“We put it in a U-Haul truck and about two hours later, the truck broke down,” Berg said, laughing. “We were carrying precious cargo. We were worried in the beginning, but the truck held up and we brought it back to the library safely. It was quite an adventure.”

Coles, who was the James Agee Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education until he retired in 2003, won the Pulitzer in 1973 for his five-volume series “Children of Crisis.”

“That was probably what made his mark and really shaped him as a writer and a commentator,” Cooper said. “What really interested him is the way people and children adapt to extraordinary historical circumstances.”

The series highlighted Coles’ research in child psychiatry during influential historical times. Cooper called Coles a “mentor” and began corresponding with him in the early 1990s because of their “mutual writing interest.” It was this relationship that allowed Cooper to bring back the collection from Coles’ home.

The “Children of Crisis” series came about when Coles was stationed in Biloxi, Miss., as a psychiatrist in the Air Force during the time of segregation in Southern grade schools.

“Coles was just at the right place at the right time and became very interested in working with children who were crossing that integration school color line,” Cooper said.

Because of the provocation of thought that comes with Coles’ work, it’s an appropriate collection for a college library and one of the most prestigious MSU has obtained, Berg said.

“We have a number of collections with worldwide fame,” he said.

“But I would have to say that this is right up there, not just because of (Coles’) significance, but because of the size of the collection and how comprehensive it is.”

The collection contains correspondence, drafts, manuscripts and research from more than 50 years of study. In addition to Coles’ personal work, the library also has obtained files of DoubleTake Magazine, Cooper said.

Jed Magen, chairperson of the MSU Department of Psychiatry, said Coles’ methods of studying child psychiatry differ from the traditional methods, but are still influential.

“His work in that area was really kind of anthropological in nature,” Magen said. “It was really an investigation of groups of kids rather than individuals. His work is really valuable in terms of understanding a lot about what more normal kids go through in difficult situations. His work brought attention to kids in these situations – poverty, minority households, stressful settings, etc.”

The library has professional archivists indexing and categorizing the collection and Cooper hopes to have it open to the public in 12-18 months.