Archives and Manuscripts M-S

A-F | G-L | M-S | T-Z

Man Who Shot Frick, The
Archive, 1992.  .25 ft.

Materials relating to the Alexander Berkeman Remembrance held in Pittsburgh, PA on July 23, 1992, including posters, flyers, clippings, articles, promotional materials, correspondence, buttons, programs, tickets, script, financial records, photographic slides for dramatic readings, etc. 

Mackinnon, Catherine A.  
Catharine A. MacKinnon v. Society for Comparative Philosophy, et. al. 
Archive, 1985-86.  .25 ft.
.
Photocopies of court documents filed in Marin County, California, on behalf of Catharine MacKinnon in her civil suit against her landlord to prevent eviction.  Also included is correspondence between MacKinnon, her attorney, and the landlord.  MacKinnon’s work on anti-pornography issues is an underlying element in this case and in is explicit in these documents. 

Marxistische Gruppe 
Collection (Hans Ehrbar),1968-1991. 1.5 l.f

Audio recordings, ephemera, and internal papers from the Marxistische Gruppe (MG) active in West Germany in the 1960s-1980s. A significant communist organization, MG owed its origins to the Rote Zellen (Red Cells) of the 1968 student movement, and was the precursor of the publishing house Gegenstandpunkt Verlag. Audiotapes contain discussions between Hans Ehrbar and Karl Held and Herbert Fertl dating from the early 1980s (Held and Fertl were important theoreticians of the organization at its beginnings). Also included in the collection are leaflets distributed on university campuses and factory gates in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as typescripts of internal discussion papers and English translations of some MG articles. Most materials, including audio recordings, are in German.

Mattachine Society
Records, 1957-1995. .5 linear ft.
View the finding aid.

The collection contains primarily administrative materials surrounding the daily business of the Mattachine Society's Regional Council of Detroit, founded in 1957, which sought to actively organize Michigan homosexuals. Includes budget information, meeting minutes, membership information, workshop materials, notes, correspondence, articles, flyers, newsletters, typescripts, and press releases.

Menz, Hermann, 1829?-1919.
Scrapbook, 1905-1907. 1 volume (85 items).

Detroit stonecutter. The scrapbook, entitled "Menzes Teufel," contains newspaper clippings about a replica of a gargoyle Menz erected at his home, letters from James B. Elliott and others in the United States and abroad who believed tha t the gargoyle was a monument to the devil, and a play entitled Vindication that was written by John Henry Greaves after hearing the story. Also in the scrapbook are newspaper clippings and other papers concerning Menz's unsuccessful campaign for alderman from Detroit's Tenth Ward and a copy of a constitution and bylaws of the Society of Journeymen Stonecutters of Detroit, 1887.

Metzkow, Max, 1854-1945.
Papers, 1881-1934. 21 items.
List of correspondents available.

German immigrant typesetter and anarchist. The papers consist of correspondence, some in Old German Script (many with translations), and notebooks and "Prison Memories" (in shorthand) written while Metzkow was imprisoned in Germany for provoking disobedience in the military. Correspondents include Henry Bauer, Thomas Keell, and Claus Timmerman, who enclosed copies of letters by Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman.

Michigan Central Railroad Mugshots
Collection, 1930s .5 linear ft.
View the Finding aid. 

Contains over 100 mugshots and accompanying police intake records for suspected members of the Communist Party USA. Some of these photographs come from the 1932 Ford Hunger March, with others coming from the GM Fisher Body plant strike in Flint in July 1930. Other individuals were arrested by the Flint Police department throughout the 1930s, and several were affiliated with specific investigations, as noted on the intake forms.

Of particular note is the arrest record of William Z. Foster in New York in 1930. Foster served as the secretary of the Communist Party, campaigned for Governor of New York in 1930, and ran for President of the United States in 1924, 1928, and 1932. Other notable members include Joe Sgovio who was deported to Russia, where he died; and Will Geer, who played the grandfather on 1970's television program The Waltons. While most of the mugshots are of men, a few to a women.

Also included in the collection is a folder of historical information on the photographs, compiled by the donor and housed with the collection. 

Michigan Draft Information Exchange
Records, 1968-1971  .25 ft.

MDIE was an Ann Arbor anti-draft organization which operated a military draft counseling center and acted as a clearinghouse for Selective Service information.  Collection includes newsletters, circulars, bulletins and other documents regarding changes to the Selective Service System.

Middlesex, Lisa (1957-2005).
Papers, 1975-2005.  11 linear ft.
Finding aid available.

Transsexual artist and musician. Contains unpublished poetry and stories, original artwork, photographs, clippings, scrapbooks, audio and video recordings, journals, artifacts, documenting the hidden life of Bobby Lee Yardley, aka Lisa Slade, aka Lisa Middlesex. 

Mills, Stephanie.
Papers, 1960s-20--.  24 linear ft.
View the finding aid.

Neo-Luddite and bioregionalist writer based in Michigan. Collection includes correspondence, original artwork, datebooks, published and unpublished writings, photographs, sketchbooks, scapbooks, drafts of manusrcipts of her published books including, Whatever Happened to Ecology?, In the Service of the Wild, Turning Away from Technology, Epicurean Simplicity, and drafts of articles; audio and video recordings of conferences, lectures and interviews. Additions are expected.

Miscellaneous Manuscripts.
Papers and records. ca. 1.5 feet.

