Collections

Correspondence, photos, and other material of Detroit businessman Frederick Holt relating to his activities as a member of the Ford Peace Expedition in 1915, as the personal representative of Henry Ford and business manager for the Neutral Conference for Continuous Mediation in 1916, and with the War Department Commission on Training Camp Activities, 1917, and the Playground and Recreation Association of America, 1917. Papers of his wife, Lilian (Silk) Holt (1869-1949), a women's suffragist and philanthropist, include a speech and correspondence, primarily about the Woman's Peace Party, 1915-1916. Among the correspondents are Henry Ford and Hungarian writer and feminist Rosika Schwimmer.

The Holt Peace Papers are comprised of correspondence, papers, and photos relating to Frederick Holt's activities as a member of the Ford Peace Expedition, 1915; as the personal representative of Henry Ford and business manager for the Neutral Conference for Continuous Mediation, 1916, including financial records; and papers relating to his work with the War Department Commission on Training Camp Activities, 1917, and the Playground and Recreation Association of America, 1917. Also includes Mrs. Lilian (Silk) Holt's papers as a women's suffrage worker and philanthropist, chiefly concerning the Woman's Peace Party, 1915-16.

This collection consists of physics professor and anarchist George Salzman's manuscripts, writings, correspondence, photographs, teaching materials, and ephemera.

This collection consists of physics professor and anarchist George Salzman's manuscripts, writings, correspondence, photographs, teaching materials, and ephemera. Salzman organized his papers around various themes, places, and organizations of importance to him, which is reflected in the labels he used.

The majority of papers fall under three general categories: Salzman's teaching materials for Science for Humane Survival, writings and ephemera related to Mexico, and essays from and correspondence pertaining to Salzman's website.

Salzman's teaching materials consist of slides, diagrams, and lecture notes that he used to teach Science for Humane Survival. Most of these were created during the mid-70s.

The papers about Mexico comprise ephemera from various indigenous activist groups, including the Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca (APPO), formed during the 2006 uprising, and the Zapatistas. Salzman took part in the Zapatistas' 2001 march across Mexico for indigenous rights, which he touches on in some of his correspondence. He documented the 2006 Oaxacan uprisings in detail, saving pictures, logging the dates and times of important incidents, and writing descriptions and analysis of the events as he understood them. In addition to these documents, Salzman collected various essays, manuscripts, and ephemera about environmental protection in Oaxaca and Mexico more generally. These materials span from the late 1990s to roughly 2008.

The essays from Salzman's website were penned by a variety of writers and cover a range of subjects related to anarchism, revolution, environmentalism, and identity. Featured heavily are essays about the Israel-Palestine conflict written by Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery. These materials span from the mid 90s to roughly 2008.

Other materials of note include Salzman's correspondence with fellow anarchist, James Herod; records of Salzman's donations to various institions and causes; and photos of Salzman's home in Oaxaca.

The Greek Anti-Junta Struggle Papers are a collection of materials on the subject of the Greek coup d'etat by military leaders in 1967 and the ensuing junta which continued until 1974. The collection includes not only a thorough assemblage of newspaper and magazine clippings, but also a sizable and valuable compilation of such materials as correspondence, government reports and briefings, press releases, transcripts, essays, periodicals, and a full collection of Congressional Record items relating to Greece from 1956-1975.

The Greek Anti-Junta Struggle Collection measures thirteen and a half linear feet, and is divided into four series: History and Background (1949-1975), Subject Files (1957-1973), Legislative Materials (1956-1975), and Periodicals (1965-1975). Its general structure is based on the organizational scheme of the materials as given to the Labadie Collection by Mr. Pyrros. They were originally housed in ninety-two folders within four large boxes. These folders were numbered in the original order they arrived in the boxes and the materials in them were sorted. Because the folders were filled in large part with newspaper and magazine clippings, their contents were separated into two main groups: Greek Junta Collection clippings and other materials (such as correspondence, reports, essays, transcripts, memos, etc.). The decimal number on the folders (found in the History and Legislative Materials series) corresponds to the box each was originally in, and the order in which the folder was placed. Therefore, folder 2.5, for example, denotes that the folder originally was in the second box, and the fifth folder within that box. Both the boxes and most of the folders they contained were labeled on the front with notes on content and some personal comments, and the annotated portions of these folders have been retained and placed within the corresponding archival folders to preserve this information for use with the collection. Additional boxes were donated by Pyrros later on and make up the fifth series, boxes 9-14. They contain related materials but extended to 1977 and the aftermath of the Junta and the Cyprus Crisis, including Greek-U.S. relations, clippings from Greek and American publications on various aspects of Greek and Greek-American culture and politics, political scandals, etc. These folders have been added to the original collection; however, the earlier system of labeling the folders was not followed. The more recently donated materials included annotated folders just as the first one did, but since minimal processing was done, these folders were retained and simply placed in acid-free archival boxes. The box list for boxes 9-14 reflects these folders and the original annotations as written by the donor, which is why the folder headings may at times seem subjective. Some folders have the same or similar headings, and in order to distinguish them they have been labeled with a lower-case letter.

