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The collection, which spans 1870s-1960s (bulk dates 1880s-1930s), chiefly includes correspondence with fellow workers in the labor movement, publishers and writers for anarchist, socialist, and labor journals, and a wide circle of friends, some letters being also addressed to Mrs. Labadie, manuscripts of his articles, speeches, and poems, photographs, and personal documents. The Family series also contains a folder of correspondence relating to the donation of this collection to the University of Michigan Library. Joseph Labadie's activities within the labor movement in Detroit, his anarchist philosphy, as well that of the many correspondents he had, and early Detroit history is welldocumented in this collection.

The collection, which spans 1870s-1960s (bulk dates 1880s-1930s), chiefly includes correspondence with fellow workers in the labor movement, publishers and writers for anarchist, socialist, and labor journals, and a wide circle of friends, some letters being also addressed to Mrs. Labadie, manuscripts of his articles, speeches, and poems, photographs, and personal documents. The Family series also contains a folder of correspondence relating to the donation of this collection to the University of Michigan Library. Joseph Labadie's activities within the labor movement in Detroit, his anarchist philosphy, as well that of the many correspondents he had, and early Detroit history is welldocumented in this collection. The Joseph Labadie Papers are separated into three series: Correspondence (Incoming); Family (correspondence between family member, outgoing correspondence, autobiographical notes, journals, family histories, biographies, scrapbooks, etc.); and Works (Labadie's titled and untitled essays, articles, columns, letters to the editor, and poetry). The Correspondence consists of 4.25 linear feet of incoming letters, mainly to Joseph Labadie. The files are arranged alphabetically (see Boxlist) with folders for principle correspondents interfiled with general alphabetical headings. Letters from Herman Kuehn to Labadie comprise .25 ft. and are kept in a separate box. The Family series consists of correspondence between family members, both immediate and extended, copies of some of Jo Labadie's outgoing correspondence, autobiographical notes, labor and other organizational membership cards, biographical notes and character sketches by Agnes Inglis, copies of legal briefs for a civil case Jo and Sophie were involved in with a relative, descriptions of Bubbling Waters, the Labadie's summer and retirement home, photocopies of Jo's scrapbooks, his account book and address books, a journal, and materials relating to the donation of Jo's materials to the University of Michigan. The Works series consists of titled essays, untitled essays, miscellaneous fragments of Labadie's writings, drafts of letters to the editors of various newspapers, drafts of his long-running column, "Cranky Notions," and his poetry. The last item in the collection is a videotape copy of a silent feature film made in 1925 on location at the Labadie's property at Bubbling Waters. Some reels of the film are not included, but the forest fire scene is believed to have been filmed at Bubbling Waters. This is the last known extant film relating to the Labadie Family. More information on the film is available upon request.

Comprise correspondence, including series of letters from Ferdinand Freiligrath, Clara Neymann, and Mathilde F. Wendt; correspondence and documents relating to Der Pionier, with many letters relating to his efforts in 1862 to prevent confirmation of Col. L. Blenker as Brig. Gen. in the U.S. Army; manuscripts of his Gedichte and Erlebtes, and other works including poems, lectures, and articles; personal documents; and family papers including those of his father, Joseph Heinzen, and of his wife, Henriette Schiller Heinzen, including the Schiller and Moras family papers. Other correspondents include L. Bamburger, H. von Ende, H. Erichsen, K. Röser, J. A. Sprague, and F. H. Zitz.

Heinzen, a German refugee of 1848-49, was a radical author and lecturer and, from 1854 to 1879, editor of Der Pionier. Correspondence relating to Der Pionier, his efforts to prevent confirmation of Col. Ludwig Blenker as brigadier general in the United States Army, and other matters; manuscripts of his poems, lectures, articles, and other works, including Gedichte and Erlebtes; and family papers of his father, Joseph Heinzen, and his wife, Henriette Schiller Heinzen (Schiller and Moras families). Correspondents include Louis Bamberger, Heinrich von Ende, Hugo Erichsen, Ferdinand Freiligrath, Clara Neymann, Karl Roser, Julia A. Sprague, Mathilde F. Wendt, and Franz Zitz. The papers are in German, French, and English, chiefly in old-style German cursive. Many letters are accompanied by transcriptions, translations, or summaries in English.

