ECONOMIST PAPERS

Series Three: Papers of Carl Menger, 1840-1921, from the William R. Perkins Library, Duke University

Part 1: Notebooks, Notes on Economic Principals and Notes on Money

Part 2: Lectures, Notes on Methodology, Correspondence, Biographical Materials and Micellanea and Printed Matter

Processing Note

The original order of this collection is completely lost. Karl Menger had possession of the papers immediately after his father's death in 1921. He used much of the material now in the series on economic principles and some of the material from the series on money for the publication of a second edition of his father's best-known work, the Grundsätze der Volkswirthschaftslehre. A number of years later Friedrich v. Hayek ordered a number of the folders containing notes and manuscripts. His numbers are visible on the outside upper left corner of a number of the hard-cover folders. From time to time he also made notes about the content of a particular folder, but none of these notes is extensive. In the 1970's Albert Zlabinger was permitted access to some of the papers, primarily the material on money. His careful work and notations allow for the reconstruction of the development of Menger's article on money for the Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften, and its subsequent revisions.

Carl Menger did not date all, or even most, of his work, and because he made frequent emendations to his own notes and text, dating is hazardous at best. For this reason, all loose manuscript material has been arranged topically. Almost all material belonging to a particular folder, however, has been kept together. Original folders have been retained.

The only materials which have lent themselves to something approximating original order are the bound notebooks which Menger himself numbered. Correspondence has been arranged chronologically.

The majority of the paper in this collection has an extremely high acid content, although it is not overly brittle. Many sheets are crumpled badly, especially at the edges, but little text has been lost. All newspaper clippings have been photocopied on acid-free paper.

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