Ithiel de Sola Pool papers
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Scope and Contents of the Collection
Extensive files of Pool's many communications studies include correspondence and reports of the SIMULMATICS project on Vietnam and Vietnam Study interviews; work for the Naval Ordnance Test Station; projects for American government agencies and foreign countries, including Japan and Egypt; correspondence about communication and public opinion in India; questionnaires and computer print-outs of the "Acquaintance Study"; the Violence Study; Elites; Contact Networks; a study of Japanese reaction to the 1981 television miniseries "Shogun"; a 1953-1955 analysis of the relationship between the American business community and United States foreign trade and tariff policies; and information about other projects on cable television, satellite broadcasts, human factors in communications, telecommunications, and communication in foreign policy.
Pool's activities as a member of the MIT Department of Political Science and the Center for International Studies are documented in correspondence with colleagues, reports, memoranda, course materials from classes he taught, and notes of the 1967 MIT Committee on Student Environment. Pool's activities outside MIT are documented in correspondence concerning conferences, seminars, and workshops he participated in, as well as speeches and talks he gave. Correspondence with professional organizations include the Bureau of Social Science Research, the National Academy of Sciences, the Council of Social Science Data Archives, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Copies of articles he published and papers he gave are included. As this collection is not fully processed there is material that is not included in this description.
Boxes 218 and 219 contain unprocessed manuscript drafts, notes, and background materials for a book that Pool was writing about President Carter titled In His Words. The book was never published.
Dates
- Creation: 1941 - 1984
Creator
- Pool, Ithiel de Sola, 1917-1984 (Person)
Access note
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Digital Access Note
Some parts of this collection are available online. Links to specific online digital items are found within their entry in this finding aid.
Conditions Governing Use
Access to collections in the Department of Distinctive Collections is not authorization to publish. Please see the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy for permission information. Copyright of some items in this collection may be held by respective creators, not by the donor of the collection or MIT.
Biography
Ithiel de Sola Pool, professor of political science and director of the International Communications Program of the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was a leading authority on the study of public opinion.
Born in New York City in 1917, Dr. Pool earned the BA in 1938, the MA in 1939, and the PhD in 1952 from the University of Chicago, where he served as a research assistant from 1938 to 1942. In 1942 he became assistant professor of political science at Hobart College and in 1948, associate professor. In 1949 he was appointed assistant director of the Research Program in Revolution and the Development of International Relations of the Hoover Institute on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University.
Pool joined the faculty of MIT as associate professor of political science in 1953 and was promoted to professor in 1958. On leave from the Institute during the academic year 1957-1958, he was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.
Pool was a leader in the development of techniques by which detailed projections of public opinion can be made through the simulation of attitudes and attitude changes on a computer. This technique makes possible not only the analysis of polls but the prediction of the reactions of various groups to hypothetical questions. In 1959 Pool and his associates founded the Simulmatics Corporation for the application of simulation methods. His technique was used for election studies during the presidential campaign of 1960.
Under a grant from the US Office of Education, Pool conducted studies to determine the character of the audience of educational television and the effectiveness of the medium. A report on such studies was made in a book, The People Look at Educational Television, published in 1963, of which he was one of the authors.
Pool was the author or co-author of a number of articles and books on international relations including American Business and Public Policy: The Politics of Foreign Trade. He was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Air Force and of the Advisory Board of the Naval Ordnance Test Station, China Lake, California. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, the American Political Science Association, the American Sociological Association, and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Ithiel de Sola Pool died in 1984.
Extent
215.6 Cubic Feet (214 record cartons, 6 manuscript boxes, 1 audiocassette)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Ithiel de Sola Pool, professor of political science and director of the International Communications Program of the Center for International Studies (CIS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was a leading authority on the study of public opinion. Pool was a leader in the development of techniques by which detailed projections of public opinion can be made through the simulation of attitudes and attitude changes on a computer. The collection contains correspondence, reports, and background materials on his communications studies including the SIMULMATICS project on Vietnam, a study of Japanese reaction to the 1981 television miniseries "Shogun,” projects for American government agencies, and information about projects on cable television, satellite broadcasts, telecommunications, and communication in foreign policy. His activities as a member of the MIT Department of Political Science and CIS are documented in correspondence with colleagues, reports, memoranda, course materials.
Location
Materials are stored off-site. Advance notice is required for use.
Appraisal note
Needs review.
Processing Information note
Some collection descriptions are based on legacy data and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. Description may change pending verification. Please contact the MIT Department of Distinctive Collections if you notice any errors or discrepancies.
Subject
- World's Fair. Brussels (1958) (Organization)
- Harvard-MIT Joint Arms Control Seminar (Organization)
- United States. Agency for International Development. Communications Resources Division (Organization)
- United States. Commerce Technical Advisory Board (Organization)
- United States. Office of Telecommunications (Organization)
- Pool, Ithiel de Sola, 1917-1984 (Person)
Topical
- Broadcasting policy
- Business consultants
- Communication -- Research
- Communication -- Research -- India
- Communication policy
- Communication, International
- Government consultants
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- Faculty
- Telephone -- History.
- Television -- Social aspects.
- Vietnam War, 1961-1975.
- Violence on television.
- Title
- Preliminary Inventory to the Papers of Ithiel de Sola Pool
- Status
- Ready For Review
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
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Repository Details
Part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries. Department of Distinctive Collections Repository
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries
Building 14N-118
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge MA 02139-4307 US
distinctive-collections@mit.edu