The correspondence, articles, essays, plays, and other materials that make up this group cover a wide variety of topics, but the subjects best represented are labor, anarchism, and the Spanish Civil War. The following description highlights a few of the more significant papers and records; it is by no means exhaustive.

Several items relate to the Industrial Workers of the World, including letters written by imprisoned IWW members to Mary Gallagher and others in the early 1920s; a 1914 speech by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn about the strike in Paterson, New Jersey; a 1917 letter about an IWW raid in Detroit; an issue of The Can Opener, which was put out by IWW prisoners in Cook County Jail, Chicago, in 1917; and minutes of IWW locals representing metal and machinery workers, 1910s and 1920s.

Among other materials on the subject of labor are financial records and newspaper clippings describing meetings of the Detroit Council of Trades and Labor Unions, 1880s and 1890s; a brief history of the International Working People's Association and the 1883 Pittsburgh Congress at which it was founded; one letter regarding the Trade Union Educational League, 1922, and two regarding the Unemployed Association, 1934; typescripts on strikes and union activities by Harlan County, Kentucky, miners in the 1920s and 1930s; and letters by Eugene Debs, Theodore Debs, Terence Powderly, and Rose Pastor Stokes. Of particular interest is correspondence of industrial espionage agencies in the 1910s and 1920s and related correspondence between Agnes Inglis and the National Labor Relations Board concerning an investigation in the 1930s of spies hired by employers to disrupt union organizing efforts.

Papers relating to anarchism include a 1921 report to the Anarchist Burial Commission; a 1919 issue of the Ellis Island Anarchist Weekly, put out by someone (possibly Marcus Graham?) awaiting deportation because of anarchist activities; a Rose Pesotta typescript on Sacco and Vanzetti; and letters by Alexander Berkman, Lucy Parsons, Ben Reitman, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.

There is also a fair amount of material on the Spanish Civil War, including correspondence of Maximilian Olay and the Spanish Labor Press Bureau and of Solidaridad Internacional Antifascista. There are a few items on women's reform activism, including a biographical sketch and a 1901 essay by feminist Kate Austin; a 1920 letter by Alice Stone Blackwell; a typescript by Elizabeth S. Hitchcock on the women's movement and the Ford Peace Expedition, ca. 1915; and Rosika Schwimmer's 1927 petition for naturalization. Finally, there is considerable correspondence between Labadie staff and donors; scattered items on the Ku Klux Klan; a letter written by John A. Hoxie from Brook Farm; and material on many other people and subjects reflecting the scope of the Labadie's collecting policy.

Note: more single manuscripts and letters are listed in the menu to the left.

Moral Rearmament.
Collection, 1930s-1950s. 1 linear ft.

Collection belonging to Dorothy Kendall, former member of Moral Re-armament and performer in many of their musicals.  Consists of one LP record in mint condition, 18 magazines, 2 newspapers, one clipping, 43 books and pamphlets, 24 sheets of music and song books, 10 letters, telegrams, and press releases, 33 programs from MR-A events, 1 original cartoon on Fairmont Hotel (S.F.) stationery, 5 folders of original scripts, music, and other ephemera related to the MR-A patriotic reviews. 

Morris, James Oliver, 1923-   The Joe Hill Case.
Papers, 1949-1950. 27 items.
List of correspondents available.

Professor of labor relations, New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University. The collection consists of correspondence with John Nicholas Beffel, Ralph Chaplin, Wallace Stegner, and others regarding Morris's research on IWW member Joe Hill, and two versions of Morris's manuscript, The Joe Hill Case.

Motor City Labor League.
Collection, 1970s. 1 linear ft.
View the finding aid.

Materials related to the Marxist-Leninist group Motor City Labor League, active in Detroit in the 1970s. Divided into series based loosely on date and group. The group had an acrimonious split in the early 1970s, with the alliances of the resulting organizations constantly shifting.

Mrachnyi, Mark.
Papers, 1922-1940. 214 items.
View the finding aid.

Mrachnyi, a Russian immigrant anarchist, who at various times went by the surnames Clevans, Klavansky, and Mratchny, was editor of Freie Arbeiter Stimme in the 1930s. The papers consist of correspondence relating to personal matters and editorial work, three radiograms reporting on the Spanish Civil War, some miscellaneous documents, and six circulars and one manifesto of the Association Internationale des Travailleurs. Correspondents include Petr Arshinov, Roger Baldwin, Alexander Berkman, Pierre Besnard, Abe Bluestein, Christian Cornelissen, Grigorii Maksimov, Max Nettlau, Rudolf Rocker, Helmut Rudiger, Alexander Schapiro, Augustin Souchy, and Boris Yelensky. Also in the collection are 40 letters by Emma Goldman, including open letters to Freie Arbeiter Stimme concerning the campaign to save Arthur Bortolotti from deportation and a statement regarding funds collected for Spanish refugees. The papers are in English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Yiddish, with the Russian and Yiddish items accompanied by translations.

Murphy, Barbara
Papers, 1963-1999. 1 linear ft.
View the finding aid.

Contains correspondence, news clippings, writings, manuscripts, and ephemera related to Barbara Murphy's involvement in student protest movements at the University of Michigan in the 1960s. Also included are reports, manuscripts, administrative materials, and correspondence generated during her subsequent career at the University of Michigan, primarily concerning her work to advance women's rights at the university.

