Morton Keller Papers

Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections Department, Brandeis University Libraries

c. 2006 By Brandeis University Libraries, all rights reserved

Table of Contents

Administrative Information
Biography
Scope and Content
Series Description
Container List

Creator: Morton Keller
Title: Papers, 1964-2001, n.d.
Quantity: 2 cu. ft. (2 record center boxes)
Repository: Brandeis University Libraries
Identification: MWalB0327A
Language: English

Administrative Information

Access:

Access to the collection is in accordance with the policies of Brandeis University Libraries, Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections Department.

Copyright:

Requests to publish material from the collection should be directed to the Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections Department.

Processed by:

Robert Heinrich

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Morton Keller Papers, Robert D. Farber University Archives, Brandeis University

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Biography

Morton Keller is Professor Emeritus in History and a scholar of American legal history. He was born in Brooklyn, New York on March 1, 1929 and earned a B.A. from the University of Rochester in 1950. Keller then attended Harvard University, where he received an M.A. in 1952 and Ph.D. in 1956. During that period, he also served as a commissioned officer in the U. S. Navy (1953-1956). Keller married Phyllis Daytz on September 7, 1951, and they have two children, Robin and Jonathan.

In 1958, Keller took his first academic position as an instructor in History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After two years there, he went to the University of Pennsylvania as an Assistant (1958-1962) and then Associate (1962-1963) Professor. Keller spent the 1963-1964 school year as a visiting lecturer in History at Harvard before taking a job at Brandeis the following fall. He remained at Brandeis for the rest of his career, retiring as Professor Emeritus in 2001. During his time at Brandeis, Keller also held visiting appointments at the University of Sussex (spring 1968), Yale University (fall 1968), and the University of Oxford (1980-1981). Keller taught many courses on United States history, political history, legal history, and the state in the Western world.

Professor Keller's scholarly work focused on legal history, especially the period of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. He has written or edited 15 books, including: In Defense of Yesterday: James M. Beck and the Politics of Conservatism (1958); The Life Insurance Enterprise, 1885-1910: A Study in the Limits of Corporate Power (1963); The Art and Politics of Thomas Nast (1968); Affairs of State: Public Life in Late Nineteenth Century America (1977); Congress, Parties, and Public Policy (1985); Regulating a New Economy: Public Policy and Economic Change in America, 1900-1933 (1990); and Regulating a New Society: Public Policy and Social Change in America, 1900-1933 (1994).

Keller has received many awards and fellowships, including: a Guggenheim Fellowship (1959-1960); SSRC Research Award (1959-1960); ACLS Fellowship (1967-1968); Charles Warren Center Fellowship (1967- 1968); NEH Senior Fellowship (1974-1975); honrorary degree from Oxford (1980); Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellowship (1980-); NEH Constitutional Fellowship (1986-1987); a major grant from the Spencer Foundation (1955-1998); and the Littleton-Griswold Prize in American Legal History (1995).

Keller remains an active scholar. In 2001, he and his wife, Phyllis, published Making Harvard Modern: The Rise of America's University. Keller is currently working on a manuscript entitled, America's Regimes: A New Political History.

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Scope and Content

The materials in this collection were created from 1964 to 2001. The collection consists primarily of correspondence and memoranda related to Keller's various faculty and administrative duties at Brandeis, especially concerning the History Department, the Legal Studies Program, and Presidential Search Committees.

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Series Description

Administrative Files
Inclusive dates: 1964-2001, n.d.
Boxes 1-2
Arrangement: Alphabetical
This series contains materials related to Keller' work as an administrator and faulty member at Brandeis. Subjects include the Brandeis 40th anniversary celebration, the Crown Fellowship, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Department of History, the Legal Studies Program, Presidential searches, and the Transitional Year Program.

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Container List

Administrative Files
box 1 Admissions and Financial Aid, 1970-1971
box 1 Admissions materials, 1969-1970
box 1 Admissions materials--Minority students, 1969-1970
box 1 Admissions materials and Transitional Year Program, 1971
box 1 African American Studies Department--Correspondence and memoranda, 1969-1970
box 1 American Civilization program--Correspondence and memoranda, 1983-1994
box 1 Barraclough, Geoffrey--Correspondence, 1971-1972
box 1 Board of Trustees and Appointments--Correspondence and reports, 1979-1991
box 1 Brandeis administrative materials, 1985-1989 [R]
box 1 Brandeis appointments and fundraising, 1991-1995
box 1 Brandeis 40th anniversary celebration--Correspondence and pamphlets, 1988
box 1 Brandeis 40th anniversary celebration--Memoranda and correspondence, 1988, n.d.
box 1 Brandeis-Sussex exchange--Correspondence, 1967-1968
box 1 Brandeis symposium and Gordon Center--Correspondence and article, 1986-1987
box 1 Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid, 1971-1973 [2 folders]
box 1 Correspondence, 1967-1981
box 1 Crown Fellows 25th Anniversary, 1989-1995
box 1 Crown Fellowship--Correspondence and memoranda, 1968-1972
box 1 Crown Fellowship and Crown Center, 1976-1977
box 1 Department correspondence, 1984, n.d.
box 1 Dibner Institute--Correspondence, 1988-1989
box 1 Faculty Center--Correspondence, 1976-1977
box 1 Faculty salaries, 1964-1974 [R]
box 1 Future of Brandeis and Henry Luce Professorship--Correspondence and article, 1979-1985, n.d.
box 1 Graduate School--Correspondence, 1967-1972
box 1 Gordon Center--Correspondence, 1995-1996
box 1 Gordon Center--Correspondence, memoranda, and pamphlets, 1985-1989
History Department
box 1 Appointments, 1979-1990 [3 folders] [R]
box 1 Correspondence, 1984-1993, n.d. [3 folders] [R]
box 1 Correspondence and memoranda, 1963-1987 [1-2 of 4 folders]
box 2 Correspondence and memoranda, 1984-1986 [3-4 of 4 folders] [R]
box 2 Materials for Visiting Committee, 1985-1986
box 2 Personnel, 1987-1994
box 2 History of Science--Correspondence and announcements, 1984-1985
box 2 "The Idea of a Senior College," 1969-1970
box 2 Keyssar, Alex--Correspondence and memoranda, 1983-1988 [R]
Legal Studies
box 2 Budget materials, 1975-1977
box 2 Colloquium--Judiciary, 1972-1976
box 2 Correspondence, 1976-1978
box 2 Course syllabi, 1975-1976
box 2 Courses and requirements, 1976
box 2 Donors--Correspondence, 1976-1979
box 2 Enrollment, 1975-1976
box 2 Faculty advisors, 1975-1976
box 2 Henry Luce and Russell Sage Foundation grants, 1975-1976
box 2 International Law and Leo Gross, 1975-1977
box 2 Library purchases--Correspondence, 1975-1979
box 2 Publicity, 1975, n.d.
box 2 Senior theses, 1975
box 2 Summer Research Awards, 1976-1978 [3 folders] [R]
box 2 Merit scholarships--Correspondence, notes, and clippings, 1983-1991 [2 folders]
box 2 Presidential search materials, 1967-1982 [4 folders] [R]
box 2 Retirement ceremony [VHS tapes], 2001
box 2 Reutlinger, Andrew S.--Memorial, 1972-1977
box 2 Rosenberg, Charles--History of Science, Drew Gilpin Faust appointments, 1985
box 2 Sarna, Jonathan--Correspondence, 1974-1979 [R]
box 2 Student protest--Faculty materials, 1968-1969 [R]
box 2 Transitional Year Program--Correspondence, 1969-1976
box 2 University problems, 1969

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