Emma Goldman papers, 1909-1941 and undated

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Summary

Creator:
Goldman, Emma, 1869-1940
Abstract:
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the 20th century. The Emma Goldman papers feature over 300 letters, primarily written by Emma Goldman, although other anarchists, activists, and thinkers are represented as authors, including Alexander Berkman, Eugene Debs, Harry Kelly, Alexander Shapiro, and the Socialist Party of New England. Many of the letter recipients are unnamed (as "Comrade"), but the majority of the letters were directed to Thomas H. Keell, an English compositor and editor for the anarchist periodical Freedom, in London. Letter topics most often center around requests made of Keell in support of various writing projects as well as speaking engagements and organizing work completed in Europe, the United States, and Canada, but also touch on visa constraints for Goldman and Berkman, the state of the anarchist movement in various countries, the lack of support for anarchist publications, as well as general position statements, especially in regard to Soviet Russia and the Spanish Civil War. There are also papers related to various prominent anarchists. These include typescript drafts of four articles and letters by anarchists; nine handwritten articles on anarchist themes written in Italian by Errico Malatesta; publications; press releases; ephemera, including tickets, brochures, solicitation letters, handbills and flyers; a contract and room layout for speaking engagements; Thomas H. Keell's list of works on anarchism; newspaper clippings; and six black-and-white photographs. The Emma Goldman papers are part of the Lisa Unger Baskin Collection.
Extent:
0.8 Linear Feet
Language:
Materials in English and Italian
Collection ID:
RL.11353

Background

Scope and content:

The Emma Goldman papers feature over 300 letters, primarily written by Emma Goldman, although other anarchists, activists, and thinkers are represented as authors, including Alexander Berkman, Eugene Debs, Harry Kelly, Alexander Shapiro, and the Socialist Party of New England. Many of the letter recipients are unnamed (as "Comrade"), but the majority of the letters were directed to Thomas H. Keell, an English compositor and editor for the anarchist periodical Freedom, in London. Letter topics most often center around requests made of Keell in support of various writing projects as well as speaking engagements and organizing work completed in Europe, the United States, and Canada, but also touch on visa constraints for Goldman and Berkman, the state of the anarchist movement in various countries, the lack of support for anarchist publications, as well as general position statements, especially in regard to Soviet Russia and the Spanish Civil War. There are also papers related to various prominent anarchists. These include typescript drafts of four articles and letters by anarchists; nine handwritten articles on anarchist themes written in Italian by Errico Malatesta; publications; press releases; ephemera, including tickets, brochures, solicitation letters, handbills and flyers; a contract and room layout for speaking engagements; Thomas H. Keell's list of works on anarchism; newspaper clippings; and six black-and-white photographs.

Biographical / historical:

Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the 20th century. Born in Kovno, Russian Empire (present-day Kaunas, Lithuania) to a Jewish family, Goldman emigrated to the United States in 1885. Attracted to anarchism after the Haymarket affair, Goldman became a writer and a renowned lecturer on anarchist philosophy, women's rights, and social issues, attracting crowds of thousands. She and anarchist writer Alexander Berkman, her lover and lifelong friend, planned to assassinate industrialist and financier Henry Clay Frick as an act of propaganda of the deed. Frick survived the attempt on his life in 1892 and Berkman was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Goldman was imprisoned several times in the years that followed, for "inciting to riot" and illegally distributing information about birth control. In 1906, Goldman founded the anarchist journal Mother Earth. In 1917, Goldman and Berkman were sentenced to two years in jail for conspiring to "induce persons not to register" for the newly instated draft. After their release from prison, they were arrested—along with hundreds of others—and deported to Russia. Initially supportive of that country's October Revolution which brought the Bolsheviks to power, Goldman reversed her opinion in the wake of the Kronstadt rebellion and denounced the Soviet Union for its violent repression of independent voices. In 1923, she published a book about her experiences, My Disillusionment in Russia. While living in England, Canada, and France, she wrote an autobiography called Living My Life. After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, she traveled to Spain to support the anarchist revolution there. She died in Toronto on May 14, 1940, aged 70.

Acquisition information:
The Emma Goldman Papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift in 2015.
Processing information:

Processed by Alice Poffinberger, December 2016

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2015-0050-LUBMSS536, 2015-0050-LUBMSS523, 2015-0050-LUBMSS222, 2015-0050-LUBMSS223, 2015-0050-LUBMSS224, 2015-0050-LUBMSS225, 2015-0050-LUBMSS226, 2015-0050-LUBMSS227, 2015-0050-LUBMSS228, 2015-0050-LUBMSS229, 2015-0050-LUBMSS230, 2015-0050-LUBMSS231, 2015-0050-LUBMSS232, 2015-0050-LUBMSS064, 2015-0050-LUBMSS171, 2015-0050-LUBMSS172

Arrangement:

Organized into the following series: Letters and papers.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

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The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Emma Goldman Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.