RG XXI: Committee on Urban School Desegregation
Historical Note
The Committee on Urban School Desegregation was officially active from 1977 to 1981. It was established to convene an interdisciplinary study group to examine long-range prospects for urban school desegregation and consider solutions to ongoing education equality. Initially, the committee was chaired by Adam Yarmolinsky, with Lance Liebman serving as co-chair beginning in 1978. Other committee members included Academy Assistant Executive Director Corinne S. Schelling, Joseph Bartlett (1977), and Paul Ylvisaker (1978-1981).
The committee organized three conferences which were held at the Academy: October 14 and 15, 1977; January 27-28, 1978; and May 19-20, 1978. Conference participants represented the fields of law, education, social science, and urban affairs. Each conference focused on different issues: the recent history and current state of school desegregation in the North and South; ethnic, economic, and social factors in urban settings; and future social policies relating to education.
Papers written by participants were circulated before each conference and formed the basis of discussion. After the third conference, Yarmolinsky, Liebman, and Schelling anthologized a selection of the papers into a volume, Race and Schooling in the City, published by Harvard University Press in 1981.
Funding was provided by the Ford Foundation, the George Gund Foundation, and the Charles F. Kettering Foundation.
Scope and Content
This collection is part of the Academy Archives’ Record Group XXI: Academy Projects and Programs. It contains administrative and project records of the Committee kept within the Executive Office by Corinne Schelling between 1975 and 1982, the bulk of which were created between 1977 and 1981.
The records reflect Schelling’s roles as committee member and book editor, and include correspondence and administrative records, as well as records related to the book’s publication. Correspondence is chiefly between Corinne Schelling and grantors, study group participants, committee chairs Adam Yarmolinsky and Lance Liebman, and Harvard University Press. Administrative records include initial and revised project proposals and budgets; lists of participants, audio recordings, and summary reports of each conference; and committee meeting plans, which seem to have been developed mainly by Schelling and Yarmolinsky via letter. Publication records include agreements with Harvard University Press, contributors’ biographical notes and curricula vitae, Yarmolinsky’s draft of the book’s preface, permissions forms and paperwork, and reviews following the book’s publication, some clipped from newspapers and periodicals. A significant number of records were either written or annotated by Schelling in her own hand.
Arrangement
Processing for this collection utilized MPLP principles; thus, minimal preservation steps were taken and folder titles listed in the finding aid are as they appeared on the original folders, with typographical errors or misspellings corrected. One empty folder was discarded. Folders are arranged in rough chronological order, but original order of the records themselves has been maintained.
Description: This series contains records relating to the operation and project work of the Committee. It includes Corrinne Schelling's correspondence, grant files, conference audio, and records relating to the publication of Race and Schooling in the City.
Arrangement: Original order, generally chronological.
| Box 1 | Folder 1 | Integration – Yarmolinsky 75-76 [1 of 2] |
| Box 1 | Folder 2 | Integration – Yarmolinsky 75-76 [2 of 2] |
| Box 1 | Folder 3 | Desegregation – Grants [1 of 2] |
| Box 1 | Folder 4 | Desegregation – Grants [2 of 2] |
| Box 1 | Folder 5 | Desegregation Originals, Memos, Notes |
| Box 1 | Folder 6 | Integration – 77 |
| Box 1 | Folder 7 | Desegregation – October and January |
| Box 2 | Folder 1 | (2 audio reels) |
| Box 2 | Folder 2 | (1 audio reel) |
| Box 2 | Folder 3 | (2 audio reels) |
| Box 2 | Folder 4 | (2 audio reels) |
| Box 1 | Folder 8 | Integration – May 78 |
| Box 2 | Folder 5 | (1 audio reel) |
| Box 2 | Folder 6 | (1 audio reel) |
| Box 1 | Folder 9 | Desegregation – Book |
| Box 1 | Folder 10 | CVs, Assignments, Desegregation HUP |
| Box 1 | Folder 11 | HU Press, Urban School Desegregation Bk [1 of 2] |
| Box 1 | Folder 12 | HU Press, Urban School Desegregation Bk [2 of 2] |