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Christopher Breiseth Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MS 0002

Scope and Contents

This collection contains material relating to Christopher Breiseth's work at Sangamon State University and his work with various community action organizations. The collection is divided into six series: Community Action Program Mission Notebooks and Reports, Community Action Program Reference Files, ‘The War on Poverty’ Publications, Springfield Urban League, Sangamon State University, and Correspondence.

Series I: Community Action Program Mission Notebooks and Reports, 1965-1972 consists of memoranda, reports, directives, and policy statements regarding the policies, mission, and strategy of the Community Action Program (CAP) of the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO). Arranged alphabetically.

Series II: Community Action Program Reference Files, 1964-1970 consists of unpublished manuscripts, reference articles, reports, and bibliographies collected on a variety of issues related to poverty and the CAP. Topics include citizen participation, community development, neighborhood organization, education, cooperatives, poverty, housing, urban renewal, the Los Angeles riots, race relations, and rural communities. Arranged alphabetically.

Series III: ‘War on Poverty’ Publications, 1965-1971 contains publications showing the nature and scope of the "War on Poverty" waged by the Office of Economic Opportunity. Arranged chronologically.

Series IV: Springfield Urban League, 1972, 1978 contains letters, memos, reports, and other documents relating to the Springfield Urban League. Arranged alphabetically.

Series V: Sangamon State University, 1970-1980 contains materials relating to Breiseth’s work at the university and is divided into four sub-series: University Committees and Administration, History Program Administration, Course Materials, and Research and Projects.

Series V, Sub-series A: University Committees and Administration, 1970-1980 contains records relating to the administration of Sangamon State University, primarily committees on which Breiseth served. Records include minutes, notices, announcements, faculty papers, and memos and correspondence of both ad hoc and standing committees on curricula, degree requirements, administrative policies, and personnel. The sub-series also contains detailed records of the Sangamon State Faculty Union. Arranged alphabetically.

Series V: Sub-series B: History Program Administration, 1971-1977 contains History Program records, including announcements, memos, minutes, course proposals and program revision proposals. Arranged chronologically.

Series V, Sub-series C: Course Materials, 1967-1984 contains course materials for History courses and Public Affairs Colloquia including syllabi, textbook lists, teaching materials, assignment and exam prompts, and class notes, as well as proposals for new courses. Arranged according to university term.

Series V, Sub-series D: Research and Projects, 1972-1979 contains materials relating to Breiseth’s historical work, such as research, his own and others’ academic articles, and materials relating to special projects including project proposals, correspondence, memoranda, planning documents, and final reports. Arranged alphabetically.

Series VI: Correspondence, 1972-1980 contains correspondence with local historical organizations, former students, and colleagues.

Dates

  • 1964-1984

Creator

Access

This collection is open under the rules and regulations of the University of Illinois-Springfield (UIS). Two folders relating to faculty personnel files and student assignments are restricted.

Copyrights

Copyrights to this collection are held by UIS.

Biography

Christopher Breiseth was born October 6, 1939 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received his B.A. in history from the University of California Los Angeles in 1958, a Masters of Literature in Modern British History from Oxford in 1962 and a PhD in Modern European Intellectual History at Cornell University in 1964. From 1970 to 1971, he held a Danforth Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in black studies at the University of Chicago. He married Jane Morhouse Breiseth (1940-2012) in 1964, with whom he has three daughters.

Breiseth taught at Williams College from 1963 to 1971, then served as an associate professor and eventual full professor at Sangamon State University from 1971 to 1980 and again from 1983 to 1984. From 1980 to 1983 he served as the president of Deep Springs College. After leaving Sangamon State University in 1984, Breiseth became the president of Wilkes University and continued in that role until 2001. From 2001 to 2009, he was the president and chief executive officer of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, after which he became the Board Chair of the Frances Perkins Center.

During his time at Sangamon State University, Breiseth was active in both university leadership and community organizations. He worked with the Community Action Program of the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Springfield Urban League as they worked to fight poverty and strengthen local communities. At Sangamon State University he participated in committees relating to university organization and policies, faculty appointments and tenure, was active in the Sangamon State Faculty Union, and led a project to develop a competency-based Bachelor’s in History program.

Extent

13.25 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Provenance

Transferred to the archives November 29, 1989 by Christopher Breiseth.

Related Materials

An oral history interview of John Takeuchi, Sangamon State University Architect, was conducted in relation to Breiseth’s Fall 1976 course History 421: The Melting Pot Reconsidered. Takeuchi discusses his experience with the Japanese-American Relocation Camps of World War II. The two resulting tapes, AV-525A and AV-525B, were separated to the Audiovisual collection.

Property Rights

UIS owns the property rights to this collection.

Processing Information

This collection was reprocessed in June and July of 2024. The collection is divided into six series.

Title
Finding Aid to the Christopher Breiseth Papers
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the UIS Archives/Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Archives/Special Collections LIB 144
One University Plaza, MS BRK 140
Springfield IL 62703-5407 US
217-206-6520