This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
Project materials, including reports, monographs, books, articles, Masters essays, Doctoral dissertations, foreign publications, administrative records, correspondence, minutes and audio-visual materials.
Boxes 1-103.& This Index is intended to show the entire output of each Bureau project. The projects were assigned numbers that were generally chronological, beginning with the year the project began, but became chronologically disordered from B-1000 to B-1038 due to a transition in the numbering system introduced in 1964. For these projects, the year of initiation is given after the project title.
Within projects, publications are listed by type: Reports, Monographs, Books, Articles, Masters Essays, Doctoral Dissertations, Foreign Publications and, in a few cases, Audio-Visual Materials. Within each category, publications are ordered by year and then alphabetically by author. If an author produced more than one publication of a given type in a particular year, a number in parentheses indicates its order in that author's publications for that year.
Projects that were funded through the Bureau and approved by its Board as "Bureau Projects" have numbers preceded by "B." Faculty projects, for which the Bureau provided space or services but that it did not initiate as an organization, are indicated by an "F." Similar student projects are indicated by "S" or "D." The names of the original project directors are given in parentheses after the project title.
Eight boxes of material [Boxes 104-111]
Boxes 112-134
The BASR Reports were generally delivered to the research sponsor in mimeographed form. In some cases, as noted, the reports were later published as articles or books. Asterisks indicate titles which are not included in the microfiche collection.
All Masters Essays were submitted to the Department of Sociology of Columbia University. For interlibrary loan, contact Interlibrary Loan Service, Columbia University Libraries. For purchase of microfilm or Xerox copies, contact the Photographic Service Department, Columbia University Libraries.
Series V: Doctoral Dissertations
Boxes 135-136. Doctoral Dissertations were submitted to the Sociology Department of Columbia University. All Columbia dissertations are available on interlibrary loan; address requests to Interlibrary Loan Service, Columbia University Libraries. Those available on microfilm are so designated and may be purchased directly from University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Boxes 137-141. The articles are listed chronologically and, within each year, alphabetically by author. Most of them report on research carried out at the Bureau of Applied Social Research or its predecessor, the Office of Radio Research. Those from 1935-1936 and some of the 1937 articles were produced by Paul Lazarsfeld before the creation of the Office of Radio Research, but were always listed by him as the Office's first publications in accordance with his effort to build up the organization. He also encouraged staff members and fellow faculty members to list their publications as "Bureau publications" for the same reason. Wherever possible we have indicated specific project numbers for articles which could be directly attributed to a Bureau research project.
Series VII: Personnel Published and Unpublished Materials
Not Included In BASR Project Files. 4 boxes- Boxes 142-145
Series VIII: Additional Project Files and Miscellaneous Materials
Boxes 146-151
Series IX: BASR Library Materials and Publications
Boxes 152-156
Series X: Center for the Social Sciences
Boxes 157-163
This collection is arranged into 12 series.
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Bureau of Applied Social Research records; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
RBML also holds the "Bureau of Applied Social Research-War Documentation Project Records, 1950-1956" as part of the Bakhmeteff Archive (BA#0064).
A data set related to the Academic Mind is available via Research Data Services: http://www.columbia.edu/acis/eds/holdings/1079/
The collection includes nearly 200 empty folders with titles like "Found in Vienna." These materials are likely found at the University of Vienna, which holds a Paul Lazarsfeld Archive (https://www.soz.univie.ac.at/en/about-us/lazarsfeld-archive/). Specific report numbers and/or titles can be searched in the University of Vienna's library catalog, https://usearch.univie.ac.at (German only) See for example https://ubdata.univie.ac.at/AC16533952 for the report B-0214, "The ghosts go West."
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
2010-01-22 Legacy finding aid created from Pro Cite.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
2019-08-05 Added Series XII. Administrative Records, 1938-1977, formerly University Archives BASR records (BIBID 6228370).
The Bureau of Applied Social Research, headed by sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld, was established in 1944 and helped make Columbia a pioneering institution in the social sciences. Through empirical research, ideas regarding the functioning of individuals and groups were developed and tested. Many ground-breaking studies were conducted by Lazarsfeld and his colleagues, among the most important of which was the impact of radio and television on the American public. Through such work, the Bureau become the "birthplace" of mass communication research. Many survey techniques were developed at the Bureau, such as the focused interview and panel interviewing methods. The Bureau was eventually succeeded by the Center for the Social Sciences in 1976.