Beffel, John Nicholas, 1887-1973

John Beffel Papers

drice — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:21:49 -0400

Mr. Beffel served as a reporter, writer, editor, and publicist. He edited manuscripts of Slim Brundage, Joseph Cohen, Paul Crouch, Harry Kelly, Walter Marshall, Rose Pesotta, Voline, and Vincenzo Vocirca; and did publicity work for the Workers Defense League. In addition to the manuscripts, the collection includes correspondence, drafts, notes, and clippings which deal with the Carlo Tresca Memorial Committee, anarchists, communism, the Joe Hill case, the IWW, and the League for Mutual Aid. Correspondents include, in addition to the authors noted above, Ralph Chaplin, Margaret DeSilver, Max Nettlau, Matilda Bobbins, Nicolaas Steelink, Norman Thomas, and Fred Thompson.

Industrial Workers of the World Records

drice — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 16:44:51 -0400

The Industrial Workers of the World was founded in 1905 and is a member-run union for all workers. The IWW organizes all workers producing the same goods or services into one union instead of pooling them by skill or trade. Numbered among its members (known popularly as Wobblies) are lumberjacks, miners, farmhands (especially migrant workers), sailors, and workers in textile mills. Since their founding, the IWW has made significant contributions to labor struggles around the world. The union is proud of its long-standing tradition of fierce defense of the first amendment and breaking down barriers of race, ethnicity, and gender. Since it's founding in Chicago, the IWW has moved its headquarters around the country.

Part 1 includes minutes and proceedings, trial records and evidence, newspapers, pamphlets, poems, cartoons, songs, and correspondence. Subjects of interest include the Centralia Conspiracy; criminal syndicalism; the Everett Massacre; Free Speech fights; organization of farm workers; labor conditions; the controversy between craft and industrial unionism; government raids and seizures; trials of various members; foreign IWW administrations; political prisoners; GEB 1960's-1970's; conventions 1970's; Junior Wobblies; Houston Branch; and information on such figures as Vincent St. John. Correspondents include T.J. Bogard, Arthur Boose, Richard Brazier, Frank Cederval, A.S. Embree, William D. Haywood, Claude Irwin, Joyce Kornbluh, John A. Law, George Lucas, Albert Prashner, Rudolf Rocker, Vincent St. John, Nicolaas Steelink, Fred W. Thompson, William Unger, Walt Westman, and Claire Whitaker.

Part 2 of the Industrial Workers of the World Collection contains General Executive Board correspondence from the 1960s and 1970s and minutes, newsletters and correspondence from several branch locations and foreign administrations covering the same time period. Also included are Constitutional General Convention minutes from the 1970s, membership dues booklets, songs, cartoons, poetry, articles, legal case files, and a large assortment of English and foreign-language pamphlets and leaflets. Of particular interest are the reports of undercover private detectives posing as IWW members who investigated IWW organizing among Arizona miners in 1923.

Part 3 include mainly correspondence, reports, and photographs that document the union’s activities and goals primarily during the time they were headquartered in Ypsilanti. Since the organization is global, some reports come from places as far as Sweden and Germany. Of particular note are copies of Junior Wobblies cards dating from the 1930s.

Content of Box 158, Folder "Cigar Makers Meeting" is unavailable.

League for Mutual Aid Records

drice — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:39:19 -0500

The League for Mutual Aid was a national organization founded with the goal of helping workers and others in personal emergencies. They provided personal and group loans, legal advice, employment and housing aid, and medical referrals. Their records reflect daily operations, including fund-raising and loan-granting activities, until their liquidation and absorption by the Human Rights Fund of the Workers' Defense League.

Harvey O'Connor Papers

drice — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:08:56 -0400

Mr. O'Connor is the author of numerous books, articles, and pamphlets of social and economic interest. He worked in the publishing business from the mid 1920s -1930s and late 1950s, including stints at Federated Press, the Peoples Press, Ken, and the Nation. Active in several civil liberties organizations, Mr. O'Connor became a controversial figure during the McCarthy investigations. His papers contain materials related to his writings; his interest in 1930s Pittsburgh and Chicago labor & politics, the steel, coal, & oil industries; and his involvement in civil liberties activities, including his House Un-American Activities Committee trial.

Workers' Defense League Records

drice — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:17:41 -0500

This collection of correspondence, press releases, newspaper clippings, speeches, trial briefs and transcripts, and published pamphlets and leaflets, thoroughly documents the Worker's Defense League's efforts to obtain justice for labor organizers, government critics, victims of racial and economic discrimination, and conscientious objectors, through established, legal processes.

Series V: Farm Workers, Migrant Workers, Sharecroppers and their Unionization, Boxes 154 to 172 available only on microfilm.