National Transgender Library & Archive.
Collection, 1977-2002. 29 linear ft.
View the finding aid.

Created by Dallas Denny, author and founder of the American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc. (AEGIS), the NTL&A is one of the largest collections of transgender research materials in the world. AEGIS provided self-published and other materials to transgendered individuals, families of transgendered people, allies, doctors with transgendered clients, and others seeking information, and published Chrysalis: The Journal of Transgressive Gender Identities as well as the AEGIS membership newsletter, Transgender Treatment Bulletin. In April 1998 AEGIS ceased operations and in January 2000 reformed as Gender Education & Advocacy (GEA). The new organization educates people about and advocates for transgender and transsexual issues and maintains the functions and goals of the original organization. The NTL&A includes correspondence, memorabilia, publications, surveys, photographs, artifacts, and organization papers, including bylaws and conference materials, and video and audio tapes.

Esther Newton
Papers, 1866-2018. 20 linuear ft.

Esther Newton was born in 1940 in New York City, New York. Newton attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in history in 1962. She went on to study anthropology at the University of Chicago. Newton obtained her Ph.D in 1968 with the dissertation "The Drag Queens: A Study in Urban Anthropology," which became the basis of her first book, Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America, published in 1972. Newton went on to pursue a career in academia, first becoming an assistant professor at Queens College, City University of New York. After being denied tenure at Queens College, Newton began teaching at Purchase College, State University of New York (SUNY), where she would become a tenured professor of anthropology, and eventually earn a full professorship. She played a role in the founding of the Lesbian and Gay Studies program at Purchase College. Newton returned to her alma mater in the late 2000s as a lecturer in women's and gender studies and American culture at the University of Michigan. Newton is now retired as Term Professor of American Culture and Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Michigan, and Professor of Anthropology and Kempner Distinguished Professor Emerita at Purchase College, SUNY. In the late 1980s, Newton began a project documenting the history of Cherry Grove, an LGBT summer enclave located on Fire Island, south of Long Island, New York. This project became the book, Cherry Grove, Fire Island: Sixty Years in America's First Gay and Lesbian Summer Town, published in 1993. Newton is also the author of Margaret Mead Made Me Gay: Personal Essays, Public Ideas, and the memoir My Butch Career. Newton also co-authored and co-edited other volumes during her career, along with writing numerous articles and essays. 

The Esther Newton Papers are arranged in nine series: 1. Correspondence, 1957-2011. 2. Research, 1948-2005. 3. Writings, 1956-2014. 4. Courses, 1960-2014. 5. Events, 1970-2019. 6. Organizations and service, 1971-2017. 7. Personal, 1956-2010. 8. Genealogy, 1866-2003. 9. Photographs, 1930-2017. 

Nold, Carl, 1869-1934.
Papers, 1883-1934. 50 items.
View the finding aid.

Papers of this German immigrant anarchist include correspondence, an essay entitled "Six Pathfinders," and court documents for indictments of Henry Bauer and Carl Nold by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the 1892 cases resulting from the attempted assassination of Henry C. Frick by Alexander Berkman. Among the correspondents are Hippolyte Havel, A. Isaac, Harry M. Kelly, Kate Rotchek, as well as Lucy Parsons, whose letters concern anarchists, the International Labor Defense, and criticism of Emma Goldman's autobiography. Also included are poems and an essay by Robert Reitzel, a photo, and a scrapbook about Reitzel's death. The papers are in English and German.

North American Anarchist-Communist Federation
Papers, 1977.  1 inch.

Consists of various individual’s and group’s (Jeff Stein; Joffre Stewart; Bruce Allen; Jim Bumpas; Esther Dolgoff; Sam Dolgoff; Tony Pestalozzi; May Day of Evanston, IL; Ames, Iowa Anarchists; Resurgence/Chicago; Regina Anarchist Group; Rochester Black Rose) written comments to Draft #2 of the Anarchist-Communist Principles that were proposed in 1977 at the creation of NAACF, (originally Anarchist Communist Tendency/ACT) whose members were also part of the Social Revolutionary Anarchist Federation (SRAF).  These comments are significant because they illustrate the analytical thoughts and discussions of people during a period of U.S. anarchist history which is lacking in such primary (and heretofore unpublished) documentation.  

Northern California Committee for Protection of Foreign Born (NCCPFB)
Records, 1940-1987. 1.7 linear ft.

The Northern California Committee for Protection of Foreign Born (NCCPFB), formed in 1940 and headquartered in San Francisco, was a regional branch organization of the ACPFB. It carried out its activities on a local and regional scale, focusing mainly on the cases of foreign-born individuals residing in the area, but also lending attention and support to the activities and causes of the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born (q.v.) itself, including conferences, cases, and publications. The collection contains correspondence, publicity, legal proceedings, financial documents, cases, memorandum, minutes, conference programs and proceedings, petitions, news clippings, various publications, speeches, articles, legal documents, legislative materials, etc. relating to the NCCPFB and its activities.

Nungesser, Lon G.  Hope for Humanity.
Papers, 1970-1989. 2 ft.
View the finding aid.

The Lon G. Nungesser Hope for Humanity Papers, 1970-1989 comprise correspondence, drafts of unpublished and published manuscripts, ideas for research projects, family history material, publishers' contracts, placement files, and copies of his three books: Homosexual acts, actors and identities (Praeger, 1983), Epidemic of courage: facing AIDS in America (St. Martin's, 1986), and Notes on living until we say goodbye: a personal guide (St. Martin's, 1988). The papers reflect Nungesser's struggle against homophobia and particularly his battle with AIDS and coping with terminal illness. Correspondents include Dana H. Bramel, Stuart Kellogg, and Philip G. Zimbardo.

