Title: Joseph R. Starobin Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1932-1979

Creator:

• Starobin, Joseph R. (Joseph Robert), 1913-1976

Call Number: Mss 592

Quantity: 5.4 c.f. (14 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers of Joseph Starobin, a leftist writer, university professor, and activist who associated with many Communist Party leaders throughout the world and who attempted to arrange peace talks between North Vietnam and the United States during the Vietnam War. He served as a professor of political science at York University in Toronto from 1968 to 1976; edited and wrote for Communist publications, including The New Masses (1939-1942) and The Daily Worker (1942-1954); and was a member of the Communist Party from 1934 to 1954. The collection consists primarily of personal, business, and political correspondence, with the bulk of materials dating from 1954 to 1976. Included are letters from political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski, Senator J.W. Fulbright, columnist James B. Reston, historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and a 1962 letter from author Doris Lessing. Also included are manuscripts and writings by Starobin and others, and subject files.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00592

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

Joseph Robert Starobin was born in New York City in 1913, the son of Polish immigrants. From 1929 to 1936 he attended the College of the City of New York and New York University. He earned a B.S. in chemistry in 1936. During his undergraduate years Starobin was very active in student politics, particularly in the National Students League and in the Young Communist League. From 1934 to 1937 he worked as a chemist for a New York City firm, and in 1936 he married Norma Rosen. The couple had one child, Robert Saul Starobin (1939-1971), who became a noted New Left historian and social activist.

Starobin joined the Communist Party in 1934 and began work as editor of Young Communist League publications in New York City. From 1939 to 1942 he was the foreign editor of The New Masses. He held several positions at The Daily Worker from 1942 to 1954: foreign editor, European editor, and United Nations correspondent. In the early 1950's Starobin traveled extensively in the U.S.S.R. and eastern Europe, and he lived in the People's Republic of China in 1952 and 1953. While living in China he visited North Vietnam. In 1954, dubious about the applicability of communism to the American situation, Starobin left the Communist Party and worked until 1956 as a freelance correspondent for the Western European communist press. He was employed as an editor by the professional journal The Dental Times from 1958 to 1963.

In the 1960's Starobin began devoting more and more of his time to academic pursuits. To fulfill requirements for a doctoral degree he attended classes at Columbia University from 1963 to 1965. He was a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution in the summer of 1966, and a senior research fellow at Columbia University's Research Institute on Communist Affairs from 1965 to 1967. In the spring of 1968 Starobin taught at Yale University as a visiting lecturer, and later that year he became an instructor of political science at York University in Toronto. In 1969 he attempted to arrange peace talks between North Vietnam and the United States. Starobin obtained his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1970 and continued teaching at York until his death in 1976.

Starobin wrote numerous books and articles throughout his life, and among his published works are Eyewitness to Indo-China (1954), Paris to Peking (1955), and American Communism in Crisis, 1943-1957 (1970, based on his doctoral dissertation at Columbia). He was an acquaintance or friend of many political and intellectual figures in the United States and abroad, including Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Henry Kissinger, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, who directed Starobin's doctoral work at Columbia.

The Joseph R. Starobin papers provide insight into the American perception of communism, and especially that perception as developed in the 1950's. The collection also documents the anti-Vietnam War views and activities of a leftist American intellectual. The materials reflect Starobin's association with world-wide political elites and his insightful political commentary from a unique perspective. The papers are arranged in four series: CORRESPONDENCE, WRITTEN WORK, SUBJECT FILES, and PERSONAL INFORMATION.

The CORRESPONDENCE constitutes about half of the collection. Most materials are arranged chronologically, and some are organized by subject if more than one correspondent is involved. The bulk of the material dates from 1954 to 1976, although there are scattered items from the 1930's and 1940's. Included are personal, business, and political correspondence, with letters from many prominent persons including political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski, Senator Robert Kennedy, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, author Doris Lessing, and historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. An alphabetical list of prominent correspondents is appended to this register.

