Papers of Hannah Arendt [finding aid]. Library of Congress

51 Pages·2015·0.2 MB·English

by  Arendt, Hannah, 1906-1975

Hannah Arendt Papers
A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress
Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.
2001
Revised 2015 June
Contact information:
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Additional search options available at:
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms001004
LC Online Catalog record:
http://lccn.loc.gov/mm79011056
Prepared by Frank Burke, Carolyn H. Sung, Allan Teichroew, and David Mathisen
Revised and expanded by Michael Spangler with the assistance of Alys Glaze and Kathryn Sukites
Collection Summary
Title: Hannah Arendt Papers
Span Dates: 1898-1977
Bulk Dates: (bulk 1948-1977)
ID No.: MSS11056
Creator: Arendt, Hannah, 1906-1975
Extent: 25,000 items ; 95 containers plus 1 oversize ; 38 linear feet
Language: Collection material in English, French, and German
Location: Manuscript Division,, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Summary: Author, educator, and political philosopher. Correspondence, articles, lectures, speeches, book manuscripts,
subject files, transcripts of trial proceedings, notes, and printed matter pertaining to the writings and academic career of
Hannah Arendt.
Selected Search Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are
grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.
People
Arendt, Hannah, 1906-1975.
Arendt, Hannah, 1906-1975. Between past and future; six exercises in political thought. 1961.
Arendt, Hannah, 1906-1975. Eichmann in Jerusalem; a report on the banality of evil. 1963.
Arendt, Hannah, 1906-1975. Life of the mind. 1978.
Arendt, Hannah, 1906-1975. Men in dark times. 1968.
Auden, W. H. (Wystan Hugh), 1907-1973--Correspondence.
Ayalti, Hanan J., 1910- --Correspondence.
Bellow, Saul--Correspondence.
Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940--Correspondence.
Blücher, Heinrich, 1899-1970. Heinrich Blücher papers.
Colie, Rosalie Littell--Correspondence.
Eichmann, Adolf, 1906-1962--Trials, litigation, etc.
Fest, Joachim C., 1926-2006--Correspondence.
Friedrich, Carl J. (Carl Joachim), 1901-1984--Correspondence.
Gilbert, Elke--Correspondence.
Gilbert, Robert, 1899-1978--Correspondence.
Gray, J. Glenn (Jesse Glenn), 1913-1977--Correspondence.
Gurian, Waldemar, 1902-1954--Correspondence.
Hochhuth, Rolf--Correspondence.
Jarrell, Randall, 1914-1965--Correspondence.
Jonas, Hans, 1903-1993--Correspondence.
Jovanovich, William--Correspondence.
Kazin, Alfred, 1915-1998--Correspondence.
Köhler, Lotte--Correspondence.
Lowell, Robert, 1917-1977--Correspondence.
MacDonald, Dwight--Correspondence.
Magnes, Judah Leon, 1877-1948--Correspondence.
McCarthy, Mary, 1912-1989--Correspondence.
Morgenthau, Hans J. (Hans Joachim), 1904-1980--Correspondence.
Riesman, David, 1909-2002--Correspondence.
Rosenau, Ruth H.--Correspondence.
Scholem, Gershom, 1897-1982--Correspondence.
Shawn, William--Correspondence.
Silvers, Robert B.--Correspondence.
Hannah Arendt Papers 2
Spender, Stephen, 1909-1995--Correspondence.
Tillich, Paul, 1886-1965--Correspondence.
Voegelin, Eric, 1901-1985--Correspondence.
Vollrath, Ernst--Correspondence.
Weil, Anne--Correspondence.
Wolff, Helen, 1906-1994--Correspondence.
Wolff, Kurt, 1887-1963--Correspondence.
Organizations
University of Chicago--Faculty--Correspondence.
Subjects
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Jews--Persecutions.
National socialism.
Philosophy.
Political science--Philosophy.
Totalitarianism.
War crime trials--Jerusalem.
