Karl Polanyi papers, 1937-1963, bulk 1947-1963

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Series I: Correspondence, 1951-1962

This series contains Polanyi's professional correspondence from the early 1950s to the early 1960s, most of which appears to be related to his various research and writing projects, and the coordination of various academic seminars and research symposium. As such, most of the correspondents are Polanyi's professional colleagues, the major exception being correspondence with Polanyi's brother, Michael Polanyi.

The correspondence in this series is arranged alphabetically. Correspondence directly relevant to Polanyi's written works has been kept with the appropriate topic in the Writing series. The Weekend Notes series also contains some correspondence between Polanyi and Abe Rotstein relevant to that work.



Box 1 Folder 1 Arensberg, Conrad, 1957


Box 1 Folder 2 Bohannan, Paul, 1957-1960


Box 1 Folder 3 Franklin, Norman, 1957


Box 1 Folder 4 Fromm, Erich, 1961


Box 1 Folder 5 Grant, Donald, undated


Box 1 Folder 6 Landsberger, Benno, undated


Box 1 Folder 7 Lewy, Julius, 1951-1957


Box 1 Folder 8 Merton, R.K., 1957


Box 1 Folder 9 Neale, Walter C., 1960


Oppenheim, Leo, 1953-1957


Box 1 Folder 10 General Correspondence, 1953-1957


Box 1 Folder 11 "Seafaring Merchants of Ur", 1956


Box 1 Folder 12 Oriental Institute, 1958-1959


Box 1 Folder 13 Rotstein, Abe, 1952-1962


Box 1 Folder 14 Sweet, Ronald, 1956


Box 1 Folder 15 Vlastos, Gregory, 1956

Series II: Writings, 1937-1963

The Writings Series consists of material from many of Polanyi's major postwar works, including The Great Transformation, Dahomey and the Slave Trade, Trade and Markets in Early Empires, the posthumously published The Livelihood of Man, and the unpublished Freedom and Technology. Also included are the manuscripts of various essays, lectures, and other writings. The writings included herein contain drafts at various stages of completion, including simple outlines or synopses (The Great Transformation), multiple intermediate drafts and incomplete manuscripts, as well as the final and near-final drafts (Dahomey). The works placed under the heading "Non-Market Economies Writings are independent studies and essays that also reflect Polanyi's work in Trade and Markets in Early Empires. Much of Polanyi's research and scholarship was collaborative. Because of this collaborative relationship, the correspondence and notes of Rosemary Arnold on Dahomey, are included with the writings.

Also included within this series are the chapters, preface, and introduction for Polanyi's unfinished and unpublished late work, Freedom and Technology. This work, according to Polanyi's wife Ilona Polanyi, was to have been written with Abe Rotstein, but was abandoned several years before Polanyi died.

Several lectures, such as "Freedom and Technology" and "Present Age of Transformation" which are early articulations of ideas that Polanyi would later expand into book-length studies, are also found here.

The material in this series is arranged alphabetically.


Dahomey , 1948-1963


Box 1 Folder 16 Chapter I-II, 1952


Box 1 Folder 17 Chapter 3--"A Cradle of Statesmanship", undated


Box 1 Folder 18 Currencies, undated


Box 1 Folder 19-21 Draft--Early, 1953-1960 (3 Folders), 1953-1960



Box 2 Folder 1-2 Draft--Final, 1962-1963 (2 Folders), 1962-1963


Box 2 Folder 3 Drafts and Correspondence--Francisco Benet, undated


Box 2 Folder 4 Notes--Equivalencies, Money, 1940s-1950s


Box 2 Folder 5 Notes--Money, Pricing, undated


Box 2 Folder 6 Notes--Operational Devices, Money, undated


Box 2 Folder 7-8 Research Notes, Tables, Calculations, undated (2 Folders), undated



Box 3 Folder 1-6 Rosemary Arnold, 1948-1953 (6 Folders), 1948-1953


Freedom and Technology , 1956-1958


Box 3 Folder 7 "Freedom and Technology"--Lecture Notes, 1955-1956


Box 3 Folder 8-9 Notes and Chapter Drafts, 1956-1958 (2 Folders), 1956-1958


Box 3 Folder 10 "Robert Owen"--Chapter Drafts, 1957



Box 4 Folder 1 Preface and Introduction--Drafts, 1957


General Writings


Box 4 Folder 2 "A Christian Left Group", 1937-1938


Box 4 Folder 3 "Consequences of the Industrial Revolution", 1951


Box 4 Folder 4 "The Good Life in an Industrial Society", undated


Box 4 Folder 5 "Hungarian Lesson", 1957


Box 4 Folder 6-7 Lecture on Aristotle and J.K. Galbraith's The Affluent Society, 1958-1959 (2 Folders), 1958-1959


