Guide to the Robert E. Conrad Papers, 1947-2004, SC.2022.01

Arrangement

Repository
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Title
Robert E. Conrad Papers
Collection Number
SC.2022.01
Extent
24.42 Linear Feet (24 record center boxes and 1 document case)
Date
1947-2004
Abstract
The Robert E. Conrad Papers were created during his years as a professor and researcher. It primarily consists of printed or photocopied documents with marginalia, typed and handwritten documents, handwritten notes, newspaper clippings, and journal articles underlined and/or with marginalia. The documents mostly relate to nineteenth century Brazilian Slavery, Conrad's area of specialization, also including materials on US Slavery, Cesar Augusto Sandino, and Latin America.
Language
The material in this collection is in Portuguese, Spanish, German and English.
Publisher
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Address
University of Pittsburgh Library System
Archives & Special Collections
Website: library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
Business Number: 412-648-3232 (Thomas) | 412-648-8190 (Hillman)
Contact Us: www.library.pitt.edu/ask-archivist
URL: http://library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections

Access Restrictions

No restrictions.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Mary Tabay in March 2022.

Arrangement

The papers are arranged in the following ten series designations:

I. Academic Research

II. Nicaragua and Sandino

III. Lectures

IV. Assorted Notes

V. Handwritten Documents

VI. Research Projects and Correspondence

VII. Notebooks

VIII. Illustrations and Clippings

IX. Non-Academic Writings

X. Audio-Visual Materials

Biography

Robert Edgar Conrad (1928-2014) had a B. A. in Economics from Geneva College, Beaver Falls, Pa., a M. A. in Political Science from Columbia University, and obtained his Ph.D. in History, in 1967, also from Columbia University. He focused on slavery in Brazil with a dissertation entitled The Struggle for the Abolition of the Brazilian Slave Trade, 1808-1853.

Conrad worked as Assistant and Associate Professor of History at the University of Illinois in Chicago, 1967- 1978, Full Professor at the Freie Universitat, Berlin, Germany, 1978-80, and Independent Scholar and Visiting Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh's University Center for International Studies.

He was awarded a number of grants and scholarships throughout his career, including the National Defense Foreign Language Fellowship, 1963; the NDFL-Fulbright-Hays grant, 1965-66; the American Philosophical Society grant, 1969; the National Endowment for the Humanities Research grant, 1973-74; the American Council of Learned Societies grant, 1975; the NEH grant to translate documents for a documentary history of Brazilian slavery, 1978; and the NEH senior fellowship to write a comparative study of U.S. and Brazilian slavery, 1990-92. Conrad served in the US Army during the war with Japan and was stationed in Japan. Conrad constantly travelled to Latin America, particularly to Brazil, Nicaragua, and Mexico. In addition to English, his native language, he spoke German, Spanish, Portuguese, and some French.

Conrad met and later married Ursula Elfriede (1936-2021), a native of Germany, in the 1950s while in London. She became a citizen of the United States in 1966 and pursued multiple degrees in higher education in tandum with her husbands academic studies.

Conrad authored various books, including:

The Destruction of Brazilian Slavery, 1850-1888. Berkeley: U of California P, 1972.

Brazilian Slavery: An Annotated Research Bibliography. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1977.

Children of God's Fire: A Documentary History of Black Slavery in Brazil. Princeton: Princeton U P, 1983.

Tumbeiros: o tráfico escravista para o Brasil. São Paulo: Editora Brasiliense, 1985.

World of Sorrow: The African Slave Trade to Brazil. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State U P, 1986.

Sandino, the Testimony of a Nicaraguan Patriot: 1921-1934. Princeton: Princeton U P, 1990.

In the Hands of Strangers: Readings on Foreign and Domestic Slave Trading and the Crisis of the Union. University Park: Pennsylvania State U P, 2001.

Preferred Citation

Robert E. Conrad Papes, 1947-2004, SC.2022.01, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Edgar L. Colón Meléndez in August 2023.

Scope and Contents

The Robert Conrad Papers includes a variety of research material, notes, typed lectures, illustrations, slides, correspondence and other academic and personal documents. Of special interest are the letters Robert Conrad exchanged with government officials and intellectuals, both from Nicaragua and the United States, such as Vice President of Nicaragua from 1985 to 1990 and writer, Sergio Ramirez Mercado, and US Senator Al Gore. The bulk of the collection consists of printed and photocopied materials with extensive marginalia and underlining, rectangular pieces of paper with handwritten notes, and several longer handwritten documents. In the Academic Research section (Boxes 1-15), with the exception of the categories General, Miscellaneous, Regional, Testimony, and Nicaragua/Sandino, the organizational logic follows Conrad's original arrangements. In the original brown accordion folders divided by themes, Conrad placed printed and photocopied material, short translations, and typed and handwritten notes. The relational nature of the materials in these folders was preserved by organizing the materials in consecutive file folders divided by three types: Printed, Documents, and Notes. Other printed materials on the same themes, that were not placed together by the author in the accordion folders, are included in file folders after the Notes.

Aside from the research materials, the archive includes Conrad's professional and graduate writings, undergraduate papers, personal and professional correspondence, grant applications, and book reviews, as well as a large number of documents used in classroom settings, such as handwritten lectures, notes, and examinations. Finally, also included were literary materials: manuscripts of novels, short stories, poems, and a screenplay, that make up his non-academic writings.

Copyright

The University of Pittsburgh holds the property rights to the material in this collection, but the copyright may still be held by the original creator/author. Researchers are therefore advised to follow the regulations set forth in the U.S. Copyright Code when publishing, quoting, or reproducing material from this collection without the consent of the creator/author or that go beyond what is allowed by fair use.

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