Finding Aid |
1964-1980

RG XXI: Commission on the Year 2000

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION


Historical Note

Interest in the millennium developed not only from the significance of the event, but from the anticipation of the world to come, full of new technologies, shifting policies, and a changing role for the U. S. in the global arena. The Academy established the Commission on the Year 2000 in 1964 to consider the consequences of private and public decisions, anticipate future problems, and suggest alternative solutions before those problems descended unnoticed and demanded an immediate--and not always effective--response. Chaired by Harvard University’s Daniel Bell (elected 1964), the Commission’s task was to imagine the future and identify the problem areas and social and intellectual questions likely to be central by the year 2000. Among the issues discussed were: biomedical sciences and technology; economic institutions; the individual; intellectual institutions; the international system; the life-cycle of the individual; science and society; the social impact of the computer; the U.S. government; and values and rights.

First published in Dædalus in 1967, the Commission report’s chapter titles reveal topics that have been and continue to be at the center of scholarly research and contemporary politics. In addition to the Dædalus issue, the Commission produced the following publications: Toward the Year 2000: Work in Progress, ed. Daniel Bell and Stephen R. Graubard. Cambridge and London: The MIT Press, 1967, 1968, 1997; and The Future of the U.S. Government: Toward the Year 2000, ed. Harvey S. Perloff. New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1971. In March 1972, Bell and the Academy received a grant from the National Science Foundation to fund a twenty-month research project entitled “Futurism and Forecasting: An Assessment of the Field.”

Scope and Content

The series is contained within the Academy Archives’ Record Group XXI: Academy Projects and Programs. 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. As materials from varying series were incorporated, an intellectual arrangement was placed on the series with original order being maintained in certain places.

This series contains records of the work done by both the administrative support and the working groups of the Commission. Included materials consist of correspondence and memoranda, grant materials, invitations to join the Commission, newspaper clippings and journal articles on the Commission and futurology, notes, official publications of the findings and reports generated by the Commission, requests from varying institutions and entities for copies of official reports, and transcripts of the meetings in each area of the study.

Arrangement

The series is divided into three sub-series, which are further divided:  Sub-series 1: Project Administration, 1964-1980; Sub-series 2: Project Work, 1965-1972; and Sub-series 3: Project Publications. Certain materials in the Project Administration series are restricted.

Processing Information

Processed by Timothy Rodriguez, Simmons SLIS Intern, September 2015.

Volume

8 records center cartons (8 linear feet)

Access

The Grant Management records in the Project Management series are restricted and closed for research.

Preferred Citation

[Item title, date]. Record Group XXI: Academy Projects – Commission on the Year 2000, 1964-1980. Archives, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Subjects

Bell, Daniel, 1919-2011
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Economic forecasting
Education, Higher—Forecasting
Forecasting—21st century
International relations–Forecasting
Learned institutions and societies—America
Life cycle, Human—Social aspects
Natural resources--United States—Forecasting
Population forecasting—United States
Privacy—Moral and ethical aspects
Privacy, Right of—21st century
Science—Social aspects—Forecasting
Social change—Forecasting
Social prediction
Technological forecasting
Technology—Sociological aspects
United States—Politics and government—Forecasting
Universities and colleges—Forecasting
Urbanization—Forecasting

FOLDER LIST


Subseries 1: Project Administration, 1964-1980

Description: This subseries documents the basic functions of the Commission.

Arrangement: This subseries contains three sub-subseries organized by function: Sub-subseries 1.1: Grant Management; Sub-subseries 1.2: Correspondence (1966-1972); and Sub-subseries 1.3: Publicity Papers (1966-1980). Material related to the funding and support for the Commission, included in Sub-subseries 1, is restricted. Each sub-subseries is organized chronologically.

Sub-subseries 1.1: Grant Management [RESTRICTED]

Box 1

Folder 1[Academy Proposal for Support for Completion of Commission]
Folder 2Year 2000 -- FUNDING -- Carnegie Corp. Grant
Folder 3Year 2000 -- FUNDING -- IBM Contribution
Folder 4Year 2000 -- FUNDING -- Luce Foundation
Folder 5Year 2000 -- FUNDING -- Proposals - Unsuccessful
Folder 6Year 2000 -- Sloan

 

Sub-subseries 1.2: Correspondence, 1964-1972

Box 1 (cont.)

Folder 7Year 2000 - Establishment of.
Folder 8Year 2000 -------- Correspondence with Daniel Bell 1964-66
Folder 9Correspondence 1966-67
Folder 102000: Correspondence Bell (second phase) 1967-
Folder 11Year 2000 -- 1971-72 Correspondence
Folder 12Year 2000 -- SUMMARY VOLUME -- Correspondence regarding - 1972
Folder 13OFFICIAL FILE COPIES - Commission on the Year 2000 - Working Memoranda
Folder 14Year 2000 -- GENERAL -- General Correspondence

Sub-subseries 1.3: Publicity Papers, 1966-1980

Box 1 (cont.)

