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This series contains papers pertaining to Robert Rienow and his family. Included are Rienow's military records from his World War II service in the United States Army and from the New York National Guard. These include discharge papers, appointment papers, immunization records, correspondence and memos. Also found in this series are legal documents and financial records from the estate of Rienow's uncle in Wisconsin, Fred Rienow. Rienow's education is documented through class notes and papers from West Point and from Columbia University, where he completed his Ph.D. There are several folders of brochures, news clippings, and souvenirs from Rienow's travels, including trips to Europe and the Midwest.

This series contains files on courses taught by Rienow in the School of Public Policy and Affairs and the Department of Political Science at the State University of New York at Albany. The materials in this series include syllabi, lecture notes, examinations, and student papers. Related correspondence and clippings are also included. Files are arranged by course number, when known. There are several folders of final examinations not sorted by course number, as well as two folders of lecture notes and miscellaneous materials with no course number identified.

In this series are manuscripts and drafts of articles and book chapters written by Rienow, both alone and in cooperation with his wife. In many cases there are multiple drafts of the same article. Many of the drafts include handwritten corrections and annotations by Rienow. These files also include clippings and handwritten notes used in the creation of drafts and manuscripts, as well as occasional correspondence with publishers. Most of the writings relate to Rienow's political science or environmental interests. These include articles on the American standard of living and nuclear fallout, and contributions to the Book of Knowledge and the World Book Encyclopedia on United States government. A number of manuscripts, many of which were co-authored with Leona Train Rienow, are satirical looks at American and European society, including travel articles such as "What! No Lather?" Also found in this series are several drafts of Leona Train Rienow's 1970 novel The Year of the Last Eagle, to which Robert Rienow contributed, as well as a draft of her 1948 novel The Bewitched Caverns.

This series contains scripts and supporting materials for broadcasts conducted by Rienow. Two lecture series predominate. The first, Living Patterns of Government, was a televised political science course broadcast in early 1958. The second, Man Against His Environment, was a 28 part radio lecture series which addressed a variety of environmental concerns. Topics include air and water pollution, overpopulation, deforestation of the wilderness, and overcrowding in cities. There are also files on other broadcasts by Rienow, such as "The Politics of Survival: The Image of the President.".

This series contains drafts of speeches and lectures presented by Rienow at various public functions as well as notes taken on the topic of the speech and occasionally clippings regarding the speech. There is also occasional correspondence between Rienow and the person or group for whom he is presenting. The majority of these speeches relate to Rienow's environmental interests. Topics include pollution, land use and nuclear fallout. A few speeches are on topics in political science and teaching, such as those presented to the Symposium on Citizenship Education.

The majority of the correspondence in this series relates to Rienow's environmental activism. Included is correspondence with members of various environmental organizations, such as the Defenders of Wildlife and the Nature Conservancy, as well as letters written to policy makers such as New York State and United States Senators. Additional correspondence relates to Rienow's writing career, including correspondence with publishers, fan mail, and letters to Rienow asking him to speak at a variety of engagements. The series also contains personal correspondence between Rienow and family members as well as other friends or acquaintances such as Erastus Corning II, Mayor of the City of Albany, and Lady Bird Johnson.

This series is comprised of files on organizations and subjects that were of interest to Rienow. Groups include Defenders of Wildlife, Zero Population Growth, the Nature Conservancy, and Citizens to Save the Adirondack Park. Topics include deforestation and land use, wildlife protection, overpopulation, national wealth, nuclear fallout and the problems of atomic energy, and various forms of pollution. The files contain mostly notes, news clippings, articles, mailings, and publications. There are also files related to government agencies, such as the Department of the Interior and the United States National Treasury. These files consist mainly of government publications on environmental policies and issues, as well as some publications on the structures of the agencies. A few files relate to political science topics.

This series consists of magazine and journal issues with articles by Rienow. Also included are teachers' manuals for Rienow's textbooks, American Problems Today and American Government in Today's World.

This series contains audio tapes of Robert Rienow's lectures, which were produced and distributed by the Center for Cassette Studies. Many of the cassettes are from the Man Against His Environment lecture series. Some were part of other Center for Cassette Studies series, including The Ecological Spectrum. Each tape has a running time of approximately thirty minutes. Also included are case inserts and library cards that were included with each cassette, as well as catalogs of tapes offered by the Center for Cassette Studies. For preservation reasons, the tapes are stored separately from this supplementary material.