Zionism.
Places
Germany--Politics and government--1933-1945.
Palestine--Politics and government--1948-
Titles
Hannah Arendt Papers at the Library of Congress
Occupations
Authors.
Educators.
Philosophers.
Administrative Information
Provenance
The papers of Hannah Arendt, author, educator, and political philosopher, were received by the Library of Congress in
various installments from 1965 to 2000 as a gift and bequest from Arendt. Small additions were made by Klaus Loewald in
1981 and Roger Errera in 1994.
Processing History
The papers of Hannah Arendt were initially organized and described in 1965 and 1967. A large group of the material
received in 1977 was incorporated into the collection in 1980. Items received in 1982 were processed as Addition I.
Material received between 1985 and 1997 was organized as Addition II in 1998, and material comprising Addition III was
received and organized in 2000. The entire collection was reprocessed and the register was revised in 2000.
Transfers
Photographs have been transferred to the Library's Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as a part of
these papers.
Copyright Status
Copyright in the unpublished writings of Hannah Arendt in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of
the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public, with the exception of any work which at the time of her death was
under contract with a publisher.
Hannah Arendt Papers 3
Access and Restrictions
The papers of Hannah Arendt are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior
to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Online Content
A digital version of the Hannah Arendt Papers is available in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, in the
Raymond Fogelman Library at the New School University in New York, N.Y., and in the Hannah Arendt Research Center
at the University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany. Selected items from the the digital version can be accessed through
the Library of Congress Web site at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/collmss.ms000011. To promote preservation of the originals,
researchers are required to consult the digital edition.
Preferred Citation
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Hannah Arendt
Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Biographical Note
Date Event
1906, Oct. 14 Born, Hannover, Germany
1928 Ph.D., Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
1929 Published Der Liebesbegriff bei Augustin (Berlin: Springer Verlag. 90 pp.)
Married Günther Stern (divorced 1937)
1933 Moved to Paris, France
1935-1939 Secretary general, Youth Aliyah, Jewish Agency for Palestine, Paris, France
1938-1939 Special agent for rescue of Jewish children from Austria and Czechoslovakia
1940 Married Heinrich Blücher (died 1970)
Interned in concentration camp, Gurs, France
1941 Emigrated with her husband to the United States
1941-1945 Journalist
1944-1946 Research director, Conference on Jewish Relations
1946-1948 Chief editor, Schocken Books
1949-1952 Executive director, Jewish Cultural Reconstruction
1951 Published The Origins of Totalitarianism (New York: Harcourt, Brace. 477 pp.)
Became a United States citizen
1952 Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship
1953 Delivered Christian Gauss lectures, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.
Hannah Arendt Papers 4
1954 National Institute of Arts and Letters grant
1955 Visiting professor, University of California, Berkeley, Calif.
1956 Delivered Walgreen Foundation lecture, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
1957 Published Rahel Varnhagen, the Life of a Jewess (London: Published for the Leo Baeck Institute
by the East and West Library. 222 pp.); translated from the German by Richard and Clara
Winston
1958 Published The Human Condition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 332 pp.)
1959 Visiting professor, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.
1960 Visiting professor, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.
1961 Visiting professor of humanities, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.
Published Between Past and Future (New York: Viking Press. 246 pp.)
1961-1962 Fellow, Center for Advanced Studies, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn.
1963 Published Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (New York: Viking Press. 275
pp.)
Published On Revolution (New York: Viking Press. 343 pp.)
1963-1975 Professor and visiting lecturer, Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
1967 Received Sigmund Freud Prize of the German Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung
1967-1975 University professor of philosophy, New School for Social Research, New York, N.Y.
1968 Published Men in Dark Times (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. 272 pp.)
1969 Awarded Emerson-Thoreau Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1969-1975 Associate Fellow, Calhoun College, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
1970 Published On Violence (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. 106 pp.)
1972 Published Crises of the Republic (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 240 pp.)
1972-1975 Member, Advisory Council of the Department of Philosophy, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.