O'Byrne, Michael Cyprian.
Letters, 1884-1885. 23 items.

Poet and writer, farmer in Macon County, N.C. The letters, all to Louis Prang (1824-1909) except two which are to Karl F. Heinzen, Prang's son-in-law, concern the publication of his articles in Radical Review, The North American, and other journals, the preparation of writings on materialism vs. spiritualism and on the dangers of Catholicism, especially plots directed from Rome, the importance of secular public education, the possibilities of the lecture circuit, farming, and kindnesses extended to O'Byrne by benefactors, including Prang.

Orbach, Harold L.
Papers, 1948-1965, bulk 1962-1965.  91 items.
List of correspondents available.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, anti-war and civil rights activist, and later, professor of sociology at Kansas State University. The papers contain correspondence and print and near-print material in English and French dealing chiefly with anti-Vietnam War activities, particularly arrangements for the International Conference on Alternative Perspectives on Vietnam (1965: Ann Arbor, Mich.), and efforts of the Voters' Voice for Peace, an organization concerned with civil rights in Ann Arbor. Also include subject files on the University of Puerto Rico student strikes of 1948, and the second annual congress of the U. S. National Student Association (1949: Urbana, Ill.). Correspondents include Ruth Lassoff, Ajit Singh, and Peter Townsend.

Orr, Lois (Curter), 1917-
Lois and Charles Orr papers, 1936-1983. 103 items.
List of correspondents available.

American journalists and translators who worked in Barcelona, Spain, during the Spanish Civil War (Sept. 1936 - July 1937), Lois in a propaganda office and Charles issuing English language bulletins and translating articles from La Batalla, the newspaper of the socialist group Partido Obrero de Unificacion Marxista. After being arrested and imprisoned, they fled to Paris, returning to the U.S. around 1939. The papers consist of correspondence with family and friends concerning experiences and acquaintances in Spain, and articles reviewing political and military conditions, many intended for publication in the Socialist Call. Also included are four versions of Lois Orr's unpublished memoir, Spain 1936-1937: A Short History of the Spanish Revolution, a taped interview with Lois Orr made by Paul Garon in 1983, and printed flyers, pamphlets, and clippings, most dating from 1936-39. Correspondents include Russell Blackwell, Clarence Senior, Gus Tyler, and others. The papers are in English, Spanish, German, and French.

Paris, 1968 : documents from the student revolt, May 12 - June 28, 1968.
Collection, 1968. 1 linear ft.

Collection contains leaflets, university and government responses to demands, mimeographed manifestos, speech and lecture fliers, some manuscript material and clippings. The majority were produced by various schools within the universities and by independent student and worker organizations. Also included are official reponses from university administrators and the government.

Peirats, Jose Valls, 1908-1989.  De mi paso por la vida.
Manuscript  .25 linear ft.

Photocopy of autobiographical typescript consists of seven "volumes" containing 14 parts chronicling Peirats’ life from infancy through the death of his close friend, Luis Blanco, in 1974, including an epilogue that states "Mi sola arma es la pluma." Includes "José Periats Valls, De Mi Paso Por la Vida: Indice y Resúmenes, 1908/1974," a detailed index to the autobiography.

People's Park Protests, May 1969.
75 Photographic slides. 

University of California, Berkeley Law School student, Dieter Blessing, photographed the events that transpired in mid-May, 1969, when police and the National Guard were called in to evict students and street people from the People's Park, a plot of land adjacent to the Berkeley campus, and to quell any protests that formed. On May 15 a massive demonstration formed at Berkeley's Sproul Plaza. Police shot teargas cannisters and buckshot, ultimately killing student James Rector and wounding numerous others.
Gift of Dieter Blessing, 1996. 

People's Wherehouse.
Archive, 1940s1-1992. 1 linear ft.
Boxlist available in repository.

Ann Arbor, Michigan company which supplied food to 500 food cooperatives in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, and whose employees voted for union representation by the IWW in 1983.  The People's Wherehouse closed in 1992. Collection consists of co-op materials, contracts, correspondence, newletters, clippings, photographic slides, audio and video recordings

Phillips, Wendell, 1811-1884.
Papers, 1834-1884. 113 items.
Unpublished finding aid available in repository

Phillips was an American reformer, a prominent abolitionist (from 1837), and president of Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society (1865-70), as well as an author. The collection includes 98 letters (four signed by Ann Phillips) 10 autographed sentiments signed, four sepia-toned albumen photographs and one engraved portrait of Phillips. There is correspondence with many famous abolitionists, including Octavius Brooks Frothingham, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Ellis Gray Loring, Samuel J May, James Redpath, F.B. Sanborn, John Wingate Thornton, and Theodore Tilton. The content of the letters covers both business (as it related to Phillips’ law practice, his lecture circuit, and the Anti-Slavery Society), and personal matters. In addition there are 5 photograph and print portraits of Phillips, all in good condition.

Letters, photographs, reports, diaries, memos, maps, and charts pertaining to Greg Mutz's activities as a U.S. Army soldier in the Phoenix Program in Vietnam from November 1968-November 1969. In Vietnamese and English. 

