The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center
CredoResearch digital collections in Credo

Collecting area: Political radicalism

Finkelstein, Sidney Walter, 1909-1974

Sidney Finkelstein Papers

1914-1974
11 boxes 5.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 128

Noted critic of music, literature, and the arts, as well as a writer and an active member of the Communist Party U.S.A. Includes letters to and from Mr. Finkelstein; original manuscripts of reviews, articles, essays, and books; legal documents, educational, military, and personal records, financial papers, contracts, photographs, and lecture and course notes.

Gift of Maynard Solomon, 1986

Subjects

Art criticism--United States--History--20th centuryCommunism--United States--HistoryCommunist Party of the United States of America--History--20th centuryCommunist aesthetics--History--SourcesCulture--Study and teaching--United States--History--20th centuryMusic--History and criticismMusical criticism--United States--HistorySocialist realism--History--Sources

Contributors

Cohen, R. S. (Robert Sonné)Finkelstein, Sidney Walter, 1909-1974Gorton, Sally Kent, 1915-2000Hille, Waldemar, 1908-Kent, Rockwell, 1882-1971Lawson, John Howard, 1894-Richmond, Al, 1913-1987Selsam, Millicent Ellis, 1912-Siegmeister, Elie, 1909-Thomson, Virgil, 1896-Veinus, Abraham

Types of material

Letters (Correspondence)Photographs
Fischer, Britta

Britta Fischer, U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association Photograph Collection

1978
449 items 1 linear feet
Call no.: PH 054

Founded in 1974, the U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association was among the first American organizations devoted to fostering people-to-people diplomacy between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. The vision of veteran civil rights activist Unita Blackwell, the USCPFA sponsored speakers, seminars, and cultural exchanges, and in the 1970s, was among the first groups to organize tours from the United States to the People’s Republic.

The 449 color slides (35 mm.) that comprise the U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association collection document one of the group’s early tours, undertaken at the height of the agitation over the Gang of Four. Beyond simple touristic scenes, the collection depicts a state-sponsored version of everyday life in China during the early post-Mao era.

Gift of Britta Fischer via Sigrid Schmalzer, 2010

Subjects

Beijing (China)--PhotographsChildren--China--PhotographsChina--PhotographsFactories--China--PhotographsGreat Wall of China (China)--PhotographsJinan (China)--PhotographsShanghai (China)--PhotographsTian'an Men (Beijing, China)--PhotographsYangzhou (China)--Photographs

Types of material

Photographs
Fletcher, Bill, Jr.

Bill Fletcher, Jr., Papers

1968-2016
9 boxes 11.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1212

An activist and advocate for social and racial justice since he was a teenager, Bill Fletcher, Jr., born in New York in 1954, graduated from Harvard, and went to work as a welder in a Massachusetts shipyard. He soon became active in the labor movement, as a worker, an organizer, and a union staff member, and in electoral campaigns. Fletcher became a union staff person in Boston in 1986 with District 65-United Auto Workers.  In 1990, he and his family moved to Washington, D.C. where he held a series of positions with the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, the Service Employees International Union, and the national AFL-CIO. He has also held positions with the George Meany Center for Labor Studies/National Labor College and with TransAfrica Forum, for which he served as president and CEO. Fletcher is author of “They’re Bankrupting Us!” And Twenty Other Myths About Unions; he is coauthor of The Indispensable Ally: Black Workers and the Formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 1934-1941 and Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice. He has also published two murder/mystery novels, The Man Who Fell From the Sky and The Man Who Changed Colors.  He serves on the editorial board of BlackCommentator.com and has contributed to numerous publications. As a writer, scholar, speaker, and activist, as well as an organizational consultant and a mentor, Fletcher continues his advocacy work. He lives with his wife, Candice, in Maryland.

The Bill Fletcher, Jr., Papers document the activities and interests of a lifelong radical and includes speeches, correspondence, material on the Black Radical Congress, and materials from an array of left-wing organizations. In addition to materials directly connected to Fletcher’s work, there are also pamphlets and other publications that he collected.

Gift of Bill Fletcher, Jr.

Subjects

Black Radical CongressLabor movementLabor unionsRaceRacism

Types of material

CorrespondenceDrafts (documents)MemorabiliaPamphletsPeriodicalsSpeechesWritings (documents)
Foth, Carlos

Carlos Foth Papers

1933-1989
12 boxes 18 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1099

An East German Prosecutor General, Carlos Foth was a key player in the legal effort to investigate and punish Nazi war criminals. For two decades beginning as a law student in Berlin in 1947, Foth was part of a team dedicated to the prosecution of former Nazis, and he contributed to the creation of an antifascist internationalist system quite distinct from the weaker efforts in West Germany. Having assisted in high profile cases such as those stemming from the Koepenicker Blutwoche (the SA-led pogrom in Berlin in June 1933), Foth found himself at the center of investigations that highlighted the tensions between the East and West German systems. In a series of cases in the early 1960s, East German prosecutors uncovered former Nazis working in the West German judiciary, culminating in the 1963 “show trial” conviction in absentia of Hans Globke, National Security Advisor to West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who had been the author of Nazi racial purity laws. As department head for international relations beginning in 1972, Foth was engaged in negotiations between the German legal systems and in 1979 he was invited to assist in the investigative phase of war crimes trials against the Khmer Rouge. He left office after reaching retirement age in 1988.

