RGXXI: Seminar on Poverty

Historical Note

This Seminar on Poverty (var. Seminar on Poverty and Race Relations; Poverty Seminars; later Committee on Urban Studies) was officially active from 1966-1972. The purpose of the Committee was to oversee the organization and outcomes of a series of conferences focused on the many components of poverty, in a multi-disciplinary approach. Daniel Patrick Moynihan was chair from 1966-1970, at which time Robert C. Wood Became Chair.

Ten initial sessions were held between May 1966 and October 1967. As a result, two books were published in 1969 by Basic Books: On Understanding Poverty: Perspectives from the Social Sciences by Daniel Patrick Moynihan; and On Fighting Poverty: Perspectives from Experience, by James Sundquist. These publications were conceived respectively as Volume I and II.

Conferences from 1968 forward were organized around four project areas: Evaluation of Social Action Programs (Peter Rossi, chair); Income Maintenance (Lee Rainwater, chair), Stratification and Poverty (S.M. Miller & S. M. Lipset, co-chairs), and Transportation and Poverty (John Meyer, chair). The project area Evaluation of Social Action Program included a joint effort with the British Home Office, consisting of a conference at Ditchley Park, England. While efforts to publish the proceedings of these conferences continued until 1973, no publications resulted.

Funding provided by the Stern Family Fund, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and by the United States Department of Transportation.

Name Variations

Seminar on Poverty (var Seminar on Poverty and Race Relations; Poverty Seminars), 1966-1967
Committee on Urban Studies, ca. 1968-1974

Scope and Content

The series is contained within the Academy Archives’ Record Group XXI: Academy Projects and Programs. This series contains the administrative and project records of the Committee, from 1965 to 1974, the majority created between 1966-1970 by the executive office of John Voss and held with project files. Included among administrative records are correspondence, grant financials, and memoranda. Included among project records are correspondence, transcripts, and planning materials. 

Administrative records from the time of Robert C. Wood as Chair of the Committee on Urban Studies are missing from this collection, and as yet are unidentified among the Academy’s larger unprocessed material. Significant material present includes 7” reel audio recordings of the conferences and draft transcripts of publications.

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. Records of the Academy Committee were kept by the office of John Voss, Chief Executive Officer of the Academy. Original order of the records was maintained, with records interfiled where appropriate. Some files were created outside the filing system and were incorporated with like materials. 

The series is divided into two subseries: Subseries 1: Administration and Subseries 2: Projects.

Subseries 2: Projects is further divided into five sub-subseries: Sub-subseries 2.1: Poverty Seminars; Sub-subseries 2.2: Evaluation of Social Action Programs; Sub-subseries 2.3: Income Maintenance; Sub-subseries 2.4: Stratification and Poverty; and Sub-subseries 2.5: Transportation and Poverty.

Sub-subseries 2.1: Poverty Seminars is further divided into two sub-sub-subseries: Sub-sub-subseries 2.1.1: Monthly Seminars, 1966-1967; and Sub-sub-subseries 2.1.2: Poverty Publication.

Volume

4 records center cartons (4 linear feet)

Preferred Citation

[Item title, date]. Record Group XXI: Academy Projects – Seminar on Poverty and Race Relations/Committee on Urban Studies, 1965-1974. Archives, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Subjects

Lipset, Seymour Martin
Meyer, John Robert
Miller, S. M. (Seymour Michael), 1922-
Moynihan, Daniel P. (Daniel Patrick), 1927-2003
Rainwater, Lee
Rossi, Peter H. (Peter Henry), 1921-2006
Sundquist, James L.
Voss, John, 1917-
Wood, Robert Coldwell, 1923-2005
Ditchley Foundation
Home Office, London (GB).
Stern Foundation
Poor--Transportation
Poverty--United States
Public welfare--United States
Race--Economic aspects
Race--Social conditions
United States--social policy
Ditchley Park (England)