Inventory of the Jack Preiss papers, 1940-1969 (bulk 1940-1942)
[top]Descriptive Summary
Repository
University Archives, Duke
University
Creator
Preiss, Jack Joseph, 1919-.
Title
Jack Preiss papers, 1940-1969 (bulk 1940-1942)
Language of Material
Material in English
Extent
1.3 Linear Feet
85 Items
Abstract
85 Items
Jack Joseph Preiss taught in the Dept. of Sociology at Duke University from 1959-1988.
The materials in the collection largely pertain to his time at Camp William James in Vermont and include correspondence, photographs, and clippings. The collection ranges in date from 1940-1969, with the bulk dated 1940-1942.
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Administrative Information
Access RestrictionsPatrons must sign the Acknowledgement of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
Collection is open for research.
Copyright Notice
Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Jack Preiss papers, University Archives, Duke University.
Provenance
The Jack Preiss papers were received by the University Archives as a
gift in 1967.
Processing Information
Processed by Kimberly Sims, December 2006
Encoded by Kimberly Sims, December 2006
Accession A67-328 is described in this finding aid.
Descriptive sources and standards used to create this inventory: DACS, EAD, NCEAD guidelines, and our local Style Guide.
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
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Biographical Note
Jack Joseph Preiss was born in New York City in 1919. He received his A.B. from Dartmouth College in 1940, his M.A. from Columbia University in 1951, and his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1954. He joined the faculty at Duke University in 1959 and served in both the Dept. of Sociology and the Dept. of Psychiatry. He retired in 1988 and is a Professor Emeritus in Sociology. Active within the community, Preiss served on the Durham City Council from 1965-1969 and has worked since 1985 to help develop and obtain low-income housing for seniors.
[top]Collection Overview
This collection consists principally of letters from Preiss to his mother, Mrs. Mary Sacks Preiss, and her two sisters, but there are some letters to Preiss from several friends whom he had met in a work-service camp in Tunbridge, Vermont [Camp William James]. The correspondence by Preiss is largely about the problems of organizing and operating the work-service camp, its being taken over by the CCC, the resignation of himself and some others from the CCC, and the re-establishment of the work-service camp. He also, however, writes quite a bit about social affairs.
The work-service idea was put into practice by Dr. Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, who taught social philosophy at Dartmouth and had founded the pre-Hitler work camps in Germany. He got some young, city boys of privileged backgrounds to join him in establishing the camp at Tunbridge. The camp was named for Professor William James, who had lectured on a moral equivalent of war, and the purpose of the camp was to give these men from the city experience in aiding farmers with their labor, in the hope that each group would profit from their association with each other and the farmers would have some much-needed labor. Dorothy Thompson, who had a summer home in the valley of the camp, gave this project continual assistance and encouragement. Preiss comments on her and her support in his letters.
The collection also includes clippings, largely about the work-service camp and several black and white photographs, presumably of the work-camp. The material ranges in date from 1940-1969, with the bulk ranging in date from 1940-1942.
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Subject Headings
These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.
 | List of Series in Collection | |||||||
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Detailed Description of Collection
Container List
Photographs, undated
Folder 2
Letters, 1940-1942
Folder 3
Miscellany, 1940-1941
Folder 4
"The Harvard Progressive"
and
"Free America"
, 1941-1942
Folder 5
Letter, 1969
Folder 6
Clippings
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Bibliography
Preiss, Jack Joseph Camp William James,
