Overview of the American Radicalism Collection
The American Radicalism Collection holds over 17,000 items. It includes books, pamphlets, periodicals, posters, and ephemeral material covering a wide range of viewpoints on political, social, and economic issues in America. The emphasis in the collection is on materials produced by radical groups - both left and right. The collection, for example, has materials devoted to Timothy Leary, the Black Panther Party, Neo-Nazi Organizations, the Christian Right, and Steve Gaskin, founder of the commune the Farm. While the American Radicalism Collection is strongest in publications from the American Left in the twentieth century, as well as in resources for the study of American Labor History, there is considerable material from the right, most notably the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920's and 1930's.
The beginning of the American Radicalism Collection dates to the 1950's
when a large collection of materials related to the Communist Party of
the USA was acquired. Since then the collection has grown to include materials
covering a wide range of viewpoints on political, social, economic, environmental,
racial, gender, and sexual issues that affect American life. The collection
emphasizes the material of groups, organizations, movements, and/or individuals
whose viewpoint(s) reflects a radical or alternative vision of American
life. . The collection's greatest strength is in the publications of the
American Left in the twentieth century, especially the growth of American
communism, American labor history, and the student anti-war movement of
the 1960's. Over the years a strong collection of Ku Klux Klan materials
has also been accumulated. Recently, efforts have been initiated to collection
materials of the Christian right, the contemporary men's movement, and
the Gay and Lesbian communities.