The Carlos Foth Papers offer important documentation of East German attempts to hold former Nazis accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity and they provide insight into the operation of the East German legal system and its relations with the west. In addition to materials on prosecutions of SA Brownshirts involved in political violence during the Köpenicker Blutwoche, the collection includes files relating to prosecutions of West German officials accused of Nazi-era crimes and materials relating to Foth’s role as a consultant to the 1979 war crimes trials against the Khmer Rouge.

Language(s): GermanFrenchEnglish

Subjects

Germany (East)--HistoryGermany (East). Laws, etc. (Rechtsvorschriften)War crimes trials--CambodiaWar crimes trials--Germany (East)World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities

Types of material

Legal files
Fraser, James H. (James Howard), 1934-2013

James H. and Sibylle Fraser Collection

1934-1990
2 boxes, books 20 linear feet
Call no.: MS 655

An author, scholar, and librarian, James Fraser had a voracious intellectual appetite that ranged from visual culture to the inter-war avant garde to Communist-era eastern Europe. Born April 30, 1934, Fraser earning his doctorate in Library Science at Columbia University and enjoyed a career of nearly 50 years in academic libraries. A specialist in international children’s literature, he and Sibylle von Holstein, his wife of 56 years, became known for building research collections at a number of university libraries, drawing upon their extraordinary knowledge of 20th century book arts, graphic design, photography, political ephemera, and East German culture, among other areas. Fraser was also an energetic exibitions curator, often based upon material he had collected. Jim Fraser died at home after a short illness on Nov. 25, 2013.

The product of two active and eclectic collectors, the Fraser collection contains over 1200 imprints on art and design in Communist-era eastern Europe, East Germany, 1960s radicalism, and other subjects, along with ephemera on radical movements in both the United States and Europe.

Gift of James and Sibylle Fraser. 2006-2013.
Language(s): German

Subjects

Art and design--Germany (East)Germany (East)--HistoryUnited States--Politics and government--1963-1969

Contributors

Fraser, Sibylle
Fried, Lewis

Lewis Fried Collection of Jack Conroy

1969-1995
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 414

A voice of the radical working class during the Great Depression, Jack Conroy was the son of a union organizer, born and raised in the mining camps near Moberly, Mo. His novels The Disinherited (1933) and A World to Win (1935) were among the best known works of “proletarian” American fiction to appear in the 1930s.

The Conroy Collection includes a series of 24 letters from Jack Conroy to Lewis Fried, a professor of English at Kent State University and UMass PhD, along with a small number of letters by associates of Conroy, and a selection of publications associated with or including work by him. Of particular interest are Fried’s oral history interviews with Conroy (1971) and Sally Goodman (1978).

Subjects

AnvilBontemps, Arna Wendell, 1902-1973Communists--United StatesDepressions--1929New AnvilWorking class authors

Contributors

Conroy, Jack, 1899-1990Farrell, James T. (James Thomas), 1904-1979Fried, Lewis Frederick, 1943-Gold, Michael, 1894-1967Goodman, PercivalGoodman, SallySnow, Walter

Types of material

Oral histories
Goldfarb, Theodore D., 1935-

Theodore D. Goldfarb Collection

1978 June-July
389 digital images 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: PH 071
Part of: Science for the People Collection
Depiction of Oil processing plant machinery, June 1978
Oil processing plant machinery, June 1978

An environmental chemist, Ted Goldfarb was a founder of the Science for the People chapter at SUNY Stony Brook and an organizer of the group’s second trip to the People’s Republic of China in June 1978. The twelve delegates from SftP went with the intention of studying the organization of science and technology in China with respect to how it met people’s needs, and they were toured through a succession of factories, production facilities, farms, schools, and institutes in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Changsha, and Beijing, among other locations.

The nearly 400 slides in this collection were taken by Ted Goldfarb (and handful by his colleague Judith Weinstein) when they were members of the second Science for the People delegation to the People’s Republic of China in June 1978. Reflecting their interests in science and technology, the slides document a succession of factories, production facilities, schools, and institutes they visited, but include shots of typical street scenes, markets, artisans and factory workers, and tourist sites such as the Great Wall, Ming Tombs, and Forbidden City. In addition to the images of China, a handful were taken during a stopover in Delhi and Agra, India, on the way back to the United States.

