RG XXI: Committee on Human Values, Systems Analysis, and the Environment

Historical Note

The Committee on Human Values, Systems Analysis, and the Environment (HVSAE) was officially active from 1971-1975. The purpose of the Committee was to explore the problems decision-makers faced in policy choices relating to environmental issues. The proposal to the NSF for funding was titled "Research Needs Concerning the Incorporation of Human Values into Environmental Decision Making". The Committee was chaired by Murray Gell-Mann for its duration. Through 1971 the Academy held small exploratory meetings on the issue, largely under the direction of Lawrence Tribe. Meetings were held in April of 1973 and 1974. The second meeting, in 1974, was held in cooperation with the Center for Environmental Study at Princeton. 

Each meeting produced a book, published in 1976 by Ballinger Publishing Company. The first resulting from the 1973 meeting, When Values Conflict: Essays on Environmental Analysis, Discourse, and Decision, was edited by Lawrence Tribe, Corrine Schelling, and John Voss, and focused on conceptual and methodological problems. The second book, resulting from the 1974 meeting, was Boundaries of Analysis: An Inquiry into the Tocks Island Dam (NJ) Controversy. Edited by Harold Feiveson, Frank Sinden, and Robert Socolow, the book was a study of policy analysis and decision-making, with the Tocks Island Dam as a case study.

Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Scope and Content

The series is contained within the Academy Archives’ Record Group XXI: Academy Projects and Programs. It contains the administrative and project records of the Academy relating to the Committee, from 1971-1976. The majority of the records were created or received from 1971-1974 by the Executive office of the Academy, including Corrine Schelling and John Voss. Records include correspondence with publishers, meeting participants, and committee members. It also includes meeting transcripts, draft manuscripts, and reports. Later records created after the official life of the committee relate to the publication.

See related records RG XXI: Academy Projects and Programs,  Environmental Ethics / Man and Nature / Wilderness. Also (unprocessed) Social Values and Technology Choice in an International Context.

Arrangement

Processing for the series utilized MPLP principles, thus minimum preservation steps were taken, and folder titles listed in the finding aid are as they appear on the actual folders. While most records were held by the Executive Office of John Voss, some files were kept out of the filing scheme and have been interfiled where appropriate. 

This series is arranged into two subseries: Subseries 1: General; and Subseries 2: Tocks Dam. Each has been arranged chronologically, with original order maintained as much as possible.

Volume

2 records center cartons (1.75 linear feet)

Preferred Citation

[Item title, date]. Record Group XXI: Academy Projects – Committee on Human Values, Systems Analysis, and the Environment / Research Needs Concerning the Incorporation of Human Values into Environmental Decision-Making, 1971-1990. Archives, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Subjects

Feiveson, Harold A.
Gell-Mann, Murray
Schelling, Corinne Saposs
Sinden, F. W.
Socolow, Robert H.
Tribe, Lawrence H.
Voss, John, 1917-
National Science Foundation
Environmental policy
Environmental policy -- United States
Social values
Tocks Island Reservoir Project
Water resources development--Environmental aspects
Delaware River Watershed (N.Y.-Del. and N.J.)