Collections

A 138-page screenplay about the life of Emma Goldman, titled, "Emma Goldman, Daughter of the Dream," by Lea Walker Wood.

This 138-page unpublished screenplay dramatizes the life of anarchist Emma Goldman.

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.

This collection contains material related to the anarchist Esther Dolgoff's English translation, completed around 1980, of Joseph Cohen's 1945 Yiddish book Di yidish anarkhistishe bavegung in Amerike: historike iberblik un perzenlekhe iberlebungen (The Jewish Anarchist Movement in America: Historical Overview and Personal Experiences). In addition to a photocopy of Dolgoff's handwritten translation of the four-part work, the collection contains a small number of letters written by Dolgoff concerning the manuscript.

The bulk of this collection is a photocopy of the handwritten, unpublished manuscript of Esther Dolgoff's translation of Joseph Cohen's 1945 Yiddish book Di yidish anarkhistishe bavegung in Amerike: historike iberblik un perzenlekhe iberlebungen (The Jewish Anarchist Movement in America: Historical Overview and Personal Experiences). A notable addition is two original, handwritten chapters of the translation and a typed foreword and table of contents. Handwritten annotations, likely written by Philadelphia anarchist Robert Helms and another unknown comrade, appear throughout the photocopied manuscript. These materials together comprise the second and largest series, "Manuscript."

The first series consists of a small amount of correspondence, mainly letters from Esther Dolgoff to Frank Gerould written in 1980, and emails from Gerould and Helms to Labadie curator Julie Herrada in the 2010s providing some context for the manuscrpt.

This collection documents the activities of Esther Newton (1940-), a professor, cultural anthropologist, and author who is a founder and prominent scholar of LGBTQ studies. The collection contains correspondence; research files; drafts and manuscripts of Newton's published and unpublished writings; coursework, notes, course syllabi, exams, and bibliographies from Newton's time as both a student and professor; presentations, speeches, lecture notes, and programs from conferences and public appearances; newsletters and meeting minutes from professional organizations; genealogical research and photographs of Newton's relatives; and photographs documenting Newton's life and research.

This collection documents the activities of Esther Newton, a professor, cultural anthropologist, and author who is a founder and prominent scholar of LGBTQ studies. The collection contains both personal and professional correspondence; research notes and files; drafts and manuscripts of Newton's published and unpublished writings including essays, books, articles, and journal entries; contracts, reprint permissions, reader's reports, reviews, and correspondence with literary agents and editors; coursework and notes from Newton's undergraduate and graduate student career; course syllabi, quizzes and exams, and bibliographies from Newton's career as a professor; lectures and speeches, paper presentations and proposals, and event programs from academic and professional organization conferences and other public appearances; newsletters and meeting minutes from professional organizations, recommendation letters, proposal reviews, and exhibition planning materials; and personal materials such as summer camp publications, academic transcripts, real estate records, publicity, and interviews.

The collection also contains genealogical materials including family trees and charts; photographs of Newton's family members dating back to the late-1800s; correspondence belonging to Newton's mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother; scrapbooks and photograph albums depicting the Bash family, Newton's mother and maternal grandparents; newspaper articles written in the late-1800s by Newton's maternal great-grandmother Lucia Gilbert Runkle; and research and correspondence relating to Newton's father, Saul Newton.

The collection contains photographs depicting the life of Esther Newton, including photographs of Newton's childhood, friends, romantic partners, and events such as birthdays and vacations. Other photographs depict places, events, and people related to Newton's research, particularly Cherry Grove, New York and drag queen performers in the 1960s. Titles denoted in quotes in the finding aid are transcribed from Newton's original titles of folders and envelopes.

Series 2, Research, contains files of Newton's research relating to her studies, career, and writing. The folders contain scholarly articles, journals, newspaper and magazine articles, book chapters, and written and typescript notes. The files are arranged alphabetically by the author's last name, and by topic if publications are mixed.

Series 3, Writings, contains drafts, manuscripts, and research material relating to the books and articles Cherry Grove, Fire Island; The Future of Gender; A Hard Left Fist; Margaret Mead Made Me Gay; Mother Camp; My Butch Career; The Mythic Mannish Lesbian; Sex and Sensibility; Too Queer for College; Womenfriends; and the unpublished Alice-Hunting; as well as various other essays and articles.

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).

The papers of Spanish anarchist and poet Federico Arcos (1920-2015) comprise Arcos' correspondence, official papers, audiovisual materials, and photographs. After fleeing fascist Spain, Arcos resided in France and in Ontario, Canada. His papers reflect his international anarchist network and his connections with Detroit-area anarchists. In addition to his own personal papers, Arcos also preserved original and photocopied archives on the history of the Spanish Civil War and anarchism. Thus included in Arcos' papers are CNT-AIT records and a set of original letters to and from Emma Goldman, whom Arcos greatly admired, but never met.

