to find competent people that way and therefore, in November 1939, asked Roosevelt to exempt the original appointees from Civil Service requirements, which was done. Furthermore, the archivist had set the director's annual salary at $5,600, but the White House cut that to $4,600. When Connor requested that the $1,000 be restored the president responded affirmatively.27

The archivist apparently assumed from this that Roosevelt wanted a highly competent director, but that he was not disposed to get involved in the appointment. Thus, early in 1940, Connor began looking for professionally suitable candidates for the directorship. Either in response to his overtures or because it was obvious that a search was soon to be launched, nominations began to arrive during the middle of January. The archivist had undoubtedly talked to a few colleagues about the job at Hyde Park, but he was awaiting the president's executive order exempting the appointees from Civil Service requirements before taking any formal action. Connor and Leland meanwhile were trying to talk Theodore C. Blegen, superintendent of the Minnesota Historical Society, into being their nominee for the directorship. Blegen decided against that on February 12, and Connor and Leland then decided to bring the rest of the Executive Committee and much of the National Advisory Committee in on the recruiting process. Thus, on February 15 and 16, the archivist wrote them letters asking for nominations for the directorship. The other committee members consequently recommended a large number of people, all of them well qualified on paper for the job. 28

The White House knew of Connor's labors and on March 11 one aide, William H. McReynolds, sent word that the archivist was to make no appointments to the library staff "except after consultation" with him. Late in

27 Connor, Journal, vol. 4, Nov. 11, 1939. Apparently Roosevelt did not inform his staff of his decision to exempt the initial library appointees from Civil Service provisions. Finally, on Jan. 25, 1940, he issued the appropriate executive order. M. A. LeHand to Hazel O. Cash, Jan. 4, 1940, William H. McReynolds to Gen. Watson, Jan. 9, 1940, Stephen Early to Connor, Jan. 29, 1940, Roosevelt Library, Inc., Papers, FDRL.

28 Randolph G. Adams to Connor, Jan. 16, 1940, Julian P. Boyd to Connor, Jan. 18, 1940, Connor to Blegen, Jan. 27, 1940, Leland to Connor, Feb. 1, 1940, Connor to Leland, Feb. 5, 1940, Blegen to Connor, Feb. 12, 1940, Connor circular letters, Feb. 15, 16, 1940, Roosevelt Library File, Records of the Office of the Archivist, RG 64, NA.

March Connor informed the White House that he was ready to submit a list of nominees for consideration. The president decided that he would discuss this personally with the archivist and arranged to see him on April 3. That was the first of several troublesome meetings for Connor. Roosevelt spent most of the time reminiscing and chatting about the possibility of running for a third term. As for the library directorship, the president indicated his interest in either Samuel Eliot Morison or President Taft's biographer, Henry Pringle (neither of whom would probably have been willing to take a $5,600-a-year job in Hyde Park). Connor took that as an invitation to mention his own nominee, Frank Monaghan, who had written a biography of John Jay and was interested in doing a study of Alexander Hamilton. Monaghan's choice of biographical subjects chilled Roosevelt, so the appointment question was left unresolved at the end of the meeting. Immediately afterward, Connor expressed his frustration in trying to have the president regard management of the library as a professional would. He wrote in his journal, "I don't envy the man who takes over the job of administering the FDR Library unless he is able to conform to the ideas-I may say the queer ideas of FDR-about how it ought to be administered!"' 29

Shock rather than frustration was closer to the archivist's reaction when he saw the president again on April 7. Once more Connor pressed Monaghan's appointment. Roosevelt's response was, "What would you think of Harry Hopkins for that job?" This time it was the North Carolinian's turn to leave things up in the air. As he wrote in his journal, 'Whow! was that a blow!" President Roosevelt was entirely serious, however. Secretary of Commerce Hopkins had not completely recovered from a nearly fatal illness the year before. Roosevelt apparently had in mind for his favorite cabinet member a sinecure that would be conducive to his recovery or to a pleasant permanent convalescence. It is also probable that the president had not yet decided to run for a third term and was considering

