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This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
Size | 129.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 60,000 items) |
Abstract | Public opinion pollster Louis Harris was born in 1921 in New Haven, Conn. After graduating from the University of North Carolina in 1942, he served in the United States Navy Reserves, 1942-1946, then worked for pollster Elmo Roper. In 1956, Harris founded Louis Harris and Associates in New York, N.Y., where he developed what came to be known as the Harris Poll. The collection includes correspondence, speeches and writings, subject files, photographs, and audiovisual materials of Louis Harris. Materials chiefly relate to polls conducted by Harris and Louis Harris and Associates (LHA) on various topics with various audiences, 1960s-1990s. Also included is material relating to two of Harris's books-- Anguish of Change (1973) and Inside America (1987)--and some personal and financial materials, 1940s-1960s. |
Creator | Harris, Louis, 1921-2016. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Manuscripts Department Staff, December 2002
Encoded by: Roslyn Holdzkom and Nathalie Wheaton, December 2002 and July 2006
Revised: Finding aid updated in July 2006 by Nathalie Wheaton.
Folders are not numbered.
Back to TopThe following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
Public opinion pollster Louis Harris was born in 1921 in New Haven, Conn. After graduating from the University of North Carolina in 1942, he served in the United States Navy Reserves, 1942-1946, then worked for pollster Elmo Roper. In 1956, Harris founded Louis Harris and Associates in New York, N.Y., where he developed what came to be known as the Harris Poll. Harris wrote several books, including Anguish of Change (1973) and Inside America (1987).
Harris was John F. Kennedy's pollster during his 1960 campaign for president of the United States. In 1975, LHA was acquired by the Gannett Corporation and was acquired from Gannett by the Gordon S. Black Corporation in 1996. The Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill maintains the Louis Harris Data Center, the national depository for LHA's survey data.
Back to TopThe collection includes correspondence, speeches and writings, subject files, photographs, and audiovisual materials of public opinion pollster Louis Harris. Materials chiefly relate to polls conducted by Harris and Louis Harris and Associates (LHA) on various topics with various audiences, 1960s-1990s. Also included is material relating to two of Harris's books-- Anguish of Change (1973) and Inside America (1987)--and some personal and financial materials, 1940s-1960s.
Back to TopArrangement: Note that boxes are listed in rough chronological rather than physical order. Some subject files from the 1970s and 1980s were arranged chronologically. Some subject files in the 1980s and 1990s include project names and numbers as folder titles, although the order is unclear. Miscellaneous material has no clear organization and includes material from the 1940s through the 1990s, some of which is personal in nature.
Processing Note: Folders are not numbered.