Administrative Information
Provenance
The Radical Pamphlet Collection was acquired by the Library of Congress through purchase and exchange between 1977 and 1981.
Processing History
The collection was compiled by David Kennaly in 1995. The finding aid was updated by Michael North 2022-2023.
Related Material
The Rare Book and Special Collections Division has custody of two other collections relating to American radicalism. The first, the Anarchism Collection, consists of more than 2000 books and pamphlets by and about anarchists relating to anarchism and anarcho-syndicalism. Most pamphlets in the collection were published in the United States for French-, German-, Italian-, and Russian-speaking communities. A finding aid is available in the Rare Book Room for the use of this collection. Second is the House Un-American Activities Committee Collection. This contains 2000 pamphlets by suspected "radicals" and "radical groups" collected by the committee. The division also holds the Paul Avrich Collection and the M & S Collection.
The Manuscript Division has custody of the papers of some of the individuals whose work for a radical revision of the social and political status quo is relevant to the Radical Pamphlet Collection. Among these are the papers of the following: William James Ghent, Lewis Graham Hines, the La Follette Family, Reinhold Niebuhr, Richard Olney, Garfield Bromley Oxnam, A. Philip Randolph, Charles Edward Russell, Margaret Sanger, Horace Traubel. The records of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and of the National Urban League can also be consulted in that division.
Preferred Citation
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: the Radical Pamphlet Collection, (1870-1985), Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.