Subjects

Acrobats--China--ShanghaiChina--PhotographsCotton manufacture--China--Shanghai--PhotographsFactories--China--PhotographsForbidden City (Beijing, China)--PhotographsGreat Wall of China (China)--PhotographsIndia--PhotographsMing Tombs (China)--PhotographsScience for the PeopleTextile factories--China--Shanghai--Photographs

Contributors

Weinstein, Judith

Types of material

Photographs
Grace, Frank

Frank Grace Papers

1976-1985
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 863

A radical political organizer, Frank “Parky” Grace was a founding member of the New Bedford chapter of the Black Panther Party. Radicalized during his tour of duty in Vietnam in 1967, Grace became involved in the antiwar movement upon his return and organized the local branch of the Black Panthers shortly before the New Bedford Rebellion of 1970. In 1972, he and his brother Ross were charged with the murder, receiving life sentences. Parky Grace contended all along that he had been framed by the police for his political activity and in 1982, Ross admitted that he had been responsible for the murder, backing up his brother’s contention that he was not present at the time. Parky Grace was released from prison in 1984 and lived subsequently in New Bedford and Boston. He died in Boston in October 2001.

The Grace Papers consist of a powerful series of letters written to Gloria Xifaras Clark while Grace was confined in Walpole State Penitentiary. Informed by his revolutionary politics, the letters offer insight into the conditions of imprisonment, his treatment by guards, and his relationships with fellow prisoners.

Gift of Dana Rebeiro, April 2015

Subjects

Black Panther PartyNew Bedford (Mass.)--HistoryPrisoners--MassachusettsWalpole State Prison

Contributors

Clark, Gloria Xifaras, 1942-
Graham, Julie

Julie Graham Papers

1918-2009
33 boxes 49.5 linear feet
Call no.: FS 144

Access restrictions: Temporarily stored offsite; contact SCUA in advance to request materials from this collection.

The economic geographer Julie Graham (1945-2010) and her colleague Katherine Gibson have been influential in envisioning alternatives to capitalist economics and economic development. After studying at Smith College (BA, 1965) and Clark University (PhD, 1984), Graham joined the faculty at UMass Amherst where she helped shape the new graduate program in geography. From early in her career, she worked so closely with her Australian colleague Gibson that they often published jointly under the pen name J.K. Gibson-Graham, and Graham developed close working relationships across several departments at UMass. A prolific author and inspiring mentor for students, Graham’s academic work drew upon an innovative mix of political economy, poststructuralist theory, feminism, and community-based research. Among her more significant publications are the now-classic The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It): A Feminist Critique of Political Economy (1996), on representations of capitalism and their political effect, A Postcapitalist Politics (2006), which explores alternatives to capitalism, and two edited volumes, Class and Its Others (2000) and Re/Presenting Class (2001). Graham died in Nashville on April 4, 2010.

The Graham Papers offer a detailed perspective on the radical geographer Julie Graham. The collections documents Graham’s life and career beginning in her undergraduate years and extending through her last research projects in community economies. Through correspondence and writings, photographs, and research — closely intertwined with her colleague Katherine Gibson — the collection gives shape of Graham’s radical challenge to human geography tinged with an optimistic economic and social possibility. The collection also includes letters, photographs, and genealogical matter relating to Graham’s family, extending back to the time of the First World War.

Subjects

CapitalismEconomic geographyFeminist economicsMarxian economicsSocial classesUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. Department of GeosciencesWomen geographers

Contributors

Gibson, KatherineGibson-Graham, J. KGraham, Julie
Greensboro Justice Fund

Greensboro Justice Fund Records

1966-2009 Bulk: 1979-2002
17 boxes 27.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 697

Five organizers affiliated with the Communist Workers Party were murdered by Klansmen and Nazis in Greenboro, N.C., on Nov. 3, 1979. Although an all white jury acquitted the defendants of murder and a second jury acquitted them of civil rights violations, a civil suit filed by survivors of the assault resulted in eight Klansmen being found liable for wrongful death in 1985. First conceived in 1980 as an organization to support the survivors of the assault, the Greensboro Justice Fund grew to support grassroots organizations and activists working for civil rights, social change, and radical democracy in the South.

The records of the Greensboro Justice Fund offer dramatic testimony to the impact of the Greensboro Massacre of 1979, and the manner in which a community of survivors and supporters cooperated to establish an organization that supplied grants to support grassroots social justice initiatives throughout the South.

Subjects

Communists--United StatesGreensboro (N.C.)--HistoryKu Klux KlanNeo-NazisRacism

Contributors

Greensboro Civil Rights FundNathan, MartyNathan, Michael

Types of material

NewsclippingsPhotographs