The Subject Vertical Files consist of approximately 7,500 folders containing ephemeral materials such as flyers, handbills, leaflets, and clippings on a variety of topics centered on radical history and social protest. Each folder is named with a topical descriptor, most of which take the form of a subject heading like one of the following: Anarchism -- Conferences -- Michigan Civil liberties -- Blacks -- Mississippi Colonialism and Imperialism -- Africa Labor -- International Organizations -- IWW -- Strikes -- Textile Peace Corps -- Committee of Returned Volunteers (CRV) -- Vietnam Spain -- Civil War -- International Brigades Youth and Student Protest -- Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) -- Michigan

The Laurance Labadie Papers document the work and life of Laurance Labadie, anarchist writer and theorist and son of the noted labor leader and anarchist Joseph A. Labadie. The collection contains correspondence, other writings, and printed material related to Laurance's economic theory and work with the School of Living, as well as a series containing papers related to the work of Laurance's father Joseph A. Labadie.

The Laurance Labadie Papers measure 9.5 linear feet and date from 1882 to 1973. The collection documents, through correspondence and writings, Labadie's ideas on anarchism and the social problems of the time, as well as the views of many of his anarchist contemporaries, mainly from 1932 to 1972. Unfortunately, there is little material from the years before this, and little, if anything, on Labadie's family. The correspondence is especially rich for the 1930s and 1940s, when Labadie was corresponding with anarchists who had been active in the late 19th and early 20th century, and who had known Labadie's father. The papers from the 1950s and 1960s document his involvement with the School of Living, a decentralist, back-to-the-land organization that he supported. The Joseph A. Labadie papers held by Laurance are chiefly notebooks and booklets of poetry with broad subject range, and scrapbooks of news clippings about Joseph Labadie, anarchy and labor movements in the 19th century, and Walhalla, the farm of Labadie's friend Carl Schmidt.

The Mike Gold (Irwin Granich)/Mike Folsom Papers date from about 1901 to 1990, and measure about thirteen linear feet. They are divided into twelve series: Correspondence (1901-1990 and undated); Writings (1904-1989 and undated); Biographical Materials (1954-1969 and undated); Individual Files (1905-1978 and undated); Periodicals (1913-1958 and undated); Newspaper Clippings (1924-1980s and undated); Events and Activities (1935 1972 and undated); Notes and Journals (1906-1962 and undated); Personal (1930s-1967 and undated); Miscellaneous (1935-1970s and undated); and Visual Materials (1923-1960s and undated).

The first series, Correspondence, contains items dating from 1901-1990, and measures 1.5 linear feet. It includes correspondence materials from both Mike Gold and Mike Folsom, as well as some materials written between two other outside parties which it seems that Folsom used in his research and writing. It also includes letters to and from Gold and his wife, Elizabeth, as well as their sons, Carl and Nick. There are a variety of prominent figures included in the correspondence, including such persons as Theodore Dreiser, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Joseph Freeman, Ernest Hemmingway, Walter Lowenfels, Lewis Mumford, and Upton Sinclair, along with a host of others. Of particular interest is the early correspondence between Sinclair and Gold, the H.L Mencken correspondence (on microfilm), Folsom's correspondence with Gold and other literary figures and writers in the 1960s and 1970s, and the topical folders on Gold's application for a Guggenheim fellowship in 1928-1929 and 1935-1936, and on the Estate and Papers of Mike Gold, which provides some insight into the history of the papers themselves. It should be noted that in particular during the 1960s it is often difficult to distinguish between the correspondences of Gold and of Folsom because many letters are simply addressed, "Dear Mike".

The second series, Writings (1904-1989 and undated) is the largest series at about 7 linear feet. It primarily contains manuscript and published materials by Mike Gold, including books (no manuscripts), fiction (including many manuscripts), drama (including manuscripts), poetry (including many manuscripts), song lyrics (mostly published), columns and articles (mostly published, also including some manuscripts), and other writings (some manuscripts and some published materials). Also included in the series are the writings of Mike Folsom (including manuscripts and published materials), and the writings of other people (including his wife), such as dissertations, published articles, and a number of manuscripts.

The third series, Biographical Materials (1954-1969 and undated) includes about 0.75 linear feet of materials. There are some of Gold's manuscripts for the autobiography/memoir book he was working on towards the end of his life, as well as transcripts from interviews with Mike Folsom and some notes, and a few published items relating to Gold's life. Most of the items in this series seem to have been produced by Gold and Folsom during the time they were working together on Gold's autobiography/memoir, although a few items dated earlier suggest that Gold had been working on and off on the project himself for some time before collaborating with Folsom.

