Collections

The bulk of the collection consists of Bendix' writings and the materials used by him for research purposes as well as for his courses in political and social sciences. This includes a large volume of materials on Max Weber, social stratification, power and authority, bureaucracy, industrialization and large-scale organizations. Bendix' files contain correspondence dealing with his career at the University of California, Berkeley and include materials pertaining to controversies at the university and within the Department of Sociology, as well as student issues and recommendations. Also present in the collection are a number of files dealing with individuals and issues connected with both the American Sociological Association and the International Sociological Association.

The Henry Ehrmann Papers are focused on Ehrmann's scholarly career as a political scientist and a professor of law and his participation in the program of re-education of German prisoners-of-war in the 1940s. The material also documents Ehrmann's association with other universities and institutions in the United States and Europe. The correspondence from and to the former German prisoners-of-war who met Ehrmann during the reeducation program organized by the War Department include letters - in several cases written by the prisoners' family members as well - almost entirely dating from the period immediately subsequent to the POWs' release and their return to Germany. Therefore, they are a valuable source of information about the living conditions in occupied Germany, the country's political transformation, and the correspondents' adaptation to new circumstances. Letters in the general correspondence subseries are, for the most part, related to Ehrmann's contacts with his fellow scholars and with academic or political institutions. Also included are speeches, lectures, lecture notes, and newspaper articles, 1941–1984. Ehrmann was a professor of political science at the University of Colorado, the University of California at San Diego, and Dartmouth University, and worked on French politics, labor relations, and comparative government.