The papers of British and American poet, historian, editor, literary critic, and novelist Robert Conquest consist of research material, notes, book proposals, handwritten and typescript drafts, proofs, reviews, letters to editors, personal and professional correspondence, reports, lectures, clippings, photographs, and family papers primarily documenting Conquest's careers as a poet and historian as well as his personal life. The papers are arranged in five series: I. Works, 1925-2020; II. Correspondence, 1921-2015, undated; III. Professional and Career-Related Material, 1951-2018; IV. Personal and Family Papers, 1857-2019; and V. Works by Others, 1934-2014.

The arrangement of materials within folders retains the organization of the papers made by Conquest, his wife Elizabeth Conquest, and assistant(s), and their file labels are indicated in the container list by single quotation marks. Paperclips, binder clips, and rusty staples on groupings of papers were removed during processing by Ransom Center staff, but these groupings are maintained using paper sleeves. Many papers, especially early poetry manuscripts, were folded or crumpled; during processing these were flattened, and fragile or torn pages were placed in mylar sleeves.

Series I. Works forms the bulk of the papers and consists of 91 document boxes, one oversize box, two notecard boxes, and twelve galley files of book proposals, research material, notes, handwritten and typescript drafts, proofs, correspondence, reviews, and other materials relating mostly to Conquest's published and unpublished poetry and historical works, but also to his novels, plays, science fiction stories, essays, articles, book reviews, lectures, and other writings. The works are arranged in six subseries: A. Nonfiction Books, 1958-2016, undated; B. Novels, 1925-1968, undated; C. Plays, 1960, undated; D. Poetry and Limericks, 1931-2020; E. Science Fiction, 1938-1979, undated; and F. Short Works, 1954-2007. Short works include articles, essays, book reviews, contributions to works by other authors, letters to editors, and talks and lectures.

Works represented within each of the subseries are generally in alphabetical order by published title, although poetry is grouped by collections, individual poems, and limericks. For unpublished, unfinished, or incomplete works, the title listed is taken directly from any title that appears on a draft; if no drafts of that work have a title, then the title listed is taken from any label written on the file folder and is enclosed in single quotation marks. Conquest often marked draft pages with the initials of the work's title; for example, Spring Interior manuscript pages are marked with 'S.I.' Manuscript pages for nonfiction books frequently have initials indicating the chapter or section of the book.

While some files of correspondence relating to a work are located with those works, most letters documenting the writing and publication process are found in Conquest's correspondence files in Series II. Conquest's activity reports for the Hoover Institution, located in Series III, also provide information about his writing projects.

Subseries A. Nonfiction Books is comprised principally of works on Soviet history, politics, and foreign policy but also includes published and unpublished works of literary criticism and other writings.

Conquest's first book of political history documenting abuses of totalitarianism, (1960), is represented by a revised typescript and reviews. Also present is a copy of the published book that Conquest disassembled and used to revise the work as (1970) by heavily editing pages and inserting new typescript pages. Research pages and reviews of the 1970 work are also present. (1961), a book of historical Kremlinology that examined the power struggle behind the scenes in the Kremlin, is represented by typescripts and heavily corrected proofs. Materials relating to (1985) include index cards of research notes on individuals and the "original manuscript." Conquest's biography of Vladimir Lenin, (1972), is represented by research material, notes and draft fragments, a revised typescript, Conquest's notes on its editing, and reviews. Among materials relating to (1999), a collection of essays on the rise and impact of totalitarian ideologies in the twentieth century, are an incomplete typescript, correspondence, and reviews. Additional manuscripts for individual essays in that work and other collections may be found in Subseries F, because many were previously published in periodicals.