The series WRITTEN WORKS is divided into two broad subseries: materials concerning works by Joseph Starobin, and those pertaining to works of others. The Starobin subseries contains his writings, notes, correspondence with publishers and individuals in regard to his publications, promotional materials, reviews, and course work from his days as both a student and a professor. Starobin's articles are arranged chronologically if the date of publication is known, and undated articles are organized by publisher, if known. Papers written for Starobin's college courses are ordered in a separate chronological sequence titled “Student Course Work.” The subseries concerning works written by others is classified according to physical format or publication title. A file of anonymous manuscripts contains works probably written by Starobin.

SUBJECT FILES include materials on Vietnam. Here can be found correspondence, articles, news releases, Vietnamese publications, posters, and leaflets. Many of these items relate to Starobin's effort to arrange peace talks between North Vietnam and the United States.

The PERSONAL INFORMATION series consists of one file containing application forms, letters of recommendation, a genealogical chart, and other documents which reveal part of Starobin's personal history.

Papers of Starobin's son Robert are also housed in the archives of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mrs. Norma Starobin, New York, New York, 1981. Accession Number: M81-470

Processing Information

Processed by Christian Frazza, 1983; and Geoffrey Wexler, 1986.

	Series: Correspondence
	General
Box   1 Folder   1-4	1932-1956
Box   2 Folder   1-4	1957-1959
Box   3 Folder   1-4	1960-1967
Box   4 Folder   1-4	1968-1971
Box   5 Folder   1-5	1972-1979
Box   5 Folder   6	Undated
Box   6 Folder   1-2	Undated
Box   6 Folder   3	Canadian Department of National Defense, 1969-1970
Box   6 Folder   4	Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese Officials, 1971-1974
Box   6 Folder   5	The Christian Science Monitor, 1957
Box   6 Folder   6	Courtade, Pierre and Genia, 1952-1959; undated
Box   6 Folder   7	Dictionary of American Biography, 1974-1975
Box   6 Folder   8	Employment Search, 1968-1973
Box   6 Folder   9	Federal Reserve Bank et al. re: Deposit of Foreign Assets, 1955-1958
Box   6 Folder   10	Foreign Affairs, Article for, 1965-1966
Box   6 Folder   11	Hooven, Edward, Jr., 1971-1972
Box   6 Folder   12	Lin, Paul T.K., 1968-1969
Box   6 Folder   13	New American Library, Inc., 1965-1966
Box   6 Folder   14	Organisation Internationale des Journalistes, 1954-1957
Box   6 Folder   15	Post-Industrial Society Developments - Conference Idea, 1969-1970
Box   6 Folder   16	Publishing Houses, Regarding Proposed Book, 1958
Box   6 Folder   17	Radical America, 1968
Box   6 Folder   18	Ryan, Stanley, 1970-1971
Box   6 Folder   19	The Slavic Review, 1970-1971
Box   6 Folder   20	Soviet-American-Chinese Triangle, Panel on, 1970
Box   6 Folder   21	The Soviet System and Democratic Society, 1966-1967
Box   6 Folder   22	Starobin Publications in Eastern Europe and the U.S.S.R., 1953-1955
Box   6 Folder   23	Trombadori, Antonello, 1955-1956
Box   6 Folder   24	U.S. Customs, 1953-1958
	Series: Written Works	⇧
	Subseries: Works by Joseph Starobin
	Articles
Box   7 Folder   1-2	1940-1974; undated
Box   7 Folder   3	Alphabetical by Publisher, undated
Box   7 Folder   4	No Publisher Indicated, undated
	American Communism in Crisis, 1943-1947
Box   8 Folder   1	Published Copy, 1972
Box   8 Folder   2-4	Proposal and Original Manuscript (typescript with handwritten corrections)
Box   8 Folder   5	Excerpts, undated
Box   9 Folder   1-2	Correspondence, 1968-1975; undated
Box   9 Folder   3	Notes and Book Production
Box   9 Folder   4	Reviews, 1972-1973
Box   9 Folder   5	Eyewitness to Indo-China, 1954-1956
Box   9 Folder   6	History of U.S. Political Parties, Contribution to, 1972
Box   9 Folder   7	Paris to Peking, 1954-1956
Box   9 Folder   8	Book Outline, circa 1952
Box   10 Folder   1	Unidentified Manuscript (Paris to Peking?), undated
Box   10 Folder   2	Notes on the People's Republic of China, 1952-1953
Box   10 Folder   3-4	Student Course Work, 1962-1965; undated
Box   10 Folder   5	Teaching Notes, 1971-1976
	Subseries: Works by Others	⇧
	Manuscripts
Box   11 Folder   1	Alphabetical by Author, 1950-1970; undated
Box   11 Folder   2	Anonymous, 1941-1969; undated
	Published Works
Box   11 Folder   3-4	Periodicals, 1936-1977; undated
	Magazine Articles
Box   11 Folder   5	1945-1956
Box   12 Folder   1	1957-1976; undated
Box   12 Folder   2	Pamphlets and News Releases, 1953-1974; undated
Box   12 Folder   3	Newspaper Articles, 1921-1976; undated
	Court Documents
Box   12 Folder   4-5	1945-1955; undated
Box   13 Folder   1	Testimony by Joseph Starobin, undated
Box   13 Folder   2	The American Forum, 1956-1957
Box   13 Folder   3	Facts for Farmers, 1954-1958
Box   13 Folder   4	California Farm Reporter, 1952-1953
	Series: Subject Files	⇧
Box   13 Folder   5	Irving, Clifford -- Court Case, 1962-1964
Box   13 Folder   6	Lohr-Baily, Helga -- Research Project, 1969
Box   13 Folder   7	Miscellany
Box   13 Folder   8	“Moscow and International Communism” -- Conference, 1975
Box   13 Folder   9	Passport Denial, 1951
Box   13 Folder   10	Second Annual Conference of Public Affairs, 1948
Box   13 Folder   11	Spring Convocation, York University, Glendon College, 1980
	Vietnam
Box   14 Folder   1	Articles, Statements, News Releases, 1954-1974; undated
Box   14 Folder   2	Correspondence, 1965-1972; undated
Box   14 Folder   3	Newspaper Articles, 1953-1973; undated
Box   14 Folder   4	Vietnamese Publications, 1952-1953
Box   14 Folder   5	Series: Personal Information	⇧

