COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY STATEMENT
Subject: American Radicalism Collection
Written by: Peter Berg
Draft date: December 11, 1996
I. Purpose or Scope of Collection
A. Curricular/Research/Programmatic Needs
The American Radicalism Collection supports the information, instruction,
and research needs of the MSU faculty, students and staff, as well as visiting
researchers and the general public. While no formal academic program(s)
currently exists at MSU in American radicalism, the collection serves
numerous University departments and programs whose faculty and students
pursue interests in the study of American Radicalism. These include
American Thought and Language; History; English; Anthropology;
Journalism; Political Science; Women's Studies; James Madison College;
American Studies; and Racial and Ethnic Courses.
B. History of the Collection/Existing Strengths and Emphases
The beginning of the American Radicalism Collection dates to the 1950's
when a large collection of materials related to the Communist Party of the
USA was acquired. Since then the collection has grown to include books,
pamphlets, periodicals, posters, and ephemera covering a wide range of
viewpoints on political, social, economic, environmental, racial, gender, and
sexual issues that affect American life. The collection emphasizes the
material of groups, organizations, movements, and/or individuals whose
viewpoint(s) reflects a radical or alternative vision to American life. The
collection, for example, has materials devoted to such diverse figures and
groups as Timothy Leary, Reverend Jerry Falwell, the Black Panther Party,
the National Organization for the Advancement of White People,
Students for a Democratic Society, Young Republicans, the Family
Forum, and the Lesbian Avengers. The collection's greatest strength
is in the publications of the American Left in the twentieth century,
especially the growth of American communism, American labor history,
and the student anti-war movement of the 1960's. Over the years a strong
collection of Ku Klux Klan materials has also been accumulated. Recently,
efforts have been initiated to collection materials of the Christian right, the
contemporary men's movement, and the Gay and Lesbian communities.
Special categories of the collection include:
The Alternative Press Collection
This collection features subscriptions, back files, and sample issues of a wide range of
alternative magazines and newspapers. Approximately 1,200 titles are represented.
Publications of the Political parties of the Left and racist and neo-Nazi organizations of the
right are included, along with advocacy and social change publications which address
topics ranging from women's rights, the environment, gay and lesbian issues, and
alternative living, to United States foreign and domestic policy. There are also strong
holdings of underground newspapers from the 1960's and 1970's including the Berkeley
Barb, the Los Angeles Free Press, and Great Speckled Bird, and The Paper, East Lansing's
alternative paper of the 1960's.
Many of the titles in this collection are indexed in the Alternative Press Index (1969-), in
specialized subject indexes prepared in Special Collections, as well as other indexes and
abstracts in the library.
The Communist Party of the U.S.A. Collection
A collection of approximately 3,700 titles incorporating materials not only from the
Communist Party of the U.S.A. but also from a number of Trotskyist groups including the
American Workers Party, the Communist League of America, the Revolutionary Workers
League and the various youth branches and front organizations of the Left for the years
between 1919 and the 1950's. There are anti-communist materials from governmental
agencies and commercial publishers as well. Included are several hundred books,
significant holdings on internal party affairs (discussion papers on theoretical issues, policy
questions and intraparty disputes, minutes of meetings, etc.), and over 3,000 pamphlets
covering politics, labor, women and minorities, the economy, foreign policy and other
issues. In addition, there are groupings of curricular material from the Jefferson School,
the Workers School, and the Lenin School in Moscow.
Featured among the serials are the Call Magazine (1917-18), issued on the eve of the
formation of the CPUSA; Class Struggle (1917-19), a theoretical Marxist periodical;
Coastwise Unity (1935-46), issued by the Communist Party dock unit; International Press
Correspondence (1929-38), one of the most important single sources for the study of the
communist international; and the Hearst Worker, 1936, published by the "Communist
Party Nucleus in the Hearst plant."
The American Radicalism Vertical File
A large and growing collection of pamphlets, leaflets, clippings, and other material on a
wide range of over 2,300 subjects. The ARVF is especially strong in the New Left
(primarily Students for a Democratic Society), the Vietnam War era, and materials relating
to contemporary issues. A sample listing of subject area file titles includes, American
Christian Cause, Birth Control, Jesse Jackson, John Birch Society, Labor Youth League,
Communes, Klanwatch, Lesbian Mothers, Dignity, Women Against Pornography, Solar
Energy, White Supremacist Movements, and Zero Population Growth. There are also
extensive files from the Peace Education Center of East Lansing.
The Edith and Arthur Fox Collection
Both Edith and Arthur Fox were long-time political and labor activists in Detroit. They
were employed in the auto industry and militantly involved in union work, he in Local 600
(Ford Rouge Plant) and she in Local 3 (Dodge Main in Hamtramack), The collection has
pamphlets, election material, and shop papers which document their involvement in a
number of dissident groups within the United Auto Workers, including the United National
Caucus which lobbied for a more democratic union structure. As members of the
Trotskyite Socialist Workers Party they collected a good deal of internal party material
from the late 1930's to the Vietnam War era.
Ku Klux Klan Collection
Since the acquisition of materials from the estate of a Michigan Klan member over a
decade ago, this collection has grown in size and quality. Most of the primary items in the
collection date from the 1920's and 1930's, a period of growth in the Klan's history.
