Biography
Scope and Content
Related Collections
Indexing Terms
Access
Processing Information
Acquisition Information
Preferred Citation
Publication Rights
Creator:
Berger, Bennett M.
Title: Bennett M. Berger Papers
Date: 1950-2005
Date (bulk): (bulk 1970-1979)
Extent:
5.8 linear feet
Abstract: Academic writings of Bennett Berger during his career as a professor at UC Davis and UC San Diego. Includes correspondence,
manuscripts, notes, and articles on his work on suburbia, counter-culture, and communes. Also included is his collection of
other authors' correspondence, manuscripts, notes, and publications related to Berger's research subjects.
Phyiscal location: Researchers should contact Special Collections to request collections, as many are stored offsite.
Repository:
University of California, Davis. General Library. Dept. of Special Collections.
Davis, California 95616-5292
Collection number: D-441
Language of Material: Collection materials in English
Biography
Bennett Berger was born in 1926 in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in the Bronx and he served as a Marine during World War
II in the Pacific. He did his undergraduate work in sociology at Hunter University then received his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley.
After receiving his Ph.D., he served as a faculty member in the School of Communication at the University of Illinois from
1959 to 1963. In 1963, he left the university to assume the chairmanship of the Sociology Department at UC Davis. Ten years
later, he left UC Davis and joined the faculty of UC San Diego until his retirement in 1991. During his career, Berger researched
and wrote on several different subjects such as suburbanization, youth culture, counter-culture, and communes. He published
Working-Class Suburb: A study of Auto Workers in Suburbia in 1960,
Looking for America: Essays on Youth, Suburbia and Other American Obsessions in 1973,
The Survival of a Counter-Culture: Ideological Work and Everyday Life Among Rural Communards in 1981, and several dozen articles and book reviews. He died in 2005.
Scope and Content
The Bennett M Berger papers spans 1950-2005, with the bulk of material from 1970-1971. This collection contains to Berger's
correspondence, manuscripts, notes and articles relating to his work on suburbia, counter-culture, and communes. This collection
includes several manuscripts that deal with the deconstruction of sexuality and age-difference among children living in communes.
Also included is his collection of other authors' correspondences, manuscripts, and notes related to Berger research subjects.
Arrangement of the Collection
The collection is arranged into three series: 1. Bennett M. Berger; 2. Other Authors; 3. Audio Visual.
Related Collections
The following collections at Special Collections may also be of interest:
D-425, Edwin McCarthy Lemert Papers, 1936-1996: This collection contains correspondence and subject files relating to Lemert's
research on social issues such as stuttering, check forgery, alcoholism, and juvenile justice.
D-473, John Lofland Papers, 1977: This collection contains research materials on demonstrations in or near the California
State Capitol building in 1977.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Berger, Bennet M.--Archives.
University of California, Davis--Faculty--Archives.
Communal living.
Counterculture.
Access
Collection is open for research.
Processing Information
Michael Rodriguez, Special Collections intern, processed the collection and created the finding aid under the direction of
Elizabeth Phillips, Manuscript Archivist.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Jane Berger, 2006.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Bennet M. Berger Papers, D-441, Department of Special Collections, General Library, University of
California, Davis.
Publication Rights
Copyright is protected by the copyright law, chapter 17, of the U.S. Code. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the Department of Special Collections, University of California, Library, Davis as the owner of the physical items and
is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.