1973-1974 Delivered Gifford lectures, University of Aberdeen, n Aberdeen, Scotland
1975 Awarded Sonning Prize in Denmark
1975, Dec. 4 Died, New York, N.Y.
Hannah Arendt Papers 5
1978 Posthumous publication of The Jew as Pariah, edited with an introduction by Ron H. Feldman
(New York: Grove Press. 288 pp.)
Posthumous publication of The Life of the Mind (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 2 vols.)
1982 Posthumous publication of Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy, edited with an interpretive
essay by Ronald Beiner (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 174 pp.)
1994 Posthumous publication of Essays in Understanding, 1930-1954, edited by Jerome Kohn (New
York: Harcourt, Brace & Co. 458 pp.)
1996 Posthumous publication of Love and Saint Augustine, edited and with an interpretive essay by
Joanna Vecchiarelli Scott and Judith Chelius Stark (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 233
pp.)
Publication of Hannah Arendt/Heinrich Blücher: Briefe 1936-1968, edited and with an
introduction by Lotte Kohler (Munich: Piper. 596 pp.); translated into English by Peter
Constantine and published in 2000 as Within Four Walls: The Correspondence between
Hannah Arendt and Heinrich Blücher, 1936-1968 (N.Y.: Harcourt. 459 pp.)
Scope and Content Note
The papers of Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) span the period 1898-1977, with the bulk of the material beginning in 1948,
three years prior to her naturalization as an American citizen. The collection is organized in the following series: Family
Papers , Correspondence , Adolf Eichmann File , Subject File , Speeches and Writings File , Clippings , Addition I ,
Addition II , Addition III , and Oversize. Rich in manuscripts and correspondence for Arendt's productive years as a writer
and lecturer after World War II, the papers are sparse before the mid-1940s because of Arendt's forced departure from Nazi
Germany in 1933 and her escape from occupied France in 1941. Exceptions to the lack of documentation for the first part
of her life include a few notebooks and writings, several official and private records relating mainly to her divorce, family
history, and emigration, and a small group of personal correspondence with her second husband, Heinrich Blücher, some of
whose letters and unpublished writings can be found in the Family Papers series. Much of the material is in German and
other European languages.
Born Johanna Cohn Arendt, Arendt later used the name Blücher for domestic identification. She studied with Karl Jaspers
at Heidelberg University, but her career was diverted from teaching and writing for more than a decade as a result of Adolf
Hitler's rise to power and the subsequent persecution of the Jews. While in France and for several years in the United
States, she worked as a welfare agent in charge of aiding Jews and as a journalist for various Jewish political and social
organizations. Her papers document her support for the creation of a Palestinian homeland for Jews until 1948, when she
dissented from certain Israeli policies.
The largest portion of these papers consists of the Correspondence series subdivided under General Correspondence ,
Organizations , Publishers , and Universities and Colleges headings. The material traces Arendt's intellectual, social, and
professional life from the late 1940s to her death. Though not a prolific letter writer, Arendt corresponded with men and
women of letters throughout Europe and America, often for the purpose of granting a reference or arranging conference and
lecture dates, but just as frequently to exchange thoughts and ideas. Her correspondents include obscure as well as
renowned members of the literary and academic community, many of whom sent her manuscripts in tribute to her
intellectual influence or to solicit her comments. Among the prominent names appearing in the General Correspondence are
poets W. H. Auden, Randall Jarrell, Robert Lowell, and Stephen Spender; historians Joachim C. Fest and Carl J. Friedrich;
and writers Alfred Kazin, Dwight MacDonald, Mary McCarthy, and David Riesman. Readers should note that Arendt often
typed replies on the reverse side of the original letters that she received.
