Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions.

The collection mainly contains post-1961 administrative files which the Center had microfilmed, then shipped to Princeton University, and which subsequently were transferred from Princeton University to UCSB in 1999.

From the description of Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions / Princeton University Files, 1957-1969 (bulk dates 1962-1965) (University of California, Santa Barbara). WorldCat record id: 216936155

History of the Center

The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions grew out of the 'Basic Issues' program of the Fund for the Republic. The Fund emerged from a desire to combat the rampant abuses of American civil liberties that characterized the McCarthy era. With a fifteen million dollar grant from the Ford Foundation, the Fund set in 1954 to provide support to church, educational, and social service organizations in their efforts to protect the rights enumerated in the first ten Amendments to the Constitution.

In 1957, unsatisfied with administering a grant making institution, Robert Maynard Hutchins, former president of the University of Chicago, assembled a group of, in his words, "great minds" to study "the current status" of corporations, trade unions, the common defense, religion, the mass media, political parties, pressure groups, and professional associations. With a core group of twelve consultants drawn from a variety of disciplines and careers, Hutchins attempted to foster interdisciplinary discussion on these 'basic issues.' Between 1957 and 1959 the core group was joined by more than 300 scholars and experts. Over a million copies of the Funds' fifty-four pamphlets, occasional papers, transcripts, and reports to the Fund were distributed from the Basic Issues program. As the consultants were unable to devote themselves entirely to these discussions, however, the level of these exchanges failed to meet Hutchins' expectations. He persuaded the Funds' Board of Directors to devote their remaining resources to the establishment of what he called a "center of operations that would allow us to enlarge the residential group and to extend the time that non-residential members might visit headquarters and take part in the Program." Thus, in 1959, the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions was born.

Early in the Center's existence, it entered into an agreement with the Encyclopaedia Britannica to undertake an ambitious project to revise the structure of the encyclopaedia. The project, scheduled for completion in time for the Britannica 's 200th anniversary in 1968, called for the production of fifteen overarching 'Roof Articles' that would address the Political Order, the Economic Order, Religion, Philosophy, the Technological Order, the Legal Order, Nature, Human Nature, Education, Communications, Mathematics and Logic, the Social Order, the World Order, the Fine Arts, and Medicine. While the proposed restructuring of Britannica was not completed in time for the anniversary, the Roof Article project did result in the publication of Britannica Perspectives in 1968. The issues addressed by the Roof Articles, combined with the Basic Issues program, set the agenda for the Center's dialogues in the years to come.

Over the years Hutchins tried to explain this unusual institution, the Center. In a speech at the University of Chicago in 1967, he described it this way:

"The Center consists of twenty-five men who meet every day in a Spanish style building known to the members as El Parthenon. The men, one of whom is a woman, are writers, philosophers, scientists, social scientists, and lawyers, with two bishops and two ex-college presidents thrown in... It is not a think tank hired to do the planning that public agencies or private businesses cannot or will not do for themselves. Neither is it a refuge for scholars who want to get away from it all and do their research and write their books. It is an organized group, rather than a collection of individuals. It is an organization of men who are free of any obligation except to join in an effort to understand the subjects they have selected for study. It is a community. And, since its members are trying to think together, it may be called, at least in potentiality, an intellectual community."

Guided by Hutchins' vision of truly interdisciplinary discourse, this intellectual community flourished and the daily dialogue discussions brought together a wide variety of individuals to investigate these issues and their relationship to the world. Practically, however, the Center struggled to establish financial independence and political harmony among the staff. Over two-thirds of the original fifteen million dollars from the Ford Foundation was distributed as grants during the early years of the Fund, with grants going to the Anti-Defamation League, the Southern Regional Council, the NAACP, the American Friends Service Committee, and other organizations working to protect basic constitutional rights. The Encyclopaedia Britannica project helped finance the Center's operations during the early years but the need to generate new sources of funds continued to plague its administration.

Over and beyond Hutchins' intellectual vision, he demonstrated a talent for raising funds for the Center's operations. Outside of the Academic Program, many of the programs undertaken by the Center were attempts to raise capital. The Membership Program provided the Center with the means to raise funds, interact with interested individuals across the country, share some of the Center's discussions, and receive feedback from outside sources. In the latter 1960s Chester F. Carlson, inventor of the Xerox process, provided the Center with the funds, in the form of Xerox stock, to expand its publications program. This included the Center Magazine, which served as the main source of communication between the Center and its membership.

Perhaps predictably, the administrative course of the Center was not always smooth. Hutchins was a brilliant judge of ideas, and the men (and a few women) with whom he surrounded himself met his intellectual standards. But the Center was in many ways an extension of his formidable ego and his colleagues had their own agendas, which did not always match Hutchins' conception of the Center. By 1969, internal disputes made consensus among the staff impossible and, with the support of the Board, the Center underwent reorganization.

With reorganization, the legal authority remained vested in the Board of Directors of the Fund for the Republic, Inc., the legal entity. The offices of Chairman of the Board and the Chief Executive Officer of the Center were combined, with Hutchins assuming both roles. The status of Fellow was stratified into Senior Fellows, Visiting Fellows, Associates, and Consultants. The Senior Fellows became the governing body for the Academic Program. Hutchins appointed the first Senior Fellow and, as the group grew, each Fellow participated in the election of the other Fellows.

The Office of President of the Center (Chief Operating Officer) answered to the Chief Executive Officer and assumed responsibility for all Center functions except the academic program. The Center's publications came under the direct control of the Editor of the Center Magazine . While the Senior Fellows determined the content of the Academic Program, from which much of the mateial for the publications was drawn, the Editor decided what material would be selected for publication.

Center programs continued through the 1970s and Hutchins remained the Center's guiding force until his death in 1977. His one attempt to retire in 1973 met with failure when the changes proposed by his replacement, Malcolm Moos, proved unacceptable to the Board and the majority of the Senior Fellows. Moos resigned in 1975 amid controversy and Hutchins was reinstated. Without Hutchins presence and leadership after 1977, however, the Center was unable to continue as a freestanding institution.

Further reorganization and association with the University of California, Santa Barbara, occurred in late 1979. The Center moved from its home on Eucalyptus Hill to new quarters on the UCSB campus. The Fund for the Republic was dissolved, assets transferred to the university, and the Center's name changed to the Robert Maynard Hutchins Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. The Center's programs also underwent a change, with full-time Fellows being replaced with visiting scholars. Despite some encouraging developments in the early years of the Center's association with UCSB, financial and administrative problems continued. Following a series of short-term directors, the Center closed in 1987.

From the guide to the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions Collection, 1950-1991, 1961-1987, (University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Dept. of Special Collections)