Pioneer Aid and Support Association, Chicago.
Records, 1888-1957. 1 volume.

Minutes of this organization which was particularly concerned with the Haymarket Square riot (1886) and the memory of the anarchists convicted and sentenced to death for their association with that event. Included are lists of names and court actions related to unions, treasurer's reports, and newspaper clippings. The records are written in Old German Script until 1943.

Pokorny, John E.
Papers, 1930-1941. ca. 2 linear ft..
View the finding aid.

Assistant to Harry Bennett in personnel and security for Ford Motor Company and active in the National Sojourners and other patriotic and veterans organizations in the 1930s. His papers include minutes of meetings of allegedly Communist organizations in the Detroit area and of the Civil Rights League, which Pokorny infiltrated; lists of "known Communists" in the Detroit area in 1932 compiled by the U.S. Department of Labor; a report, "Radicalism in the University of Michigan" (ca. 1939) ; and notes and correspondence regarding his investigation for Ford of Communist infiltration of labor unions and his cooperation with congressional committees investigating subversive activities.

Porn'Im'age'ry 
Collection, 1987-1995. 1.5 linear ft. 
View the finding aid.
The records in the Carol Jacobsen Collection are compromised of materials documenting the "Porn'im'age'ry" exhibit, the controversy and negotiations surrounding the exhibit, and materials concerning the issues of prostitution, pornography, sex work, and censorship. The records are organized into six series: Correspondence Files, Press Clippings and Published Material Files, Original Conference Files, Photographs, Protest and Reinstallation Material, and Videotapes.

Porter, David
Papers (majority within 1960-1980). .5 linear ft.
View the finding aid.

Research materials created and collected by the political scientist David Porter during the course of his doctoral 
research in Algeria. The bulk of the papers is Porter's own handwritten notes, but also includes materials he saved 
from other sources (such as local newspapers) and typewritten proposals presented by Porter to his dissertation committee. 
The papers remain in Porter's original order. Porter's research focused on socialist and anarchist forces in Algeria 
immediately following independence. Materials are in both French and English.

Potter, Paul. 
Papers, 1962-1984. .5 linear ft.
View the finding aid.

Potter was a graduate of Oberlin College, graduate student at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), 1962-1964; founding member and president of the Students for a Democratic Society (1964-1965); author of a memoir "A Name for Ourselves;" known for his eloquent and thoughtful speeches, most notably "Naming the System," given at the March on Washington to End the War in Vietnam, April 17, 1965. The colleciton includes his FBI file, correspondence, writings, speeches, and four audio cassette tapes.re of men, one belongs to a woman (Marion Simon).

Power, Eugene B., 1905-
Correspondence, 1964-1965. 419 items.

Founder and executive of University Microfilms, which merged with Xerox Corporation in 1962; director of Xerox Corporation, 1962-68; and regent of the University of Michigan, 1956-66. The collection consists entirely of photocopies of letters written to Power and other executives at Xerox protesting the corporation's sponsorship of a series of television programs about the United Nations. Many letters cite two books, None Dare Call It Treason by John A. Stormer, and The Fearful Master: A Second Look at the United Nations by G. Edward Griffin, as proof that the U. N. was a Communist-run organization and therefore the programs should not be supported by advertising money from Xerox. The papers suggest that the John Birch Society was instrumental in this letter-writing campaign. The principal collection of Power's papers is located at the Michigan Historical Collections, the University of Michigan.

Probuzhdenie, Detroit.
Records, 1930-1937. 103 items.
View the finding aid.

Detroit anarchist Russian-language journal, which united with Delo Truda in 1940 to become Delo Truda - Probuzhdenie. Articles by Christian Cornelissen, Harry M. Kelly, Errico Malatesta, Max Nettlau, Frida Tcherkesoff, and Jean Grave; a special memorial issue of Probuzhdenie (no. 15, February 1931) dedicated to Russian anarchist Petr Kropotkin; and correspondence of Kelly, Grave, Nettlau, and Joseph Ishill with editor John Cherney and other staff members. In English , French, and German.

Proletarian Party of America
Records, 1925-1968. 3.3 linear ft.
View the finding aid.

Founded in Wayne, Michigan, in 1920, the Proletarian Party of America (the Party) was a pro-Bolshevik political organization which aspired to rally workers to revolution through Marxist education. It was founded after the state section’s expulsion from the Communist Party. In 1925, after the Party moved to Chicago, founder and author John Keracher purchased controlling shares in the socialist publishing house, the Charles H. Kerr Company. The years from 1953, when Al Wysocki succeeded Keracher as national secretary at the Chicago headquarters, to 1968 saw a decline. By 1964, only two locals existed: Flint and Chicago. The Party was dissolved in 1971. The collection includes correspondence of Al Wysocki, receipts, draft articles, notes for lectures, lecture announcements, Kerr Company inventories and advertisements. The bulk of the materials cover the later years of the Party’s existence (1953-1965), with members’ resignation letters and documents outlining the Party’s views on the Hungarian Revolution, the Soviet Union, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. When the Party disbanded, many of the records were torn into quarters or halves, thus a large portion of the collection consists of reconstructed leaves and some partially legible fragments.

Proletarian Party
Records, 1919-1967. 17.5 linear ft.
Unpublished finding aid available in repository.