Baker, Russell	1967, November 30
	1967, August 28
Brzezinski, Zbigniew	1964, December 1
	1965, February 5
	1966, January 31
	1967, May 3
	1969, September 23
	1969, November 18
	1970, February 4
	1970, March 11
	1970, September 29
	1970, October 6
	1972, November 10
	1973, January 17
	1973, January 31
	1973, March 21
	1975, June 20
	1976, May 20
Dellinger, David	1967, January 24
	1967, April 5
Eagleton, Thomas	1969, December 1
Fulbright, J.W.	1956, July 5
	1969, October 28
	1969, November 13
	1969, December 24
	1970, April 24
	1972, January 31
Kennedy, Robert	1966, June 20
Kissinger, Henry	1969, September 30
Lessing, Doris	1962, January 18
McCarthy, Eugene J.	1967, November 20
Muskie, Edmund	1970, January 6
Reston, James	1945, March 13
	1947, April 7
	1947, April 14
	1958, September 30
	1970, April 13
Schlesinger, Arthur, Jr.	1957, November 13
	1958, January 11
	1961, February 6
	1961, May 23
	1969, March 3
	1969, April 28
	1969, August 5
	1975, July 11
	1975, September 16
Sevareid, Eric	1970, March 23
Stone, I.F.	1967, September 23
Szulc, Tad	1975, December 14
	1976, January 17