Summary Information
Abstract
Herbert H. Hyman (1918-1985), an expert on the science of polling, was a
professor of sociology at both Columbia University (1951-1969) and Wesleyan
University (1969-1985). His papers deal primarily with his professional research
interests and projects, but also include some teaching materials. His files include
budgets, code books, correspondence, course materials, drafts, grant files,
proposals, surveys, and typescripts.
At a Glance
Bib ID: | 6619504 View CLIO record |
Creator(s): | Hyman, Herbert Hiram, 1918- |
Title: | Herbert H. Hyman
Papers,
1942-1985.
|
Physical description: | 7.14 linear feet (17 manuscript boxes).
|
Language(s): | In English,
with a few items in
German,
Italian,
and
Turkish
.
|
Access: |
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least
two business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and
Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
More information » |
Arrangement
Arrangement
The files have been left in the order in which Herbert Hyman stored them during his
lifetime.
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Description
Scope and Content
The papers deal primarily with Hyman's professional research interests and projects,
and include material on both published and unpublished projects. In general, Hyman
grouped materials together by topic or project. The files also include some course,
lecture and teaching materials; budgets, code books, correspondence, course
materials, drafts, grant files, proposals, research, surveys, and typescripts.
The papers reflect Hyman's interest in education, socialization, and attitude change.
They include files on research projects related to blind individuals, civil
liberties, comparative survey research, desegregation in schools, public opinion,
race and race relations, and widowhood. At the time of his death, Hyman was
researching the history of survey research; there are several files related to the
project.
Hyman often kept files on similar subjects or projects together in small groups. For
example, the files on research projects include large sets of files on two topics.
The first set of files relates to Hyman's research study on the blind, referred to
in reports as “Communication, Perception and Social Behavior: Explorations in These
Fundamental Processes through the Study of the Inter-group Relations and Attitudes
of the Blind.” This project was started in the early 1960s at Columbia University.
The files include code books, correspondence, proposals, and reports. Although Hyman
produced several articles from the research, the unrest at Columbia University in
1968 caused the disruption and abandonment of the project.
The second set of files relates to the Office of War Information (OWI). These files
include code books, correspondence, memoranda, reports, and background material.
Although Hyman did work for the Surveys Division of OWI during World War II, it is
clear from his correspondence that he also conducted research on this topic in the
early 1980s. It is not clear if these materials document Hyman's research activity,
his work at OWI, or both.
There are two items which appear to date from Hyman's time as a student: a course
paper (1942) and a resource list of materials relating to Social Psychology written
with Gardner Murphy. Both are in Box 2. Otherwise, the collection contains no
material from Hyman's pre-professional activities.
A few files that contain biographical information and reviews of Hyman's work are
filed in Boxes 5, 7, and 10. There are a few publicity photographs of Hyman in the
"Personal Data" file in Box 7; otherwise, there are no photographs in the
collection. The collection does not contain any material related to Hyman's personal
life or interests.
Files
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Using the Collection
Offsite
Access Restrictions
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least
two business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and
Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
Restrictions on Use
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material
from the collection must be requested from the Curator of Manuscripts/University
Archivist, Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML). The RBML approves permission to
publish that which it physically owns; the responsibility to secure copyright
permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Herbert H. Hyman Papers; Box and
Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Finding aid in repository; folder level control.
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About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries. Rare Book and
Manuscript Library; machine readable finding aid created by Columbia University
Libraries Digital Library Program Division
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Catherine N. Carson.
Finding aid written by Catherine N. Carson in April 2008.
Machine readable finding aid generated from MARC-AMC source via XSLT
conversion November 7, 2008
Finding aid written in English.
2009/01/15
xml document instance created by Patrick Lawlor
2009-05-15
xml document instance edited by Catherine N. Carson
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Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.
Genre/Form
Heading | CUL Archives: Portal | CUL Collections: CLIO | Nat'l / Int'l Archives: ArchiveGRID |
---|
Correspondence | Portal | CLIO | ArchiveGRID |
Subjects
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History / Biographical Note
Biographical Note
Herbert H. Hyman was born in New York City on March 3,
1918.
Hyman received all of his degrees from Columbia University.
He completed a bachelor's degree in 1939, a master's in 1940, and a PhD. in Social
Psychology in 1942. During World War II, Hyman worked for the United States
Government. At first, he worked as a Social Science Analyst for the Division of
Program Surveys in the Department of Agriculture. From 1942-1944, he worked as a
Public Opinion Analyst in the Surveys Division of the Officer of War Information.
From 1942-1946, he was involved in the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey of Germany and
the Bombing Survey of Japan, and in 1947, he was a member of the Expert Mission on
Public Opinion and Sociological Research, Army of Occupation, Japan.
In 1947, Hyman became a Senior Project Director at the
National Opinion Research Center (NORC). He joined the faculty of Columbia
University as an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology in 1951,
although he continued to work part-time at NORC until 1957. While at Columbia, Hyman
chaired the Sociology Department (1965-1969) and served as the Associate Director
for the University's Bureau of Applied Research (1957-1969). He also served as the
Program Director for the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development in
Geneva (1964-1965). From 1969 until his retirement, he was a professor of sociology
at Wesleyan University. During his career, Hyman also held visiting professorships
and lectureships at several institutions, including the Universities of California
at Berkeley, Oslo, Ankara, Turin and Milan, Catania and Turin, Temple University,
and MIT.
Hyman was the author of four books on public opinion
polling, and is credited with helping to advance the science of polling. He is
well-known as a survey researcher, and had strong interests in education,
socialization, and attitude change. But as David Sills notes in his review of
Surveying Social Research: Papers in Honor of Herbert H. Hyman,
Hyman did not see
survey work as a purely technical exercise. He felt that survey work was “both a
method for obtaining information needed by policy makers and scholars and a form of
ethnography - a way of enabling people to reveal their culture and their feelings to
a researcher.”
Hyman married Helen Kandel, a freelance writer, in 1945.
The couple had two sons, Alex and David, and a daughter, Lisa. Hyman died in China
after suffering a heart attack in December 1985. He had traveled to the country to
speak at a conference on “Uses of Sociology in Developing Countries” at Zhongshan
University.
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