This collection, acquired after the Proletarian Party records above, is far wider-ranging, major collection of materials relating to this organization of American Marxists. It contains correspondence, manuscripts, essays, lecture notes, party newspapers, clippings, leaflets, notebooks, flyers, manifestoes, programs, constitutions, photographs, national headquarters records, subscription records, personal documents, ledgers, financial and legal documents, linocuts, and original artwork. It documents the workings of not only the national office in Chicago, but also many of the activities of the 38 locals, including Detroit, Flint, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Buffalo, Rochester, Cleveland, Des Moines, and Grand Rapids. The collection records not only the origins, politics, organizational structure, membership fluctuations, and finances of the Party, but also day-to-day activities of its individual members-a hardworking group of dissident American workers.

Rammel, Hal (1947-
Collection, 1966-1999. 1.25 l.f. plus one oversize envelope.

Collection of materials documenting the Chicago Surrealist Group from artist Hal Rammel, who was active with the Chicago surrealists from 1978 to 1993, and had started collecting ephemera and news clippings about the group in the 1960s. The collections contains broadsides, pamphlets, news clippings, announcement, and photographs. Also includes cosrrespondence with the Chicago Group and between Rammel and other gropus and individuals from the rest of the U.S., Stockholm, Paris, Madrid, Prague, and Australia. To contextualize the collection, donor and creator Rammel included a timeline of the Chicago Surrealist Group, personal reminiscences about the group and its members, biographical statements, and an autobiographical statement. 

Ratkov, Tom.
Papers, 1990-2001  .5 linear ft.

Includes writings, correspondence, rantings, 4 audio cassette tapes, and three typed manuscripts by Kerry Wendell Thornley (1938-1998).

Ream, Chuck.
Papers, 1963-1980s. 1.5 linear ft.

Contains correspondence, writings, subject and FBI files related to Ann Arbor and Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo) activities of Chuck Ream, including Human Rights Party, Youth Liberation, Black Action Movement, Democratic Convention 1968, SDS, Goose Lake International Music Festival 1970, Kent State University, Mayday, New American Movement, political surveillance,  1987 reunion of Ann Arbor radicals, and other materials. Donation of Chuck Ream, 2009.

Reuben, William A., 1915-2004.
Papers, ca. 1945-2000. 27 feet.
View the finding aid.

A free-lance writer and investigative journalist known for his involvement in civil liberties and espionage cases, Reuben was the author of The Atom Spy Hoax (1955) and The Honorable Mr. Nixon (1956). The collection contains notes, drafts of writings, correspondence, newsletters, reviews, and newspaper clippings relating to cases he covered, in particular the Trenton Six (six young black men wrongly convicted in 1948 of murdering a Trenton, New Jersey, junk-shop dealer); Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and their co-defendant Morton Sobell; Alger Hiss; and Dr. Robert Soblen, charged in 1960 with conspiracy to commit espionage, along with Reuben's unpublished manuscript "The Crime of Dr. Soblen." Also included are some records of the Civil Rights Congress, which was active in defending the Trenton Six, and the Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case, which Reuben helped organize. Research materials related to the Mark Fein case, Reuben's investigation of the Lexington Female High Security Unit, the Roy Cohn disbarment case, and the Philby, Burgess, and MacLean Spy case are also included, in addition to documents relation to Reuben's personal professional life.

Roberts, John M.
Papers, 1960-1967. 107 items.
List of correspondents available.

Papers of Roberts, a student activist, include correspondence, reports, statements, platforms, mailing lists, and financial records concerning his involvement in the Voice Political Party and the National Student Association while at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and the Heights Freedom Movement and Students for a Democratic Society while at New York University. Much of the NSA material concerns activities of the Michigan Region, particularly the disaffiliation in 1962 of the chapter at Central Michigan University. A principal concern of the Voice Party was the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and campaigns on campuses to abolish it. Some correspondence is with persons active in the national organizations of Students for a Democratic Society and the National Student Association, including Edward R. Garvey, Todd Gitlin, Robert A. Haber, Neal Johnston, Donald McKelvey, John Monsonis, and Paul Potter.

Rolland, Hugo, 1895-1977
Papers, 1919-1975. 2 inches.

American-Italian anarchist. Copies of correspondence and writings, transcripts of interviews conducted by Robert D'Attilio in 1972 and 1974, a bibliography of Rolland's writings, and a photo of Anthony Caparo, a New York Call reporter, along with his account of his kidnapping and torture during the Lawrence, Massachusetts, textile strike of 1919. Correspondents include Errico Malatesta, Umberto Marzocchi, and Giuseppe Rose. Also included is a finding aid for Rolland's papers at the International Institute for Social History in Amsterdam. The papers are in Italian and English.

Rosemont, Franklin and Penelope
Papers, 1960-2010. 32 linear ft.
View the finding aid.

Consists of notebooks, manuscripts, manifestos, poetry, essays, articles, drawings, and a large body of correspondence, including Herbert Marcuse, Diane di Prima, Gellu Naum, Ted Joans, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Archie Green, Paul Buhle, Philip Lamantia, Leonora Carrington, Jan Svankmajor, Clarence John Laughlin, Nancy Joyce Peters, Michael Löwy, Robert Benayoun, Robin D.G. Kelley, etc., and various topics such as surrealism, Industrial Workers of the World, anarchism. 

Rudenko-Rudolph, Hryhorij Nestor
Papers, 1977-1989. .5 linear ft.

