Penn State University Libraries - Sociology

The Eberly Family Special Collections Library provides primary source materials for researchers from Penn State and around the world.

Richard Pearce-Moses defines a primary source as: "Material that contains firsthand accounts of events and that was created contemporaneous to those events or later recalled by an eyewitness."

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The Penn State Libraries' Special Collections Library holds several archival collections relevant to research into the history of sociology. Those collections include but are not limited to the following:

American Sociological Association (ASA) Archives, 1896-2007
This collection contains the organizational records of the ASA, dating primarily after the 1950s. There are rich sources related to the development of the organization, its committees and sections, annual meetings, funded programs, the history of teaching sociology, surveys of sociology departments, and publication files.

Irving L. Horowitz and Transaction Publishers Archives
Horowitz (b. 1929), professor of sociology, was head of Transaction, a major publishing house in the social sciences. The archives include Horowitz's personal and professional correspondence, and collected papers of sociologist C. Wright Mills.

Jessie Bernard Papers
Bernard (1903-1996) was an active sociologist, author, feminist, and professor at Penn State, 1947-1964. This collection includes articles, book fragments, drafts, published copies of her fiction and non-fiction, awards, plaques, photos, book reviews, speeches, and correspondence.

Luther Bernard Collection, 1854-1961
Bernard was a Penn State professor of sociology and the author of more than a dozen books and 200 scholarly articles. This collection includes book manuscripts, book and movie reviews, class materials, research notes, newspaper clippings, journal articles, personal and professional correspondence, diaries, photographs, postcards and memorabilia.

Lewis A. and Rose Coser Papers, 1846-2003 (bulk 1951-2000)
Lewis A. Coser (1913-2003) and Rose Laub Coser (1916-1994) were German-born, progressive academic sociologists. This collection consists primarily of dissertation research, published works, and reviews, including Rose Coser's notes on sociologist Anne Parsons.

Joan Huber Papers, 1961-2001
Joan Huber was a Penn State alum and sociologist. This collection includes publications, research and reference files, correspondence, and personal academic files reflecting her lifelong interest in class structure and social stratification in American society.

William Form Papers, 1948-2002
Bill Form, as he was widely known, was a prominent academic figure in industrial sociology, specializing in analyses of the fragmentation and stratification of working classes in the Americas and Europe. The bulk of these papers consist of correspondence of various types: editorial correspondence in relation to his scholarly monographs and his family history and autobiography, correspondence concerning the controversy over the content and direction of the American Sociological Review, confidential reviews of manuscripts, confidential letters of recommendation, and general correspondence.

Edward A. Tiryakian Papers
(An online finding aid is in the work for this collection.)
The collection selectively represents the career of sociologist Edward A. Tiryakian through primary sources that include correspondence, lectures, syllabi, reports, photographs, notes, drafts, reprints, and unpublished writings.

For more information, please e-mail Special Collections.