Conquest's seminal work, (1968), and its update as (1990) are well-documented in the papers. His original book proposal, research notes, and drafts for the first edition fill ten document boxes. The materials reflect Conquest's writing process: after compiling his citations and research notes, he then expanded his text around them so that they are incorporated into the drafts. As a result, there are many fragments of notes and draft pages in addition to numerous drafts of chapters and sections. A setting copy and multiple sets of galley proofs and page proofs for the 1968 edition are also present. Reviews and articles about and its later editions date from 1968 to 2016. Twenty-five boxes contain Conquest's files of research materials for editions of , and there are also notes, drafts, a setting copy, and corrected page proofs for the . Whole issues of dating from 1989-1990 contain the serialization of the Russian translation of . A typescript of Conquest's afterword for the Russian serialization is present, as is a typescript of his introduction to a Bulgarian edition.

(1986), a book about dekulakization, the collectivization of agriculture, and the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine, is represented by research material, notes and draft fragments, a book proposal, printed excerpts of the Russian translation, typescripts of introductions to various foreign language editions, and reviews and articles. A folder titled "Correspondence - (Wheatcroft) - Famine Figures" contains correspondence, letters to editors, responses to reviews, and other materials related to Conquest's scholarly debate with Stephen Wheatcroft, J. Arch Getty, and other historians about famine and other statistics. Additional correspondence and letters to editors debating Soviet figures can be found with Conquest's letters to editors in Subseries F, his correspondence files in Series II, and in printouts of Conquest's computer files in Series III. Conquest also provided congressional testimony about the famine, and typescripts and transcripts of his testimony are located in Series III.

Other nonfiction books represented in the papers include several works of literary criticism and proposed works about the United States, the Anglosphere, and historical research. A published book of literary criticism, (1979) contained essays, reviews, and poetry; draft fragments, mainly of poems, are present. Unpublished collections of literary criticism include an untitled work written while "on active service during World War II," a proposed work titled The Art of the Enemy dating from the early 1960s, and a collection of essays on poetry titled The Science of Poetry, also written around 1960. Similar essays of criticism and thoughts on literature and poetry can be found in Subseries F, including fragments in a folder titled "Odd Critical Bits," and in Subseries D as drafts of Conquest's introductions to the anthologies. A planned "U.S. Book" of essays reflecting on Conquest's experiences and observations after moving to the United States in 1959 also included essays on the American Civil War and on anti-Americanism, while another proposed book focused on the Civil War. Drafts for a book project on the Anglosphere proposing a Western confederation of English-speaking peoples date from 1983. A collection of essays about historical research was to be titled History: How and Why; a 1990 draft of the title essay is present, while other essays meant to be included are filed with individual essays in Subseries F.

Subseries B. Novels includes the published novel (1965), co-written with Kingsley Amis, as well as an unpublished sequel titled Peach Key and other unpublished works by Conquest. Revised typescript drafts and reviews of are present, as are draft fragments of the unfinished and unpublished works. Material relating to Conquest's science fiction novel, (1955), is located with his other works of science fiction in Subseries E.

Subseries C. Plays consists only of two works. The Death of Dimitrov, which dates from around 1960, was a short dramatic verse that was also included in a proposed collection of poetry titled Trajectory and is represented by notes and drafts. Revised typescripts of an undated play titled Never Mind the Nightingale are also present.

Subseries D. Poetry and Limericks is comprised primarily of drafts, notes, proofs, printed texts, and reviews representing Conquest's published and unpublished collections of poetry along with additional individual poems, all dating from 1931-2020. These are grouped by collections, individual poems, and limericks.

Drafts of poems are sometimes dated, and a few are annotated with the periodical and year in which the manuscript was accepted or published. Many of the manuscripts appear to have been sorted at a later date than their publication, some possibly after Conquest's death. Manuscripts of individual poems are usually filed with drafts for the poetry collections in which they were published, regardless of the date of the manuscript, as are clippings of poems previously published in periodicals. In keeping with that arrangement, during processing drafts of poems in a folder of unsorted poetry manuscripts were placed at the end of drafts for the collections in which they were published, with their provenance noted on their folders. Book drafts of collections sometimes include poems that were not part of the final published text. Some poems were published in more than one book, so the drafts of those may be located with the drafts for one or more collections. For example, many poems published in (1999) were also included in (2009), and folders containing drafts of those poems may be filed under either collection, in some cases erroneously according to their dates.

