The Sheldon Wolin papers document his work as a political theorist, writer, and teacher. The collection includes academic and editorial correspondence; administrative materials from the Universities of California at Berkeley and Santa Cruz, Princeton, and Cornell; drafts of, and notes and research for, Wolin’s articles, talks, class lectures, and book projects; and a small amount of personalia. A good portion of the collection contains materials related to an unpublished manuscript that Wolin worked on for over 40 years, “Dialogues with Power.”

Political theorist and public intellectual Sheldon Wolin was born in Chicago in 1922 and grew up in Buffalo, New York. Wolin earned his BA at Oberlin College in 1946, and his Ph.D. at Harvard in 1950. He interrupted his college career to enlist in the Army Air Forces, where he was a navigator and bombardier in the Pacific. Wolin was a professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley from 1954-1970 and taught for a few years at the University of California, Santa Cruz before joining the Department of Politics at Princeton, where he taught from 1972 until his retirement in 1987.

27.65 Linear Feet (21 cartons, 4 boxes)

Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.

Cartons 1-21 and Boxes 1-2 are open for research. Boxes 3-4 include restricted student work and personnel information and are closed to researchers until 2062.