The Greg Calvert Papers (1920-2000) consist of personal journals, unpublished writings, and correspondence by the former Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) National Secretary. Other materials include photographs, family documents, a manuscript copy of Calvert's book Democracy from the Heart. The unpublished writings consist of poems, manuscripts, and essays.

The Greg Calvert Papers consist of photographs, family documents, personal journals, correspondence, drawings, a manuscript copy of Calvert's book Democracy from the Heart, and unpublished material such as manuscripts, essays, and poetry. The materials are arranged in seven series: Calvert Family Papers, Unpublished Manuscripts, Personal Journals, Correspondence, Unpublished Essays, Unpublished Poems, and Democracy from the Heart Manuscript.

The personal journals include Calvert's writings at various points in time and locales in his life. The manuscripts, essays, and poems consist of typewritten, xeroxed, and handwritten copies. Correspondence includes letters, postcards, and some photographs to and from various friends throughout Calvert's life.

The essays included in the "Various essays and writings" folder are marked as the following on the included inventory: "Neocapitalism and the New Left," "Is Freedom Academic?," "The Ruling Class and the Elections," "The Other Side," "The End of the Run," Gay Freedom Week speech, "The Ordering of Days," "The Violence We Do to Ourselves," "Gimme Shelter," "United States Violence in the World of the 1980s," "Communitarian Democracy," A Model Democratic Community," "The Political Animal and Environmental Ethics," "The Challenge of Democratic Idealism," untitled essays on Carl Davidson, Paul Goodman, and human growth.

The cassette tapes consist of recorded notes and drafts for "The Hotel of the Two Worlds," interviews for the "After the War" oral history and manuscript, an interview with Greg's father, Clyde Calvert, and other various topics.

Consists of 7 outgoing and 344 incoming letters, largely from 1896-1903. Chiefly concerns Bool's financial support of anarchists and their publications, especially Benjamin R. Tucker and Liberty, and Moses Harman and Lucifer, the light-bearer, distribution of literature, particularly Bool's pamphlet Liberty luminants, the philosophy and activities of anarchist friends and acquaintances, notably John W. Lloyd, as well as personal and business affairs.

The Correspondence series includes several outgoing letters from Bool, but mostly consists of incoming letters. These primarily address Bool's financial support of anarchists and their publications, especially Benjamin Tucker and Liberty, and Lillian and Moses Harman and Lucifer, The Light-Bearer. Portions of the correspondence are concerned business matters as well as with anarchist philosophy and publishing, particularly the distribution of literature such as Bool's pamphlet Liberty Luminants. Anarchist and Labadie Collection founder Jo Labadie is well-represented.

The Archival series consists of one folder containing notes, typed and handwritten, concerning Bool's donation, via Jo Labadie, of pamphlets and booklets. Also included is a short memoir written in 1932 by Agnes Inglis, the original curator of the Labadie Collection, remembering Jo and "Mama" Labadie, Judson and Margaret Grenell, and Henry Bool.

The Hobohemia Collection contains materials from 1905-1997. The materials are original correspondence and manuscripts, photographs, serials, pamphlets, ephemera, clippings, and realia. The collection centers around soap box culture, radical thought, and open forums for free speech in Chicago that were popular from mid-1910’s to the early sixties. Jack Sheridan and to a much greater degree, Slim Brundage and The College of Complexes, are the main focus of this collection.