The fourth series, Individual Files (1905-1978 and undated) measures about 0.25 linear feet. This series is composed of folders relating to a specific individual, including a number of prominent people as well as some lesser-known figures. The materials included in the series are mostly notes and articles, although in some cases there are other items such as pamphlets and images included in the folders. Most of the people included in the series figured prominently into Gold's life (either personally, professionally, or both), or into Folsom's own research on Gold or other proletarian writers.

The fifth series, Periodicals (1913-1958 and undated) also measures about 0.25 linear feet. It includes mostly small collections of such titles as The Flame, The Liberator, The Masses, The New Masses, The Oakland Post Enquirer, and The Scarsdale Inquirer, for which Gold wrote over a period of years or months. These contain published versions of Gold's writings (some under the name Irwin Granich) and give an idea of how his writings appeared to readers at the time of their original publication.

The sixth series, News Clippings (1924-1980s and undated) includes 0.5 linear feet of folders containing dated and undated news clippings. These appear to be items clipped by Gold (to 1967) and Folsom, sometimes used for research or to write an article, or for personal interest. A few of the folders are somewhat topical within a time frame, such as pertaining to the H-bomb and McCarthyism, but most contain articles on a variety of subjects.

The seventh series, Events and Activities (1935-1972 and undated) is about 0.25 linear feet in size. It includes materials from events Mike Gold attended as well as a number of events held in his honor, and materials from his national speaking tour in 1954 in honor of his sixtieth birthday, including manuscripts.

The eighth series, Notes and Journals (1906-1962 and undated) contains both 0.75 linear feet of foldered materials and two boxes of card files. There are a large number of Gold's notebooks and notes, a diary, as well as some address books and address and business cards, and a childhood autograph book. Also included are Folsom's loose and topical notes (although Folsom's notes, where possible, have been kept with the materials with which they were found in the papers) and a notecard file housed in two small shoebox-sized boxes. Most notebooks and notes are not labeled or dated, making it difficult to distinguish what they are about and when they were written.

The ninth series, Personal (1930s-1967 and undated) is the smallest series at about 0.1 linear feet. It contains folders on such subjects as Gold's family, medical and financial information (mostly social security), and his death, including articles and obituaries.

The tenth series, Miscellaneous (1935-1970s and undated) measures about 0.65 linear feet. It includes some topical files on subjects, a variety of items on various social, political, and scholarly interests, and some folders relating to Folsom's own interests and activities, particularly after Gold's death, and general materials which did not fit in elsewhere in the papers.

The eleventh, Visual Materials (1923-1960s and undated), measures about 0.5 linear feet and is housed in a separate smaller box. It includes photographs, microfilm, and a few illustrations. Most of the items are undated, except the microfilm. The photographs date from Gold's childhood to the end of his life, but most appear to be from the 1920s through the 1940s. A number of photographs are from Gold's visit to Ernest Hemingway's home in Florida, where Gold vacationed and went fishing in about 1929- 1930. There are also some unlabeled and unidentified photographs, and some photographs which have been removed from other items in the collection (such as correspondence) for preservation purposes.

The twelfth and final series, FBI File, measures about .75 linear ft. In 1978 Mike Folsom requested Mike Gold's FBI file under the Freedom of Information Act. He received photocopies of the documents in Gold's file with some information blacked out by the FBI to protect the privacy of informants and other individuals. In 2002 Nick Granich offered the Labadie copies of his copies of Mike Gold's file. Since the Labadie's copies are at least third generation some information is obscured, but for the most part the documents are legible. The documents were left in the order in which the Labadie received them. The organizational scheme is primarily topical and chronological. If any records did seem out of place, they were left as is to preserve the original order. The FBI reports cover the years 1941 to 1967 with additional correspondence between Mike Folsom and the FBI in 1978.

Voltairine De Cleyre was a prominent anarchist poet, lecturer, and writer. This collection spans the years 1876 to 1914 and is made up of correspondence, manuscript and print poems and essays, and one photograph.

The Voltairine De Cleyre Collection is organized in four series: Correspondence, Manuscripts, Printed Materials and Photograph.