Among the drafts of individual poems are numerous manuscripts dating from the 1930s, some in notebooks. Many of Conquest's early poems were sonnets, and they are scattered throughout the poetry notebooks, individual drafts (sometimes as titled sequences), and an unpublished early poetry collection that preceded his first published collection, . A few of these early works were included in Conquest's science fiction novel, (1955), and some are early versions of poems that were later published in (1969) and elsewhere. Conquest frequently retitled or reconfigured poems, sometimes separating a longer work into shorter poems or combining multiple poems into a single long poem.

Manuscripts of Conquest's limericks, including a collection titled (2010), are grouped together. Because Conquest often shared "bawdy" light verse and limericks with his friends, they can also be found in his files of correspondence with John Blakeway, Philip Larkin, Anthony Powell, and others.

Of note among Conquest's poetry manuscripts are an unpublished early poetry collection dating from 1937 and early versions of his first published collection, (1955). Early drafts of , Conquest's prize-winning war poem about poet Drummond Allison, are also present. In 1956, Conquest edited , an anthology of poetry by himself and eight other British poets (Kingsley Amis, Donald Davie, D. J. Enright, Thom Gunn, Elizabeth Jennings, John Holloway, Philip Larkin, and John Wain) who came to be loosely grouped as "The Movement." Drafts of Conquest's introduction to , proofs, and reviews are located with Conquest's other poetry manuscripts, but correspondence documenting the anthology's publication is found in his files of correspondence with those poets in Series III. Also notable is a revised transcript of a 1965 radio program, in which Conquest read and discussed poems from (1955) and (1962).

Additional manuscripts of Conquest's poems are scattered throughout the papers, especially in his correspondence. Conquest also included poetry in his published books (1979) and (1955), and in the unpublished .

Subseries E. Science Fiction contains notes, drafts, and draft fragments for Conquest's published novel (1955); an unpublished novel titled The Martians; published short stories (1965), (1965), and (1970); and unpublished short stories. In addition, a setting copy, layout pages, corrected bound proofs, insertions and corrections, reviews, and advertisements for are present. However, materials relating to the five anthologies that Conquest edited with Kingsley Amis from 1961 to 1966 are absent, apart from review clippings for the fourth volume. Manuscripts of poems related to science fiction, including Conquest's published poems , , and , are located with drafts for (1979) in Subseries A and with drafts of individual poetry in Subseries D. Drafts of an essay for on and a review of (1979) are filed with Conquest's short works in Subseries F, although a fragment of his introduction to Hal Clement's is located with Conquest's other science fiction works in Subseries E.

Subseries F. Short Works is comprised of Conquest's articles and essays; book reviews and blurbs; contributions to books edited or written by others; letters to editors; and talks and lectures. Because Conquest included some of these in his books, there is overlap with the manuscripts in Series A. Many of the articles and essays relate to foreign policy, current events, the Soviet Union, and the Anglosphere, or a proposed union of English-speaking peoples. In the "Saturday Column" that he wrote for the in the 1970s and 1980s, Conquest discussed wide-ranging topics, such as political events, social trends, and anti-Americanism. Among letters to editors are Conquest's responses to reviews of and other works as well as his arguments over Soviet statistics and interpretations of Stalin's role in state terror with Sheila Fitzpatrick, J. Arch Getty, Gabor Rittersporn, Stephen Wheatcroft, and other historians referred to as "the revisionists."

Series II. Correspondence includes both personal and professional correspondence and is primarily but not limited to incoming letters received by Conquest from the age of four until his death at age 98. Among the numerous correspondents are his mother, friends, literary figures, publishers, and historians.

Correspondence files are in two groups, chronological by year and alphabetical by correspondent. Although chronological files tend to be professional correspondence, while alphabetical files are usually more personal or literary-related, professional and personal letters can be found in both groupings.