Among the correspondence pertaining to organizations , publishers , and universities and colleges are occasional personal
jottings from individuals who wrote in an official capacity but were her friends and acquaintances as well. Among their
letters is correspondence with publishers and editors, especially Robert B. Silvers of the New York Review of Books,
William Shawn of the New Yorker, and William Jovanovich of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, and with Saul Bellow and other
Hannah Arendt Papers 6
faculty members at the University of Chicago where Arendt was a professor and graduate student adviser on the Committee
on Social Thought.
The Adolf Eichmann File deals with what was perhaps Arendt's most prominent and controversial work, Eichmann in
Jerusalem. Subtitled A Report on the Banality of Evil, Arendt's conclusions about the nature and character of totalitarian
rule in Nazi Germany, plus her interpretation of the Jewish response to the Holocaust, prompted a strenuous and often
emotional debate recorded in folders containing book reviews, articles, and letters to the editors of the New York Times and
the New Yorker. Also in the Eichmann files is material which Arendt collected while covering the Nazi leader's trial in
Jerusalem in 1961, including incomplete but extensive copies of the English and German transcripts of the trial's
proceedings, copies of the final ruling of the Israeli Supreme Court, and several files of notes and miscellaneous
background information. Drafts and related material for Eichmann in Jerusalem are located in the Speeches and Writings
series.
The Subject File chiefly treats Arendt's role as a teacher and lecturer as reflected in the courses she taught at such
institutions as the New School for Social Research, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Chicago,
among others. Numerous copies of lectures and seminar notes by Arendt include "Kant's Political Philosophy" delivered at
both the New School and the University of Chicago. Also included is material relating to Arendt's students as well as
contracts and royalties for her publications.
The Speeches and Writings File spans the years 1923-1975. Arendt's doctoral dissertation, Der Liebesbegriff bei Augustin,
issued by Springer Verlag in 1929, is present in the original published version and in a manuscript of an English translation,
Love and Saint Augustine. Also in this series are various drafts of lectures and chapters incorporated into Arendt's two-
volume work on The Life of the Mind, published posthumously in 1978. Other book-length manuscripts include the first and
final drafts of Between Past and Future; the first and final corrected copies of Eichmann in Jerusalem, with additional
drafts of the German translation; and Men in Dark Times. Essays and lectures are also in the Speeches and Writings series
in addition to the lectures and seminar notes in the Subject File folders designated "Courses." Research material arranged
by topic is filed under "Extracts and Notes" in the Speeches and Writings series.
Addition I supplements the Speeches and Writings series with extensive material pertaining to the publication of The Life of
the Mind, including drafts annotated by the work's editor, Mary McCarthy. A small group of lectures is also contained in
this addition. Addition II includes correspondence from Arendt to Heinrich Blücher and a notebook kept by Arendt's
mother recording Arendt's development as a child.
In addition to the correspondents noted above, the Arendt Papers include letters to and from Hanan J. Ayalti (pen name of
Hanan Klenbort), Walter Benjamin, Rosalie Littell Colie, Robert and Elke Gilbert, J. Glenn Gray, Waldemar Gurian, Rolf
Hochhuth, Hans Jonas, Lotte Kohler, Judah Leon Magnes, Hans Joachim Morgenthau, Ruth H. Rosenau, Gershom Gerhard
Scholem, Paul Tillich, Eric Voegelin, Ernst Vollrath, Anne Weil, and Helen and Kurt Wolff.
Lotte Kohler's Hannah Arendt/Heinrich Blücher: Briefe 1936-1968 (Munich: Piper, 1996) was consulted for assistance in
arranging of the correspondence between Arendt and Heinrich Blücher in the Family Papers series.
Organization of the Papers
The collection is arranged in ten series:
• Family Papers, 1898-1975
• Correspondence, 1938-1976
• Adolf Eichmann File, 1938-1968
• Subject File, 1949-1975
• Speeches and Writings File, 1923-1975
• Clippings, 1942-1975
• Addition I, 1966-1977
• Addition II, 1906-1975
• Addition III, 1945
• Oversize, 1930-1972
Hannah Arendt Papers 7
Description of Series
Container Series
BOX 1-8 Family Papers, 1898-1975
Correspondence, writings, and miscellaneous financial, business, and personal material.