Politically and socially radical underground newspaper founded in Detroit, Michigan, in 1965. The tabloid reflected an anarchist-libertarian philosophy during the 1970s under the influence of the "Eat the Rich Gang," which included editors Peter and Marilyn Werbe. Throughout the 1980s, the Fifth Estate continued to cover local issues and events, along with critiques of modern industrial society and articles covering the radical environmental movement. In 1999, the "Alternative Press Review" described the paper as an "anti-technology, anti-civilization, anarcho-primitivist quarterly."Collection consists of correspondence, business and office records, submissions for possible publication, clippings, flyers, posters, and photographs documenting the activities of the Fifth Estate primarily from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s. Financial documents, advertising, subscription and book orders, as well as legal documents regarding lawsuits are included. Correspondents include Bob Black, Peter Werbe, Marilyn Werbe, David Watson, John Zerzan, Lorraine Perlman, and editor (2002- ) Andy Smith (also known under the pseudonyms Sunfrog, Anu Bonobo, and Andrew Smith). The bulk of the audiovisual and digital media relate to Peter Werbe's Late Night radio show that dealt with similar topics as Fifth Estate.

The Fifth Estate Records document the activities of the Fifth Estate newspaper, one of the oldest underground newspapers in the United States. The records date primarily from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s. The record group has been divided into eight series: Historical, Correspondence, Publishing Material, Business and Office Records, Topical File, Miscellaneous Anarchist and Social Protest Ephemera, Photographs, and Audiovisual and Digital Media. There is a good deal of overlap among the series due to the work processes of the staff at the Fifth Estate and the lack of organization among the various accessions received by the library.

Private Steiner, a communist and conscientious objector, was sentenced to death for refusing military orders in WWI. Sentence was commuted to 15 years hard-labor by President Harding. Consists of 66 Steiner letters written from prison to his sisters and mother.

The collection consists of 66 letters from Private Francis Steiner, a German-American, mainly to his two sisters, Anna and Aloisia. The letters were written between May 1918 and November 1920, from various prisons (Camp Funston, Fort Dix, Fort Riley, Fort Leavenworth, Fort Douglas). Although his scheduled date of release was February, 1923, the last letter, dated November 7, 1920, makes no mention of an impending release. There are two letters written to his mother. Letters from prison during that time were required to be in English. His parents apparently did not read or write in English, so his letters home were no doubt translated for them.

Much of the subject matter in the letters describes prison life, the political views of Private Steiner (he was a communist and also a strong supporter of the IWW), the treatment he and his fellow C.O.s (Conscientious Objectors) received at the command of various officers in charge, the food they were served, etc. One amusing letter (January 30, 1920) described the visit to Fort Douglas from General Pershing. The letters also contain "brotherly advice," such as how to shoot a good photograph, (Steiner was the "house" photographer in prison and was apparently given access to dark room facilities as well) and words of encouragement regarding their jobs and social activities.

There is one letter, dated February 21, 1919, written to "Miss A. Steiner" from F.P. Keppel, Third Assistant Secretary, War Department, Washington. This letter was in response to an inquiry from either Anna or Aloisia about her brother's status in prison. Also included is a photocopy of a newspaper clipping which tells that Steiner's death sentence was commuted to 15 years by President Harding.

Steiner made several references in his letters to enclosed photographs, which were not included with the collection. No information is available about these photos.

The Rosemont Papers comprise the writings, papers, and correspondence of Franklin and Penelope Rosemont. Major subjects include the Surrealist Movement in Chicago, the United States, and internationally; the publishing activities of Black Swan Press and Charles H. Kerr Company; the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW); and labor history. The collection includes original artwork, photographs, poetry, and published and unpublished manuscripts by the Rosemonts and their contemporaries.

The Franklin and Penelope Rosemont Papers contain materials related to the activities of the Chicago Surrealists Group and its members, surrealism movements around the world, and the evolution of surrealist thought, writing and art from the 1960s through 2009. The papers contain notes, notebooks, drafts of manuscripts, and published and unpublished work, as well as original artwork by the Rosemonts and by their friends and correspondents. There are photographs distributed throughout the collection; however, the Current documents (2000s) and photographs (1960-2010) series includes a significant number of photographs that feature the Rosemonts and their activities. The final three series are dedicated to correspondence; however, correspondence is also interspersed throughout a few of the other series. A number of the published journals as well as a handful of calendars have been removed from the collection and can be found by searching the library catalog.

This collection consists of manuscripts of articles submitted to Fraye Arbeter Shtime, a Jewish Anarchist journal, during the 1920s and 30s.

The Fraye Arbeter Shtime papers consist of manuscripts submitted for publication during the editorships of Joseph Cohen (1923-32) and Mark Mrachnyi (1934-40).