Collections : [University of Michigan Special Collections Research Center]

This collection contains materials about the personal lives and political activities of Emma Goldman and Warren Starr Van Valkenburgh, organized into four series. The bulk of the collection is correspondence between the two anarchists, primarily from the 1920s (Series 1). Also included is correspondence with other people (Series 2), records and correspondence related to committees for various political causes and to raise funds for the writing of Goldman's autobiography (Series 3), and printed materials including books and pamphlets, newspaper clippings, and typewritten drafts written by Goldman (Series 4).

This collection consists of letters from anarchist writers and labor organizers Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman to their friends Virginia and Lee Hersch, along with a couple miscellaneous private publications.

This collection includes letters from Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman Americans Virginia and Lee Hersch in Paris, dated June 1930 to March 1934. All but one of the Goldman letters were written from "Bon Esprit" in St. Tropez (the last letter was written after Goldman moved to London).

Goldman first writes Hersch on June 10, 1930 with a request to send autographed bookplates to Arthur Leonard Ross. In that letter, Goldman writes how glad she is to have met the Hersches, and to "count you among my friends." Subsequent letters are increasingly warm and intimate, as Goldman shares news of mutual friends, makes arrangements for her to visit the Hersches in Paris, and reports on her travels, writing, and concerns about Alexander Berkman.

The Berkman letters were written from Nice, France. Like Goldman, Berkman discuss his political and philosophical ideas, as well as his efforts not to be expelled by the French government, mutual friends, and concerns about personal finances and health. In particular, his letter of July 6, 1933, mentions his "psychic disgust with the world at large, [and] my situation…." before going on to comment on the futility of both Russian state capitalism and U.S. private capitalism: "The result is the same: man is turned into a slave of the State or of the private owner."

In addition, the collection holds an undated memo reviewing Goldman's Living My Life, a limited edition of Voltairine de Cleyre inscribed by Emma Goldman for Virginia Hersch, and a 20-page booklet of letters of appreciation for Berkman's sixtieth birthday celebration in 1930.

The collection contains material related primarily to Langbord's long friendship with Emma Goldman. It includes correspondence, clippings, portraits of Goldman, and miscellaneous material related to Goldman including her Russian passport, US citizenship document, and affidavits witnessing Goldman's marriage. It also contains a signed will by Alexander Berkman.

The collection consists mainly of documents belonging to and relating to Emma Goldman. Goldman was a close friend of the Langbord family, and upon her death the Langbords, through Jeanne Levey in Chicago, were given the personal documents Goldman considered important enough to carry with her. They included identification papers, publishing contracts, legal documents, and some letters. Additional material includes clippings saved by Eva Langbord, correspondence, and photographs. A few partial transcriptions of Goldman's letters to Berkman can be found in Goldman's correspondence file; the whereabouts of the originals are unknown. The collection, though small, is divided into four series: Clippings, Correspondence, Emma Goldman, and Misc. materials. The Clippings file contains newspaper articles saved by Eva Langbord, relating mainly to Emma Goldman. The Emma Goldman series includes Goldman's Russian passport, her U.S. citizenship document (signed 16 October, 1908), and various other identification cards from France, Germany, andEngland. This series also contains two affidavits signed by the Rabbi who performed the marriage ceremony between Goldman and Jacob Kerschner in February 1887. Also included are affidavits signed by Helene Hochstein and Sam Cominsky, who witnessed the marriage. The publishing contracts for Emma Goldman include those for The Autobiography of Emma Goldman, My Disillusionment in Russia, and The Voyage of the Buford. The Misc. materials series contains materials of Alexander Berkman, including his handwritten last will, signed 11/22/35. The series also contains three portraits of Goldman, including one taken by Eugene Hutchinson (Chicago) and one signed by S. Flechine (Paris). The third portrait is signed by Goldman. There is also a snapshot of Agnes Inglis (1928).