American Committee for Cultural Freedom.
American Committee for Cultural Freedom records, 1939-1957 (bulk 1950-1957).
For the international organization, the records consist of a very small sampling of minutes and publications and a substantial array of the proceedings of conferences and congresses held all over the world from 1950 to 1956. Also includes material concerning the international organization's relationships with affiliate organizations. Records for the American Committee for Cultural Freedom include extensive files of minutes, correspondence, corporate and financial records. Documentation of public activities is similarly extensive. These include ACCF generated arts festivals, forums and petition campaigns; advocacy interventions in visa cases, deportations and loyalty-security hearings; the often unsuccessful courting of foundation grants for a wide range of activities; and numerous instances in which the Committee took on the role of warning intellectuals engaged in particular non-ACCF programs in defense of cultural freedom that they were allying themselves with politically tainted persons. Other instances of disparate responses among the intellectual community to Cold War issues are documented in the final subseries of the records including files dealing with J. Robert Oppenheimer loyalty case.
Committee of prominent artists and intellectuals organized as an affiliate of the International Congress for Cultural Freedom in 1950, but with roots in a long dormant domestic organization, the Committee for Cultural Freedom (1939-1940). Activities and programs on behalf of cultural freedom were generally informed by the staunch anti-communist orientation associated with the height of the Cold War period. Variant responses to the mid-1950's waning of these Cold War tensions led first to disaffiliation with the international organization and finally to formal dissolution in 1957. At the height of its activities, scores of artists and intellectuals across a surprisingly broad political spectrum were involved with the Committee either as invited members, as participants in its numerous campaigns and programs, or as correspondents.
Bell, Daniel, 1919-
Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967
International Association for Cultural Freedom.
Congress for Cultural Freedom.
National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee (U.S.).
Anti-communist movements -- United States.
Right and left (Political science).
Minutes. aat
Proceedings. aat
AIP-ICOS
New York University. Archives. Tamiment Institute Library. 70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012, USA