Dome

Digitized materials in this online collection form part of the James R. Killian papers (MC-0423) in the MIT Libraries Department of Distinctive Collections. For more information about the materials, please consult the collection finding aid.

Collection scope and contents:
The collection reflects James R. Killian's personal and non-Massachusetts Instiute of Technology (MIT) professional activities from 1923 to 1985. Biographical information, personal and business correspondence, and journals and correspondence about his retirement provide some insight into his private life. There is a small amount of correspondence and other material from the years when he was editor of Technology Review and vice president of MIT, including an audiocassette interview (1982) he participated in about research at MIT during World War II.
Killian's many years of government service are documented in correspondence, reports, financial data, publicity material, and minutes of board meetings from the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television and from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; reports, notes, and correspondence of his involvement with the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, the President's Board of Consultants in Foreign Intelligence Activities, and the President's Science Advisory Committee Capabilities Panel and Panel on Arms Limitation and Control. There is some correspondence and speeches from 1957 to 1959 when he was special assistant to the president for science and technology. The collection includes transcripts of an oral history interview conducted by the Columbia University Oral History Project in which Killian discusses his years as science advisor; Correspondence, financial data, notes, and photographs describe his involvement with the Atoms for Peace Award; also included are NATO Commission reports and correspondence.
Killian's relationships with professional societies such as the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering are documented in correspondence and reports; his involvement with various corporations such as AT&T, General Motors, and the MITRE Corporation are described. Information about his civic activities in Boston and Cambridge is also included. The collection contains copies of Killian's speeches and writings, including background information, publicity, and manuscript drafts of Sputnik, Scientists, and Eisenhower; and correspondence, drafts, and notes for Education of a College President.

Dates:
1923 – 1988

Please note:
Materials in this collection may be under copyright. Please consult the collection finding aid or catalog record and the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy for more information.

Citation:
Please cite the source item title (dc.title), collection title and identifier, and repository.

Example:US Army Operations Research Office, 1952-1953. James R. Killian papers (MC-0423). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries. Department of Distinctive Collections.

Repository details:
Part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries. Department of Distinctive Collections Repository https://libraries.mit.edu/distinctive-collections