Series 1 contains material related to Professor Steen's oral history projects and their related material. Two of his major oral history projects were about Albany Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. Other projects pertain to topics such as Albany's black community, the Holocaust, and radio. Please note that formal oral history interviews with prisoners of war were never conducted because grant funding could not be obtained. Folders typically contain correspondence with each interviewee as well as interview transcripts and background information. There are cassette tapes to accompany the interview transcripts. Cassette tapes with general dates or date ranges indicate multiple interview dates.
The material in this series focuses primarily on the Republican Party candidates and platforms for national elections and elections in New York, both the state and city. There is also information relating to specific election and demographic concerns for the Republican Party. There is extensive documentation concerning Richard Nixon's U.S. presidential bids and the political realities of the early 1960s. In addition to specific elections, there are materials concerning the Republican Party more generally, such as its strengths and weaknesses and stances on particular social concerns. The News Clippings folders contain articles or entire pages of newspapers encompassing elections, editorials, Republican and Democratic platforms and candidates. Not all the clippings have been photocopied; the originals are often brittle and should be handled with care. The material is arranged by date of its creation. For example, documents created in 1963 regarding the 1964 election are in the folders for 1963. Researchers interested in a particular election year should look in the folders of the prior year for pre-election reports, analysis, news stories, relevant correspondence, etc. It is also recommended that researchers look in the Campaign series for additional material related to a specific candidate, election, or platform.