Collections : [University of Michigan Special Collections Research Center]

The Tate Personal and Professional Papers document Vernon Tate's personal interests and activities along with many aspects of his professional career as a historian, librarian, and archivist between 1929 and 1989. Dr. Tate's papers contain correspondence, speeches, articles, meeting minutes, annual reports, newsletters, conference proceedings, press releases, dissertation research materials, and photographic and microphotographic research notes.

In December 1982, Dr. Vernon Tate donated a large collection of manuscripts and publications documenting the history of microphotography and his own career as a historian, archivist, librarian, and microfilm pioneer to The University of Michigan Libraries. This donation provided the impetus for the creation of the Power Collection for the Study of Scholarly Communication and Information Transfer in the Special Collections Library. The Power Collection is named in honor of Dr. Tate's long-time friend, Eugene B. Power, the founder of the micropublishing firm University Microfilms, Inc.

Dr. Tate's donations to the Power Collection contain over 140 linear feet of manuscripts, including his own personal and professional papers, an extensive collection of records of the National Microfilm Association (NMA), and the Microfilm Pioneers Collection which contains the papers of several of Dr. Tate's colleagues concerning microphotography and the activities of NMA. In addition, Dr. Tate donated an extensive collection of serials and monographs relating primarily to the fields of photography, microphotography, and archives.

The Tate Personal and Professional Papers document Vernon Tate's personal interests and activities along with many aspects of his professional career between 1929 and 1989. This group does not, however, include files from his work as Executive Secretary of the National Microfilm Association. Those materials can be found in the National Microfilm Association Records in this repository.

Dr. Tate's papers contain correspondence, speeches, articles, meeting minutes, annual reports, newsletters, conference proceedings, press releases, dissertation research materials, and photographic and microphotographic research notes. In addition, the collection contains log books (diaries), which contain his thoughts and notes on his personal and professional activities, although the log books will not be available for research until October 1, 2009.

Scattered materials concern Tate's activities between 1929 and 1935 as a student, researcher,and microfilmer for the Library of Congress. Included is correspondence, extensive research materials on the port of San Blas (his dissertation topic), and articles on maritime history and photography.

Large portions of several series concern the years between 1935 and 1946 during which Tate headed the photographic archives and research division of the National Archives and then served in the Navy during World War II. Almost two-thirds of the correspondence series and nearly half of Tate's speeches and writings date from this period. Besides these materials, the files contain inter-office memoranda, literature and notes on microphotography, and notes on his own experiments. Since Tate was the seventh professional staff member hired by the National Archives after its founding in 1935, the files include materials on the early development of the agency and the beginnings of the photographic laboratory and microfilm operation.

By the mid-1930's Tate was already one of the recognized authorities in the rapidly developing field of microphotography. In addition to his work at the National Archives, the files concern such topics as his work as editor of the Journal of Documentary Reproduction, 1938-1942; the early history of the American Documentation Institute and the Federation Internationale de Documentation; and his involvement in the work of the Microcard Committee. A small amount of correspondence concerns the establishment and early history of the National Microfilm Association, 1944-1946, before Tate became an officer.

The amount of material declines significantly for the years after 1946. Materials relating to his work as Director of Libraries at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and subsequently as Librarian and Archivist at the U.S. Naval Academy appear, but they are smaller in quantity and less complete than the materials on earlier years. Although the Tate Papers do not concern his work as an officer of the National Microfilm Association, they do document many professional activities not connected with NMA. Included is material on his various library and archival positions and his involvement with such organizations as the American Documentation Institute and the Federation Internationale de Documentation.

In addition to documenting many of Tate's professional activities, his papers concern family matters and personal interests. The correspondence series includes a small sequence of family letters exchanged between Tate and his wife, parents, and other relatives. The personal interests series contains information on his hobbies and interests, especially in naval history and other nautical matters, but also in such areas as antiques, art, books and printing, history, and libraries.

This collection includes arrest papers, clippings, correspondence, photographs, and court records related to the case Street vs. New York. The Physical Evidence file contains remnants of the burned flag.

The Flag-Burning collection is comprised of court papers, correspondence, news articles, and pamphlets relating to the case known as Street vs. new York, including parts of the actual burned flag used as evidence in the court proceedings. Court papers chronicle the position of the prosecuting attorney, Harry Brodbar, including the transcripts of the actual trial and the arrest order. There are letters of support for Brodbar from William F. Buckly, Veterans of Foreign Wars Magazine editor Paul W. Mills (Brodbar was a member of the VFW), and a member of the American Legion. Other items include newspaper clippings on the progress of the case, an issue of Legion magazine and photos of King County Asisstant District Attorney Harry Brodbar, and a flag burning event. A single autographed poster of an artist's interpretation of an American flag, which includes the signatures of Dave Dellinger, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, and Pat Paulsen, became the basis of a similar case involving a bookstore owner. It is the only expression of support on behalf of Street in this collection.

This case is a microcosmic study of how two conflicting forces- the Vietnam/Civil Rights movement on one hand and the conservative forces of law and order on the other, brought their grievances to the highest court in the land. The representations of the act of burning the flaf are a universal and enduring feature of protest. The act of burning a US flag by Sidney Street in itself is not unique-- that is to say it has happened before and certainly since-- however, the documentation of how a ruling on the act of protest through speech and symbolism took shape in the US Supreme Court has significant historical value. Although these are mostly papers from the prosecutor's files, this collection presents both sides of the legal argument in court. Moreover, Sidney Street is a representative, through this archival record, of a mass of 'average' US citizens who became fed up with war and inequality. This collection contributes to understanding the limits of authority and protest in public life and, as such, it is a very valuable resource for scholars of US law, civil rights, and the Vietnam War era.

