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 ati-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.