Oswald Veblen, Simon Flexner, and Abraham Flexner Correspondence

This portion of the Faculty file contains correspondence between Oswald Veblen and brothers Simon and Abraham Flexner. The file contents are divided by correspondent, with Simon represented in roughly the first 50 pages that also include the file materials dating to the 1920s. The contents reflect both a personal and professional relationship between Veblen and Simon Flexner. Veblen's letters often express the need for support for research in mathematics (see, for example, pages 2-3) which was lacking in the United States. In this matter, Simon Flexner referred Veblen to his brother, Abraham, (see page 18). Correspondence between Veblen and Abraham Flexner, who would, respectively, become the first appointment to the Institute Faculty and first Institute Director, comprise the bulk of the remainder of the file contents and date to years in the development of the Institute that were crucial, namely 1930-1932, which represent the year in which the Institute was incorporated through the final year before official operations began on October 1, 1933. Veblen's correspondence with Abraham Flexner in this file touch on every aspect in the early history of the Institute from issues of who to hire and how much to pay them to where the Institute would be located (see, for example, p. 55). Some folders in the Director's Office Faculty files series include a processing note with the heading "Items Removed." These removed items are now located in the offprint collection of the Institute's Historical Studies-Social Science Library.