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Title: Claire Sterling papers
Date (inclusive): 1936-1994
Creator:
Sterling, Claire.
Collection Number: 96053
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Physical Description:
82 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box
(34.0 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.
Collection is open for research.
The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], Claire Sterling papers, [Box number], Hoover Institution Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 1996.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog at
http://searchworks.stanford.edu/ . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in the online catalog is larger than the number
of boxes listed in this finding aid.
Antonio Albano legal motion, Hoover Institution Archives
Dorothea Price Farquharson papers, Hoover Institution Archives
Genesis, rise and decline of terrorism in Italy conference papers, Hoover Institution Archives
Paul B. Henze papers, Hoover Institution 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 |
| Circa 1951 | Moved to Italy |
| Became the Rome correspondent for an American news agency | |
| 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 |
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.
Claire Sterling was born in Queens, New York, in 1919. 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 note 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
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Journalists.
Mafia.
Organized crime--Italy.
Organized crime--United States.
Organized crime.
Terrorism.