Stever, Guy - Papers

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

H. Guyford Stever

October 24, 1916 Born, Corning NY

1938 A.B., Physics, Colgate University

1941 Ph.D. Physics, California Institute of Technology

1941-42 Member, Staff Radiation Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

1942-45 Scientific Liaison Officer, National Defense Research Council, London

1945-46 Guided Missiles Commission, Joint Chiefs of Staff

1946-55 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Assistant Professor, Associate Professor)

1955-56 Chief Scientist, United States Air Force

1956-65 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Professor, Associate Dean of Engineering, Department Chair)

1965-72 President, Carnegie Mellon University

1972-76 Director, National Science Foundation

1976-77 Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

1977-Present Science Consultant (e.g. National Research Council, National Academy of Engineering), Corporate Director (e.g. TRW, Scherring Plough)

INTRODUCTION

H. Guyford Stever rose to a prominent position in the scientific and engineering community through his work in aeronautical research, including development of guided missiles and space craft as well as basic flight research. He gained a reputation as an able administrator and served on many important government committees related to science and technology issues of national concern.The Stever Papers cover his career, 1936-90, and reflect his varied interests.

Overall, the Stever Papers will help researchers understand the components -- academic, industrial, professional, and governmental -- of the engineering field during the 1950s and 60s. They will also show what it took to attain a level of prominence in engineering during that era, and illustrate some of the nationally important science issues from the 1950s through 1990. Stever worked in the academic, industrial, and government sectors concurrently, as the papers taken as whole will reflect. The paragraphs below briefly describe Stever's activities in each, and the nature of the documentation therein.

Academic

Stever enjoyed a long and distinguished career in academia, affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Carnegie Mellon University. From 1946 to 1965 he served MIT as faculty, Associate Dean of Engineering, and Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. His MIT teaching responsibilities (mostly in physics and aeronautics) are well documented, but there are few materials on his administrative work. The collection contains a small amount of material from Stever's early association with MIT as a staff member of the Radiation Lab.

The materials he collected while President of Carnegie Mellon University document his activities with professional organizations such as the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), other universities, social events, social clubs, and his work with corporations. The collection does not contain his official university files, which are housed at the Carnegie Mellon University Archives.

Stever left academia in 1972 and has not since officially associated with any academic institution. He did, however, work in many capacities (including president) with a group called the Universities Research Association (URA). There is a separate series of materials from Stever's most active years with this group. The URA, as part of its activities, contracts to design and operate large scale scientific projects.

Stever has also maintained an interest in science education in general, particularly at the college level. He continues to serve as an advisor and consultant for universities and other organizations studying this issue. The Stever Papers contain materials that reflect this interest.

Industry

By 1950, Stever was acting as a technical advisor to corporations such as Goodyear Tire and United Aircraft, providing technical advice on aerospace projects and serving as an expert on the condition of the aerospace and aeronautical industry. The heaviest documentation of his corporate consulting work covers from 1960 to 1968. This material, found in the MIT series, runs the gamut from detailed narratives about specific projects to routine forms, letters, and expense accounts. Additional corporate consulting materials are scattered through the rest of the collection, usually filed under the corporation name.

After 1968, Stever's corporate involvement became more policy/administration oriented, and the materials reflect the change. They contain meeting material, reports on projects, departmental information, and sometimes, information about overall company goals. Also included are routine correspondence, memoranda, and notes on expenses.

Finally, researchers will not find any but routine material related to Stever's continuing work on the boards of directors of T.R.W., Scherring Plough, or Goodyear, even though he has worked extensively with these companies.

Government

Throughout his 50-year career, Stever has provided the government with scientific and technical advice at several different levels. He has worked with national and international organizations with loose ties to the government, as well as directly for government agencies.

Stever started working for the government as a technical advisor to the military in areas of defense research. In 1947 he became a member of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) to the Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force, a group that provided scientific and technical expertise for Air Force projects. The materials related to the SAB deal largely with administrative matters and evaluation of selected Air Force science projects.

Other early government jobs documented in the papers include Stever's year as Chief Scientist of the Air Force (1955-56), a one-year position reserved for leading young scientists; committees related to space science and the creation of NASA; his advisory role with Air Force Systems Command (1964-67); the Defense Science Board (1961-1969); and the House of Representatives Committee on Science and Aeronautics (1959-72). Unfortunately, the collection has little material prior to 1947 documenting, for example, his advisory role as Science Liaison Officer in London, England, for the National Defense Research Council during World War II.