The Hobohemia Collection is composed of personal and business correspondence, manuscripts, business records, serials, ephemera, photographs, and clippings. It revolves around Jack Sheridan, an active Dil Pickler, and Slim Brundage, founder of the College of Complexes, as well the business workings of the College. The Jack Sheridan series (.5 linear feet), includes correspondence with professional peers and friends, family letters and correspondence, several of his manuscripts, personal records, and related news clippings. Correspondence includes Jack Conroy, liberal labor writer and activist, and John Quinn Brisbon who was an activist and in later years ran for VP and President representing the Socialist Party USA. Notes and plans for a "handwriting" TV series in which Jack would analyze viewers’ handwriting and response from the showing of one segment are included also. Family correspondence includes exchanges with Jimmy Sheridan, Jack’s twin brother and hobo, letters from James Sheridan, Jack’s father, to his family, dated 1917 and 1943, and documents from a federal INS investigation.

Manuscripts include a dedication to the reopening of the Dil Pickle Club in 1944 and a tribute to author and fellow Dil Pickler Max Bodenheim who was murdered. Poems to Jack Sheridan by Max Bodenheim and J. Q. Brisbon and poems by Jack Sheridan for Ben Reitman and in tribute to Hobo College are also part of this series. Personal records include school and service records, a letter of reference, parental certificates, and a copy of a US Treasury document denying Jack Sheridan as a merchant seaman.

The Slim Brundage series (11.66 linear feet), is comprised of personal and business correspondence, and material relating to family, Slim’s manuscripts, and material about the College of Complexes. Correspondence is listed by name and also chronologically. Personal correspondence includes that with writer Carl Sandburg (1937), an important Pickler, Thornton Wilder (1937), and hobo poet Axel Dragstedt.

Business correspondence relates to Slim’s workmen’s compensation regarding a fall he took as a painter and problems obtaining social security benefits. There are also letters to editors regarding submission of manuscripts and some subsequent responses.

Manuscripts comprise 3.5 cubic feet of this series. They include poetry, plays, articles, speeches, radio shows, and books. Most are undated and unsigned but the style consistent. Many of his short essays, or Ravings, are included here. The layout for his only book publication, Ravings of a Manic Depressive, is included. This book was a disappointment for Slim because of its hurried and sloppy assembly. Some manuscripts exist under differing titles; Slim also writes under the pseudonyms Malarkey McCarthy, Manuel Labor, and Casa Pintura.

Family material holds correspondence from Slim to his brother and children, his colorful autobiography which claims his place of birth as an insane asylum and a scrapbook compiled by his daughter, Anna Brundage, which coincides with the establishment of College of Complexes. The scrapbook also contains photographs of the family.

Materials on Margaret Brundage, who married Slim in 1927, include papers on her divorce from Slim in 1933 (official 1939) and custody of their only child, Kerlyn. There is a letter from Margaret to her lawyer explaining how Slim fit into Kerlyn’s life. Personal records and memberships include Slim’s union membership cards and certifications.

Materials under Kay Brundage, to whom Slim was married in 1940, includes correspondence with Slim regarding his painting accident in New York and recuperation, letters from her mother which shed light on Kay and Slim’s financial situation, flooding in Missouri, and the Truman administration. Other material relates mainly to her involvement, and to a lesser degree, Slim’s involvement, in the administration and activities of the Chicago Repertory Theatre and Child Guidance Center.

The College of Complexes subseries includes Business Records. These are marketing promotions such as the Miss Beatnik Contest, extensive business records which include donations to various pro labor and community organizations, mailing lists, IWW support, potential openings of College of Complexes locations in New York and San Francisco, and a large assortment of check stubs, ledgers, daily records, gate receipts, and steno pads recording College of Complexes daily monetary transactions.

Business Records also include correspondence and documents from the US Internal Revenue Service, the Illinois Internal Revenue Service, various vendors to whom Slim owes money, and lawyers regarding the dissolution of Slim’s business partnership with Margaret due to their divorce. There is a letter from Ann Landers and a letter to Hugh Hefner.

The Curriculum files contain typed monthly schedules of speakers enlisted for the College of Complexes. It was traditional to include essays by Slim known as Ravings into each Curriculum. Ephemera contains humorous items such as the Schizo Certificate, Slim’s business card from Mexico, a "pickup" card, play money, and certificates issued to speakers. There are newspaper articles that cover the Beats and the Miss Beatnik contest.

