UMass Amherst Libraries Remember Daniel Ellsberg
The UMass Amherst Libraries remember Daniel Ellsberg, who died on June 16, 2023, 3 days after the 52nd anniversary of the publication of the Pentagon Papers. As a moral crusader for a better world, Ellsberg’s life and work will serve as an inspiration for generations of future activists and truth-tellers. The Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center (SCUA) will continue to shepherd his legacy via his extensive archive at UMass Amherst.
Currently, the Libraries are hosting “Daniel Ellsberg: A Life in Truth,” a physical and digital exhibit drawing from the vast collection of Ellsberg’s documents, photographs, and artifacts acquired by UMass Amherst in 2019. On display in two locations in the W. E. B. Du Bois Library until September 2023, the exhibit begins on Floor 25 in the SCUA reading room and continues on the lower level in the Learning Commons. It is accessible during regular library hours throughout the summer.
“Daniel Ellsberg: A Life in Truth” documents Ellsberg’s 92-year life as an academic, activist, defendant, government contractor, Marine, pianist, Vietnam observer, and whistleblower. From his middle-class upbringing in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan in the 1930s, to his education at the Cranbrook School and Harvard University, his service in the Marines; his work as a nuclear analyst at RAND; his research for the U.S. Defense Department in Vietnam; and his transformation to full-time activist following his release of the Pentagon Papers in 1971, the exhibit illustrates the cinematic sweep of Ellsberg’s life in fine detail.
Selected digitized versions of material from the exhibit are also available via the Ellsberg Archive Project website, where it is accessible to the public beyond its physical exhibit space.