Robert Bernstein Papers
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Abstract
Robert Bernstein (born 1923) is an American publisher and human rights advocate. He worked in publishing for over 45 years and was the president of Random House between 1966 and 1991. He is the founder of Human Rights Watch and served as the chair of the organization from its founding as Helsinki Watch in 1978 to 1998, and has served as Founding Chair Emeritus since 1998. The Robert Bernstein Papers document Bernstein's work in human rights and publishing; his autobiography, Speaking Freely: My Life in Publishing and Human Rights (2016); and other charitable organizations with which he is associated. Material in the collection documents both Bernstein's work in publishing and human rights, as well as the work of the organizations themselves. The collection dates between 1957 and 2016, with the bulk of the material dating between 1995 and 2010. Materials include correspondence, meeting agendas and minutes, clippings, speeches, pamphlets, article and book drafts, oral history interviews, podcast episodes, print and born-digital photographs, a digital video recording, and scrapbooks.
Biographical Note
Robert Bernstein (born 1923) is an American publisher and human rights advocate. He worked at Simon & Schuster from 1946 to 1956 and at Random House from 1956 to 1991, serving as the president of Random House between 1966 and 1991. He worked closely with Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) on the Beginner Books division of Random House between 1959 and 1991.
After traveling to the Soviet Union a number of times between 1970 and 1973, and meeting with dissident authors Andrei Sakharov and Elena Bonner, he established the Fund for Free Expression in 1973 in order to promote the works of Sakharov, Bonner, and other dissident authors. He founded Helsinki Watch in 1978, which focused on the human rights section of the Helsinki Accords. Helsinki Watch led to other watch groups, which were all brought together under Human Rights Watch in 1988. Bernstein served as the chair between 1978 and 1998, and has served as Founding Chair Emeritus since 1998. He has been involved with several human rights organizations, including Advancing Human Rights and Human Rights in China. He served on the boards of several charitable organizations, including Legal Services for Children (later Partnership for Children's Rights), the Sigrid Rausing Trust, and Bard College's Institute for International Liberal Education and the Bard Prison Initiative. In 2016 he published his autobiography, Speaking Freely: My Life in Publishing and Human Rights.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in four series with each arranged in alphabetical order by name, topic, or format. The series are as follows:
Series I. Human Rights Watch Files, 1986-2016
Series II. Random House Files, 1925-1936, 1963-2001
Series III. Human Rights and Charitable Work Files, 1980-2014
Series IV. Biographical Material, 1956-2016
Scope and Contents
The Robert Bernstein Papers document Bernstein's work in human rights and publishing; his autobiography, Speaking Freely: My Life in Publishing and Human Rights (2016); and other charitable organizations with which he was associated. The collection dates between 1925 and 2016, with the bulk of the material dating between 1995 and 2009. Materials include correspondence, meeting agendas and minutes, clippings, speeches, pamphlets, article and book drafts, photographs, a digital video recording, oral history interviews, podcast episodes, and scrapbooks. Bernstein's work at Random House is documented through correspondence, contracts, interoffice memoranda, and oral history interviews with Bernstein. This material includes correspondence, contracts, and memoranda with and about Theodor Seuss Geisel's work for Random House as the head of Beginner Books. Bernstein's work with Human Rights Watch (HRW) is documented through correspondence, clippings, meeting agendas and minutes. Topics in these materials include human rights issues in Israel, Palestine, and China, with the bulk of the correspondence pertaining to HRW's and Bernstein's responses to events in the Middle East in particular. The collection contains material documenting Bernstein's relationship with other human rights and charitable organizations, including the Sigrid Rausing Trust, the Bard Prison Initiative, Legal Services for Children, Human Rights in China, and his relationships with Chinese dissidents Xu Wenli and Wei Jinsheng. His relationships with these organizations and people are documented through correspondence, meeting agenda, and print and born-digital photographs. Other material documenting the work of these people and organizations includes podcast episodes and a digital video recording. The collection also contains notes and background material for Speaking Freely and drafts of op-eds by Bernstein.
The collection contains overlap across the four series, with material pertaining to Bernstein's work with Random House, HRW, and other human rights organizations existing in Series IV. The materials filed under Series IV are a mix of material both unique and duplicative of that which exists in Series I through III.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Robert Bernstein, the creator of this collection, were relinquished and transferred to the public domain in July 2017 by Robert Bernstein. These materials are governed by a Creative Commons CC0 license, which permits publication and reproduction of materials accompanied by full attribution. See, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Robert Bernstein Papers; TAM 726; box number; folder number, or electronic record identifier; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Robert Bernstein in 2017. The accession number associated with this gift is 2017.050.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Advance notice is required for the use of computer records. Original physical digital media is restricted. Born-digital materials have not been transferred and may not be available to researchers. Researchers may request access copies. To request that material be transferred, or if you are unsure if material has been transferred, please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
Appraisal
Duplicate clippings and publications were deaccessioned.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Series were created from topical categories in which the collection was received. Material for each series was brought together physically, and within each series material was organized in alphabetical order by organization or personal name, topic, or format. Material housed in binders was removed and rehoused in folders. Paper materials were rehoused in archival folders and boxes and optical media was housed in archival cases.
Two CD-Rs were forensically imaged and mounted to local storage. Directories were created for one collection of graphics files and one word processing document, and the files were moved to the correct folder. One Firewire hard drive could not be accessed.
New York University Libraries follows professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity of the content.
