Contrary to its title, "Sigma Xi lecture tour, 1953" includes entries between 10/14-11/22/1952, shortly after his election to the American Philosophical Society. Contained in a Spiral Stenographer's Notebook (with loose pages until the 11/12 entry), this notebook provides a granular account—often down to the hour—of his travels, meetings, lectures, and seminars with specifics accounts of people, places, and universities. Notably, Stern regularly evaluates audience attendance and engagement, and names individuals with institutional affiliations. Occasionally, he judges institutional priorities. For example, of LSU he writes, "Big campus: Spanish moss and architecture. Money assigned to enlarging stadium instead of library" (10/15/1952). And, while he tends to focus on higher education, occasionally, surrounding communities permeate his observations. For example, in his LSU entry, Stern also records segregation, adding, "road past unpainted negro houses--very small, no basement" (10/15/1952).
 
A second, unbound volume from a decade later provides a detailed account of a two-week trip to the Soviet Union. Maintained between 5/13-6/2/1963, "U.S.S.R Exchange Visit" documents Stern's travels, meetings, seminars, and sightseeing. Although most of the entries are dedicated to his genetics research, Stern also notes visits to various cultural sites and landmarks, including: the Kremlin, in whose mausoleum he writes "Lenin's face yellowish as for wax with light making it glow from inside" (5/16/1963)
 
Sverdlovsk Square, which he describes as "early-19th century Versailles-like park and castle," (5/16/1963), and the Ruski Museum, in which he describes Soviet realism as "wheat factories, sturdy healthy people, statue of men [forging] sword into plough" (5/29/1963). Stern includes at least one brief account of religious practice (or lack thereof) in 1960s Soviet Union, writing: "Morning visit to the churches in the Kremlin…They are all museums but kept in the spirit of religious places. No atheistic propaganda" (5/25/1963).

Curt Stern Papers include two diaries written after his inauguration into the American Philosophical Society and move to UC Berkeley. The first documents a national lecture tour taken in the fall of 1952 and the second, from the spring of 1963, describe an exchange visit to the Soviet Union. Read in tandem, these two volumes may interest researchers investigating Stern's work in genetics and his scholarly networks, segregation and the Jim Crow South, the post-war research university, and the Soviet Union in the Cold War.
 
Contrary to its title, "Sigma Xi lecture tour, 1953" includes entries between 10/14-11/22/1952, shortly after his election to the American Philosophical Society. Contained in a Spiral Stenographer's Notebook (with loose pages until the 11/12 entry), this notebook provides a granular account—often down to the hour—of his travels, meetings, lectures, and seminars with specifics accounts of people, places, and universities. Notably, Stern regularly evaluates audience attendance and engagement, and names individuals with institutional affiliations. Occasionally, he judges institutional priorities. For example, of LSU he writes, "Big campus: Spanish moss and architecture. Money assigned to enlarging stadium instead of library" (10/15/1952). And, while he tends to focus on higher education, occasionally, surrounding communities permeate his observations. For example, in his LSU entry, Stern also records segregation, adding, "road past unpainted negro houses--very small, no basement" (10/15/1952).
 
A second, unbound volume from a decade later provides a detailed account of a two-week trip to the Soviet Union. Maintained between 5/13-6/2/1963, "U.S.S.R Exchange Visit" documents Stern's travels, meetings, seminars, and sightseeing. Although most of the entries are dedicated to his genetics research, Stern also notes visits to various cultural sites and landmarks, including: the Kremlin, in whose mausoleum he writes "Lenin's face yellowish as for wax with light making it glow from inside" (5/16/1963)
 
Sverdlovsk Square, which he describes as "early-19th century Versailles-like park and castle," (5/16/1963), and the Ruski Museum, in which he describes Soviet realism as "wheat factories, sturdy healthy people, statue of men [forging] sword into plough" (5/29/1963). Stern includes at least one brief account of religious practice (or lack thereof) in 1960s Soviet Union, writing: "Morning visit to the churches in the Kremlin…They are all museums but kept in the spirit of religious places. No atheistic propaganda" (5/25/1963).