Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm89076467
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of I. I. Rabi, physicist, professor, and Nobel Prize winner, were given to the Library of Congress by Helen N. Rabi, his wife, in 1988.
The papers of I. I. Rabi were arranged and described by Joseph Sullivan with the assistance of Kathleen A. Kelly and John R. Monagle in 1992. The finding aid was updated in 2023 by Maria Farmer as part of a division-wide remediation project by the Inclusive Description Working Group.
The Rabi papers are described in
A tape of a lecture entitled “Men and Ideas” given by I. I. Rabi at the University of Texas at Austin has been transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division of the Library where it is identified as part of these papers.
Copyright in the unpublished writings of I. I. Rabi in these papers and in other collections of papers in the Library of Congress is reserved. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division for further information.
The papers of I. I. Rabi are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Government regulations control the use of security classified material in this collection. Manuscript Division staff can furnish information concerning access to and use of classified items.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, I. I. Rabi Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of
Born of Jewish parentage in 1898 in what is now
He received his doctorate in 1927, went to
As the world came closer to war in the late 1930s and as fear of
The General Correspondence series, dated 1927-1987, is chiefly concerned with his career as a teacher, lecturer, and advisor on scientific matters. His correspondents include many well-known figures in the scientific and political communities. Subjects discussed include the importance of education in science and technology, Rabi's work in the development of radar and the atomic bomb, the relationship between science and the humanities in his 1970 publication
The state of physics research in the
The Columbia University Office
File, 1924-1987, the largest series in the collection, is concentrated in the
post-World War II period and related to Rabi's career at
Rabi's work with other organizations and committees is documented in such files as “
Much in the Columbia
University series describes Rabi's association with the radiation laboratory
at
Rabi's thoughts regarding humanism and science, his efforts in arms control, and science and education, though mentioned in his correspondence, are more comprehensively discussed in his speeches and writings in the Speech, Article, Writings, and Lecture File, 1942-1987. Notable files include his article entitled “The Physicist Returns from the War,” published in the
The Academic File,
1919-1976, documents aspects of Rabi's teaching and lecturing career as well as his
student and postdoctoral years. Notebooks relate to his research in the 1930s and
include notes generated from lectures given by physicists
Many items in the Printed
Matter series, 1938-1985, supplement files in the Columbia University Office File. Biographical
items relating to Rabi and others, including correspondence, academic and other awards,
material regarding his Nobel Prize in physics, and correspondence of Rabi's wife,
Correspondents include
The collection is arranged in ten series:
Mostly letters received, with attachments, together with some letters sent.
Arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent and chronologically therein.
Correspondence, memoranda, reports, statements, agendas, minutes of meetings, charts, graphs, bulletins, notices, invitations, press releases, newspaper clippings, publications, photographs, applications, and contracts.
Arranged alphabetically by name or subject and chronologically therein.
Typed, printed, and handwritten copies of speeches, articles, chapter drafts, notes, and other writings by Rabi.
Arranged by type of material and therein alphabetically by title. Writings and speeches by others appear in the Miscellany series at the end of the collection.
Notes, charts, graphs, calculations, notebooks, course outlines, examinations, and other material relating to Rabi's student years, his early research, and teaching career.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Reports, monographs, conference proceedings, charts, graphs, publications, bylaws, and miscellaneous material.
Arranged alphabetically by name of organization, with separate categories for institutes, laboratories, and conference proceedings and reports.
Agendas, articles, lectures, biographical material, bibliographies, writings, and correspondence by Rabi's wife and others, financial material, notes, photographs, poems, and Nobel Prize material.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Lantern slides, dry plates, glass negatives, and negatives used by Rabi in his lectures and fragments of apparatus used in his laboratory.
Arranged by type of material.
Reports of government agencies and technical materials.
Organized and described according to the series, folders, and boxes from which the items were removed.
Government classified documents consisting of correspondence, reports, statements, minutes of meetings, summaries, surveys, and notes.
Organized and described according to the series and folders from which the items were removed.
NATO classified documents consisting of memoranda, reports, statements, summaries, and notes.
Organized and described according to the series and folders from which the items were removed.