Constitutions, installation ceremonies, advertisements for Klan merchandise, and the role
of women in the Klan are all included from this period. There are also of the Kourier, the
official monthly magazine of the Knights of the KKK. (A full run of this title is on
microfilm in the Microfilm Library, 3rd floor West). The collection features a number of
secondary studies of the Klan, as well as the research materials used by Wyn Wade in his
book, The Fiery Cross (1987). In 1994, a large collection of United Klans of America
material was added to these holdings.
Changing: Men Collections
The Changing Men Collections is a research collection comprised of materials related to
the men's movement. It originated at M.S.U. in 1990, with a donation from members of the
National Organization for Changing Men. Over 300 individual files representing men's
groups worldwide are here. The periodical collection is significant and includes Men 's
Studies Review, Changing Men, Today's Dads, and Wingspan among others. There are also
materials from conventions and major events in the movement.
Saul Wellman Collection
Named in honor of its donor, Saul Wellman, long time Communist Party member, Spanish
Civil War veteran and political commissar in the International Brigades, this collection
contains materials collected by Wellman over a thirty year period in which he was first a
party organizer in the Detroit auto plants, and later an active participant in many New Left
political organizations and movements. Publications and documents of the Communist
Party, USA, especially from the 1950's, the complete transcript of Wellman's 1953-54
Smith Act trial, and extensive materials documenting a wide range of Detroit groups and
events are included.
Dignity Archive
The Dignity Archive consists of five boxes containing about 100 file folders of material
relating to the national and regional chapters of Dignity, a gay/lesbian organization whose
membership is primarily Roman Catholic. These materials, including conference papers,
newsletters, leaflets and miscellaneous publications from the late 1960's to the mid-1980's,
were collected and donated by Steven L. Berg.
II. Factors influencing collection policy
A. Anticipated Future Trends
Collecting must be sensitive to issues that, however unforeseen today, will
influence American society's future and require the need for information
to make reasoned assessments and choices.
Since the overwhelming number of users of the American Radicalism
Collection are MSU undergraduates, future collecting efforts will focus
primarily on building a strong and useful undergraduate collection.
B. Relationship with other resources
1. On campus branch or format collections, if any
In many cases much additional material exists in the Main
Circulating Collection that supports subjects within the American
Radicalism Collection. No effort will be made to duplicate or transfer
these holdings to Special Collections, except in individual cases where
the scarcity or the condition of a piece has made this advisable.
2. Regional or network resources, if any
The Joseph A Labadie Collection of radical and social protest
literature at the University of Michigan and the Walter Reuther
Library at Wayne State University are both outstanding libraries in
Michigan for those interested in fields that pertain to American
radicalism. Currently, no formal collecting relationships exists with
these libraries.
C. Relationships to resources treated in other policy statements
History
Political Science
Ethnic Studies
Women's Studies
Gender Studies
III. Analysis of the subject field
A. Chronology of the Subject: Emphasis/Restrictions.
Primarily Twentieth-Century.
B. Languages of Resources Collected.
English language materials.
C. Geography of the Subject.
United States
D. Format of the Resources Collected and Treatment of the Subject.
Printed materials, video tape, and sound recording.
E. Date of Publication of Resources Collected.
Primarily materials printed in the twentieth-century.
IV. Levels of Collecting Intensity
A. Individual Collections (Active)
1. The Alternative Press Collection
Continue to collect serial publications which reflect the broad spectrum of
political, social, economic, sexual, etc. viewpoints in America.
Level:3
2. The American Radicalism Vertical File (ARVF)
Continue to collect primarily through gift and solicitation.
Level:3
3. Ku Klux Klan
Continue to collect all available material related to the Klan, past and
present.
Level:4
4. Changing Men Collections
Collect primary and secondary materials primarily through solicitation
and gift.
Level:4
B. General Collection
Primarily collect material documenting new and emerging radical and/or
alternative thought (e.g. militia movement; trans-gender; sexual politics; neo-
Nazis; Christian fundamentalism; etc.)
Level:3
V. Collection Management Issues
Specific policies, if any, on replacement, deselection, out of print acquisitions,
preservation, etc.
The very nature of the printed material of radical movements raises significant
preservation issues and problems which must be assessed. A large number of items
and collections in the American Radicalism Collection was not produced with the
intention of long term use. The paper is highly-acidic, thin, and frequently shows
the result of much handling and use. Many of the books/pamphlets are
inexpensively produced with fragile bindings. Currently, procedures are underway
to slow down the deterioration of the collection. On a case by case basis items are
given some protection. This included using acid-free folders, mylar covers, acid-free
boxes, and some preservation photocopying of selected collections (Weather
Underground; Ku Klux Klan, etc.). There is currently no plan to reformat or
deacidify major sections of the collection. However, it will prove wise to explore the
possibilities of digital conversion for heavy use items, especially selected items from
the ARVF.
To: Special Collections Division Home Page To: American Radicalism Collection Home Page
Collection Development Statements for the Special Collections Division:
Divisional Statement
| American Radicalism
| Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Materials
| Popular Culture
| Comic Books and Strips