Blaisdell, Donald C. (Donald Christy), 1899-....

Biography

Donald C. Blaisdell (1899-1988) was born in New York. After earning a B.S. degree in industrial engineering from Pennsylvania State College in 1920, he worked for the United States Rubber Company for two years, and then took a position as an engineering instructor at Robert College in Istanbul, Turkey. It was while in Turkey that he met his future wife, Dorothea, who was an instructor at the America College for Girls. After three years, he returned to the U.S. and earned an MA degree in 1926 and a Ph. D. in 1929 from Columbia University, where he taught from 1928 to 1930.

Blaisdell spent 40 years teaching at various universities, including: Columbia, Williams College, Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, Wellesley College, and the City University of New York. Most notably, Blaisdell was the political science department chairman at City College at the City University of New York from 1955 to his retirement in 1967.

In addition to his academic career, Blaisdell also worked in the federal government for 17 years. Starting in 1936, he worked with the Department of Agriculture for four years, then ten years with the State Department, and three years for the Foreign Service. Blaisdell was in attendance at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in 1944 at which the United Nations was negotiated and formulated. He later served as a delegate to the United Nations and was the U.S. representative for the United Nations agencies in Geneva from 1952-1954.

From the guide to the Blaisdell, Donald C. (Donald Christy) Collection, 1879-1977, (California State University, Dominguez Hills Archives and Special Collections)