Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Samuel Sloan Walker papers
Date (inclusive): 1951-1963
Collection Number: 2001C58
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
31 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box
(13.0 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, memoranda, reports, and printed matter, relating to activities of the Free Europe Committee in promoting opposition
to the communist regimes of Eastern Europe.
Creator:
Walker, Samuel Sloan
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2001.
[Identification of item], Samuel Sloan Walker papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Samuel Sloan Walker was vice president of the Free Europe Committee (FEC) from 1950 to 1959, where he was responsible for
printed word programs. As New York-based director of the Free Europe Press, a division of the FEC parallel to Radio Free Europe,
he oversaw publication projects intended for the Western reader, such as the magazine
News From Behind the Iron Curtain (later titled
East Europe) and its foreign language counterparts. He also oversaw printed word projects intended for audiences in the East, such as
leaflets delivered by balloon and mail. After 1956, he launched a book program in which travelers would mail and deliver
Western books, mostly non-political, to Eastern Europe. He oversaw the program in an FEC-spin-off, the East European Institute
(EEI), based in New York in 1958-1959. Later in his career, Walker devoted himself to publishing, establishing Walker Publishers
in New York City.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Samuel S. Walker papers contain correspondence, memoranda, reports, and printed matter related to activities of the Free
Europe Committee in promoting opposition to the communist regimes of Eastern Europe. The collection includes publications
produced or sponsored by the Free Europe Committee (FEC) and East Europe Institute (EEI), materials related to a project to
distribute Western books at the Vienna Youth Festival of 1959, and corporate records of the IEE.
Walker coordinated a program to distribute books at the Communist-sponsored Vienna Youth Festival of 1959. The program aimed
to counterbalance the pro-Communist effects of the Vienna Youth Festival by contributing 155,000 publications (including copies
of
Dr. Zhivago) to distribute before, during, and after the festival. The collection includes correspondence, memoranda, and reports detailing
this program.
The collection documents Walker's role in the East Europe Institute (EEI) and includes material documenting the life cycle
of the organization, such as the articles of incorporation, by-laws, meeting minutes, and papers of dissolution.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty corporate records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcast records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
George Caputineanu Minden papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Arch Puddington collection, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Leszek Gawlikowski interviews, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Albert H. Arkus papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Free Europe Press issuances, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Anti-communist movements
Europe, Eastern
Free Europe Committee