Samuel Sloan Walker papers, 1951-1963

Printable guide [HTML]
Request items

Summary

Creators:
Walker, Samuel Sloan
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.
Extent:
31 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box (13.0 Linear Feet)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Samuel Sloan Walker papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

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.

Biographical / historical:

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.

Acquisition information:
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives in 2001.
Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Anti-communist movements
Names:
Free Europe Committee
Places:
Europe, Eastern

Access and use

Restrictions:

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.

Terms of access:

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Samuel Sloan Walker papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US
Contact:
(650) 723-3563
hooverarchives@stanford.edu
Website