Inventory of the Samuel Sloan Walker papers
Finding aid prepared by Hoover Institution Library and Archives Staff
Hoover Institution Library and Archives
© 2009
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Stanford University
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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
Access
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.
Use
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquisition Information
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2001.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Samuel Sloan Walker papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Biographical Note
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.
Related Collection(s)
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
box 1
Vienna Youth Festival correspondence and memoranda
1957-1959
Scope and Contents
Includes correspondence with Robert H. Bass, Mucio Delagdo, C. D. Jackson, Fritz P. Molden, and George A. Trutnovsky
box 1
"Hungary Since the Twentieth Party Congress," Free Europe Press Plans and Analysis Department
1956
box 1
Printed matter
1956-1959, undated
box 2
Berlin meeting notes
1955
box 2
Vienna Youth Festival
1959
box 2
Free Europe Committee memoranda
1955
box 2
Free Europe Press project reports and correspondence
1953-1955
Scope and Contents
Includes report on producing leaflets for political warfare purposes
box 2
Free Youth Action project
1955-1956
box 2
Photographs of book storage
undated
box 2
Radio Free Europe Poland scripts
1956
box 2
Speeches
1956, undated
Scope and Contents
Includes draft of speech for General Crittenberger, Crusade Dinner
box 2
Translations, including Polonia Book Fund
undated
General
On photographic paper. See also box 3
box 2
Travel file (Munich and European trip)
1955-1965
box 3
Publications about Kadar and Hungary
1956-1957
box 3
Behind the Iron Curtain
1957-1959
box 3
Publications Development Corporation proposal
undated
General
On photographic paper
box 4
Vienna Youth Festival correspondence, memoranda, reports, and book program outline
1958-1959
box 4
East Europe Institute (EEI) project descriptions
undated
Scope and Contents
Discusses literature distribution in Poland without attribution to the Free Europe Committee (FEC)
box 5
Map comparing Imperial and Soviet Russian expansion in Europe, Assembly of Captive Europe Nations
1958
box 5
Printed matter
1951-1963
Scope and Contents
Includes publications of Free Europe Press (FEP) and Free Europe Committee (FEC)
box 6
Printed matter (continued)
1951-1963
box 7
Printed matter (continued)
1951-1963
box 7
East Europe Institute (EEI) corporate records
1957-1958
Scope and Contents
Includes articles of incorporation, by-laws, and meeting minutes
box 8
Vienna Youth Festival correspondence, memoranda, and action plan
1958-1959
box 8
East Europe Institute (EEI) correspondence, memoranda, and budget plan
1957-1959
box 9
East Europe Institute (EEI) correspondence, monthly reports, and catalogs
1959
Scope and Contents
Includes letters of John G. Kirk, Margaret Evans, Unity Evans, and Andrzej Stypulkowski and correspondence with Roy Publishers.
Includes documents related to Person-To-Person Program and Vienna Youth Festival
box 10
East Europe Institute (EEI) correspondence, financial documents, dissolution papers, and Walker's departure letters
1959-1960
box 10
Vienna Youth Festival correspondence, reports, notes, Newport Jazz Festival proposal, and Newspaper Project memorandum
1959
Scope and Contents
Includes letters to or from Francis Bregha and Robert Minton
box 11
Wiener Nachrichten, bound newspaper
1959
box 12
"Chronology of Events in Hungary," Free Europe Press, early version
1956
box 12
International Organizations, serial issues
1959-1960
box 13
Material not yet described.
box 14
Material not yet described.
box 15
Material not yet described.
box 16
Material not yet described.
box 17
Material not yet described.
box 18
Material not yet described.
box 19
Material not yet described.
box 20
Material not yet described.
box 21
Material not yet described.
box 22
Material not yet described.
box 23
Material not yet described.
box 24
Material not yet described.
box 25
Material not yet described.
box 26
Material not yet described.
box 27
Material not yet described.
box 28
Material not yet described.
box 29
Material not yet described.
2018 Incremental Material
1952-1956
box 30
Report,"Operation FOCUS September 15 - December 31, 1954"
1954
box 30
Report, "VETO and FOCUS first half 1955"
1954-1955
box 30
News From Behind the Iron Curtain Vol. 2
1953
box 31
Report, "Volume XIV: Czechoslovak Leaflets # 45-56 and special messages"
1956
box 31
Report, "Volume XII: Satellite Propaganda Reactions Representative Sample"
1956
box 32
"Vol II" binder
1955-1956