Correspondence, 1952-2018

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Scope and content:

Contains mainly professional and academic correspondence, with the bulk from 1971-2007. Includes email from two email accounts--one George Mason and the other America Online (the GMU one also contains an export from Arizona, which is why it dates back to 1993).

Types of correspondence include: routine academic correspondence, including recommendations for students and faculty, as well as other academic affairs; works of other economists; correspondence concerning Smith's publications; some discussions of economic theory and applications; and professional correspondence, including non-academic recommendations and job offers.

Majority of the series falls into three main categories: comments on other economists' work, dating to his tenure as editor of several economics journals; comments from colleagues, referees, and other academics on his works; and academic affairs, namely recommendations and routine organizational letters dealing with classes and seminars.

Notable correspondence includes early exchanges with Paul Samuelson concerning Smith's thesis and graduate level coursework. Also, in one folder of miscellaneous personal correspondence at the end of the series (maybe box 24?), a colleague speaks at length in several letters about the Cuban crisis and civil rights protests.

Arranged chronologically.

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