Daniel Levine papers

The Daniel Levine papers date from 1880 to 2006 and measure 16 linear feet. The papers are arranged in six series: Writings, Professional Involvement, Research Files: Immigrant Aid, Research Files: Jewish America, Research Files: Notecards, and Research Files: Bayard Rustin. The papers contain a significant amount of material on the development and implementation of Bowdoin College’s Committee on Afro-American Studies (CAAS) in the 1970s.

The Writings series (1963-1999) contains a large selection of Levine’s academic writings, including drafts and copy edits of his book “Poverty and Society: The Growth of the American Welfare State in International Comparison.”

The Professional Involvement series (1960-2006) consists of correspondence and subject files from Levine’s professional and organizational involvement. Much of the series is composed of material from his time at Bowdoin College, including research projects, candidate search committees, and departmental correspondence. This includes files from the Committee on Afro-American Studies (CAAS) along with administrative records from the History Department.

The Research Files series (1880-1999) contains the research notes and resources, arranged by creator last name, collected by Levine. Topics include immigrant and ethnic aid, welfare systems, life for Jewish Americans, and Jane Addams.

The Research Files: Notecards series (c. 1960-1990) consists of Levine’s own card catalogue system of notes that vary in subject. Most of the cards include book titles, periodicals, and synopsis of research. File titles have been pulled from various groupings of notecards at subject level that Levine created, most of which remain undated. Individual notecards have not been described at item level but have been kept in their original order as to maintain Levine’s purpose.

Research Files: Bayard Rustin (1912-2000) is the sixth series and makes up the largest selection of research files. This series is made up of a large selection of audiocassettes that contain interviews that were conducted in the 1990s, subject files that contain copies of primary sources that Levine used while writing his biography of Rustin, as well as commentated drafts of his book “Bayard Rustin and the Civil Rights Movement” (1999).