George A. Lanyi Papers, 1933-1996
| Oberlin College Archives
Administrative/Biographical History
George Albert Lanyi, political scientist and educator, was born in Budapest, Hungary on April 30, 1913 to Zsigmond Sziegfried and Renee Sturm Lanyi. He attended Heidelberg, Berlin, and Zurich Universities, and received a B.Sc. (Economics) from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1937. He received the M.A. degree in 1941 and the Ph.D. degree in 1949 from Harvard University in Political Science.
Lanyi served as a teaching fellow and tutor at Harvard from 1941-43 and from 1946-47. World War II, which interrupted his education, led to Lanyi being made a regional expert for Hungary and Yugoslavia in the Office of War Information (OWI) in Washington, D.C. from 1943-45. He resumed teaching at Brown University (1947-50), and he also taught briefly at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (summer 1949) and the University of Vermont (summer 1950). He joined the Arts and Sciences faculty of Oberlin College in 1950 as an Assistant Professor of Political Science; he was promoted to Associate Professor in 1952 and became a full professor in 1958. Dr. Lanyi served as Chairman of the Government Department from 1970-71 and from 1974-76.
Professor Lanyi spent the summer of 1953 in West Germany on behalf of the United States Department of State with the Educational Exchange Program, where he lectured extensively throughout the country. He returned to Germany in 1955 under the program of the American College Council for Summer Study Abroad. In 1955-56, Lanyi did research in England on the actions of Neville Chamberlain and the British policy of appeasement prior to World War II, under a grant from the Fund for the Advancement of Education.
Lanyi was a specialist in both international relations and comparative governmental systems. In 1966 he co-edited (along with William C. McWilliams) the book Crisis and Continuity in World Politics: Readings in International Relations (New York: Random House, 1966). He wrote extensively, with articles appearing in the American Political Science Review, World Politics, Commonwealth, and the Christian Science Monitor. His teaching at Oberlin covered a wide area of the discipline of political science; courses taught included American governmental systems, comparative parliamentary governments, comparative communist systems, totalitarian governments, and Soviet internal politics. In his later years at Oberlin Lanyi also taught courses concerning the Middle East and its role in world politics. Dr. Lanyi also lectured outside the college classroom, speaking to groups such as the Rotary Club, Women's Club, and the Lorain County Bar Association.
Lanyi consistently carried a heavier-than-average load of classroom instruction. He was also heavily immersed in committee work, serving (using January 1975 as an example) on the Honors at Graduation, Law and Society, Luce Scholarship, Jaszi Lectureship, and Student Assemblies committees. His peers remembered Lanyi as possessing a fierce intellectual desire for truth, combined with an equally fervent respect for diversity of opinion.
On November 10, 1937, George Lanyi married Susan Polya in their native city of Budapest. George and Susan Lanyi had one child, Anthony, who was born in 1939. Educated at Harvard, Anthony Lanyi later became an economist with the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. George Lanyi died in Oberlin, Ohio on February 20, 1981, following a brief illness.
Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative Information
The papers of George A. Lanyi document his career as a teacher and scholar of political science. The collection contains both Lanyi's work as a student and teacher; these documents provide a wealth of information concerning issues of national and international politics. Noteworthy are materials concerning British appeasement of Germany prior to World War II, communist foreign policy, the Middle East, and the beginning of the Cold War. The collection also contains professional correspondence documenting Lanyi's activity outside the classroom (i.e. book reviews, Free Europe Committee, the Fulbright/Guggenheim scholarship, and research grants from Oberlin College). The collection lacks materials related to Lanyi's personal life, with the exception of letters between Lanyi and family members.
The collection is arranged into eight records series: I. Correspondence, II. Coursework Materials, III. Notes and Outside Lectures, IV. Lanyi's Work as a Student, V. Files Relating to WWII, VI. Misc. Printed Material, VII. Writings, and VIII. Newspaper Articles. Series I is further subdivided into subseries 1. Personal Correspondence, and subseries 2. Professional Correspondence.
