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INSTITUTIONAL RECORD Identifier: 00110

Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.). School of Mathematics records

Scope and Contents

The Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.). School of Mathematics records consist of materials created and accumulated by the Faculty, Members, Visitors, and Administrative Officers of the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study. Materials include administrative files relating to individual Faculty, Members, and Visitors as well as meeting minutes, correspondence, grant proposals, project documentation and event files related to the administration. Materials date from 1935 to 2017.

Dates

  • 1935-2016

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Select materials in this collection are subject to the Institute for Advanced Study Archival Policy (1986).

Per the Institute for Advanced Study Archival Policy, Institute records remain under restriction for 30 years from the date of the record’s creation. Additionally, all institutional records related to personnel (including human resources record and/or records related to recommendation and/or appointment to the Institute) remain restricted for the lifetime of both the creator and subject.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers are welcome to publish, reproduce, and use the Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center’s holdings in accordance with U.S. Copyright Law. Under the Fair Use doctrine, users may freely reproduce materials for personal research, teaching, and/or scholarship. Under the same doctrine, users may cite or publish selected passages and/or quotations for comment and criticism. In accordance to U.S. Copyright Law, researchers seeking to reproduce and/or publish materials in the entirety and/or for commercial purposes will require the permission of the copyright holder.

The Institute for Advanced Study holds the copyright to materials generated by Institute employees over the course of their work for the Institute. Where the Institute for Advanced Study holds the copyright, researchers are free to reproduce materials for one-time, non-commercial purposes. For all other cases, researchers are responsible for contacting the Archives Center to request permission at: archives@ias.edu For all materials for which the Institute is not the copyright holder, researchers that choose to pursue publication and/or reproduction are responsible for determining the individual who does hold the copyright and requesting permission directly from that individual. Researchers with questions regarding the reproduction or use of archival materials can contact the Archives Center to request help at: archives@ias.edu.

Biographical / Historical

The School of Mathematics was the first School established by the Institute. It has also become the largest. Founding Institute Director Abraham Flexner explained the decision to establish this School first, because mathematics "(1) was fundamental...(2) required the least investment in plant or books... (3) [and there was] greater agreement upon personnel in the field of mathematics than in any other subject.". 1

Mathematician Oswald Veblen, among the close advisers to Flexner, was the first Faculty appointment to the School of Mathematics, effective October 1, 1932. In the fall term of 1933, the School officially began its work in loaned space on the Princeton University campus in Fine Hall, now Jones Hall, with roughly thirty participants, including Faculty and visiting scholars. The promise of establishing a close relationship in both the short- and long-term between mathematicians at the Institute and Princeton University had been a determining factor in locating the Institute in Princeton, New Jersey.

By the beginning of 1935, Veblen had been joined on the School's Faculty by James Alexander, Albert Einstein, Marston Morse, John von Neumann, and Hermann Weyl. Each represented intellectual excellence and diversity in the field of mathematics—though being rooted in the same overall discipline also resulted in essential interconnections and overlap. Some of the early Faculty, von Neumann and Weyl in particular, represented uniquely eclectic approaches. The Faculty was also chosen for their ability to be magnets for other scholars. This would be essential to support the central purpose of the Institute as a haven for short-term independent study. The intellectual climate of the School also fostered more structured opportunities for learning, including seminars and courses. In addition, there were scheduled times for presentations and discussion afforded by the Mathematics Club.

In 1939, the Institute's own campus was established, so that the School was able to move to the new Fuld Hall, retaining only a minor presence in Fine Hall for several more years. Despite the move, as had been hoped, intellectual exchange and collaboration between mathematicians at the Institute and Princeton University remained vital. For roughly the School's first decade, the composition of the Faculty was stable even as a steady stream of scholars came and went. In the late 1940s and 1950s, as the original Faculty members retired or died, new appointments were made -- such as Atle Selberg (1951), Deane Montgomery (1951), Armand Borel (1957), and André Weil (1958) -- that would carry the School through the next several decades.

1 Abraham Flexner, . pp. 359-360 (Simon and Schuster, 1940) 2 3 4 http://pcmi.ias.edu/about/ 5 http://www.math.ias.edu/wam/news

Extent

36.5 linear feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Overview

The Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.). School of Mathematics records consist of materials created and accumulated by the Faculty, Members, Visitors, and Administrative Officers of the School of Mathematics. Materials date from 1935 to 2017.

Custodial History

The Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.). School of Mathematics Faculty and Administration routinely transfer records to the Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center. The School of Mathematics most recently transferred additional materials in 2021.

Related Materials

Further information relating to those represented in the Members, Visitors, Assistants series can be found in various locations. For Short-Term Visitors, especially those without files, minimal information can sometimes be found in the School's Faculty Meeting Minutes in the School of Mathematics records. For scholars in the natural sciences before 1965, also see the School of Natural Sciences's People series. For all visiting scholars, files have also been created and maintained by the Director's Office. Within the record group for that office, please see the following series, as appropriate: Members files, Visitors files, and Assistants files. In the rare case that a scholar also served on the Institute's Board of Trustees, the record group for that body may provide additional materials.

For the School in general, the Director's Office: Schools files series will contain some materials both duplicating the School's own records and unique to the collection. The set of Faculty Meeting Minutes originating with the Director's Office is less comprehensive than the set from the School itself, but the folders that include meeting Agendas dating from 1953-1987 are unique.

Subjects

Related Names

Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.). School of Mathematics records
Status
Completed
Author
Erica Mosner and Casey Westerman prepared this finding aid.
Date
2011-02-22
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
This finding aid is written in English.

Revision Statements

  • 2022-02-08: Caitlin Rizzo revised this finding aid to comply with DACS standards and revised the record group title.

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