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American Radicalism Ephemera Collection

An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: MRC
Date: 9 May 2007

Biographical History

American radicalism encompasses the political, cultural and intellectual history of radical social movements in the U.S. including pro-labor movements, reproductive rights, anti-war activism, Communist and Socialist political organizations, and efforts to address systemic racism.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The American Radicalism Ephemera Collection comprises a variety of ephemera -- cartoons, newsletters, fliers, book catalogs, buttons, patches, brochures, posters, pamphlets, and more -- relating to radical movements of 20th century America. Movements reflected include anti-capitalism/pro-labor and peace/anti-war. The collection also contains items related to systemic racism and Black Power movements in the United States, including police brutality, police shootings, and the Black Panther Party.

Cartoons include a 1938 postcard drawn by A. Redfield (cartoonist Syd Hoff) advocating a boycott of German, Japanese and Italian goods; a political cartoon "Ten Free Citizens" by Americans for the Corporate Enterprise System. The John Reed Club material relates to the First National Congress, May 30, 1932, and includes lists of national executive board members and clubs participating in the conference in Chicago, with delegates and membership numbers for each club. Also included are several "International Books" catalogs from International Publishers and some material relating to Dr. Benjamin Spock's peace activism.

Of particular interest are items by Emory Douglas, American graphic artist and Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party. The collection contains two prints and a cartoon by Douglas.

Arrangement of the Collection

Alphabetical by format.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Related Material

Special Collections Research Center has extensive holdings relating to American radicalism, among them the papers of Arna Wendell Bontemps, Earl Browder, Lillian Gilkes, Horace Gregory, Granville Hicks, Harry Roskolenko and John Spivak. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete list of related manuscript collections and to Libraries Search for related items in the Rare Books Department and general collection.

Sir Lady Java material was transferred to the Sir Lady Java Collection in 2023.

AIDS activism material was transferred to the AIDS Activism Ephemera Collection in 2024.

Subject Headings

Persons

Abernathy, Ralph, 1926-1990.
Agron, Salvador.
Ahmad, Muhammad, 1941-
Aquash, Anna Mae, 1945-1976.
Averill, Peg.
Bond, Julian, 1940-2015.
Brandt, Ralph.
Bush, George, 1924-2018.
Cleaver, Eldridge, 1935-1998.
Coltrane, John, 1926-1967.
Davis, Angela Y. (Angela Yvonne), 1944-
Dellinger, David T., 1915-2004.
Douglas, Emory.
Ellis, Fred, 1885-1965.
Finkelstein, Avram, 1952-
Gold, Michael, 1894-1967.
Hampton, Fred, 1948-1969.
Hoff, Syd, 1912-2004.
Jackson, George, 1941-1971.
Lefkowitz, Louis J.
MacLeish, Archibald, 1892-1982.
Magee, Ruchell.
Massey, Cal, 1927-1972.
McKay, Claude, 1890-1948.
McReynolds, David.
Newton, Huey P.
Reagan, Ronald.
Rizzo, Frank, 1920-1991.
Rockefeller, Nelson A. (Nelson Aldrich), 1908-1979.
Seale, Bobby, 1936-
Shakur, Assata.
Spock, Benjamin, 1903-1998.
Tabor, Michael, 1946-2010.
Terry, Peggy.
Thiele, Bob.
Yosano, Akiko, 1878-1942.

Corporate Bodies

Albert Ayler Quintet.
All-African People's Revolutionary Party.
American Veterans Committee.
Americans for the Corporate Enterprise System.
Attica Correctional Facility.
Attica Defense Committee.
Attica Legal Defense Fund.
B.C. Hagglund (publisher)
Black Panther Party.
Chicago Women's Liberation Union.
Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse (New York, N.Y.)
Congress of Racial Equality.)
Dow Chemical.
Farmworkers Boycott Committee.
International Publishers.
John Reed Clubs of the United States.
Merritt College (Oakland, Calif.)
National Abortion Rights Action League.
National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression.
National Lawyers Guild.
National Organization for Women.
National United Committee to Free Angela Davis.
Ornette Coleman Quartet.
Peace and Freedom Party (U.S.)
St. Peter's Lutheran Church (New York, N.Y.)
Theatre Union.
White Panther Party.
Women's National Abortion Action Coalition.
Young Communist League of the U.S.

Associated Titles

Anvil.
Grass Roots.

Subjects

Abortion -- Canada.
Abortion -- United States.
Abortion.
African American jazz musicians.
Black Arts movement.
Black Panthers Trial, New York, N.Y., 1970-1971.
Black people -- Study and teaching.
Black power.
Chicago Seven Trial, Chicago, Ill., 1969-1970.
Drug abuse.
Drug control.
Feminism -- United States.
Indigenous women -- Education.
Police brutality -- United States.
Prison riots.
Prison violence -- United States.
Prisoners -- United States.
Prisons -- New York (State)
Racism -- United States.
Radicalism -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Radicalism -- United States.
Radicals -- United States.
Reiki (Healing system)
Reproductive rights.
Right to housing.
Siete de la Raza Trial, San Francisco, Calif., 1970.

Places

Canada -- History.
Chicago (Ill.)
Maine.
New York (State)
San Francisco (Calif.)
Syracuse (N.Y.)
United States -- History.

Genres and Forms

Buttons (information artifacts)
Cartoons (humorous images)
Catalogs (documents)
Fliers (printed matter)
Newsletters.
Pamphlets.
Political cartoons.
Postcards.
Posters.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

American Radicalism Ephemera Collection,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Some items purchase, Blackman Fund. Other items acquired through donation and via transfer from other collections and University Archives.

Table of Contents

Printed material

Inventory