Carolyn S. Burns papers, 1943-1968

Start Over Collection Carolyn S. Burns papers, 1943-1968 Date range 1965 to 1966

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8 linear feet

Files relating to her work with Italian-American organizations, especially the American committee on Italian Migration, the American-Italian Business and Professional Women's Club, and the Piemontese Ladies Social Club; papers concerning her interest in U. S. immigration law and the problems of displaced persons and refugees; files relating to her Catholic faith and work for Catholic missionary organizations, notably the Friends of Sts. Peter and Paul Missionaries; and files concerning Democratic Party politics and her work during the 1966 senatorial campaign of G. Mennen Williams.

The papers of Carolyn Sinelli Burns portray a woman with many interests and talents. Particularly gifted as an organizer and fund raiser, Carolyn Burns involved herself with the problems of displaced persons and refugees, with Catholic missionary societies, with immigration law reform, and with Democratic Party affairs. Unifying her many diverse interests is a belief in the dignity of all mankind, a belief she received as part of her Catholic faith.

The Burns' collection is divided into six broad categories: ethnic organizations; immigration reference file; United Nations material; religious material; the 1966 G. Mennen Williams senatorial campaign; and a miscellaneous file.

Ethnic Organizations, 1952-1968

Most of the ethnic file consists of papers from the American Committee on Italian Migration (ACIM). Founded in 1952, the organization consolidated Italian thinking on immigration law reform and then lobbied within Congress to achieve these reforms. Ms. Burns served as an officer in ACIM's Detroit chapter.

The Piemontese (sic.) Ladies Social Club (PISC) is also well represented. Founded in Detroit in 1942 (it sprang from the Piemontese Club founded in 1913) the women in this organization sent packages to relatives and friends in the armed forces. At war's end the club was continued as a social organization seeking to preserve family and social ties among those whose families had migrated to America from Italy's Piedmont region. In addition to ACIM and the PLSC, records of the American-Italian Business and Professional Women's Club and Boys' Town of Italy are also filed within this series.

1965

1966-1967

1963-1968

Box 2

Immigration Reference File, 1950-1967

The immigration reference file contains items relating to immigration and the amending of U.S. immigration law. The material comes from a number of sources including the Michigan Commission on Displaced Persons (later the Michigan Commission on Displaced Persons and Refugees), the Michigan Committee on Immigration, Detroit's

International Institute, the American Immigration and Citizenship Conference, and the Mayor's Commission on Displaced Persons and Refugees (Detroit). Within this category, material from the Mayor's Commission and the folders entitled "Communist Organizations" are particularly interesting. The Mayor's Commission helped resettle refugees who had fled from Hungary after the failure of the 1956 revolt. "Communist Organizations" folders detail the considerable lengths taken by non-communist groups, to differentiate themselves from organizations they believed to be communist or communist fronts.