Series I. Correspondence, 1916-1942
Scope and Contents note
This series is arranged chronologically and includes incoming, copies of outgoing, and internal ADS correspondence (among board members, officers, and members). Also included are letters to and from Charles Stewart Davison that do not deal directly with ADS.
In general, attachments were kept with their respective correspondence. However, original ADS organizational material attached to letters, such as meeting minutes, resolutions, and financial reports, was removed to Series II, and a preservation photocopy was filed in its place. Newspaper clippings were also copied, and removed to Series IV.
Letters from 1916 to 1917 deal with World War I, ADS meetings and internal society matters, and politics. There are also numerous responses to ADS's "ten proposals" from business leagues, leaders, retail associations and chambers of commerce around the country.
Topics in correspondence from 1918 include the case of Thomas Mooney (the labor activist accused of bombing a patriotic march), the I.W.W., 'subversive' meetings, conditions in the U.S. Army (sickness, pay), William Randolph Hearst (his disloyalty), the ADS campaign/boycott against German goods and the teaching of German in schools, German atrocities, the impending post-war settlement with Germany ("unconditional surrender"), the situation in Russia, sedition and disloyalty, and immigration restriction. Internal correspondence discusses ADS proposals and operational matters including events, aims, salaries, campaigns, finances, and the women's committee. Also included are correspondence from the DC bureau of ADS, correspondence with artist Edwin Howland Blashfield regarding his stamp design for the society, and letters from members of congress. One set of correspondence with the Auburn Bureau, filed together in a report, deals with an ADS editorial and a threat of libel suit.
Topics from 1919 include the post-war future of ADS, the death of Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizens Committee of Welcome for U.S. soldiers, immigration restriction, labor, socialism, Bolshevism, and William Randolph Hearst.
1920 correspondence discusses the future of ADS and its financial troubles, Bolshevism, subversive behavior, immigration, labor strikes, the situation in Ireland, internal ADS matters such as meetings, finances, and campaigns i.e. Roosevelt portraits, lawsuits, the distribution of "Protocols and World Revolution," and personal matters of staff members. Numerous letters from members concern the 1920 presidential election and the society's support of candidate Warren G. Harding.
Topics in correspondence from 1921-1928 include the Mooney case, socialism in American colleges and student radicals, post-war Germany, Sinn Fein, Bolshevism, the AFL and unions, 'red and pink organizations,' the 1922 Herrin massacre, the "Protocols," Hearst, world politics, immigration and labor, the 'youth movement,' the Soviet Union and communism, race and crime, aviation, the ACLU, Judaism, Catholicism, and the presidential candidacy of Al Smith. Immigration restriction is a prominent topic of discussion from 1923-1928. Letters also deal with internal ADS matters including the street speaking campaign, the society's debt and financial difficulties, and libel suits against ADS.
Correspondence from 1929 to 1934 concerns ADS debt and finances, distribution of anti-communist pamphlets, the Socialist party, and Davison's legal matters.
Topics from 1935 to 1942 include the revival and reorganization of ADS, the society's debt and first meetings, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, immigration, FDR's putative Jewish lineage, congressional bills, Judaism and Jews, the 1936 and 1940 elections, the 1937 Supreme Court controversy, communism, foreign affairs, Soviet matters, the US government, religion, financial theories and banking, the House Un-American Activities Committee, US involvement in the WW II, strikes, grand juries, and national defense. Much of the material for these years is Charles Stewart Davison's letters to editors and senators about world politics or correspondence of Davison that does not deal directly with ADS.