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

Liberation News Service (New York, N.Y.)

Liberation News Service (New York, N.Y.) Records

1968-1975
6 boxes 4.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1007
Cover of Liberation News Service issue 441, June 10, 1972.
Cover of Liberation News Service issue 441, June 10, 1972.

Founded in 1967, Liberation News Service, an alternative news agency, issued twice-weekly packets aimed at providing inexpensive images, articles, and art reflecting a countercultural outlook. First from its office in Washington, D.C., and then from New York City, LNS provided underground and college papers around the globe with radical and unconventional coverage of the war in Vietnam, global liberation struggles, American politics, and the cultural revolution. Two months after moving to New York City in June 1968, LNS split into two factions, with the sides mirroring common points of dispute within the New Left. The more traditional political and Marxist activists remained in New York, while those more aligned with the counterculture and “hippie” movement settled on farms in western Massachusetts and southern Vermont. For a year each faction put out competing versions of LNS news packets, until the winter conditions and small staff at the farm in Montague caused their production to end in January 1969. LNS-New York continued its production of unique leftist coverage of national and international issues throughout the 1970s, closing in 1981.

The LNS-NY Records include a relatively complete run of packets 102-701 (1968-1975) sent to the subscribing underground press newspaper the Indianapolis Free Press. Some packets and years are more complete than others, and these New York packets are especially dense with photographs compared to earlier LNS packets from before the split in 1968. The collection also includes a small selection of other artwork, articles, and materials kept by the Indianapolis Free Press.

Background on Liberation News Service (New York, N.Y.)

Founded in 1967 when Marshall Bloom and Raymond Mungo were fired from the United States Student Press Association (USSPA) for their radical views, Liberation News Service grew into an impressive alternative news agency during a period of political and social upheaval in the United States and abroad. LNS provided images and text via inexpensive mimeographed news packets mailed out to subscribers, with radical coverage of the war in Vietnam, national liberation struggles abroad, American politics, and the cultural revolution. At its height, LNS had hundreds of subscribers, spanning the gamut of college newspapers and the underground and alternative press. Its readership was estimated to be in the millions.

Located in Washington, D.C., LNS gained initial success and momentum with its coverage of the October 1967 protests at the Pentagon. But, in less than a year the group had tired of both its high rent and the conditions in the nation’s capital in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and so officially moved its headquarters to New York City in June 1968.

Two months after moving to NYC, LNS split into two factions, with the sides mirroring common points of dispute from within the leftist movement. The more traditional political and Marxist activists remained in New York, while those more aligned with the countercultural and “hippie” movement settled on farms in western Massachusetts and southern Vermont. The story of LNS, up to and including the split, is told from Mungo’s perspective in his 1970 classic book Famous Long Ago. For a year, each faction put out competing versions of LNS news packets, until the winter conditions and small staff at the farm in Montague caused their production to end in January 1969.

LNS-New York, however, continued throughout the 1970s to produce impressive news packets from the political left on topics often ignored by the mainstream press. Shaping global stories from Vietnam, to South Africa, to Latin America, to the Middle East, and national stories on politics, prison reform, labor movements, and racial, gender, and sexual equality, LNS-NY was a hub of international activists, journalists, and photographers. With the end of the Vietnam War, and the general decline of the New Left, in addition to growing financial instability, LNS-New York ceased its operations in 1981.

Contents of Collection

The Liberation News Service, both its original manifestation and its later separated New York office, operated during a period of exceptionally heightened activity in American political, social, and cultural history. As a whole, the LNS-New York Records document in their news packets and photographs numerous trends stemming from the counterculture, liberation, political, and activist movements in the United States and abroad during from 1968 to 1975.

The LNS-NY Records include a relatively complete run of packets 102-701 (1968-1975) sent to the subscribing underground press newspaper the Indianapolis Free Press. Some packets and years are more complete than others, and there is a gap after June 1972 until August 1973. These New York packets are especially dense with photographs compared to earlier LNS packets from before the split in 1968. The collection also includes a small selection of other artwork, articles, and materials kept by the Indianapolis Free Press.

