Arthur J. Vidich (1922-2006) was a long-term member of the faculty at the New School for Social Research as a professor of Sociology (1960-1991). He published dozens of books, papers, and edited anthologies, notably Small Town in Mass Society: Class, Power, and Religion in a Rural Community (1958). This collection contains material documenting his teaching, writing, lectures, and other academic and professional work spanning his entire career.

Included are correspondence with colleagues, friends, and presses; manuscript and typescript drafts of his writings; conference and lecture materials; subject files relating to his colleagues and personal life; and items pertaining to his teaching at the New School and other institutions, as well as his role as chair of the New School Sociology Department; photographs; and audio and video recordings of lectures, talks, and courses.

The Institute of World Affairs records document the operations of the Institute and its administrators and researchers. Mostly originating from its 1942 founding to its redesignation as the Research Division of the New School for Social Research in 1953, the files include administrative records such as minutes, correspondence, proposals, contracts, and budgets; manuscripts, notes, and published research material; and research project records.

The bulk of the material consists of project files, particularly the records from the Leisure-time project (1947-1953), as well as of projects and studies by researchers and administrators associated with the Institute, including Hans Staudinger, Phyllis Poses, Adolph Lowe, Elizabeth Tood, Lewis Lorwin, Henry G. Aubrey, and Alexander Ringer.