Photocopy of 200-page typescript writtne by Rudenko-Rudolph which records an integrated anarhcist history beginning in 1848 (Bakunin and Marx) and ending in 1937 (Durruti vs. USSR). Original manuscript is at the Hoover Insititution (Stanford University); a second copy is deposited at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. This copy was donated by the author in 1987. In additoin to the typescript, there is a Glossary of Names. An additional 34-page typesecript titled, Zionism (dated 1989), is also included. 

Ruge, Arnold, 1802-1880.
Collection, 1843-1896 (bulk 1860-1880). 168 items. 

German philosopher, writer, and leader in religious and political liberalism. Edited Hallische jahrbücher für deutsche wissenschaft und kunst (1838-41), Deutsch-französische jahrbücher (1844, with Karl Marx), Die Reform (1848), and others. Exiled to London in 1849. Collection consists chiefly of biographical and genealogical materials (essays, documents, family trees) compiled by descendents; as well as lectures, an essay, and research notes by Ruge; manuscript copies of poems, some by family members; a few letters; an autograph album possibly kept by Ruge's daughter, Agnes Francisca Ruge Fargus, dating from 1860 to 1874; and Kneip-Blatt, a manuscript book of satirical writings and drawings, dated 1865. There are also 94 photos, mostly of family members, and a few items relating to Otto Sattler, author, editor, and leader of the German-American League for Culture.

Ruge's writings cover many topics: language; philosophy; mythology; education; German, American, and Egyptian history; and current events, including one essay presenting Ruge's claim against the Prussian government for compensation for the loss of revenue from the newspaper Die Reform during his incarceration and exile from Berlin in 1848.

Sacco and Vanzetti (film)
Production materials. 8 linear ft.

Filmmaker Peter Miller's research materials, videotaped interviews, and master videotapes pertaining to his 2006 documentary film, Sacco and Vanzetti. Includes screening copies of interview tapes, master tapes, archival footage masters, dubs of interviews, archival screeners, photo prints, transcripts, script; posters, clippings. Donation of Peter Miller, 2009.

Freda Friedman Salzman (1927-1981)
Papers, 1963-1997 .25 linear ft.
Boxlist available.

Salzman was a physicist on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts. With her husband George Salzman and others, she founded the progressive group Science for the People. She advocated for the advancement of women in the sciences and academia. Collection contains unpublished typescripts of some of Salzman's writings on women in science, reprints of scientific writings, her struggle for tenure at UMass, and other materials. The Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe University contains a larger Freda Salzman archive. 

Sklar, Leonard.
Collection, 1960s-1980s. 2 linear ft.
Boxlist available.

Collected activism ephemera files, publications, correspondence, protest flags, calendars, ephemera and posters. Topics include, but are not limited to, African-American/Race issues in the U.S., Apartheid, Communist Workers Party, environmental groups, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), FOIA, immigrant rights, Israel, Latin America, American Indian Movement (AIM), New York City politics, nuclear arms/nuclear power, nuclear power protest, Rainforest Action Network, Student Coalition Against Nukes, trade unions - National Federation of Independent Unions (NFIU), War Resisters League, “White Left Organizations,” amongst many others.

Slight, Joseph, 1871-
Papers, 1931-1957. 129 items.
Unpublished finding aid available in the repository.

Glassworker and officer of the National Window Glass Workers Association of America and the Knights of Labor, Local 300. His papers consist of correspondence, minutes of annual reunions of the National Association of Ex-Window Glass Workers, and his recollections and notes about fellow workers, processes, events, and union activities in the hand-blown window glass trade. Among the correspondents are Charles Bartram, Robert Davids, Marie Leslie, Emile Mayer, Dana Reynolds, Gaspart Richards, John A. Schwalm, the Liverton Tom Unks family, and the Aladdin Temple Shrine Band. Many of the items, including his correspondence with Agnes Inglis, are photocopies of papers held by the Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio.

Smith, Russell Daniel, 1950-
Papers, 1962-1981. 2 feet.
View the finding aid. 

Smith, a former juvenile and adult offender, became an activist for prisoners' rights, especially those of gay inmates, while incarcerated in federal penitentiaries across the country in the late 1970s. As a victim himself he was particularly interested in the problem of prison rape. After his release in 1980, he continued to advocate prison reform through POSRIP (People Organized to Stop Rape of Imprisoned Persons). The papers include an autobiography/chronology of Smith's experiences in and out of juvenile detention centers and prisons; extensive correspondence with friends in the International Committee to Free Russell Smith (ICFRS) concerning prison conditions, his personal safety, his transfers from prison to prison, his efforts to provide legal assistance to other inmates, and his plans for post-release activities; records of legal suits and complaints filed by Smith; and formal reports about Smith filed by prison officials. Copies of the POSRIP Newsletter (1980-1981) can be found with the Labadie's serial holdings.

Sostre, Martin, 1923-2015.
Collection, 1923-2013. 0.5 linear ft.
View the finding aid.

This collection consists of correspondence, flyers, drawings, newspaper clippings, court records, pamphlets, newsletters, photographs, and handwritten notes pertaining to activist Martin Sostre. Sostre had a long career of political activism beginning with his involvement with the Nation of Islam while in prison in the 1950’s, then participation in the Black Power movement as an owner of a radical book store in Buffalo, NY, resulting in him being framed and imprisoned in the mid 1970’s, and then as a community activist in the 1980s and 1990s. The collection contains original material created by Sostre, as well as material collected by others while he was incarcerated.

