Daniel Yankelovich Papers, 1947-2017, bulk 1970-2010 (MSS 804)

Daniel Yankelovich was born on December 29, 1924 in Boston, Massachusetts to parents of Russian decent. He received his Bachelor's (1948) and Master's (1950) degrees from Harvard University. Yankelovich was drafted into the Army as an undergraduate and served as an engineer during WWII from 1943-1945. From 1950-1952, Yankelovich studied at the Sorbonne in Paris but did not complete his doctorate. In 1958 he founded his own research firm, Daniel Yankelovich, Inc. (renamed Yankelovich, Skelly and White, Inc. in 1974 to reflect the contributions of his business partners Florence R. Skelly and Arthur White). Yankelovich returned to academia in the 1960s and began teaching part-time as a Research Professor of Psychology at New York University (1968-1975) and as a Professor of Psychology at The New School for Social Science Research (1973-1978). During this period, he also co-founded the nonprofit research organization Public Agenda Foundation in 1976 with future Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. After selling YSW, Inc. in 1984 to the Saatchi & Saatchi Company, Yankelovich founded a new research company with Skelly and White called Daniel Yankelovich Group, Inc. in 1986. It was later known simply as DYG, Inc. to avoid confusion with other companies using the Yankelovich name.

After moving to La Jolla in the late 1990s, Yankelovich became involved with many local institutions including UC San Diego, San Diego Dialogue, The San Diego Union-Tribune, and San Diego Unified School District. He also co-founded Viewpoint Learning, Inc., a consultancy group based in La Jolla, with Steven Rosell in 2000. He began teaching as a lecturer at UCSD Extension, and later served as a member of the UC San Diego Foundation Board of Trustees and the Social Sciences Dean's Advisory Council. In 2009, he endowed the Yankelovich Chair in Social Thought and in 2012 established the Yankelovich Center for Social Science Research through an endowment made by him and his fourth wife, Barbara Lee.

Known as the "dean of American pollsters," Yankelovich was named by PR Week as one of the top ten most influential people of the twentieth century in public affairs. His notable projects include the New York Times/Yankelovich poll, since renamed the New York Times/CBS News poll, and the TIMES/Yankelovich Poll. Yankelovich was the author, co-author, and editor of at least thirteen books about American politics and social values, including a memoir entitled Chasing the Socratic Dream (2017). He was also honored with many awards, such as the Helen Dinerman Award, the Parlin Award, and the UC San Diego Chancellor's Medal Award. He consulted with many notable corporations and organizations, including Toyota, The Aspen Institute, Harvard University, CBS, Brown University, and the Kettering Foundation. Additionally, he helped to popularize the term "baby boomers."

Yankelovich passed away at 92 on September 22, 2017 in La Jolla, California.

Daniel Yankelovich's papers were donated to the UC San Diego Library in two separate accessions, in 2017 and 2018. The first accession was transferred to UC San Diego by the University of Connecticut (where it had been originally donated by Yankelovich in 1995). That portion of the collection was processed by UConn staff at the Thomas J. Dodd Center Archives & Special Collections in 2002. The UC San Diego Library largely maintained the order and series arrangement of this material post-transfer, removing only published documents and duplicates, and clarifying elements of the description. The 2018 accession represents the remainder of Yankelovich's post-1995 papers and was processed separately, but it was arranged in an order intended to complement and enhance the original portion of the collection. Materials for some book titles and major projects are represented in both sections of the collection.