Additional materials in Accessions 2002/113, 2006/012, and 2007/004 have not been interfiled. The additional accessions largely consist of research materials on British appeasement before World War II, which Lanyi was planning on writing a book about but never completed. There are also articles, writings, and talks about British appeasement, including the manuscript titled “The Problem of Appeasement,” written in the early 1960s. This manuscript gives a good sense of the direction Lanyi was taking his research. Other materials in these accessions include similar correspondence, course materials, and writings in the existing series. See the inventory for more details.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series I. Correspondence, 1942, 1945-46, 1949, 1951-79, n.d. (0.4 l.f.)
Subseries 1 consists of letters (in Hungarian and German) between Lanyi and an attorney in Hungary concerning a man named Stein, who was charged with embezzlement; letters between Lanyi and the friends and family of Martin Wight, who died in 1972; letters from Lanyi to the editor of the Oberlin Review on various subjects; letters between Lanyi and family members; and letters to Lanyi concerning the filling of a professorial vacancy. Arranged alphabetically by type of material and thereunder chronologically. Subseries 2 consists of Lanyi's reviews of colleagues' work for various publications, with the bulk of the material prepared for Choice magazine. Much of the material is undated. Also included are various types of professional correspondence, mostly relating to academic matters. A notable exception is the file containing Lanyi's resignation from the OWl, which outlines in detail his hard-hitting views of the organization. The tone of this correspondence stands in sharp contrast to the rest of the collection. Correspondence relating to Lanyi’s time at Oberlin College, mainly covering research grants and research correspondence covering his time as a scholar of British appeasement are contained in the accessions not interfiled.
Series II. Coursework Materials, 1945-80, n.d. (1.88 l.f.)
This record series contains material from the classes taught by Dr. Lanyi at eight institutions: Brown University; University of Massachusetts, Amherst; University of Vermont; University of Heidelberg; London School of Economics; U.S. Naval War College; Harvard University; and Oberlin College. Included are class lecture notes, reading lists, course outlines, and examinations. Large gaps exist within existing lecture series and also for different academic years (1954-59 and 1965-68 are particularly under-represented). Material is arranged in rough chronological order, with emphasis placed on the first year a particular course was taught, and with attention also given to numerical course sequences. Some additional course notes for Lanyi’s classes on communism, Lenin, and Marx are listed in the unfiled accessions.
Series III. Outside Lectures, 1947-80, n.d. (0.2 l.f.)
These lectures include talks given in connection with the Humanities series at Oberlin as well as outside lectures to groups such as the Women's Club. Other talks include five presentations on "National Securities Studies" (c. 1957), which concentrate on government structures, and communism. Later accessions not interfiled include speeches and talks that Lanyi gave on British appeasement at outside universities and academic conferences.
Series IV. Lanyi's Work as a Student, 1939-49, n.d. (0.4 l.f.)
This series contains term papers completed by Lanyi in Graduate School, and also work concerning his "thesis" which appears to be part of his dissertation work Oliver Cromwell and his Age: A Study in Nationalism, 1949 (a copy is available in the Oberlin College Main Special Collections).
Series V. Files Relating to World War II, 1943-45 (0.2 l.f.)
Series contains Weekly Regional Directives on the war in Yugoslavia, as issued by the Office of War Information. The directives (typescript carbon copy with notations and editorial comments by Lanyi) outline the official response to be taken by government employees in response to Italian aggression against Yugoslavia. Arrangement is chronological.
Series VI. Miscellaneous Printed Materials, 1949-89, 1991, 1996 (0.2 l.f.)
Series consists of miscellaneous programs and certificates of Lanyi. Included is a membership document (1949) for the National Geographic Society and a Phi Beta Kappa dinner program (1976). Also included are materials concerning the Oscar Jaszi Memorial Conference at Oberlin College (1985), Jaszi's funeral in Hungary in 1991, and the George and Susan P. Lanyi Book Fund in the Oberlin College Library, renamed in 1996.
Series VII. Writings, 1945-46, 1963-68, 1970-73, n.d. (0.2 l.f.)
This series consists of published and unpublished articles written by George Lanyi and submitted to The Christian Science Monitor for publication. Each folder contains a manuscript; some also contain a copy of the published article or corresponding letter. In addition, there are manuscripts concerning a trip to Europe, Soviet and Israeli foreign policy, and miscellaneous writings. The unfiled accessions contain more writings by Lanyi and others on the topic of British appeasement. Also included in the accessions are newspaper clippings within the scope of Lanyi’s research on appeasement.