Socialist and pacifist active in labor, civil rights, cooperative, and world government movements. The papers comprise scattered meeting minutes of various organizations, notes (some very detailed) on speeches and other social functions attended by Tekla in the Cleveland area in the 1930s, carbon copies of outgoing correspondence, and a collection of mailing lists. There is a considerable amount of print and nearprint material -- single issues of labor periodicals, newspaper clippings, for m letters, flyers, etc. The papers reflect to varying extents Tekla's activities in North Dakota as an organizer for the Civilian Public Service Union, a national organization of conscientious objectors performing alternative service during World War II; his efforts to recruit Cleveland auto workers for the Socialist Party in the late 1930s; and his membership on the national executive committee of the Socialist Party, the executive committee of the War Resisters League, the policy committee of Democracy Unlimited (ca. 1952-56), the Cleveland Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the Committee for a Socialist Program and Action (ca. 1959-64). Tekla was heavily involved in the cooperative movement in Cleveland and to a lesser extent in the Saskatchewan Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in the mid-1940s.

The collection consists of material created and collected by Tad Tekla, individually and in various roles in socialist and labor organizations.The collection has been arranged alphabetically by topic.The most voluminous material includes: minutes and other records of the Socialist Party and the Socialist Party-Social Democratic Federation, ca. 1945-1958, including records relating to the Committee for a Socialist Program (founded by critics of the Socialist Party who wanted to serve as an "educational and organizational center within the Party"); records and other material relating to labor unions and labor issues, including records of the Civilian Public Service Union, 1946, and records relating to a crisis in the United Auto Workers and efforts by the Socialist Party to recuit auto workers, ca. 1939; "public meeting notes" by Tekla, which include typewritten notes and diaries relating to a wide variety of meetings and events, 1933-1955 (bulk, 1933-1936); material relating to the world citizenship movement, ca. 1945-1958; material relating to the cooperative movement, ca. 1936-1954; records of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), ca. 1948-1952; and outgoing correspondence, 1961-1964.

This collection consists of 21 35mm slides with color illustrations depicting the traditional Vietnamese story of Thánh Gióng, accompanied by two pages of descriptive information.

This collection consists of 21 35mm slides with color illustrations depicting the traditional Vietnamese story of Thánh Gióng, painted by Tạ Thúc Bình and published by the Vietnamese Ministry for Education and Training in 1970. The slides are accompanied by two typed pages that provide a description of each image and a brief history of Thánh Gióng.

Writings, publications, and clippings collected by activist and SDS founder Tom Hayden. The majority of the materials relate to the Civil Rights movement in the early 1960s, particularly the activities of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

Materials are arranged in three series: 1. Writings, 2. Organization records, and 3. Newspaper clippings.

The Writings Series consists of Hayden's essays and notes about student activism, democracy, and the civil rights movement.

The Organizational Records Series is composed of materials related to organizations Hayden participated in or associated with in the early 1960s. A good deal of the materials document SNCC's activities in Americus, Georgia.

The Newspaper Clippings Series dates from 1961 to 1963 and covers civil rights demonstrations in the South. Someone, likely Hayden, annotated some of the clippings with timelines and commentary.

William Reuben is an investigative reporter and author who wrote, most notably, about the Rosenberg espionage case and the Alger Hiss-Whitaker Chambers libel and perjury trials. The Collection includes correspondence, research and interview notes, drafts of books and articles, published and unpublished, on the trials of the "Trenton Six," Morton Sobell and Robert Soblen, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and Alger Hiss, with much research on Whittaker Chambers.

In general, most of the series consist of similar kinds of material: Reuben's research notes, drafts of his writings, correspondence, clippings, and reviews of other writings about the case or individual. Some of the series have further value because they include Reuben's collection of printed material about the case. For example, Reuben was particularly active in the Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case, and the Rosenberg series includes some of the printed matter put out by this organization. Reuben also collected correspondence of the Civil Rights Congress, a major organization lobbying on behalf of the Trenton Six.

In many ways, the Reuben papers are an assemblage of secondary material. Reuben had little first-hand dealings with either the Rosenbergs or the Trenton Six. Nevertheless, the files have value for their documentation of the manner in which this one investigative reporter worked. Reuben was a meticulous and persistent researcher, who tracked down a variety of leads in a story, first analyzing the available court transcripts and other official records, then corresponding as much as he was able with the people involved in the case (including other writers like himself), and finally monitoring the amount and kind of press coverage given to the case. Unfortunately, Reuben did not gain as much first-hand contact with the principals in his investigations as he would have liked, and thus the collection is not as substantive as the researcher might like. Reuben 's correspondence, furthermore, is often superficial and anecdotal in character. Another disappointment of the collection are Reuben 's notes and drafts, which because they are fragmentary or unidentified, are difficult to use and of questionable research value.

Materials are primarily from 1969, and relate to the student-led sit-in protest of Universary of Chicago administration buildings following the firing of Marlene Dixon.

The materials are arranged in three series: Series 1: University of Chicago Sit-In Protest; Series 2: Other Activism and Protests; Series 3: Publications. The collection is 0.5 linear feet in size, and focuses primarily on the early half of 1969, with occasional materials from 1968 and 1970.

The University of Chicago Sit-In Protest series is the largest of the three, and the focus of the rest of the collection. Materials are concerned primarily with the two-week-long student-led occupation of University of Chicago administration buildings following the firing of professor Marlene Dixon in the spring of 1969. Materials include student and faculty statements, posters, news clippings, and official university documentation of the event.