The papers are separated into three series: Doree Correspondence, Case-related Documents, and Photographs. They consist of over 250 letters, mostly from Doree to his wife, Chiky, during his imprisonment at Leavenworth. The dates of the letters range from 1917 to 1922, with a gap from 1920 to April 1921, when Doree was let out on bail to prepare his appeal. The correspondence in Series II consists of 17 letters between various people regarding the case of E.F. Doree. They are from the prison warden, the American Civil Liberties Union, Edmund C. Evan to Mrs. Doree, a draft of a letter from Ida Doree to President Warren G. Harding, pleading for her husband's release, letters from attorneys to Doree informing him of updates in his case, and various telegrams. The Clippings file contains several original and some photocopies of newspaper articles about the case, especially the topic of Bucky's illness and Doree's temporary release to visit him. This was the story which touched the hearts of the American people, and won favor for Doree's case. Doree's original pardon, signed by Warren G. Harding, is included in the collection. The photographs are identified in a list included in the photograph folder.
E.F. Doree, (1889-1927) was born in Philadelphia, the son of Swedish immigrants. He left school at the age of thirteen to work on a farm. By the age of sixteen, he was working for the railroad with his father. When he lost two fingers in a saw mill, he was fired. The company threatened to fire his father, too, if any fuss was made. E.F. was sent to work with his uncle in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. He joined the I.W.W. for a short time in 1906. He became a permanent member in 1910, and began making soapbox speeches urging lumberjacks to organize. For the next several years, Doree toured different towns, across the United States. He helped to organize clothing workers, mill workers, agricultural workers, and textile workers. He was threatened with bodily harm many times. There was even a $1,000 reward for his body, "dead or alive." In 1914, at a rally in Rochester, New York, he met his future wife, Chiky Salinger. She was a Jewish immigrant, and later took the American name Ida. As an organizer, E.F. could not afford a home for Chiky. For the first year of their marriage she remained in Rochester while he traveled and organized. In 1915 Doree took part in founding the Agricultural Workers Organization (A.W.O.) in Kansas. There he met Walter Nef. The membership grew to 20,000 in 1916. Doree, not a paid I.W.W. organizer, was asked to take over the leadership of the I.W.W. textile union in Baltimore. E.F. and Chiky moved to Baltimore in February 1916. In November of that year, the headquarters moved to Philadelphia, and the Dorees with it. Walter Nef, who recently resigned from the A.W.O. over differences with Big Bill Haywood, also moved to Philadelphia. In January 1917 Nef married Feige Salinger, Chiky's sister. The next month Frederick Lee (Bucky) Doree, was born. In September 1917 the I.W.W. office was raided and all documents were seized. Nef and Doree were indicted and extradited to Chicago, together with some 100 other I.W.W. leaders. They were tried together on charges of conspiracy to defraud war material producers of their property, undercut war production, discourage draft registration, and incite disobedience in the armed services. The prosecution argued that mere membership in the I.W.W. was proof of conspiracy. The defense was hampered by the unavailability of confiscated records and by the federal impoundment of mail which contained donations and potential supporting evidence. The trial, which lasted five months, ended when the jury found the defendants guilty of all charges, after less than one hour of deliberation. Doree received a sentence of ten years in prison, and Nef twenty. Chiky and Bucky moved to Oregon to stay with E.F.'s parents. Nef and Doree, along with the "Chicago 100" were sentenced to Leavenworth Prison in September 1918. In June 1919, thirty men were granted bail to prepare their appeals. Agnes Inglis of Ann Arbor provided Doree's bail, and the Doree family returned to Philadelphia. Of the four charges, two were reversed on appeal, but two, under the wartime Espionage Act, were left standing. Twenty-one of the 30 prisoners, including Doree and Nef, returned to prison in April 1921. Nine jumped bail, including Bill Haywood, who fled to Russia. In February 1922 five-year-old Bucky Doree became ill and by April he was near death. There was much publicity about the case, and Doree was granted permission to travel to Philadelphia with the warden's brother to see Bucky. Doree returned to prison, and Bucky's condition improved. However, in August, he fell ill again, and Doree was again permitted to visit Bucky. In the meantime, a committee of Quakers and civil libertarians in Philadelphia was working to free the four local Wobblies. While Doree was home visiting his son on his death bed, he received a telegram telling him his sentence had been commuted. Bucky Doree died on March 27, 1923. The Dorees moved around after that, due to E.F.'s job as a field accountant for a construction firm. E.F. and Chiky had a daughter, Ellen (named after Ellen Winsor, one of the Philadelphians who worked for Doree's freedom) in 1924, and a son in 1927. Doree died following gall bladder surgery in 1927 at the age of 38.