Box 4 Folder 8 "Marx on Corporativism", 1957


Box 4 Folder 9 "New West", 1958


Box 4 Folder 10 "On Propaganda", 1940


Box 4 Folder 11 "On Revisionism", undated


Box 4 Folder 12 "On the Size of Market Cultures"--Lecture, 1957-1958


Box 4 Folder 13 "Our Obsolete Market Mentality", 1947


Box 4 Folder 14 Polanyi Bibliography, 1960


Box 4 Folder 15-16 "Ports of Trade in Early Societies"--Drafts, Notes, and Research Materials--1959-1962 (2 Folders)


Box 4 Folder 17-18 "Psychology and Ideology in Institutional Change" and "The Role of Strain in Institutional Change", 1957 (2 Folders), 1957


Box 4 Folder 19 "Public Opinion and Statesmanship", 1951


Box 4 Folder 20 Review--Smelser's "Social Change in the Industrial Revolution", circa, 1959


Box 4 Folder 21 "Rousseau; or, is a Free Society Possible?", undated


Box 4 Folder 22 "Szeljegyzetek a szocialista vilagfordulohoz", 1960



Box 5 Folder 1 "Toward the Development of a System of Measuring Technological Change",, undated


Box 5 Folder 2 Untitled Essays, undated


Great Transformation , 1941


Box 5 Folder 3 "Great Transformation", 1941 (First Outline), 1941


Box 5 Folder 4 "Present Age of Transformation", 1941 (Bennington Lecture), 1941


Livelihood of Man , circa.1951


Box 5 Folder 5-6 Chapters 1-36, 1951 (Chapters 18-29 missing) (2 Folders), 1951


Box 5 Folder 7 Greek chapters, undated


Box 5 Folder 8 Synoptic Table of Contents, undated


Non-Market Economies Writings


Box 5 Folder 9-10 "Early Economies", 1960 (2 Folders), 1960


Box 5 Folder 11 "Money, Price and Trade in Pre-Industrial Societies that Possess No Market System",, 1962


Box 5 Folder 12 "Non-Market" Paper 'Authentic Version', 1959-1962


Box 5 Folder 13 "Towards a Conceptual Framework for the Study of Non-Market Economies",, 1962

Series III: Columbia University Materials, 1940-1962

This series contains material relating to Polanyi's tenure as professor of economics at Columbia University from 1947 to 1953. The material primarily consists of handwritten lecture notes and course outlines, as well as writings from university-supported and -centered faculty seminars and the Ford Foundation-funded research project. These latter writings are mostly in memo-form, but also include short write-ups on various topics. All of these materials, while distinct in form, have similar themes to Polanyi's other research and book projects. The material is arranged alphabetically.


Subseries 1: Interdisciplinary Project on Economic Aspects of Institutional Growth and University Seminar on the Institutionalizing of the Economic Process Materials,, 1950s

This subseries contains writings and other materials relating to two interrelated and interdependent research projects: the University Seminar on the Institutionalization of the Economic Process, and the Interdisciplinary Project on Economic Aspects of Institutional Growth. The former project, the University Seminar, was sponsored in 1948 by Columbia University's Council for Research in the Social Sciences, and involved a host of scholars both at Columbia and at other research institutions. Shortly after Polanyi's retirement, Polanyi and Conrad Arensberg received a Ford Foundation grant, in 1953, for what was known as the Interdisciplinary Project on Economic Aspects of Institutional Growth. Each of these projects produced a number of writings, primarily in the form of memos which were, apparently, for internal circulation and not intended for publication--rather, they appear to have been part of group presentations given by members of the seminar and research projects. Much of this material seems to be preliminary studies for and early drafts ofTrade and Market in the Early Empires,edited by Polanyi and co-authored by other Interdisciplinary Project participants.

This subseries also contains memos and minutes from the University Seminar and the Interdisciplinary Project, as well as the outline of the Project and the application material presented to the Ford Foundation.



Box 6 Folder 1 Aristotle Memo (#18), 1955


Box 6 Folder 2 Ford Foundation-- Proposal, Award, Memos, 1953-1955


Box 6 Folder 3 General Writings and Memos, 1950s


Box 6 Folder 4 Memoranda and Bibliography of Memoranda, 1950s


Box 6 Folder 5-7 Memos 1-25, 1953-56 (Memos 22 and 23 missing) (3 Folders)


Box 6 Folder 8 Outline of Project--Note No. 7 and Unnumbered Notes, 1955


Box 6 Folder 9 "Semantics of General Economic History", undated



Box 7 Folder 1-2 University Seminar Lecture, "Markets"--undated, (2 Folders)


Box 7 Folder 3 University Seminar on the Institutionalizing of the Economic Process--Minutes, memos,, 1953-1955


Subseries 2: Course Materials, 1947-1952

This subseries contains extensive handwritten and typed lecture notes for Polanyi's various seminars taught while at Columbia University, as well as syllabi and course descriptions. Polanyi appears to have kept multiple copies of lecture notes, which he clearly labeled. This subseries also contains an introduction to a Masters thesis, written by Polanyi in his capacity as Columbia faculty.