South African and Namibian Election Observer
Collection, 1989-1997 .5 linear ft.
Boxlist available.

Centers on the monitoring of the 1989 parliamentary elections in Namibia and the 1994 general elections in South Africa that marked the end of the Apartheid system. Contains reports and information packets from the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), the Namibian Churches Information and Monitoring Service, and the United Nations. Assembled by Pacquetta Palmer, who participated in the South Africa elctoral observer mission as part of her role as Assistant Coordinator for the Detroit branch of the National Lawyers Guild.

Steiner, Francis
Papers, 1918-1920. 71 items.
View the finding aid.

Very little is known about Francis Steiner, born in 1895, the son of German immigrants living in New Jersey. Steiner, a conscientious objector, was drafted into the army during WWI and imprisoned for refusing military orders. The collection consists of 68 letters from Steiner, mainly to his two sisters, Anna and Aloisia, between May 1918 and November 1920, from five different prison camps, while he served a 15-year sentence. The letters include descriptions of prison life, the political views of Steiner, the treatment he and his fellow conscientious objectors received at the command of various officers in charge, and the food they were served.

Stewart, Don/Industrial Workers of the World. 
Collection, 1890s-1990s. 3 linear ft.
View the finding aid.

Don Stewart is the proprietor of the Vancouvoer, BC bookstore, MacLeod's Books, as well as an avid collector of labor history. We acquired this valuable collection from Stewart in 2006. It consists of documents covering general convention minutes, financial statements, General Defense Committee, General Executive Board, Detroit headquarters correspondence, records of agricultural, lumber, textile, metal, hotel, marine transport, construction, railroad, and miners industrial unions, Centralia, Everett, Colorado Coal Strike, Joe Hill, Carlo Tresca, the Spanish Revolution, Work Peoples College, essays about the IWW by various authors, international materials and more.

Stewart, Joffre, 1925-
Papers, 1982-1995 2.5 linear ft.
Boxlist available.

Chicago-based poet and political activist. Stewart has been involved in a number of writers’ organizations and poetry readings, as well as several political causes, such as the anarchist, pacifist, tax resistance, and anti-Zionist movements. The collection comprises some of his correspondence, poetic and political writings, as well as annotated clippings, flyers, and periodicals. Relating to Stewart’s political activities, themes covered include tax refusal, Israel and Palestine, the anti-Apartheid movement, the Civil Rights movement, and anarchism. 

Stiller, Jennifer. Conspiracy Trial.
Papers, .5 linear ft. 
View the finding aid.

Materials related to the trial known variously as the Chicago Seven/Eight Trial or the Conspiracy Trial, which took place in Chicago between 1969 and 1970, gathered by Jenny Stiller. Stiller, at the time a Michigan Daily reporter, attended the trial and took detailed notes. After the close of the trial she interviewed members of the media and wrote a book called "The Movement" based partially on these interviews. The bulk of the collection is Stiller's own writing, including her notebooks and unpublished manuscript. Collection includes six notepads, the book manuscript, Stiller's press passes, and a statement from attorney William Kunstler.

Stover, Ed. Prison Letters.
Letters, 1970-1973. 0.5 linear ft. 
View the finding aid.

Robert "Ed" Stover served in the United States Special Forces before deserting from the military and moving to the San Francisco Bay area where he was detained by Military Intelligence. Upon his release he joined anarchist groups, the Black Panthers, and several Maoist groups. Together with Maoist Michael Lamm, Stover was arrested under allegations of robbing a chemical company (which newspapers termed a "nitroglycerine factory"), and leading police on a pursuit through Oakland, CA. Stover was eventually convicted on these charges, and was incarcerated in San Quentin prison, from where this collection originates.

Street vs. New York.
Papers, 1966-1969. .25 linear ft.
View the finding aid.

This collection chronicles the case of Sidney Street, who burned a U.S. flag in Brooklyn, New York in 1966, after hearing about the shooting of James Meredith in Mississippi. The collection consists of arrest papers, trial transcripts, correspondence to the prosecutor, Harry Brodbar, news clippings, and photographs relating to the case. Also included are the remains of the burned flag used in evidence against Street.

Sturgeon, Noël.
Papers, 1977-2002. 4 linear ft.
View the finding aid.

This collection consists of materials regarding the research and activism work of Noël Sturgeon, a feminist scholar and writer. The earliest papers primarily concern the organization of an anti-nuclear demonstration held at the Nevada Test Site in 1983, and the Mother's Day Action protests in the 1980s. Later material includes Sturgeon's doctoral research and dissertation, including interview transcripts, as well as her work with the Ecofeminist Newsletter throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. Materials are generally arranged chronologically (as received), with some unsorted materials at the end. A collection of 9 audio recordings of interviews is included at the end of the collection.

Swift, Morrison Isaac, 1856-
Papers, 1896-1899, 1927. 22 items.

Socialist, reformer, and pamphleteer. The collection contains his letters to George S. Amsden, which tell of his activities in organizing reform groups, editing the Public Ownership Review, and living cooperatively on a California ranch. He urges Amsden to join in a plan for spreading reform ideas by writing pamphlets and articles, making speeches, and organizing local clubs. Also included are a manuscript of an untitled novel and other manuscripts and fragments.

A-F | G-L | M-S | T-Z