The Other Forums/Events/Organizations series (.75 linear feet), briefly addresses other open forums of the period. Slim and Kay Brundage were longtime Wobblies in the Council for Union Democracy. There are several essays that were written by Slim while committed to this organization as well as general member correspondence and business materials. Materials on the Dil Pickle Club include ephemera such as Volume 1, Number 1 of the Dil Pickler, a pamphlet of writings with the Dil Pickler Lending Library, as well as a small pamphlet with lecture schedule. Druid Society materials include a certificate establishing Jack Sheridan as a witness to the appointed trustees of the Druid Society.

The Writings by Others series (.5 linear feet), contains typed and some handwritten manuscripts by people active in Slim’s circle and the College of Complexes. The Anthology of Love is a collection of poetry written by others that Slim hoped to have published. Almost every poem has an attached typed commentary by Slim. There are handwritten poems by Max Bodenheim on truth and beauty and a guestbook for the Guild of Young Writers, 1932. There are writings by Kay Wood, who married Slim in 1940, John Krzton, "World’s Foremost Authority on Garbage" who reviews Slim’s Ravings, and Malarkey McCarthy, pseudonym for Slim Brundage.

The Serials series (.5 linear feet), contains literary publications from as early as 1905, The Crank, to 1960, The Tab. Amazing Stories and the Washington Square News contain articles by Jack Sheridan. The Tab contains photos and an article about the Miss Beatnik contest held at the College of Complexes in New York.

The Pamphlets series (.25 linear foot), contains materials that may have been used for reference by Jack Sheridan or Slim Brundage. Roger Payne’s The Hobo Philosopher, priced at 10 cents, explains how he can "maintain himself, working as a hobo, in about one day a week, instead of the usual six." The Isle of Mona is a Druidic fantasy written by Francis Lambert McCrudden, who corresponds with Jack Sheridan.

The Photographs series (.125 linear foot), contains many photographs that relate to the collection. Interior photographs of the College of Complexes, circa 1950’s, as well as photographs of Meta Toeber and Franklin and Penelope Rosemont at the 1997 COC Reunion. There are photos of Margaret and Slim Brundage, Slim’s son, Kerlyn, Slim in the hospital, and Slim’s well recognized portrait as housepainter. Photographs of The Place (San Francisco), its manager, Jack Langan, and photographs of Jack Sheridan’s family are among others. Several are unidentified.

The Newsclippings series (.125 linear foot), is arranged primarily by decade and relates to social protest, the free press, labor, unions, Cuba, and the Socialist Party.

The Ephemera series (.5 linear foot), is arranged by decade, subject, and title. There are flyers and bulletins on labor, Cuba, Vietnam, civil rights, post war housing, IWW, the March on Hunger to City Hall, and an Irwin Corey for President button. This material may have been used as reference by Slim for his writings and education. There is also a folder that contains many actual copies of The Curriculum, 1953-1990.

Correspondence, informational flyers, conference records, and ephemera relating to the activities of the Household Workers' Rights Project, a grassroots group organized in 1979 in San Francisco to promote the rights of domestic workers.

The bulk of the collection is correspondence. Maupin and other organizers of HWR corresponded with domestic workers, lawyers, politicians, and related activist organizations to provide domestic workers with legal assistance, training, job referrals, and other vital resources. Of note are the organizers' two-year correspondence with the office of California assemblyman Art Agnos, as well as their correspondence with Carolyn Reed and other lead organizers of the NCHE. Agnos promised to help the organization further improve Wage Order No. 15, while the NCHE provided financial and other assistance to the HWR project as it got off the ground. Maupin co-led a workshop at an NCHE conference in Memphis, Tennessee in 1980.

Also included are various forms and surveys, often in English and Spanish, distributed to domestic workers to help them find jobs and provide feedback about their experiences.

The Human Rights Party Papers consist of correspondence, writings, administrative materials, teaching materials, notes, reports, and photos regarding the life and works of Benita and Gabe Kaimowitz and Edward and Victoria Vandenberg, all of whom were active members of the Human Rights Party in Ann Arbor in the 1970s.

The correspondence series largely consists of correspondence to and occasionally from Ed and Victoria concerning their personal and professional lives. Items groupings correspond to the creators' original order.

The campaign materials series comprises legal documents, ad copy, expenses, ephemera, and photos related to Benita Kaimowitz's 1973 bid for Ann Arbor mayor and Ed Vandenberg's 1986 candidacy for probate judge.

