Title

Harvard University

Dates

1950–1969

Conditions Governing Access

The papers are open with permission.

Ownership & Copyright

Copyright is retained by Henry A. Kissinger for works he has authored and provided during his lifetime to the Yale University Library. After the lifetime of Dr. Kissinger, all intellectual property rights, including without limitation all copyrights, in and to the works authored by Dr. Kissinger pass to Yale University, with the exception of all intellectual property rights, including without limitation all copyrights, motion picture and/or audio rights in and to his books, interviews and any films that will be retained by Dr. Kissinger’s heirs and assigns. Copyright status for collection materials other than those authored by Dr. Kissinger is unknown.

Except for the limited purposes allowed by the Yale University Library Guide to Using Special Collections, exploitation, including without limitation the reproduction, distribution, adaption, or display of Dr. Kissinger’s works protected by the U.S. Copyright Act (Title 17 U.S.C. §101 et seq.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain shall not be commercially exploited without permission of Dr. Kissinger, the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Existence and Location of Originals

Originals of documents marked with an [LC] in the upper right-hand corner are at the Library of Congress.

Scope and Contents

The Harvard University files document Kissinger’s many positions at the university. Kissinger’s involvement with the founding of the Center for International Affairs in 1957 and its activities through 1969 is documented by correspondence and reports. The individual files contain papers and correspondence from persons who were involved with the center, either as research fellows and associates, or as a part of its staff. The seminars files contain papers written by participants, correspondence, schedules and memoranda.

This section also contains materials--primarily correspondence--pertaining to Kissinger’s founding and editing of the international affairs journal Confluence, which was published between 1952 and 1957. This correspondence, along with the correspondence of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and McGeorge Bundy found in the Correspondence subseries, documents Kissinger’s effort to create a journal in which intellectuals from Europe, Asia and America could exchange views on politics, philosophy and the humanities.

There is also substantial material concerning the Defense Studies Program which sought to create a forum for the study of defense policy and to train graduate students for government service in areas related to national security. Its main activity every year was the Defense Policy Seminar which Kissinger ran with W. Barton Leach, a professor at Harvard Law School, and which brought in military officials and policymakers as guest speakers. Kissinger’s Defense Policy Seminar is well documented from 1956 to 1960 and from 1966 to 1968.

Kissinger’s role in establishing and running the International Seminar is extensively documented, especially for the years 1956 and 1957, by correspondence about the program’s funding and potential participants. Since the seminar sought to bring students from abroad and foster international understanding and ties, a persistent theme in this correspondence is Kissinger’s search for a diverse group of participants, in both nationality and interests.