Dates
- Majority of material found within 1946-1981
Scope and Content Note
Most of the CORRESPONDENCE and RESEARCH FILES relate to Kantor's WRITINGS on Latin American politics in general, and, in particular, on the leadership of Figueres in Costa Rica and Haya de la Torre in Peru, and the Peruvian Aprista movement. Kantor maintained phenomenal contacts with Latin American political leaders, both professionally and personally.
The CORRESPONDENCE contains original documents with official letterheads and the signatures of Latin American presidents. The Individuals and Organizations contacted were concerned with Latin American politics, international democracy, or both. The Countries and Topics pertain to Latin America.
The WRITINGS especially reflect Kantor's teaching of political science and his study of democracy, federalism, and political movements in Latin America.
The GENERAL FILES are a miscellany of clippings and articles.
The PHOTOGRAPHS depict Kantor and the Latin American political leaders, such as Bosch, Figueres, and Haya de la Torre, found in the other series. Some pictures are official portraits, others, campaign trail or personal snapshots. A few have autographs. Most of the PHOTOGRAPHS have names, events, and/or dates noted on the back.
The SCRAPBOOK reflects Kantor's life work, and recognition thereof, and includes articles about him. Items include business cards and invitations.
The INSTITUTE OF POLITICAL EDUCATION FILES document Kantor's work as a founding member of, advisor to, and visiting professor at the school in Costa Rica. Modelled on similar schools in Latin America, this Institute was created to teach the ideas of democracy to the future leaders of Latin America. Many of the political leaders who appear in the CORRESPONDENCE and WRITINGS supported the work of the Institute. Items include some issues of the Newsletter/Bulletin of the Institute edited by Kantor and Bosch, successively.
Kantor used the FIGUERES BIOGRAPHY RESEARCH FILES as the basis of books, articles, and lectures on Costa Rican politics, economics, etc. He was working on a biography of Jose Figueres which was never finished. Items in this series include handwritten notes and fragile newspaper clippings.
The LATIN AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES RESEARCH FILES include colorful flags, which represent parties and political leaders, and an extensive amount of index cards, which individually represent the political parties of Latin America from Argentina to Venezuela. Absent are cards for Costa Rica, but information on Costa Rican political parties can be found in the CORRESPONDENCE, WRITINGS, and FIGUERES BIOGRAPHY RESEARCH FILES series. The Aprista movement is represented here as well as in the CORRESPONDENCE. Each index card contains the name of the country, political party, and, if appropriate, the party acronym. Some of the cards indicate party leaders and/or affiliations with other parties. Additional information on some cards includes party headquarters, elections in which the party participated, and the legal status of the party.
The complete editions of the NEWSPAPERS of Costa Rica found here, (El Social Democrata, La Hora, Liberacion, Libertad, and Semana), are those not located in other holdings.
CULLED from the collection as a whole were pamphlets placed in the RADICAL LITERATURE COLLECTION; newspapers and journals available elsewhere and typescripts and galley proofs of Kantor's work with no editorial revisions.
Extent
4.25 cubic feet (9 legal manuscript, 1 index card, 1 oversize)
Language of Materials
English, Spanish, and French
Abstract
Approximately 200 folders contain items such as: manuscripts of lectures and published material by Kantor; correspondence with Romulo Betancourt, Juan Bosch, Jose Figueres, Victor Raul Haya de la Torre, and other prominent Latin American politicians; photographs and political party flags; and scholarship on countries including Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, and Uruguay.
Biography
Harry Kantor, was Professor Emeritus, Political Science, at Marquette University, Milwaukee, where he taught from 1968-1976. He taught at the University of Florida, Gainesville, from 1952-1968, at the Center for Latin American Studies. (see CORRESPONDENCE for the reasons he left Florida). He was a visiting professor at the Institute of Political Education, Costa Rica, from 1960-1961.
Concurrent to his teaching positions, Kantor was Associate and then Managing Editor of the Journal of Politics from 1955-1968.
He received his B.A. from the University of Illinois in 1946, his M.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1947, and his Ph.D. (political science) from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1952.
Kantor's published work includes: The Costa Rican Election of 1953: A Case Study; The Ideology and Program of the Peruvian Aprista movement; and Patterns of Politics and Political Systems in Latin America.
He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Sigma Alpha societies, the American Political Science Association, the Inter-American Association for Democracy and Freedom (see also the FRANCES R. GRANT COLLECTION) the Latin American Studies Association, and the Southern Political Science Association.
Kantor served in the United States Army, 1943.
Kantor and his wife, Vivian, (who proofread and typed her husband's work), had two children, Daniel and Susan. Through his CORRESPONDENCE, WRITINGS, and RESEARCH FILES, Kantor puts forth the belief that the countries of Latin America can attain democratic forms of government and the conviction that Latin America must achieve democracy on its own terms.
REFERENCES: Alexander, R. J., ed. (1988). Biographical Dictionary of Latin American and Caribbean Political Leaders. NY: Greenwood Press; Evory, A., ed. (1981). Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, v. 2. MI: Gale Research Company.
- Title
- Inventory to the Harry Kantor Papers MC 1013
- Status
- Edited Full Draft
- Author
- Marie Treacy and Catherine Keim
- Date
- May 1995
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is written in English.
- Sponsor
- Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University received an operating support grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State.
Part of the New Brunswick Special Collections Repository