Subdivided under headings for Hannah Arendt and her husband, Heinrich Blücher, and
arranged alphabetically thereunder by type of material or topic.
BOX 8-43 Correspondence, 1938-1976
BOX 8-17 General, 1938-1976
Letters with enclosures sent and received.
Arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent and chronologically thereunder.
BOX 17-26 Organizations, 1943-1976
Letters with enclosures sent to and received from foundations, academic organizations, radio
and television stations, and various interest groups.
Arranged alphabetically by name of organization and chronologically thereunder.
BOX 26-35 Publishers, 1944-1975
Letters with enclosures sent to and received from publishing firms and editors of periodicals.
Arranged alphabetically by name of magazine, journal, or publisher and chronologically
thereunder.
BOX 35-43 Universities and Colleges, 1947-1975
Letters with enclosures sent to and received from faculty members and administrators of
colleges and universities.
Arranged alphabetically by name of institution and chronologically thereunder.
BOX 43-54 Adolf Eichmann File, 1938-1968
Correspondence, reports, transcripts, notes, reviews, clippings, and related material concerning
the trial of Adolf Eichmann.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material or topic and chronologically or alphabetically
thereunder.
BOX 54-62 Subject File, 1949-1975
Course material including lectures, correspondence, notes, clippings, book reviews, class lists,
contracts and royalty statements, book lists, and miscellaneous printed and near-print
material.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material or topic.
BOX 62-85 Speeches and Writings File, 1923-1975
Printed, near-print, typewritten, and handwritten manuscripts of books, essays, lectures, and
other writings by Arendt.
Grouped by format and arranged alphabetically thereunder by title or topic.
BOX 85-87 Clippings, 1942-1975
Clippings of book reviews and miscellaneous news items concerning Arendt.
Arranged alphabetically by name of publication or topic.
Hannah Arendt Papers 8
BOX 88-94 Addition I, 1966-1977
Manuscripts, notes, and printed and near-print material relating to books and lectures by
Arendt.
Arranged alphabetically by format and title.
BOX 94-95 Addition II, 1906-1975
Letters, a notebook kept by Arendt's mother, writings, and honorary degrees.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
BOX 95 Addition III, 1945
Correspondence and notes by Arendt.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
BOX OV 1 Oversize, 1930-1972
Oversize material consisting of broadsides and certificates.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items
were removed.
Hannah Arendt Papers 9
Container List
Container Contents
BOX 1-8 Family Papers, 1898-1975
Correspondence, writings, and miscellaneous financial, business, and personal material.
Subdivided under headings for Hannah Arendt and her husband, Heinrich Blücher, and
arranged alphabetically thereunder by type of material or topic.
BOX 1 Arendt, Hannah
Correspondence
Beerwald, Eva (stepsister), 1938, 1948-1975
Blücher, Heinrich (husband)
1936, Aug.-Nov.
1937, Feb.-Sept.
1938, Apr.-Oct.
1939, Mar.-Oct.
1939, Nov.-Dec.
1940, June-1941, Aug.
1945, Aug.-1947, July
1948, July-1949, Dec.
1950, Jan.-Nov.
1951, June-1952, May
1952, June
1952, July-Aug.
1953, Aug.
1955, Feb.-May
1955, June-Dec.
1956, Oct.-Nov.
1958, May-1959, Oct.
1961, Feb.-June
1963, Feb.-1968, Sept.
Undated
Restitution from Germany
Bundes Wiedergutmachungsgesetz im öffentlichen Dienst (German restitution
legislation)
Index; A-B, 1966-1969
BOX 2 C-D, 1966-1972
E, 1956-1966, undated
H-J, undated
K-L
1957-1972
1973-1975, undated
Sch, 1971
Newman, Randolph H. and Eva E.
1951, Feb.-1966, July
Hannah Arendt Papers 10