Folder 15Background and Information Publicity
Folder 16Publicity and Articles from our Commission on the Year 2000

Box 2

Folder 1[Burrelle’s Correspondence & Press Clippings 1966-68]
Folder 2[J.E. Slater Correspondence and Articles 1967 & 1976]
Folder 32000: Background & Information Publicity -- February, 1968-
Folder 4[Science: American Association for the Advancement of Science; Centennial Issue 4 July 1980]

Subseries 2: Project Work, 1965-1972

Description: This subseries documents the works pursued and completed by the various working parties. It contains transcripts from party meetings, memoranda, correspondence, and other ephemera.

Arrangement: The subseries consists of two sub-subseries, organized by function: Sub-subseries 2.1: Administrative Planning (1965-1971); and Sub-subseries 2.2:Working Groups (1966-1972). Each sub-subseries is organized chronologically with Sub-subseries 2 further organized by working group.

Sub-subseries 2.1: Administrative Planning, 1965-1971

Box 2(cont.)

Folder 5[Commission Members Index]
Folder 6Year 2000 --- Invitations Accepted
Folder 7Commission meeting - October 1965
Folder 8Commission Meeting - February 1966
Folder 9Commission Meeting - June 1967
Folder 10Year 2000 -- GENERAL -- Background Material sent to Commission Members
Folder 11Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- General Invitations for 2nd phase, Feb. 1967
Folder 12Year 2000 -- GENERAL -- Meeting - Mar. 5-6, 1971 -- Transcript of three sessions
Folder 13Year 2000 -- GENERAL-- Mtgs. - Arrangements for Meeting -March 5-6, 1971
Folder 14Year 2000 -- GENERAL -- Soviet-American Cooperation re Social Forecasting
Folder 15Frank Correspondence
Folder 16Technology / John McHale World Resources

Sub-subseries 2.2: Working Groups, 1966-1972

Box 2 (cont.)

Folder 17Year 2000 -- GENERAL -- Mtgs. Of Comm. - Dec. 1, 1966 transcript on the future of Technology
Folder 18Year 2000 -- GENERAL -- Memorandum on Structural changes in the U.S. -D. Bell
Folder 19Year 2000 -- GENERAL -- Foreign Inquiries - Japan Techno-Economic Society
Folder 20Year 2000 -- GENERAL -- Proposal for International Ctr. For Future Studies - 1967-68
Folder 21Year 2000 -- GENERAL -- Proposed Clinic on change as Followup to Commission
Folder 22Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- General - Mtg. of Chairmen, June 9, 1967
Folder 23Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- General Planning
Folder 242000 Commission, June 1967 Transcript
Folder 25Inventing the Future Environment -- S. Anderson Conference (10/13-16/66
Folder 26Year 2000 -- FOLLOWUP -- Proposal on Futurism & Forecasting Project to NSF - 1972
Folder 27Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Biomedical Sciences & Technology-Mendelson
Folder 28Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Individual & Economic Inst. - Transcripts unedited of Sess. I-IV, March 1, 1968
Folder 29Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Future of Intellectual Institutions-Graubard-Transcript of Sess. Nov. 1-2, 1968

Box 3

Folder 1Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Individual & Economic Insts--unedited transcripts of Sessions I-III Dec. 13/68
Folder 2Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Economic Institutions - Shubik
Folder 3Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Intellectual Institutions -Graubard-General Correspondence
Folder 4Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- International System-Hoffmann-Mtg. of 5/18/1967
Folder 5Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Life Cycle Reorganization of group - K. Erikson
Folder 6Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Life Cycle of the Individual - Transcript of Meeting Oct. 24-25, 1967
Folder 7Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Life Cycle (Duhl) Organization of Session, Oct. 24-25, 1967
Folder 8Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Life Cycle (Duhl) edited transcript of sess. I-III, Oct. 24-25, 1967
Folder 9Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES --- Life Cycle -- Membership List
Folder 10Year 2000 - Working Party Life Cycle - Duhl, Chairman
Folder 11Year 2000 -- Working Groups -- Study of the Life Cycle - Transcript of Mtg. August 3-7, 1970
Folder 12Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Science & Society -- General Correspondence
Folder 13Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Social Implications of the Computer (Fano) Membership Lists
Folder 14Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Social Implications of the Computer-Fano - General Correspondence 1967-1971
Folder 15Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Social Implications of the Computer-Fano - Invitations -- Nov., 1967
Folder 16Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Social Impact of the Computer (Fano) - edited transcripts of Sessions I-IV, 1/5-6/68
Folder 17Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Social Implications of the Computer -- transcripts of Session I-IV, 2/16-17/68
Folder 18Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Social Implications of the Computer -- edited transcripts of sessions III-IV, 3/11/68
Folder 19Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Social Implications of the Computer -- edited transcripts Session I-III, 3/11-12/68
Folder 20Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Social Implications of the Computer (Fano) Transcripts - Session II-IV, 11/22/68
Folder 21Year 2000 - Social Implications of the Computer - Papers Prepared
Folder 22Year 2000 - Social Implications of the Computer - Transcripts