29 McReynolds to Connor, Mar. 11, 1940, ibid.; E. M. Watson to Roosevelt, Mar. 26, 1940, with penciled note from Roosevelt, McReynolds to Grace Tully, Mar. 27, 1940, Roosevelt Library, Inc., Papers, FDRL; Connor, Journal, vol. 4, Apr. 3, 1940.

the advantages of having close to him the aide he most respected, trusted, and liked.30

Three days later Roosevelt met in the White House with Connor, Justice Felix Frankfurter, and the new librarian of Congress, Archibald MacLeish. Frankfurter warned against the appointment of a "court historian" as director. The archivist agreed with that, though he urged that the appointee be a historian. This discussion obviously meant nothing to the president, for once again he suggested Hopkins, pointing out that his official salary could be supplemented from private sources.31

It is understandable that Roosevelt and Connor did not discuss the issue again for some two and one-half months after April 10, since, the day before, the Nazi juggernaut began to overrun Western Europe, not to halt until France capitulated on June 22. In the meantime Connor had his own work to attend to, but part of that was his fear that the president would insist upon appointing Hopkins or some other nonprofessional as director of the Roosevelt library. The hiatus gave the archivist time to think how to combat a political appointment. Connor was also probably hoping that Hopkins would find the directorship unattractive and that the inflamed world situation and the third-term decision might have lessened Roosevelt's interest in imposing his choice for the job.

The question of the directorship next arose June 27 when Connor went to the White House to discuss the ceremony involved in the federal government's acceptance of the library building on Independence Day. The archivist took the opportunity to nominate Fred W. Shipman for the post. This was not only audacious but wise, for Shipman was a broadgauged administrator who had acquitted himself ably in several difficult assignments in the National Archives, including, most significantly, the survey of the president's papers in December 1938. This did not stop Roosevelt from mentioning Hopkins again and suggesting that with the directorship he could live at Hyde Park and still serve as a presidential adviser. Yet Roosevelt was interested in

30 Connor, Journal, vol. 5, Apr. 7, 1940. Apparently Roosevelt had told Frank Walker well before April that he intended that Hopkins would be appointed the library's director. Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History (New York, 1948), pp. 171-172. 31 Connor, Journal, vol. 5, Apr. 10, 1940.

Shipman and asked questions about him. Connor's answers sounded good, particularly the one identifying Shipman as a Democrat from Massachusetts (although in his journal the archivist wrote he did not know what Shipman's politics were). 32

On June 28 Connor took Shipman to visit the president. Secretary Hopkins was also there but did not seem interested in the directorship of the library. Roosevelt liked Shipman and invited him to Hyde Park for the ceremony of turning over the library building to the government on Independence Day. Soon the president told Connor that he could appoint Shipman to be the director of the library, for on July 1 the archivist wrote Samuel Eliot Morison that he had done so with Roosevelt's approval. The public announcement was made two weeks later. Thus did a professional archivist become the first head of the Roosevelt library.33

On July 4, 1940, in one of the president's beloved little ceremonies, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Inc., signed the building over to the federal government. The library was as Roosevelt wanted, a one-story Dutch colonial structure of local fieldstone. And it was financed entirely by private contributions. Although the library and land had been given to the government and a director appointed, there was still much to be done before its opening. After Shipman's appointment he and his staff proceeded to collect, evaluate, and arrange manuscripts, books, pamphlets, museum pieces, and related items. There was also the work of landscaping, interior outfitting, and setting up displays. The library finally opened its doors to the public on June 30, 1941, after another ceremony, for by then there was something in it that people would "pay a quarter" to see. Indeed, some 46,000 tourists visited the building during fiscal year 1942. Wartime travel restrictions kept paid admissions to less than 20,000 during the next three years, but 91,586 paying visitors came during fiscal year 1946 and 304,526 the following year. Clearly, the library was a tourist attraction, as were the

