Lewis C. Mainzer Papers Finding Aid : Special Collections and University Archives, UMass Amherst Libraries

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Since his arrival at UMass in 1953, Lewis Mainzer has been an affable, influential, and well-respected member of the university community. He joined the faculty of four that at the time made up the department of government, later the department of political science. A dedicated educator, he was instrumental in the expansion of that department and demonstrated a profound commitment to education reform and social engagement against the backdrop of campus upheaval during the 1960s and 1970s. Mainzer retired in 1997 and is now a professor emeritus and author of several books of poetry.

The Lewis C. Mainzer papers consist of personal notes, correspondence, meeting minutes, memoranda, and other materials documenting Mainzer’s activities as a member of numerous Faculty Senate and other committees, and the administrative responses to such events as the Vietnam War protests, the civil rights movement, the expansion of the UMass system, and higher education reform in Massachusetts. There are also materials relating to his interests as a poet, his professional work as an educator, and documents relating to various campus events of the late twentieth century.

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UMass (1947- )

UMass faculty

Background on Lewis C. Mainzer

Lewis C. Mainzer was born in New York on May 15, 1928. He majored in government at New York University, graduating in 1948, and earned a master's degree (1950) and a Ph.D. (1956), both in political science, from the University of Chicago. Mainzer arrived in Amherst at the University of Massachusetts as an instructor in 1953, joining the department of government which, at the time, consisted of only four other faculty members--and was not officially recognized as an academic department until 1956. Hired to teach courses on public opinion and administration, Mainzer saw the department expand quickly into the early 1960s, especially with the establishment of a graduate program, and then enormously as the university itself grew at a phenomenal rate. The government department became the Department of Political Science in the 1972-1973 academic year.

Mainzer was a dedicated teacher committed to educational reform. He served as Assistant Dean of the Graduate School from 1968 to 1969, and he was made full professor in 1971. He was active in the Faculty Senate, serving on many committees and advisory councils, as well as departmental and university committees, and as chairman of the UMass Amherst chapter of the American Association of University Professors. He served as editor of Polity, and his publications include Political Bureaucracy: The American Public Service and articles in Review of Politics, Public Administration Review, The Massachusetts Review, the Virginia Quarterly Review, and The Yale Review, among other journals. In addition to his scholarly work, Mainzer has written poems for more than forty years and had published several volumes of poetry.

Mainzer met his wife, Caden, in 1953, and they married in 1956. Unable to continue pursue her plans for a career as an opera singer due to damaged lungs, Caden became an elementary school teacher. As active in his community as on campus, Mainzer served on the Amherst Town Meeting for more than 50 years, beginning in 1966, and on the friends boards of the local public library and UMass's library. He retired from UMass in 1997 and holds the title of emeritus professor.

Scope of collection

Spanning most of the second half of the twentieth century, the Mainzer Papers document Mainzer’s roles in university and department administration while a member of the faculty of the UMass Department of Political Science. Comprising correspondence, memoranda, statements, proposals, reports, bulletins, notices, meeting minutes, drafts, notes, and research data for committees and university business, the collection reflects the files Mainzer kept of committees he served on, subjects and issues important to him and his work, and activities he participated in. Also included are copies of presentations, lectures, speeches, and addresses given by Mainzer and others, printed booklets, programs, and brochures, invitations, and flyers. A large number of newspaper clippings and letters pertain to Mainzer’s campus activities, the causes he aligned himself with--such as curriculum and educational reform--and events within the UMass system.

Series descriptions

Series 1. Administrative and committee work

1954-2000

Materials generated and retained in the course of Mainzer’s administrative and committee activities--as a member of the College of Arts and Sciences faculty, UMass Faculty Senate committees, and other University committees--comprise this series and include memoranda, minutes of meetings, newspaper clippings, reports, policy and organizational statements, notes, bulletins, forms, and transcripts of speeches. Also included are materials related to UMass governance and to notable events and issues on campus, including the impact of political and social issues, the Massachusetts legislature's role in higher education, academic and curricular matters, and the expansion of the university system.

Series 2. College, departmental, and professional activities

1959-1997

The memoranda, correspondence, notes, reports, minutes of meetings, publications, and newspaper clippings mainly reflect Mainzer’s professional activities in the UMass Department of Political Science (Government) and in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences and of Social and Behavioral Studies, including his role in establishing new programs in the department and in the discipline of political science in general. A small amount of material relates to Mainzer’s interest and involvement in poetry.

Inventory

Series 1. Administrative and committee work

1964-1997

College of Arts & Sciences: General

Arts & Sciences: University committees

1965-1969

Box 1: 1

Arts & Sciences: University memos and meetings

1966

Box 1: 2

Arts & Sciences: University memos and meetings

1967

Box 1: 3

Arts & Sciences: University memos and meetings

1968

Box 1: 4

Arts & Sciences: University memos and meetings

1969

Box 1: 5

Arts & Sciences: University memos and meetings

1970-1971

Box 1: 6