Collection inventory

Packets 102-107
1968 Sep
Box 1: 1-2
Packets 108-114
1968 Oct
Box 1: 3-4
Packets 115-122
1968 Nov
Box 1: 5-7
Packets 123-128
1968 Dec
Box 1: 8-9
Packets 129-135
1969 Jan
Box 1: 10-12
Packets 136-143
1969 Feb
Box 1: 13-15
Packets 144-151
1969 Mar
Box 1: 16-19
Packets 152-158
1969 Apr
Box 1: 20-22
Packets 159-168
1969 May
Box 1: 23-25
Packets 169-174
1969 Jun
Box 1: 26-29
Packets 175-182
1969 Jul
Box 1: 30-34
Packets 183-190
1969 Aug
Box 1: 35-38
Packets 191-198
1969 Sep
Box 1: 39-41
Packets 199-207
1969 Oct
Box 1: 42-45
Packets 208-212
1969 Nov
Box 1: 46-49
Packets 213-214
1969 Nov
Box 1: 50
Packets 215-221
1969 Dec
Box 1: 51-55
Packets 222-230
1970 Jan
Box 1: 56-60
Packets 231-237
1970 Feb
Box 1: 61-65
Packets 238-244
1970 Mar
Box 1: 66-72
Packets 245-250
1970 Apr
Box 1: 73-75
Packets 256-260
1970 May
Box 1: 76-79
Packets 261-267
1970 Jun
Box 1: 80-83
Packets 268-276
1970 Jul
Box 1: 84-89
Packets 277-284
1970 Aug
Box 1: 90-93
Packets 285-289
1970 Sep
Box 1: 94-96
Packets 290-294
1970 Oct
Box 1: 97-100
Packets 295-298
1970 Nov
Box 1: 101-104
Packets 299-306
1970 Dec
Box 1: 105-111
Packets 307-313
1971 Jan
Box 1: 112-118
Packets 315-321
1971 Feb
Box 1: 119-123
Packets 322-326
1971 Mar
Box 1: 124-128
Packets 327-330
1971 Mar
Box 2: 1-4
Packets 331-338
1971 Apr
Box 2: 5-16
Packets 339-345
1971 May
Box 2: 17-24
Packets 346-354
1971 Jun
Box 2: 25-33
Packets 355-363
1971 Jul
Box 2: 34-41
Packets 364
1971 Aug
Box 2: 42
Packets 365-371
1971 Aug
Box 3: 1-7
Packets 372-379
1971 Sep
Box 3: 8-14
Packets 380-387
1971 Oct
Box 3: 15-20
Packets 388-394
1971 Nov
Box 3: 21-27
Packets 395-402
1971 Dec
Box 3: 28-35
Packets 405-410
1972 Jan
Box 3: 36-41
Packets 411-413
1972 Feb
Box 3: 42-44
Packets 414-415
1972 Feb
Box 4: 1-2
Packets 416-421
1972 Mar
Box 4: 3-7
Packets 424-430
1972 Apr
Box 4: 8-14
Packets 431-438
1972 May
Box 4: 15-22
Packets 439-443
1972 Jun
Box 4: 23-27
Packets 543-548
1973 Aug
Box 4: 28-30
Packets 551-552
1973 Sep
Box 4: 31-32
Packets 553-556
1973 Sep
Box 5: 1-4
Packets 557-564
1973 Oct
Box 5: 5-12
Packets 565-571
1973 Nov
Box 5: 13-19
Packets 572-578
1973 Dec
Box 5: 20-25
Packets 579-585
1974 Jan
Box 5: 26-32
Packets 586-592
1974 Feb
Box 5: 33-36
Packets 594-600
1974 Mar
Box 5: 37-42
Packets 601-608
1974 Apr
Box 5: 43-48
Packets 609-615
1974 May
Box 5: 49-53
Packets 616-623
1974 Jun
Box 5: 54-61
Packets 624-630
1974 Jul
Box 5: 62-68
Packets 632-633
1974 Aug
Box 5: 69-70
Packets 635-637
1974 Aug
Box 6: 1-3
Packets 639-644
1974 Sep
Box 6: 4-9
Packets 645-651
1974 Oct
Box 6: 10-14
Packets 653-660
1974 Nov
Box 6: 15-21
Packets 662-666
1974 Dec
Box 6: 22-26
Packets 667-673
1975 Jan
Box 6: 27-32
Packets 675-680
1975 Feb
Box 6: 33-36
Packets 681-688
1975 Mar
Box 6: 37-44
Packets 689-696
1975 Apr
Box 6: 45-52
Packets 697-701
1975 May
Box 6: 53-56
The 1968 Campaign
1968
Box 6: 57
Radical Publications and Organizations List
1971 Mar
Box 6: 58
Indianapolis Free Press
Capitol Records – New Pop Albums, Country Roundup
1970 Mar
Box 6: 59
Clipped graphics
ca.1968-1975
Box 6: 60
Clipped graphics – Liberation News Service
ca.1968-1975
Box 6: 61-62
Envelopes
ca.1971 Apr
Box 6: 63
Letterhead, other organization2
ca.1970
Box 6: 64
Miscellaneous articles, press releases
ca.1968-1972
Box 6: 65
Miscellaneous newsletters
1969-1974
Box 6: 66
Prensa Latina Press Service – Direct from Cuba No. 34
1971 Apr
Box 6: 67
Radio Free Press
1971
Box 6: 68

Administrative information

Access

The collection is open for research.

Language:

English

Provenance

Gift from the Ron Haldeman Collection, Indianapolis, Indiana, courtesy of Thomas P. Healy, January 2018.

Related material

For materials related to the Liberation News Service (New York, N.Y.)Records in Special Collections and University Archives see the various collections, including those of Liberation News Service, Ray Mungo, and Steve Diamond, in the Famous Long Ago Archive.

Additional materials include:

Processing Information

Processed by Blake Spitz, February 2018.

Copyright and Use (More informationConnect to publication information)

Cite as: Liberation News Service (New York, N.Y.) Records (MS 1007). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.

Gift of Ron Haldeman, courtesy of Thomas P. Healy, January 2018

Subjects

News agencies--New York (State)Press and politicsRadicalismUnderground press publications

Contributors

Indianapolis Free PressLiberation News Service (New York, N.Y.)