32 Ibid., June 27, 1940.

33 Ibid., June 28, July 15, 1940; Connor to Morison, July 1, 1940, Roosevelt Library File, Records of the Office of the Archivist, RG 64, NA. Shipman apparently was not on the March list that Connor had drawn up as a result of the nominations he had received from the people he had solicited in February. Personnel File, Roosevelt Library, Inc., Papers,

residence and Roosevelt's grave after his death in 1945.34

During the war the library saw some unique uses, including exhibits by local artists, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt's entertainment of servicemen, and presidential radio broadcasts. Its prime function, scholarly research, developed only slowly, largely because it took time to collect and screen materials and ready them for use. Although the search room was opened May 1, 1946, there was little of value available to scholars. Yet, the library was accumulating significant research materials, with 5,800 cubic feet of manuscripts on hand by the middle of 1949, deriving not only from the Roosevelts but also from Harry Hopkins, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., and John G. Winant. There were also 50,600

FDRL; Roosevelt Library File, 1940, Records of the Office of the Archivist, RG 64, NA.

34 First Annual Report of the Archivist of the United States as to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, N.Y. (Washington, 1941), pp. 1-2 (hereafter cited by number of report only); Second Annual Report, pp.1-5; Third Annual Report, p. 1; Fourth Annual Report, p. 12; Fifth Annual Report, p. 12; Sixth Annual Report, p. 13; Seventh Annual Report, p. 12; Eighth Annual Report, p. 13.

books and pamphlets and considerable quantities of motion picture film, photographs, and recordings. By 1951 the task of screening Franklin D. Roosevelt's papers for use, carried out at his wish by Judge Rosenman and Grace Tully, was done. This meant that about 85 percent of the late president's papers were now available for research. With this the library quickly became a place where significant research was carried out. 35

The founding of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library was significant for a number of reasons. It revealed aspects of President Roosevelt's nature, particularly his love of history, his obvious concern for making sure there would be substantial documentation of his life and administration, and his methods of operation. If his feeling for history was that of a collector and even an antiquarian, he must be given credit for consulting professional archivists and historians in reaching the pinnacle of his interest in the subject. If he

35 Fourth Annual Report, p. 9; Fifth Annual Report, p. 2; Seventh Annual Report, p. 2; Eighth Annual Report, p. 1; Tenth Annual Report, pp. 2-6; Leland, 'The Creation of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library," p. 28.

established the library partly in order to perpetuate his memory, he also had a concern for the interests of scholars. If his methods of coming to decisions and discussing alternatives were sometimes exasperating, he was open to the opinions of others and when he made a decision about the library it was seldom a half measure. All these factors created problems, of course. As Robert Connor wrote in his journal in 1941, "The President still thinks of the library as his personal property. He is a fine man to work with, but he has a tendency to forget that minor officials of the government must do their work 'within the law.'" Yet the archivist believed that was outweighed by Roosevelt's understanding of the need of historians for raw materials. There was some truth in Connor's earlier statement that "Franklin D. Roosevelt is the nation's answer to the historian's prayer.'

136

Obviously the Roosevelt library's creation had significant implications for research in American history. On the one hand it allowed the unprecedentedly quick collection and opening of a large amount of documentation. On the other hand, it lent additional support, especially legal support, to the tradition that the papers of a president and his chief aides are personal property. Moreover, the fact that scholars as well as public figures founded the library set something of a precedent for the development of other presidential libraries, and this has usually kept political considerations from being paramount in their administration. This was even more true of Roosevelt's innovative concept of placing his papers in a depository built by private endeavor but operated by the government. In short, Roosevelt's well-publicized ideas on giving private papers were not lost on archivists, researchers, or even donors. His example had great influence during the following generation in making available for research more manuscripts more quickly and with greater professional consultation.

Yet there was more. Roosevelt's decision to place his materials in the hands of archivists for arrangement and administration spurred the development of professionalism in the management of the raw stuff of history. Along the same line, the library's establishment was advantageous to the National Archives. It gave 36 Connor, Journal, vol. 5, June 30, 1941; Connor, "The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library," p. 81.

the fledgling agency a great deal of extra and generally favorable publicity and brought the archivist of the United States in close contact with other academic, scholarly, and political figures. Additionally, as Connor said, it was "a lucky break for me," for whenever he used the name "Franklin D. Roosevelt Library" at the White House it guaranteed him access to the president and therefore opportunities to discuss other matters of concern to the National Archives. As was foreseen by some of those involved in its foundation, the Roosevelt library also became the model for the development of similar institutions by Roosevelt's successors and even his immediate predecessor. For the National Archives and Records Service, this has led to the establishment of one of its most important units, the Office of Presidential Libraries, and continued contact with presidents and former presidents.37

