Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Harold Garfinkel
- Abstract:
- Harold Garfinkel was a professor of sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1954 to 1987. The papers include: materials relating to Garfinkel's study of correspondence received by California Governor Edmund G. (Pat) Brown regarding the criminal case of Caryl Chessman (executed on May 2, 1960) and issues regarding capital punishment; transcripts and audio recordings of UCLA course lectures by Garfinkel (Sociology Department); correspondence; speeches and presentations; reprints; research notes and data; and research proposals.
- Extent:
- 86.0 Linear Feet (160 boxes)
- Language:
- Materials are in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Harold Garfinkel papers (Collection 1273). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection consists of materials relating to a project to study the correspondence received by the Governor of California, about the case of Caryl Chessman, 1959-1960, and related issues such as capital punishment. Chessman was convicted on various felony counts and his execution on May 2, 1960 brought to an end court proceedings that had lasted over a period of years.
The original letters to the Governor are arranged in several numbered sequences: a detailed description of both the arrangement and the numbering system, which was set up by the Governor's Office and subsequently retained, is given in Box 2, as part of what appears to be a draft progress report dated September 12, 1962, on the study project.
Correspondence is selected (not all correspondence is included).
The addition to the Harold Garfinkel Papers was acquired between 2008-2010 and includes Garfinkel's professional and research files dating prior to and after Garfinkel's Chessman research; selected audio recordings; correspondence and printed email; typed transcriptions of course lectures and presentations; reprints; research notes; and research proposals.
Ethnomethodology: "refer[s] to the investigation of the rational properties of indexical expressions and other practical actions as contingent ongoing accomplishments of organized artful practices of everyday life."
Abbreviations used:
- HG = Harold Garfinkel
- NIMH = National Institute for Mental Health
- NPI = Neuropsychiatric Institute (University of California, Los Angeles)
- Biographical / historical:
-
Harold Garfinkel was the social theorist who developed and utilized ethnomethodology to study social thought and practice. He received a BS in economics from the University of Newark in 1939; an MA in sociology from the University of North Carolina in 1942; and a Ph.D in sociology from Harvard University in 1952. He worked as an assistant professor (1954-1957) and professor of sociology (1960-1984) at UCLA. He received the Cooley-Mead Award of the Social Psychology Section of the American Sociological Association in 1995. He wrote Studies in Ethnomethodology published in 1967.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Professor Harold Garfinkel, 1981 and 2010.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by Anne Caiger, 2003. Additions processed by Charlotte B. Brown, University Archivist, 2008-2010. Final processing by Kelly Besser, 2013.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections.
- Arrangement:
-
Arranged in the following series:
Correspondence and other files re: project (Boxes 1-3).
Copies of case papers and court documents "Governor's Diary," 1959-60 (Box 4).
Card indexes re: project (Boxes 5-6).
Samples of original letters to California Governor re: Chessman case (Boxes 7-12).
Original letters to Governor Edmund G. (Pat) Brown (Boxes 13-148).
- Physical / technical requirements:
-
CONTAINS AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: This collection contains both processed and unprocessed audiovisual materials. Audiovisual materials are not currently available for access, unless otherwise noted in a Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements note at the file level. All requests to access processed materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Physical location:
- Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Terms of access:
-
Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Harold Garfinkel papers (Collection 1273). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
- Location of this collection:
-
A1713 Charles E. Young Research LibraryBox 951575Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
- Contact:
- (310) 825-4988