Papers of the British Association for American Studies

Committee minutes and correspondence of officers, 1955-1986; Rockefeller Grant papers: The Rockefeller Foundation made money available to the University of Manchester to be administered in conjunction with the BAAS to encourage research by scholars in the history, literature and institutions of the United States. Travel and research fellowships; conference papers, 1956-1983; United States Information Service (USIS) Grant for Surveys of Sources papers, 1956-1962; papers of miscellaneous foundations, institutions etc, 1956-1962. American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellowships correspondence regarding fellowships: ACLS is a federation of scholarly organisations and societies in the United States founded in 1919, concerned with humanities and the humanistic elements of the social sciences. From the early 1960s it offered fellowships to scholars from around the world for research in the field of American Studies. From 1978, the BAAS and the ACLS have jointly funded the fellowship programme. In addition to the fellowships for longer term research the BAAS also introduced its own programme of Short Term Travel Grants. Membership records, 1950s-1980s; BAAS publications: Newsletter , 1959-1969, Bulletin , 1956-1958, Bulletin new series, 1960-1966, Books on America Series , 1963-2000; British Records Relating to America in Microform Series , other publications, 1965-1971. The collection also includes papers of Professor Wright, and papers of Professor Welland.

The Association was founded in 1955 by a group of British University teachers to promote the serious study of the United States within universities, colleges and schools within the United Kingdom. The term 'American Studies' is taken to embrace the history, government and politics, economics, sociology, geography and literature of the United States of America.

Reference: Finding aid for the British Association for American Studies.

The collection is arranged in two sections; the first relates mainly to the period 1955-1962 in which the filing arrangement and numbering system of the BAAS has been retained, and the second comprises more recent archives to 2000.

Open. Access to all registered researchers.

This collection was deposited on permanent loan by the Association in 1998 and 2000.

See full catalogue for more information.

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the University Archivist, Special Collections. Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

Further deposits are expected.