One other word on the importance of the Roosevelt library is in order. Its establishment by a popular president made it fashionable to concentrate materials for the study of a given period in one institution and set an example for dispersing research materials all over the country. This is a mixed legacy. It has been a boon for researchers interested in aspects of only one presidency as well as for tourists and the economies and even educational facilities of the towns in which such depositories are found. Researchers interested in more than just one administration, as most are, have found it a burden on their time and financial resources. There are those who also find repellent the aspect of a shrine that the presidential libraries and similar institutions assume. There is no fair way to satisfy all the people involved, for wherever the research materials would be located someone would be at a disadvantage. One can, however, suggest that without the presidential libraries far less historical documentation would have been deposited and made available to the public. That in itself justifies the institution that Franklin D. Roosevelt, with the help of men like Connor, Leland, Morison, and Walker, founded.

37 Connor, Journal, vol. 5, June 30, 1941; Flick, "Hyde Park and History," p. 15. For an interesting discussion of the relationship between the Roosevelt library and the development of the presidential libraries system, see James E. O'Neill, "Will Success Spoil the Presidential Libraries?" American Archivist 36 (1973): 339-351.

GRAHAM D. TAYLOR

For a generation of social scientists interested

in the application of research findings to policy, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal offered novel opportunities. A number of programs initiated by the federal government not only drew upon recent social and economic research but also brought into the government economists, sociologists, anthropologists, and psychologists. Earlier social scientists had contributed information and expert support for reform efforts, primarily at the local level. But "the New Deal made a permanent place for social scientists in government. . . as policy advisors and political appointees, roles traditionally assigned to lawyers and businessmen." 1

This trend was particularly marked in the Bureau of Indian Affairs under Commissioner John Collier. Leader of an Indian reform movement in the decade before the New Deal, Collier brought to the Indian service a commitment to reverse the policies of the preceding fifty years, which had been shaped to assimilate Indians into white society. Collier proposed to revive traditional tribal institutions as part of his plan for social and economic development for Indians. This aim was central to the Indian 1 Gene M. Lyons, The Uneasy Partnership: Social Science and the Federal Government in the Twentieth Century (New York, 1969), p. 52. See also Richard S. Kirkendall, "Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Service Intellectual," Mississippi Valley Historical Review 49 (1962):459-463.

Reorganization Act of 1934, the keystone of the new policy. The Act proposed to give Indian tribes the political rights of American counties and municipalities and the power to form corporations for communal enterprises.2

Reviewing the course of Indian affairs under Collier, anthropologists Clyde Kluckhohn and Robert Hackenberg asserted that the Indian Reorganization Act was "a landmark not only for the American Indians but for social scientists in the United States because it brought to Indian affairs and to the United States government for the first time an explicit use of social science principles. . . . The Indian Reorganization Act was a deliberate attempt to induce certain kinds of changes in Indian society and to 2 Collier's concept of Indian policy and the role of anthropologists was succinctly outlined in John Collier's, "The Indian Administration as a Laboratory in Ethnic Affairs," Social Research 12 (1945):265-303. Important new work on the Indian New Deal has emerged in the last four years. Kenneth Philp and Lawrence C. Kelly are completing biographical studies of Collier; they presented papers on the Indian Reorganization Act at the 1973 convention of the Organization of American Historians in Chicago. See Kenneth Philp, "The American Indian New Deal, 1933-1945: An American Indian Renaissance"; and Lawrence C. Kelly, "The American Indian New Deal: Dream and Reality." See also Michael T. Smith, "The Wheeler-Howard Act of 1934: The Indian New Deal," Journal of the West 10 (1971):521-534; Donald L. Parman, "The Indian and the Civilian Conservation Corps," Pacific Historical Review 40 (1971):39-56; Peter M. Wright, "John Collier and the Oklahoma Indian Welfare