Our Inspiration

Materials from the Ellsberg Archive

In 2019, Ellsberg, impressed by the longstanding UMass commitment to social justice, chose to make it the home for his papers, and the university, with the help of an anonymous donor, invested $2.2 million in the acquisition.

The Ellsberg collection is a vast treasure trove—500 boxes of materials—that documents the still relevant issues of his long life: the rise of the national security state, nuclear policy and war planning, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the Pentagon Papers, Watergate, the proliferation of state secrecy, and the impact of individual whistleblowing and collective dissent.