, and spans the years 1939-2014. The papers are divided into four series with corresponding subseries.

Materials documenting Dale Mortensen and his career can be found in boxes 1-103.

Biographical Materials, found in boxes 1-5 and spanning the years 1939-2003, contain baby books, photographs, awards, student papers, yearbooks, fraternity books, family memorabilia, curriculum vitae, personal letters, and Mortensen’s dissertation. These materials primarily document Mortensen’s early life.

Correspondence is found in boxes 6-9 and covers the years 1974-2000. These materials consist of correspondence related to Mortensen’s career as an economist and faculty member at Northwestern University.

Teaching and Course Materials, boxes 10-30, spans the years 1970-2011. Documentation can be found here regarding courses taught by Mortensen at Northwestern and as a visiting professor at other institutions. This consists primarily of course syllabi and readings lists. The series also includes some department records from Northwestern University’s Department of Economics, as well as dissertations, and some graduate student theses and papers.

Articles and Publications, found in boxes 30-52 and spanning the years 1970-2012, contains papers and articles written by Mortensen during his professional career. These also often include papers written with colleagues. Included as well in this section is a collection of papers referred to as ‘publications for review’. Papers in this section formed a sort of reference collection for Mortensen, although in some cases this would also include drafts of articles sent by colleagues for informal (not blind) review.

Research Materials and Grants are found in boxes 53-55 and range from 1979-2008. Mortensen applied for and administered many grants during his career at Northwestern, particularly for the National Science Foundation (NSF), which are reflected here. Also found here are some small amounts of research data connected with grants received.

Conference Materials are found in boxes 56-59 and span the years 1980-2012. These materials include agendas, papers given, and itineraries for conferences Mortensen attended. Mortensen was particularly involved with the Econometric Society, the Society for Economic Dynamics and Control, and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and his activities at these and other conferences are documented here.

Books are found in boxes 59-72 and span the years 1947-2012. These include titles written by Mortensen and others, and relate to economics and allied subjects. The volumes here represent the contents of Mortensen’s own professional library.

Writings and Notes, boxes 73-74 and 1979-2012, contains research notes, calculations and notes tracking progress of research.

Referee Reports, boxes 74-77 and 1977-2012, contains reports on articles submitted for publication review and assessed anonymously. These papers sometimes contain notes written by Mortensen as the peer reviewer.

Travel materials are found in boxes 78-103, and cover the years 1961-2015. These include travel books related to the many countries Mortensen visited as well as subject files that correspond to these travels, such as correspondence and itineraries. This series includes information related to Mortensen’s travel to Stockholm, Sweden in 2010 to accept the Nobel Prize.

Dale Mortensen’s Born-digital Materials, 1992, 1996-2003, consist of approximately 2.99 gigabytes of files found on Dale Mortensen’s desktop and laptop computers.

Materials documenting Beverly Mortensen and her career are found in boxes 103-138, and contain the following:

Biographical Materials, boxes 103-104 and 1939-1991, contain baby books, family papers and photographs, clippings, correspondence, notes, letter jacket patches, high school papers, and other printed memorabilia; approximately 720 kilobytes of born-digital files span from 1993-1995.

Beverly Mortensen’s Music Career is documented in boxes 105-122 and spans 1939-2002. This series contains scores of music composed by her, along with scores and books of music related to her musical interests and work as choral director at St. Athanasius Church in Evanston, Illinois; approximately 580 kilobytes of born-digital files span from 1991-1997.

Religious Studies Materials, found in boxes 122-138 and spanning 1941-2008, includes bibliographies, notes, books, card files, newsletters, papers, and class notes. These materials document Mortensen’s time as a student, her research interests, and her teaching career; approximately 7.69 megabytes of born-digital files span from 1993-1997.

There is also a collection of materials that document both Dale and Bev Mortensen together, which can be found in boxes 139-170, spanning the years 1947-2010:

Audiovisual Materials, boxes 139-155 and 1947-2012, contains audiotapes and audiocassettes of Beverly Mortensen’s music, both her own compositions and other music. Also found here are slides and films that chronicle the Mortensen family and their travels. Photographic negatives are found here as well, and also document the Mortensen family and travels.

Artifacts, boxes 156-164 and 2005-2010, contain items that include Beverly Mortensen’s floppy disks, Dale Mortensen’s Nobel Prize certificate, the IZA Prize in Labor Economics, his chalkboard (with chalk and eraser), as well as early laptop and desktop computers.

Restricted Materials are contained in boxes 166-171.