The teaching materials series includes lesson plans, assignments, student work, student evaluations, reading lists, and correspondence relating to Victoria and Ed Vandenberg's and Benita Kaimowitz's work as teachers. Both Benita and Ed taught courses at Community High School, a public alternative school founded in 1972 in response to the popularity of the Youth Liberation movement in Ann Arbor.

The Ed Vandenberg legal work series contains materials related to Ed's career as an attorney and ombudsman.

In the Office of Ethics and Religion series are administrative materials, correspondence, notes, ephemera, and proposals created by or submitted to the eponymous office. Ed Vandenberg served for a time as president of the Office of Ethics and Religion, and participated in many of the office's forums, conferences, and iniatives. Many of the materials in this series pertain to the University Values Program and the debates it facilitated concerning research into recombinant DNA technology.

The conferences series primarily consists of documents related to the 1977 "Narcissism in Modern Society" conference held at the University of Michigan and hosted in part by the Office of Religion and Ethics. It also includes statements and notes about attendees from the 1965 International Conference on Alternative Perspectives on Vietnam, which was co-sponsored by the predecessor to the Office of Ethics and Religion. Lastly, the series contains of a handful of documents related to various teach-ins in the 60s and 70s.

The topical files series is composed of groupings of files, largely collected by Ed Vandenberg, related to political and philosophical topics that did not fit neatly elsewhere in the collection. Files contain a variety of items, including essays, articles, newsletters, and ephemera.

The last item in the collection is a spiral-bound notebook used as a communication log for the Kaimowitzes' communal home.

This collection includes recordings of interviews conducted by Cecil D. Eby for his book Hungary at War: Civilians and Soldiers in World War IIas well as photographic transparencies 3.5 in floppy disks with book files, and copy of the book.

The collection comprises 44 audiocassette tapes with recordings of interviews conducted by Cecil D. Eby for his book Hungary at War: Civilians and Soldiers in World War II, published by the Pennsylvania State University Press in 1998. Most interviews are in Hungarian, some are in English. The interviews are accompanied by an alphabetical list of names of interviewees and dates, which can be matched with the index at the end of Eby's book. A copy of the book is also included in the collection, along with 5 floppy disks with data relating to the project, and transparencies featuring photos dating from the war appearing in Eby's monograph.

Cassette tapes in Box 1 have been reformatted, and CD access copies are available.

Isaac E. Ronch was a Yiddish writer, teacher, and journalist active in Jewish immigrant circles in Chicago and New York from the 1920s through the 1980s. Ronch was also a good friend of artist Marc Chagall. This collection includes correspondence, writings, and books documenting Ronch and Chagall's friendship, as well as publications, manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, ephemera, and clippings relating to Ronch's own life and works.

The Marc Chagall Materials Series is made up of records documenting Chagall and Ronch's friendship. The donor, Ronch's son, included a handful of books about the history of Jewish arts and identity in Russia to contextualize Chagall's work with Itzik Feffer, which led to his first meeting with Ronch.

The Landsmanshaften Book Series includes a signed copy of the book Di Yiddishe Landsmanshaften foon New York (The Jewish Landsmanshaften of New York), as well as papers relating to the creation of the Landsmanshaften book.

The Writings Series consists of Ronch's creative and journalistic writings. Books include books of prose and poetry, primarily written in Yiddish. Ronch's two serialized novels are preserved as compilations of newspaper clippings placed in composition books.

The Collected Publications Series is made up of three publications (or photocopies of publications) found in Ronch's papers: a 1902 issue of the periodical Di Yiddishe Familie, which includes an article by Sholem Asch, the 1982 Bulletin of the Reuben Brainin Children's Clinic in Tel Aviv, and photocopied pages of a Holocaust Memorial/Yizkor Book for Konin that includes likely relatives of Ronch under the surname Ronchkovski.

The Correspondence Series consists of a single postcard from Sol Liptzin, a scholar of Yiddish and German literature.

The Photographs Series includes photos of Ronch with his students at the Chicago shul where he taught, photos of Ronch giving lectures at Camp Kinderland and Camp Lakeland, and photos of Ronch with as-yet unidentified colleagues sometime in the 1930s.

The Clippings and Ephemera Series comprises newspaper clippings and ephemera relating to Ronch's activities or colleagues, as well as a obituaries for Ronch.