Collection ID: 4079757 BAR Ms Coll/Nagy

Collection context

Summary

Creator:
Nagy, Ferenc, 1903-1979
Extent:
39 linear feet and 93 boxes; ca.21500 items in oversize folders
Language:
Hungarian , English .

Background

Scope and Content:

The Ferenc Nagy Papers consist of correspondence, manuscripts, subject files and printed materials relating to Nagy's career and family. The earliest materials cover the period 1945 to 1947 when Nagy was leader of the Hungarian Smallholders' Party, and later Prime Minister of Hungary.

Of special interest are first-hand accounts and commentaries on the circumstances surrounding his resignation in 1947. Materials from the years 1948-1954 concern Nagy's leadership of emigre organizations including the Hungarian National Council, the Committee for a Free Europe, the Assembly of Captive European Nations and the International Peasant Union. Extensive correspondence files contain one letter each from presidents Harry S. Truman, Richard M. Nixon, and Jimmy Carter, and voluminous correspondence with Hungarian emigre politicians Pal Auer, Gyorgy Bessenyey, Bela Fabian, Pal Fabry, Karoly Peyer, Bela Varga and others.

Nagy was much in demand as a public speaker and author and the Papersinclude completed texts and drafts of many of his speeches and articles. In the early 1950s his writings focus on what he perceived as a worldwideCommunist threat, but after several trips to Asia he increasingly turned his attention to the developing world and its peasant problems. Subject files document Nagy's trips to Asia (particularly India, Japan and Taiwan) and his participation in the 1955 Bandung Conference. In the early 1960s Nagy's ivolvement with emigre politics decreased and he spent most of his time delivering lectures and commencement addresses at universities throughout the country. This activity is recorded in files of lectures andcorrespondence with approximately 600 different institutions.

Biographical / Historical:

Ferenc Nagy was a founder of the Hungarian Smallholders' Party, and Prime Minister of Hungary from 1946 until 1947 when he was forced to resign by the Communists. The rest of his life was spent in the United States where he was active as an author, lecturer and leader of Hungarian emigre political organizations.

Acquisition information:
Papers: Source of acquisition--Nagy, Laszlo. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--09/28/89. Accession number--B-89-9-28.
Custodial history:

Gift of Laszlo Nagy, 1989.

Processing information:

Papers Processed ejs, bb 12/--/91.

Arrangement:

Material is arranged into 7 series.

Accruals:

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Rules or conventions:
appm

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

This collection is located on-site.

LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
6th Floor East Butler Library
535 West 114th St.
New York, NY 10027, United States
CONTACT:
(212) 854-5590
rbml@library.columbia.edu