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Finding Aid for the Brian Urquhart Collection of Material about Ralph Bunche, ca. 1932-1972
364
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Title: Brian Urquhart Collection of Material about Ralph Bunche
Collection number: 364
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
24.0 linear ft.
(48 boxes and 2 oversize boxes)
Date: ca. 1932-1972
Abstract: Sir Brian Urquhart (b.1919) was active in the organization and direction of the United Nations (UN) Emergency Force in Middle
East (1956) and responsible for the organization and direction of UN peace-keeping operations and special political assignments.
Ralph Bunche (1904-1971) was the undersecretary for special political affairs at the UN (1958-67) and undersecretary general
(1968). He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950. The collection consists of papers about and collected by Ralph J. Bunche
and later used by Brian Urquhart to write
Ralph Bunche: an American Life (1993). Items in the collection include manuscripts, notebooks, project files, audiotape recordings, clippings, travel photographs,
and memorabilia.
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
creator:
Urquhart, Brian
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Copyright to portions of this collection has been assigned to the UCLA Library Special Collections. The library can grant
permission to publish for materials to which it holds the copyright. All requests for permission to publish or quote must
be submitted in writing to Library Special Collections. Credit shall be given as follows: ©The Regents of the University of
California on behalf of UCLA Library Special Collections.
Open for research. STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library
Special Collections for paging information.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Brian Urquhart, 1995.
[Identification of item], Brian Urquhart Collection of Material about Ralph Bunche (Collection 364). Library Special Collections,
Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
With an extensive background with the United Nations, Sir Brian Urquhart became a central figure in debates over the future
of the United Nations and the role of UN security forces in the post-Cold War era. Born in England in 1919, he was educated
at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford University. After serving in the British army and military intelligence during
World War II in North Africa and Europe, he served as a personal assistant to Gladwyn Jebb, who established the Preparatory
Commission of the United Nations in London. From 1946 to 1949, he was personal assistant to the Trygve Lie, the first Secretary-General,
and subsequently he served in various capacities under Ralph Bunche between 1954 and 1971. Over this period, Sir Brian was
centrally involved in the conferences on peaceful uses of atomic energy, the Congo crisis in the early 1960s, and peacekeeping
in Cyprus, Kashmir, and the Middle East. In the period after 1972, Brian Urquhart was one of the principal political advisors
of the Secretary-General, and served as the Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs, working on Lebanon, Israel
and Palestine, and Namibia, among others. He retired from the United Nations Secretariat in 1986.
Urquhart has written several books, including biographies of Dag Hammarskjöld and Ralph Bunche; an autobiography, A Life in
Peace and War; and books on decolonization and reforming the United Nations system. His continued involvement with the United
Nations is also reflected in his pieces on the UN volunteer force and the responsibilities of the UN system published in The
New York Review of Books in 1993 and 1994, as well as his involvement with the events surrounding the fiftieth UN anniversary.
Ralph J. Bunche (1904-1971) received his undergraduate degree from UCLA and his doctoral degree from Harvard and served as
a professor at Howard University and at Harvard. He joined the Permanent Secretariat of the United Nations in 1948, served
as the undersecretary for special political affairs from 1958 to 1967, and then became undersecretary general in 1968. In
1950, Bunche was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Collection consists of papers about, and collected by Ralph J. Bunche and later used by his colleague and biographer, Brian
Urquhart. Includes manuscripts, his notebooks, project files, audiotape recordings, clippings, travel photographs, and memorabilia.
The notebooks document more than five decades of Bunche's evolution as a political thinker and carefully preserve the origin
and genesis of his major published and unpublished speeches, essays, articles, and other writings. Project files include research
materials consulted by Bunche, reports generated by him and/or his affiliates, and photocopies of business correspondence.
Audiotapes include transcriptions of taped interviews with Bunche, mostly from the 1960s. Clippings and memorabilia include
articles by and about Bunche, along with reviews and letters to him.
Ralph J. Bunche Papers (Collection 2051). Available at UCLA Library Special Collections.
To maintain original order, original material created by Ralph J. Bunche was transferred to the Ralph J. Bunche Papers (Collection
2051) http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf8r29p24k/.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
4233917
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Bunche, Ralph J. (Ralph Johnson), 1904-1971.
United Nations--Officials and employees.
Urquhart, Brian--Archives.
Diplomats--Archives.