Box 4

Folder 1[Year 2000 - Memos & Transcripts for Social Implications for Computer/Individual & Economic Institutions]
Folder 2[Year 2000 - Articles/Chapters/Papers for Working Group on Social Implications of the Computer]
Folder 3[Year 2000 - Correspondence/Reports/Papers/Articles on Social Implications of the Computer]
Folder 4Year 2000 -- Looking Back on the Future of the U.S. Govt. - Perloff
Folder 5[Binder] Year 2000 - Perloff - April 25-26 Sessions III, IV, V
Folder 6Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Future of the U.S. Government (Perloff - General Correspondence
Folder 7Year 2000 - U.S. Government - May 25-27, 1967
Folder 8Year 2000 - U.S. Government - November, 1967
Folder 9[Binder] Year 2000 - U.S. Government - Papers - April-May '68
Folder 10Year 2000 - U.S. Government - April 26-27, 1968
Folder 11Year 2000 - U.S. Government - May 17, 1968
Folder 12Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Values & Rights - Membership List
Folder 13Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Values & Rights -- General Correspondence 1967-1973
Folder 14Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Values & Rights (Ikle) Invitations - July, 1967

Box 5

Folder 1Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Values & Rights (Ikle) - Precis of Sess. 11/10/67
Folder 2Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Values & Rights (Ikle) - Transcripts - unedited) Sessions I & II 0 Nov. 10-11, 1967
Folder 3Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Values & Rights - Transcripts unedited - Sessions III & IV - Nov., 10-11, 1967
Folder 4Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Values & Rights (Ikle) - Mtg., Nov. 10-11, 1967
Folder 5Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Values & Rights (Ikle) - Memo by D. Bell - Nov., 1969
Folder 6Year 2000 - Working Party Values & Rights - Ikle, Chairman
Folder 7Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Values & Rights - Paper by D. MacRae
Folder 8Year 2000 -- WORKING PARTIES -- Values & Rights (Ikle) - Papers & Memos by L. Frank

Subseries 3: Project Publications, 1965-1971

Description: This subseries contains the drafts and final publications of the groups in the Commission, and requests from varying institutions for copies of certain said publications.

Arrangement: The subseries is made up of three sub-subseries, organized by function: Sub-subseries 3.1: Drafts; Sub-subseries 3.2: Final Products; and Sub-subseries 3.3: Publication Requests. Each sub-subseries is organized alphabetically. 

Sub-subseries 3.1: Drafts and Final Products, 1965-1967

Box 5 (cont.)

Folder 9BECKER, HOWARD -- Year 2000 - Some Notes on Hip and Square in the Year 2000
Folder 10Year 2000 -- GENERAL -- Manuscript by D. Bell on Forecasting, 1967
Folder 11BENNIS, WARREN G. -- Year 2000 - The Future of Bureaucracy
Folder 12BERRY, PAUL C. - - Origins of "Positive Population Control" 1970=2000
Folder 13CARTER, ALLAN -- Higher Education in the Last Third of the Century
Folder 14DeCARLO, CHARLES -- Learning and Childhood
Folder 15DOBZHANSKY, THODOSIUS - Year 2000 - Genetics and Equality
Folder 16DUHL, LEONARD -- Year 2000 - Creation of Forecasting and Planning Mechanisms
Folder 17ERKISON, ERIK -- Memorandum
Folder 18FRANK, LAWRENCE K. -- Year 2000 - Life-Cycle: Future of Women
Folder 19FRANK, LAWRENCE K. -- Year 2000 - Life-Cycle: Personality Change
Folder 20FRANK, LAWRENCE K. -- Year 2000 - Planning
Folder 21FRANK, LAWRENCE K. -- Year 2000 - Privacy
Folder 22FRANK, LAWRENCE K. -- Year 2000 - The Role of Values
Folder 23GASTIL, RAYMOND D. -- Two Pessimistic Future Histories
Folder 24GORHAM, WILLIAM - Gov't Planning for the Year 2000
Folder 25HIRSCHMAN, ALBERT O. - Year 2000 - Outline on Frictions and Conflicts Developed & Underdeveloped Cnts.
Folder 26HUNTINGTON, S.P. - Year 2000 - Mobilization vs. Institutionalization:
Folder 27IKLE, CHARLES -- Year 2000 - On the Epistemology of Predicting For Our Society
Folder 28de JOUVENEL, BERTRAND; MASSENET, MICHEL; MOLES, ABRAHAM - Original, Translated, and Condensed Articles
Folder 29KAHN, HERMAN - Year 2000 - Alternative World Futures
Folder 30On Alternative World Futures: Contexts and Themes by H. Kahn, W. Pfaff, and E. Stillman - Interim Draft
Folder 31KAHN, HERMAN -- Memorandum
Folder 32KALVEN, HARRY -- Year 2000 - The Problems of Privacy in the Year 2000
Folder 33LEONTIEF, WASSILY -- Predicting the State of the Economy Forty Years Ahead
Folder 34MAYR, ERNST-- Year 2000 - Biological Man and the Year 2000
Folder 35MEAD, MARGARET -- Year 2000 - The Life-Cycle and its Variations: Division of labor/sexes
Folder 36MEIER, RICHARD -- Year 2000 - Communications overload
Folder 37MILLER, GEORGE A. -- Communications Theory and Learning
Folder 38MOORE, WILBERT -- Year 2000 - Social Indicators Needed for Forecasting