The material in this series is arranged alphabetically.


Course Notes


Box 7 Folder 4 "Archaic Greece"--2nd and 3rd Copy--undated


Box 7 Folder 5-6 Economics 151-52--General Economic History, 1947-1949 (2 Folders), 1947-1949


Box 7 Folder 7 Economics 252, 1949



Box 8 Folder 1 Economics 252: Economic History of Early Greece and Rome,1948


Box 8 Folder 2 Economics Courses, 1947-1950


Box 8 Folder 3 Grade Book, 1947-1952

[Restricted until 2032]


Box 8 Folder 4 "Hesiod" Course, 1949-1950


Main Course, 1947-1949


Box 8 Folder 5 Lecture Notes, 1949


Box 8 Folder 6-8 Parts I, 1947-1949 (3 Folders), 1947-1949



Box 9 Folder 1-5 Parts II-III, 1947-1949 (5 Folders), 1947-1949


Box 9 Folder 6-7 Second Course (Greek and Roman), undated (2 Folders), undated


Box 9 Folder 8-9 Third Course, 1949 (2 Folders), 1949



Box 10 Folder 1 Lecture Courses--Table of Contents, undated


Box 10 Folder 2 Introduction to William Bennett Master's Thesis, undated

Series IV: Research Materials, 1949-1959

This series contains handwritten and typescript notes, short written sketches, correspondence, clippings, and other materials relating to Polanyi's research projects Those notes which were labeled or clearly identified as belonging with a project, course, or Columbia University-related project generally have been included with those materials. The files that cannot be identified have generally been left in their original folder, as many of these folders appear to have been marked by Polanyi himself.

The material in this series is arranged alphabetically.


Box 10 Folder 3 Alalakh data, undated


Box 10 Folder 4-5 Antiquity, undated, (2 Folders)


Box 10 Folder 6 Aristotle, 1956-1957


Box 10 Folder 7 Auction, undated


Box 10 Folder 8-9 Bibliographies, 1949-1951 (2 Folders), 1949-1951


Box 10 Folder 10-11 Carl Menger, 1958-1959 (2 Folders), 1958-1959


Box 10 Folder 12-14 Cuneiform, 1950-1957 (3 Folders), 1950-1957



Box 11 Folder 1 Economic Theory, Markets/Trade, Ancient Rome, undated


Box 11 Folder 2-3 Feudalism, 1950s (2 Folders), 1950s


Box 11 Folder 4-6 General Economic History, undated (3 Folders), undated


Box 11 Folder 7 Greece, undated


Box 11 Folder 8 Hegel on "Civil Society", undated


Box 11 Folder 9-11 Israel, 1950s (3 Folders), 1950s


Box 11 Folder 12 Mahirum, undated


Box 11 Folder 13 Market as Institution, circa.1959


Box 11 Folder 14 Marx, circa., 1956



Box 12 Folder 1-6 Money and Circulation, Equivalencies, 1950-1959 (6 Folders), 1950-1959


Box 12 Folder 7 Mycenae, circa.1958


Box 12 Folder 8 Von Mises Theory and History, undated


Box 12 Folder 9 Oikos Controversy, undated


Box 12 Folder 10 Operational Devices, undated


Box 12 Folder 11 "Palace Economy, Temple Economy, and Market Economy in Tribal Israel" by George Woodard,, undated


Box 12 Folder 12 Pirenne, undated


Box 12 Folder 13 Politics, Psychology, undated


Box 12 Folder 14-15 Primitive Economics, undated (2 Folders), undated



Box 13 Folder 1-2 Ronald Sweet Dissertation, 1958 (2 Folders), 1958

Series V: Weekend Notes, 1956-1958

This series contains drafts of Abe Rotstein's unpublished Weekend Notes, in which he transcribed his conversations with Polanyi over a series of weekend visits and commutes (the two men lived in Canada and drove into New York City for their respective teaching appointments). The chapters of this manuscript, chronologically ordered by weekend from 1956-1958, were individually bound in 26 small notebooks, and have been kept in the original order. The bulk of this series consists of nearly final drafts of the manuscript. Also included are several early drafts, correspondence between Polanyi and Rotstein, as well as the Table of Contents and Introduction by Polanyi to his unfinished book Freedom and Technology.


Box 13 Folder 3-6 I-IV, 1956 (4 Folders), 1956


Box 13 Folder 7 IX, 1957 (Includes Correspondence), 1957


Box 13 Folder 8-17 X-XX, 1957-1958 (XXVI missing) (10 Folders), 1957-1958


Box 13 Folder 18 XXI, 1958


Box 13 Folder 19 XXII, 1957-1958 (Includes Correspondence, Table of Contents and Introduction to Polanyi's "Freedom and Technology"), 1957-1958



Box 14 Folder 1-4 XXIII-XXVI, 1958 (4 Folders), 1958


Box 14 Folder 5 Drafts and Correspondence, 1958