Subseries Information

Title

Correspondence

Dates

1943–1969

Conditions Governing Access

The papers are open with permission unless otherwise noted.

Ownership & Copyright

Copyright is retained by Henry A. Kissinger for works he has authored and provided during his lifetime to the Yale University Library. After the lifetime of Dr. Kissinger, all intellectual property rights, including without limitation all copyrights, in and to the works authored by Dr. Kissinger pass to Yale University, with the exception of all intellectual property rights, including without limitation all copyrights, motion picture and/or audio rights in and to his books, interviews and any films that will be retained by Dr. Kissinger’s heirs and assigns. Copyright status for collection materials other than those authored by Dr. Kissinger is unknown.

Except for the limited purposes allowed by the Yale University Library Guide to Using Special Collections, exploitation, including without limitation the reproduction, distribution, adaption, or display of Dr. Kissinger’s works protected by the U.S. Copyright Act (Title 17 U.S.C. §101 et seq.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain shall not be commercially exploited without permission of Dr. Kissinger, the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Existence and Location of Originals

Originals of documents marked with an [LC] in the upper right-hand corner are at the Library of Congress.

Scope and Contents

The correspondence in Series I spans the years from 1943 to 1968, although the bulk of the materials is dated between 1952 and 1968. It deals almost exclusively with the professional and academic part of Kissinger’s life; there is very little discussion of any personal or family topics.

Kissinger’s writings and publications are well documented through his correspondence with Max Ascoli, Hamilton Fish Armstrong, Stephen Graubard, Caryl Haskins, William Kintner and Philip Quigg. His correspondence with McGeorge Bundy, William Y. Elliott, David Riesman and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., richly documents their involvement with his early academic career and especially with the journal Confluence and the Harvard International Seminar. Starting in 1961, Kissinger’s correspondence with Bundy and Schlesinger documents some of his work as a consultant to the White House, although more materials can be found in the professional files. Kissinger’s early career correspondence also provides substantial material on early scholarly work on nuclear strategy and what would become the new field of security studies through correspondence with many of the most influential scholars and practitioners in the area including Bernard Brodie, Thomas K. Finletter, James Gavin, Robert Osgood and Albert Wohlstetter. Others with whom Kissinger had substantive and sustained correspondence include Kurt Birrenbach, with whom Kissinger often discussed NATO and the evolving state of United States-German relations, and Wayland Young, with whom Kissinger discussed potential International Seminar participants, funding for the Pugwash conferences and the evolution of the disarmament and arms control movement. While Kissinger’s outgoing correspondence is all in English, some of his European correspondents wrote in French or German.

Please note that correspondence associated with specific topics or projects can be found filed with other types of material throughout Series I.