Box 6

Folder 1MOORE, WILBERT -- Year 2000 - Toward the Measurement of Social Change: Implications/Progress
Folder 2MOYNIHAN, DANIEL P. -- Year 2000 - The Relationship of Federal to Local Authorities
Folder 3ORLANS, HAROLD -- Year 2000 - Educational and Scientific Institutions
Folder 4PERLOFF, HARVEY S. -- "New" Resources in an Urban Aye
Folder 5PERLOFF, HARVEY S. -- Urban Development
Folder 6PFAFF, WILLIAM -- Charts of Historical Change
Folder 7PFAFF, WILLIAM -- Notes of 1966-2000
Folder 8PIFER, ALAN -- Year 2000 - The Future of the Foundations
Folder 9POOL, ITHIEL -- Year 2000 - Trends in the International System
Folder 10QUARTON, GARDNER C. -- Year 2000 - Deliberate Efforts to Change Personal-ity
Folder 11REVELLE, ROGER -- Year 2000 - Science and Social Change
Folder 12REVELLE, ROGER -- U.S. Natural Resources in the Year 2000
Folder 13RIESMAN, DAVID -- Year 2000 - Notes on Meritocracy
Folder 14ROSTON, EUGENE -- Year 2000 - Thinking about the Future of International Society
Folder 15SCHON, DONALD A. -- The Problem: Forecasting and Technological Forecasting
Folder 16SHUBIK, MARTIN -- The Meaning of Rationality and Free Choice
Folder 17STENDAHL, KRISTER -- Memorandum
Folder 18STILLMAN, EDMUND -- Some International Consequences of Nuclear Weapons
Folder 19WARREN, ROLAND L. -- Year 2000 - The Future of Human Service
Folder 20WILSON, JAMES Q. -- Year 2000 - Violence
Folder 21Working Papers of the Commission on the Year 2000, Volume I
Folder 22Working Papers of the Commission on the Year 2000, Volume II - A Framework for Speculation on the Next Thirty-three Years
Folder 23Working Papers of the Commission on the Year 2000, Volume II-A
Folder 24Working Papers of the Commission on the Year 2000, Volume III

Box 7

Folder 1Working Papers of the Commission on the Year 2000, Volume IV
Folder 2Working Papers of the Commission on the Year 2000, Volume V
Folder 3Year 2000 -- PUBLICATIONS -- Future of the U.S. Government -- Book -- Author Biographies
Folder 4Year 2000 -- PUBLICATIONS -- Future of the U.S. Government - Relations with Braziller (Publisher)

Sub-subseries 3.2: Publication Requests, 1966-1971

Box 7 (cont.)

Folder 5Year 2000 -- PUBLICATIONS -- Requests
Folder 6Inquiries - A
Folder 7Inquiries - B
Folder 8Inquiries - C
Folder 9Inquiries - D
Folder 10Inquiries - E
Folder 11Inquiries - F
Folder 12Inquiries - G
Folder 13Inquiries - H
Folder 14Inquiries - I
Folder 15Inquiries - J
Folder 16Inquiries - K
Folder 17Inquiries - L
Folder 18Inquiries - M
Folder 19Inquiries - Mc
Folder 20Inquiries - N
Folder 21Inquiries - O
Folder 22Inquiries - P
Folder 23Inquiries - Q
Folder 24Inquiries - R
Folder 25Inquiries - S
Folder 26Inquiries - T
Folder 27Inquiries - U
Folder 28Inquiries - V
Folder 29Inquiries - W
Folder 30Inquiries - XYZ