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Schurmannn (Franz) Papers
BANC MSS 98/123 cz
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
The Bancroft Library
Title: Franz Schurmann papers
creator:
Schurmann, Franz, 1926-2010
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 98/123 cz
Physical Description:
9.5 linear feet
7 cartons, 2 boxes, 1 cardfile box
Date (inclusive): circa 1955-1986
Date (bulk): (bulk 1957-1970)
Abstract: The papers of Franz Schurmann, American historian and sociologist and expert on China during the Cold War.
Language of Material: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head
of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The
Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright
owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition,
the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor
restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected
by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of without permission of the copyright owner.
Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
[Identification of item], Franz Schurmann papers, BANC MSS 98/123 cz, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
There are no alternate forms of this collection.
Materials Cataloged Separately
Negatives have been transferred to Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library.
The Franz Schurmann papers were gifted to the Bancroft Library by Franz Schurmann in 1995.
No additions are expected.
Processed by Lara Michels in 2013.
Franz Schurmann, born in 1926 in Astoria, Queens, was an American sociologist and historian (though he referred to himself
as an explorer-journalist). An expert on China during the Cold War, Schurmann taught in both the Departments of History and
Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley for thirty-eight years. He also served for some time as the head of the
Center for Chinese Studies. Schurmann was fluent in as many as twelve languages (partly the product of the fact that his father
spoke five). He served in World War II, during which he met Stephen Brecht, the son of Bertolt Brecht. The two would remain
friends and Schurmann was known to spend granduate school summers at Brecht's house in Southern California. Schurmann received
his Ph.D. in Asian Studies from Harvard University after the war. One of his first major projects was to spend two years in
Afghanistan during the late 1950s documenting a tribe thought to be descended from the invasions of Ghengis Kahn. He published
his findings in a book entitled The Mongols of Afghanistan (1962). Schurmann's major work was his book Ideology and Organization
in Communist China, which was first published in 1966 at the start of Mao's Cultural Revolution. Schurmann was an opponent
of the Vietnam War and founded the Berkeley Faculty Peace Committee in 1964. He toured parts of Vietnam in 1968 with fellow
activist Mary McCarthy. Schurmann also was instrumental in starting the Pacific News Service in 1970 in order to bring more
journalism about Asia to the United States.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection includes correspondence; writings; research files; professional and personal materials; and audio-visual. The
correspondence mostly dates from 1960 to 1970 and documents both personal and professional activities. Schurmann's writing
files include drafts of some of his books as well as manuscript versions of talks, lectures, and unpublished essays, mostly
on Chinese topics but also on issues relating to the Vietnam War. Among Schurmann's personal and professional materials are
pages from journals or self-reflections kept by Schurmann during the 1960s, which document, in detail, his personal life as
well as his thoughts on his work process and on places and events. Of particular note are Schurmann's journals of his trips
to Vietnam and Cuba with political activist Mary McCarthy in 1968 as well as his journals from Paris in 1962 (in which he
comments extensively on contemporary events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis). There are also cassette tapes mainly relating
to Vietnam and Cuba and five reel-to-reel audio tapes, at least one of which derives from Schurmann's work in Afghanistan
in the late 1950s. The final series consists of Schurmann's personal professional files which had been retained by the Center
for Chinese Studies and were transferred to The Bancroft Library in 2014.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Peace
China--Politics and government--1949-1976
China--History--Historiography
Asia--History--Historiography
Angel Island (Calif.)
Faculty papers
Schurmann, Franz, 1926-2010
Schurmann, Franz, 1926-2010--Archives.
University of California, Berkeley. Center for Chinese Studies
University of California, Berkeley. ǂb Faculty Peace Committee