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Title: Claire Sterling papers
Date (inclusive): 1936-1994
Collection Number: 96053
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: The collection is in English and Italian
Physical Description:
82 manuscript boxes, 2 oversize boxes
(35.5 Linear Feet)
Abstract: The collection contains writings, notes, correspondence, reports, photocopies of trial transcripts and interrogations, clippings,
other printed matter, sound recordings, and photographs related to the Mafia, organized crime in Italy and the United States,
international organized crime, and international terrorism.
Creator:
Sterling, Claire
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 1996.
[Identification of item], Claire Sterling papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
| 1919 | Born, Queens, New York |
| Circa 1940 | Graduated from Brooklyn College |
| 1945 | Master's degree, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism |
| Circa 1945 | Worked for Overseas News Service |
| 1946 | Author, Our Goal Was Palestine |
| 1949-1968 | Wrote for The Reporter until it ceased publication in 1968 |
| 1951 | Married Thomas Sterling |
| 1969 | Author, The Masaryk Case |
| 1981 | Author, The Terror Network |
| 1984 | Author, The Time of the Assassins |
| 1990 | Author, Octopus: The Long Reach of the International Sicilian Mafia |
| 1994 | Author, Thieves' World: The Threat of the New Global Network of Organized Crime |
| 1995 | Died |
| Circa 1951 | Became the Rome correspondent for an American news agency |
| Moved to Italy |
Scope and Content of Collection
The papers document the career of Claire Sterling, an American journalist who lived in Italy for much of her life. The collection
contains writings, notes, correspondence, reports, photocopies of trial transcripts and interrogations, clippings, other printed
matter, sound recordings, and photographs related to the Mafia, organized crime in Italy and the United States, international
organized crime, and international terrorism.
After graduating from Columbia University, Sterling began her career in journalism, working for the Overseas News Service
and writing for
The Reporter. The
Biographical file contains clippings on Sterling's life, as well as appointment books.
Thomas Sterling, the husband of Claire Sterling, was an author who wrote novels and travel books. The
Thomas Sterling file includes drafts for several of his monographs, including
The Amazon and
A Pride of Ambassadors. This file contains many of Thomas Sterling's diaries and notebooks, several of which depict his travels in Africa and were
perhaps used as material for some of his travel books.
The majority of
Correspondence was sent and received by members of the Sterling family, including letters sent to Claire and Thomas by their children, Abigail
and Luke. Also included are detailed letters sent to Pan Sterling, grandmother of Abigail and Luke, from a friend traveling
abroad.
As a journalist, Sterling covered stories on political situations in Europe and the Middle East, writing about events that
took place during the Cold War. Over her long career, Sterling wrote for publications such as
The Atlantic Monthly,
Financial Times,
The New York Times,
The Reporter, and
The Washington Post. In 1969, Sterling published her first full-length book,
The Masaryk Case, in which she argued that the Czechoslovak foreign minister Jan Masaryk had been assassinated. Her next book,
The Terror Network, explored international terrorism, while
Octopus focused on the Sicilian Mafia. In
The Time of the Assassins, Sterling presented the "Bulgarian Connection" theory as the motivation behind the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John
Paul II. Her last published book,
Thieves' World, described the connections between various mafia groups and other organized crime syndicates. The
Writings series includes articles that Sterling wrote for various publications, and drafts, reviews, and correspondence related to
her monographs.
Sterling kept
Notes detailing her research and interviews for her writings. The collection contains a series of notebooks that Sterling labeled
by location, as well as loose pages of notes and a series of index cards related to her research for
The Terror Network.
The
Subject file, which contains the bulk of the material in the collection, includes Sterling's notes and gathered clippings on crime, drug
traffic, and mafia organizations in various counties, which she used as research and references for her books and articles.
In addition, the collection includes
Sound recordings related to Sterling's work and
Photographs of the Sterling family.
Source:
Pace, Eric. "Claire Sterling, 76, Dies; Writer on Crime and Terror."
New York Times 18 June 1995. Accessed on April 2013 through: http://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/18/obituaries/claire-sterling-76-dies-writer-on-crime-and-terror.html
Antonio Albano legal motion, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Dorothea Price Farquharson papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Genesis, rise and decline of terrorism in Italy conference papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Paul B. Henze papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Journalists
Terrorism
Mafia
Organized crime
Organized crime -- Italy
Organized crime -- United States