RECORD GROUP 1

Research and Writings by John Ellis van Courtland Moon

Sub-Record Group 1

Education History and Policy

Sub-Record Group 2

Military History and Policy

Series 1  Confines of Concept: American Strategy in World War II

Series 2  Chemical Warfare and Arms Control

Series 3  Biological Warfare

Sub-Record Group 3

Miscellaneous Writings, Speeches, Interviews,

Record Group 1 represents material resulting from Dr. Moon’s extensive research and writing in the areas of education and military history and policy.  While including papers on the subject of tenure most of the education material relates to the reorganization of public higher education in Boston during the early 1980’s that resulted in the closing of Boston State College.  An early paper on these events, “The Boston Higher Education Fiasco,” appeared in the summer 1982 issue of the New England Sociologist.  In 1983 Dr. Moon completed a lengthy study of this “fiasco” as it related to Boston State College under the title Boston State College:  A Memory and A Meaning.  This study was published by the American Federation of Teachers in 1984.  Other papers look at the political process that brought about educational reorganization without fully comprehending the impact on the people involved.

The other main area of Dr. Moon’s writings and research involves military history and policy, especially the history of chemical and biological warfare.  Dr. Moon’s interest in military history and policy is evident from the time of his Harvard University dissertation, Confines of Concept:  American Strategy in World War II (1968).  The dissertation was later published by Garland Publishing in 1988 in its series “Harvard Dissertations in American History and Political Science,” edited by the distinguished Harvard professors Frank Freidel and Ernest May.  A copy of the Garland publication is available in the Fitchburg State College Special Collections section.

The Record Group contains notes, drafts, galleys, and reprints of Dr. Moon’s numerous articles on chemical and biological warfare (CBW).  These articles have appeared in a variety of scholarly journals including International Security, The Journal of Strategic Studies, The  Journal of Military History, and specialized publications such as the Simon  Wiesenthal Center Annual.  Dr. Moon has also written articles for two important reference sources, Scribner’s Encyclopedia of Arms Control and Disarmament and the Oxford Companion to American Military History.  Other CBW material includes brief articles on arms control policy and presentations such as that before the President’s Chemical Warfare Review Commission.  Finally, this Record Group contains miscellaneous writings, speeches, and interviews.  Of particular note is Dr. Moon’s lecture, “Asian Odyssey: 1985: Discovery and Transformation,” given as part of the Harrod Lecture Series 1986/1987 at Fitchburg State College.  Keeping with this Asian theme is the recent article, “Himalayan Adventure:  In Memoriam Edward Tuck Hall ’37,” in the magazine of the St. Mark’s School, St. Mark’s (Winter 1996).  Drafts of speeches, letters, and presentations round out this miscellaneous material.