In 1972, Stever became director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), a government agency promoting and supporting the progress of science and engineering. In this capacity Stever also served as an unofficial science advisor to Presidents Nixon and Ford. In 1976, Stever left the NSF to direct, for a short time, the newly created Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), an office that he had helped create. In both positions Stever had considerable influence over the scientific community, and through his advisory role with the Nixon and Ford administrations, helped to direct the nation's science policy. For the most part, however, the NSF and OSTP files document his outside personal, professional, and social activities, rather than his official responsibilities at the agencies. He apparently left his official files with the agencies.

Stever left the OSTP in 1977 but continued to be very active as an advisor to the government on various commissions, panels, and other advisory groups. Stever's papers document his work with many of these groups. One such group was the National Research Council (NRC), an organization within the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) formed to facilitate scientific research and to study national and international problems in research. Stever served on many NRC committees covering such topics as energy, pesticides, transportation, public safety, engineering, and international research cooperation with Egypt. Stever also saved material from his service on committees which evaluated NAS and NRC operations and organization.

Stever was also a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), another division of the NAS. The NAE is comprised of engineering leaders and sponsors engineering programs of national importance, fosters engineering research, and provides engineering advice to the federal government. Many of the materials relating to the NAE show the process by which one becomes a member of the group.

Stever worked in an advisory capacity for NASA, Department of Energy, and the Office of Technology Assessment, participating on recent (1985 to 1990) committees examining space science and ballistic missile defense. Included are materials about the nation's space policies, NASA directions, the redesign of the space shuttle's solid rocket booster, human exploration of space (an offshoot of Vice-President Dan Quayle's task force on space), the Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars"), and the nation's energy interests. In addition, he was part of the science advisory arm of the Carter/Reagan transition team.

Summary

The first series contains transcripts from a 1987 oral history interview with Stever conducted by Michael Gorn, an historian with the Office of Air Force History. The rest of the collection is divided into separate series for each of the major phases of Stever's career (e.g. MIT, Carnegie Mellon, NSF/OSTP, etc.). Each series contains subject files, meaning that researchers may need to consult several series if they are interested in Stever's long-term interests or affiliations. The most substantive and complete part of the collection is the material dating from his 1977 retirement from the White House. Unlike other times in his professional career, Stever was not transferring materials to a larger institutional archives, so the series contains nearly everything that Stever used in his work. However, these materials are somewhat unwieldy, being gathered into one large subject series with only a few of the larger caches of material separated into smaller series. This arrangement seems to best reflect the nature of the past 13 years, with Stever delving into diverse activities often concurrently.

The collection has an uneven level of documentation, because for many areas of his career official files exist in other repositories, such as a university archives, the National Archives, or science agencies. In addition, substantive materials are mixed with routine documents. There is very little here about Stever's personal life or his childhood.

Related Materials (12/1992):

Official files relating to Stever's work for MIT and Carnegie Mellon can be found in the respective university archives and those concerning his role as Science Advisor are at the National Archives. At the time of this writing, the National Science Foundation still holds many of the files documenting his role as director. Material related to government committee work for various agencies may also be found at the National Archives and at the agencies. Materials related to Stever's role in the OSTP can be found at the Gerald R. Ford Library in the files of Glenn Schleede, White House Central Files, Subject File FG 6-9, and James Cannon. The Nixon Materials Project may hold additional material documenting his role as Science Advisor and the Office of Science and Technology. The Gerald Ford Library holds material related to aeronautics and outer space throughout the open collections.

March 1994 Accretion

In March 1994, Guyford Stever delivered to the Ford Library approximately 25 feet of additional material. The bulk of the accretion covers the period 1989-1993, and primarily documents his recent consulting activities. These new papers are not available to research, pending archival processing.

Series Descriptions

1 Oral History, 1987. (.5 linear feet)

Transcripts, Guyford Stever interview by Michael Gorn, February 1987. Gorn, an historian with the Office of Air Force History, interviewed Stever as part of a monograph he was writing on long-range science studies from 1944 to 1986. The interview covers Stever's education and selected professional experiences, particularly defense related projects. Among the topics discussed are the M.I.T. radiation lab, the "London Mission" of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, project "Toward New Horizons," the early guided missile program, U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, how science and technology affected the air war over Europe, and Stever's tenure as Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force. Stever also reflects on his university and public experiences, including important issues on which he advised the Nixon and Ford administrations.

2-6 Colgate University/California Institute of Technology, 1930-44. (2 linear feet)

Notes, exams, assignments, and reports from his undergraduate courses at Colgate University, and from his graduate studies at California Institute of Technology. Also included are drafts of and raw experimental data from his dissertation (a study of the mesotron, or meson). Very little of the material describes Stever's college experiences, although, in a folder titled "Journal," there is an account of his first week.

Unfortunately, the materials were not separated by college or level of study. Researchers will get a sense of what Stever studied, but will find it difficult to trace his educational development.