The chronological correspondence files are sorted by year from 1960 to 2013 and include both incoming and outgoing letters. Of note are publication correspondence, requests for and blurbs or comments on books by other authors, and correspondence about Pavel Sudoplatov's memoir and atomic spy rings. Letters from Jennifer Law Young trace her documentary project about the Soviet gulag, (1999). Correspondence with Conquest's literary agent, Anthea Morton-Saner of Curtis Brown Ltd., is present, as are many letters from Anne Applebaum, Arnold Beichman, Vladimir Bukovsky, Stephen Chicoine, Stephen F. Cohen, Vitaly Korotich, Arnold Kramish, Stephen Alfred Schwartz, and Robert C. Tucker.

The alphabetical correspondence files are arranged by correspondent. Within the files, postcards, greeting cards, and letters from the correspondent are separated and in rough chronological order, followed by any postcards and letters from Conquest to that person and then any clippings, memorial service bulletins, or other ephemera relating to the person. Sometimes letters from a surviving spouse or relative also are present, so file dates can extend beyond the subject's death. Labels on the folders are in Elizabeth Conquest's hand. A few letters have explanatory annotations by Robert Conquest.

In their letters, Conquest and friends such as Kingsley Amis, John Blakeway, D. J. Enright, Gavin Ewart, Thom Gunn, Philip Larkin, Anthony Powell, Vernon Scannell, and Julian Symons freely discussed their personal lives, their work, other authors, critics, social gossip, and political events. Among the many other literary figures represented are Martin Amis, Wendy Cope, Donald Davie, Selina Hastings, Elizabeth Jennings, Carolyn Kizer, Ian McEwan, Violet Powell, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Stephen Spender, and John Wain. In a letter to William Van O'Connor, Conquest recounted the ways he first met the other Movement poets included in his anthology. Contact with Donald Davie, D. J. Enright, Philip Larkin, and John Holloway began in 1955 with Conquest's letters requesting contributions to the anthology. Those initial letters and their subsequent correspondence are present.

Conquest's correspondence with his mother, Rosamund Acworth Conquest, dates from 1921 to 1972 and includes postcards from Conquest's travel in Germany, Italy, Albania, and other countries in the late 1930s. Among other early correspondents are Conquest's friends John Blakeway, Maurice Langlois, and Julian Symons. Conquest's poetry was first published in Symons's , and Symons's letters included critiques of Conquest's poems from 1938 to his last letter just before his death in 1994.

The Index of Correspondents at the end of this finding aid contains box and folder locations for the correspondence in the collection.

Series III. Professional and Career-Related Material consists mostly of articles, interviews, and other clippings about Conquest and his work; awards and honors; materials from conferences and seminars; materials related to Conquest's work at the Hoover Institution; policy briefs; and testimony for congressional hearings, along with various other files. Of note are chronological lists and printouts of Conquest's computer files (''Documents''); many of these are the final drafts of book reviews, letters to editors, and other short works by Conquest. The activity reports that Conquest submitted to the Hoover Institution from 1982 to 2000 document his writing projects, lectures, conference attendance, interviews, and other activities. Conquest advised both Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan on Cold War policy, and he also wrote drafts for Thatcher's speeches, including her () speech. While many manuscripts of Conquest's policy briefs (some in the form of speech drafts) and letters to Thatcher are filed together, others are scattered among his computer printouts. Although Conquest served as an editor of both (1962-1963) and (1971-1973), those roles are not reflected in the papers.

Series IV. Personal and Family Papers include maternal (Acworth) family photograph albums dating from the nineteenth century, Conquest's father's estate documents, materials from the Anthony Powell Society, and other items. One folder contains papers for Conquest's basset hound, Bluebell. Conquest wrote about his dog in poems, his Saturday Column, correspondence with friends, and his unpublished novel The Tit Man.

Series V. Works by Others is comprised mostly of manuscripts, proofs, and chapbooks by authors such as Kingsley Amis, Gavin Ewart, Vernon Scannell, and Julian Symons. Artwork by Paul Johnson, Maurice Langlois, and Patrick Leigh Fermor is also present. Some of these works are filed at the end of correspondence from that individual. Although chapbooks remain with the papers, full-length books by other authors have been removed from the Papers and are housed separately.