Rochester socialist scrapbook collection
Creator: Sanger, Margaret, 1879-1966
Call Number: D.110
Dates: 1910-1919
Physical Description: 9 Volumes
Language(s): Materials are in English
Repository: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Table of Contents:

Biographical/Historical Note
Scope and Content
Subject(s)
Access
Use
Citation
Related Materials
Content List
Series I: Scrapbooks
Collection Overview
Title: Rochester socialist scrapbook collection
Creator: Sanger, Margaret, 1879-1966
Call Number: D.110
Dates: 1910-1919
Physical Description: 9 Volumes
Language(s): Materials are in English
Repository: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Biographical/Historical Note
During the years 1910 to 1917, the Rochester, New York local of the Socialist Party had almost nine hundred dues-paying members. The membership represented a cross-section of the laboring and educated classes in the city, and participated in the social and political life of the area. Among the organizations and activities organized and supported by Rochester socialists during this period were public speeches and debates held at the Rochester Labor Lyceum, the same and other social activities in the Young People's Socialist League, and classes and activities for children in the Rochester Socialist Sunday School. The director and guiding spirit of the two latter organizations from 1911 to 1915, was Kendrick Shedd, University of Rochester, Class of 1889, a popular member of the University's German faculty between 1891 and 1912, who was forced to resign his university position because of his political views. The activities of the Rochester socialists were centered in a three-story brick building they built at 580 St. Paul Street in Rochester, which still stood in 1986. While the Labor Lyceum continued to function there after disillusionment with socialism set in following the First World War and the Russian Revolution, both the Young People's Socialist League and the Socialist Sunday School, after each having about five hundred members during this period, lost members and were disbanded.

Scope and Content
The collection consists of four scrapbooks on the Rochester Socialist Sunday School, two on the Young People's Socialist League of Rochester, and one on the Rochester Labor Lyceum, kept between 1910 and 1919. Also included are a manuscript minutes book kept by the Central Branch Socialists between 1910 and 1913, and a manuscript membership dues payment record for an unnamed Hungarian ethnic group between 1909 and 1913. The scrapbooks contain typescript and manuscript letters, printed material, ephemera, and photographs. The Rochester Socialist Sunday School scrapbooks contain an index and typescript history of the organization by Kendrick Shedd. It was Shedd who apparently kept the scrapbooks for the Sunday school. Letters from prominent socialists and reformers of the period, including Margaret Sanger, Scott Nearing, Charles Edward Russell, Theodore Debs, George Goler, Walter Rauschenbusch, Jim Larkin, Algernon Lee, Florence Cross Kitchelt, and Emma Goldman, are in the latter scrapbooks and the Labor Lyceum scrapbook.

Subject(s):
New York (State)--Rochester
Socialism
Socialism--Societies, etc.
Labor movement
Socialism and youth
Albums (Books)
Minutes (Records)
Correspondence
Sanger, Margaret, 1879-1966
Access
The Rochester socialist scrapbook collection is open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.Use
Reproductions are made upon request but can be subject to restrictions. Permission to publish materials from the collection must currently be requested. Please note that some materials may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the researcher's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections. For more information contact rarebks@library.rochester.eduCitation
[Item title, item date], Rochester socialist scrapbook collection, D.110, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of RochesterRelated Materials
Additional information on socialism in Rochester during this period may be found in the following works:


Administrative Information
Author: Finding aid prepared by Rare Books and Special Collections staff
Publisher: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
Address:
Rush Rhees Library
Second Floor, Room 225
Rochester, NY 14627-0055
rarebks@library.rochester.edu
URL:


Content List