The Hoover Institution

By 1929 the Hoover War Library had accumulated material at such a rapid pace that the need for a separate building to house the collection had become acute. The Hoover Tower was designed by Arthur Brown Jr., of the firm Bakewell and Brown, who designed the Cecil H. Green Library and several other buildings on campus, as well as San Francisco’s City Hall and Coit Tower.

Hoover Tower was originally designed to have a reading room on the top floor. However, in May 1939, three months prior to groundbreaking, Herbert Hoover was offered a set of carillon bells originally made for the Belgian pavilion at the 1939 World’s Fair. Brown redesigned the tower to accommodate an eighteen-thousand-pound carillon and moved the reading room to the first floor. Construction of the 285-foot-tall Hoover Tower was finished in 1941, Stanford University’s fiftieth anniversary.

In October 1943, due to popular demand, the observation platform of Hoover Tower was opened to campus visitors seeking to take in the panoramic view of the Bay Area. Within the first year, more than 3,500 people took the elevator ride to the top of the tower. In 1945 the total number of visitors rose to 15,000, and by 1950 that number had nearly doubled. Today the annual number of visitors to the Hoover Tower’s observation platform exceeds 125,000.

Professors E. D. Adams, Ralph Lutz, and Frank Golder pioneered the curation of Hoover’s collection and traveled to Europe repeatedly during the 1920s to collect documents, rare books, posters, diaries, government publications, and other materials for the library. Their work laid the foundations of the Hoover Institution’s unparalleled collections on Central and Eastern Europe and Russia.

The mission of the Library & Archives grew during World War II from a Europe-oriented undertaking to one encompassing the entire globe. Collecting practices were accordingly divided into various geographic areas, with each area assigned a curator with subject matter expertise.

Today, curators continue to build the collection and engage with the scholarly and general community through publications, workshops, and classes. The Library & Archives now holds nearly one million library volumes and more than six thousand archival collections from more than 170 countries.

The mission to acquire, preserve, and make available to researchers the most important materials pertaining to war, revolution, and peace, and to document political, social, and economic change continues at the Library & Archives today. Its resources and programs support a vibrant international community of scholars and a broad public interested in the meaning and role of history.

The year 1959 was the most significant in the history of the Hoover Institution since its founding in 1919. It was the year that Herbert Hoover redefined his institution, expanding it beyond a special-collections research library on war, revolution, and peace to become a center for advanced study focused on public policy. By initiating a fellowship program, W. Glenn Campbell, director of the Hoover Institution from 1960 to 1989, was the most influential figure in executing Herbert Hoover’s new vision for the institution.

An interdisciplinary group of humanists, social and political scientists, and natural scientists, Hoover fellows study a variety of topics including economics, politics, foreign affairs, education, and history. Fellows have both academic and practical experience, whether at Stanford or other top universities, serving at the highest levels of government, or leading ventures in the private sector.

In economics, Hoover fellows study the principles and practice of free markets, as well as policy issues such as regulation, monetary policy, and public finance. In politics, Hoover fellows focus not only on the democratic institutions but also on the rule of law and federalism. In the field of national security, Hoover fellows study subjects such as cybersecurity, nuclear arms proliferation, and terrorism.

The Hoover Institution is the nation’s preeminent research center dedicated to generating policy ideas that promote economic prosperity, national security, and democratic governance. Throughout the last century, the work of the institution has directly led to policies that have produced greater freedom, democracy, and opportunity in the United States and the world.

Entering its second century, the Hoover Institution continues to reinforce its strengths in research and education and accelerate the pace of innovation to extend its reach and impact. The institution is building a fellowship and collections to focus on the challenges and opportunities of the future. Fellows are generating ideas that will improve the human condition; education programs are engaging new audiences; and collections are serving as an accessible platform for ever more scholars.

As the twenty-first century unfolds, the Hoover Institution continues to focus on issues of liberty, prosperity, and peace.