Skip to main content

American Defense Group records

 Collection
Identifier: MS 0353
Finding aid note: Stored off-site at the Library Service Center. Please request this material via woodson@rice.edu or call 713-348-2586.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains correspondence, memos, organizational and reading lists, and budget information regarding an organization called the American Defense Group. The Group consisted largely of professors from three California institutions (Huntington Library, California Institute of Technology, and the Mt. Wilson Observatory) who were interested in assisting the American war effort by reading foreign-language domestic publications and reporting editorial comments to U.S. Naval Intelligence. Ultimately, this information was passed on to the U.S. Office of Strategic Services.

Dates

  • Creation: 1941 - 1944

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This material is open for research.

Conditions Governing Access

Stored off-site at the Library Service Center. Please request this material via woodson@rice.edu or call 713-348-2586.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish material from the American Defense Group Records must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.

Biographical / Historical

The American Defense Group consisted largely of professors from three California institutions (Huntington Library, California Institute of Technology, and the Mt. Wilson Observatory) who were interested in assisting the American war effort by reading foreign-language domestic publications and reporting editorial comments to U.S. Naval Intelligence. Ultimately, this information was passed on to the U.S. Office of Strategic Services.

The American Defense Group was in contact with the Office of Volunteer Readings at Princeton. Mrs. Hardin Craig, the donor of the collection, was at one time the secretary of the group. Her husband, a history professor, later became university librarian at Rice University.

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet ( (1 box))

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

This collection contains correspondence, memos, organizational and reading lists, and budget information regarding an organization called the American Defense Group. The Group consisted largely of professors from three California institutions who were interested in assisting the American war effort by reading foreign-language domestic publications and reporting editorial comments to U.S. Naval Intelligence.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was donated to Fondren by Mrs. Hardin Craig and received on May 13, 1982.

Title
Guide to the American Defense Group records, 1941-1944
Status
Completed
Date
2009
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Revision Statements

  • 2009: finding aid revision description not supplied

Repository Details

Part of the Woodson Research Center, Rice University, Houston, Texas Repository

Contact:
Fondren Library MS-44, Rice University
6100 Main St.
Houston Texas 77005 USA
713-348-2586