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Formerly the Tom Mooney Labor School, the records consist of correspondence, minutes of faculty meetings, faculty committee reports, financial records and fundraising materials, promotional flyers and press releases, student publications, course outlines and course announcement flyers, school term schedules from 1950 to 1955, and a transcript of the proceedings of a forum, "Industry and Labor in the Postwar World," held on July 26, 1944. Included are letters to Yehudi Menuhin and Isaac Stern concerning support of a music department at CLS. The school was investigated in 1946 by the Tenney Committee, the California legislature's Joint Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities, on the charge that an institute jointly held by CLS and the University of California was Communist-sponsored. However, the only indication of this fact in the records is brief mention in the faculty meeting minutes.

The records of the California Labor School(CLS) are comprised of materials documenting the educational programs, activities, and events of the school. The records are organized into four series: Academic Files, Office Files, School Promotion, and School Publications. Records of particular interest are pamphlets found in the School Publications series, which include essays, speeches, stories, plays, and even a book of early songs by Malvina Reynolds. Researchers will also find notable historical facts on the CLS in the Press Releases and Ephemera folder of the School Promotion series.

This collection contains the correspondence between David Belin and numerous influential Jewish philanthropists, writers, rabbis, and officials of Reform Jewish organizations on the topic of Jewish Outreach. It also contains writings, speeches, articles, newspaper clippings, and published materials about Jewish outreach topics. Well-represented subjects include conversion to Judaism, outreach to intermarried couples, rabbinic officiation of marriages between Jews and non-Jews, Jewish population studies, anti-Semitism in late 20th century United States, and Zionism in the Reform Judaic movement.

The David Belin Jewish Outreach Papers measure 19.1 linear feet and date from 1970-1999. This collection consists primarily of papers related to Belin's leadership in promoting Reform Jewish outreach. The collection is arranged in six series: Correspondence; Organizations; Manuscripts, Typescripts, and Notes; Topical Files; Publications; and Audiocassettes. The Correspondence series consists of letters Belin exchanged with major figures within Reform Judaism. This series includes a rich exchange of ideas, opinions, plans, writings, and reports. The Organizations series reflects Belin's accomplishments while an officer and member of the boards and committees of several Jewish organizations. The Manuscripts, Typescripts and Notes series reveals Belin as an accomplished writer and speaker and also includes many writings and speeches by others. The Topical Files series includes newsletters, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and other publications that Belin filed according to subject. Topical files that pertain to specific organizational activities are filed in the Organizations series. The Publications series consists of journals, magazines, and monographs about Judaism in general; materials published by individual organizations are included in their respective Organizations series. The Audiocassettes series includes 17 audiocassettes. Some are recordings of Belin, while others are recordings of convention speakers, board meetings, interviews, and commercially produced educational tapes.

The arrangement within each series follows the filing system used by Belin wherever possible. Belin filed most of his correspondence by the organization it concerned. Thus the Correspondence series consists of correspondence in general while the Organizations series includes the correspondence about organizational matters--although there is considerable overlap. Each organization also has topical files and publications that Belin filed according to the related organization. The exception to this rule is that all manuscript/typescript speeches and writings by Belin and others has been separated into a separate Manuscripts, Typescripts, and Notes series. This has permitted the writings and speeches to be arranged alphabetically by author. Correspondence that accompanied a typescript has been kept with it.

Naomi Long Madgett was a prominent poet, educator, and editor, recognized for her significant contribution to African-American letters. Since 1972 she organized and operated, single-handedly, Lotus Press, which publishes poetry by African-Americans and others. The collection documents Madgett's career and the operations of Lotus Press, through correspondence, manuscripts (both by Madgett and by authors published by Lotus Press), ephemera, audiovisual material, and photographs. Lotus Press merged with Broadside Press to form Broadside Lotus Press in 2015.

The Naomi Long Madgett Papers document the prominent career of Ms. Madgett as a poet and a teacher, and her operation of Lotus Press, which Madgett ran single-handedly for more than 30 years. Thus, the collection makes a good source of insight both into Madgett's own writing and aesthetic sensibility, and into the cultures of lyric poetry and African-American letters in the latter decades of the 20th Century. The bulk of the material covers the 1980s, the 1990s, and the first few years of the 21st century, with Madgett's activities in the 1970s being represented as well. From the correspondence collected here a vivid picture emerges of Madgett's relationships with some of the authors whose work she published--such as James Emanuel and Gayl Jones--as well as with other authors, such as Gwendolyn Brooks. In addition, correspondence and ephemera evidence the growth of Madgett's own reputation, documenting her many professional activities, awards, and honors over the years. While manuscripts by Madgett herself do not comprise a large part of the collection, the fortunes of one of her most famous poems, "Midway," are documented in detail, and an autobiography (Pilgrim Journey) provides an extensive synthesis by the author of her own influences and career (a section of which has been published by Gale's Contemporary Authors' Autobiography Series). Finally, the collection provides a close look at the daily operation, from its inception, of a small literary press.

The Naomi Long Madgett papers have been arranged into nine series: Personal, Writings, General Correspondence, Workshops and Events, Author Files, Business Records, Ephemera, Photographs, and Audiovisual. Books published by Lotus Press, as well as other books and periodicals from Madgett's library, have been catalogued individually and are shelved by call number in the Special Collections Library. Within the collection, however, much material is available from the production of certain Lotus Press books; see below Writings and Author Files.

The papers contain extensive correspondence and numerous photographs of noted American poet, Robert Frost and members of his family. Also included is a collection of privately printed chapbooks and Christmas cards which contain poems by Frost.

The research value of this collection resides in the correspondence and the photographs. It appears that the letters at some point may have been consulted by various Frost biographers, but their depths may not have been fully plumbed. The photographs offer a candid glimpse into several generations of Frosts, but also include a number of posed studio portraits. The collection as a whole complements the Robert Frost papers already housed in the Special Collections Library, as well as those at the Bentley Historical Library.