Emma Goldman Collection
Call Number
Dates
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Emma Goldman was an anarchist, feminist, writer, publisher of Mother Earth, companion of Alexander Berkman, author of Anarchism and Other Essays, Living My Life, and My Disillusionment in Russia, and was deported from the U.S. in 1919. The collection contains correspondence, speeches, published and unpublished writings, and a typescript of an unpublished biography, Emma Goldman Speaks, by Jeanne Levey.
Historical/Biographical Note
Emma Goldman, anarchist, feminist, and writer, was born in Russia in 1869. Refused admission to high school because she failed to conform to school rules, Goldman began working in 1882 in a factory in St. Petersburg. At the age of 17 to avoid her father's plans for her marriage, she fled to the United States, where she again worked in a factory. She joined the anarchist movement in about 1886 after the Chicago Haymarket Square bombing and conspiracy trial. In 1892 she began public speaking in defense of her lover, Alexander Berkman's attempted assassination of industrialist Henry Clay. She continued traveling and speaking about her ideas on revolution and sex. She published The Blast and later, until her deportation, Mother Earth. Goldman was deported in 1919 as a result of opposition to the war. She returned to Russia, but disillusioned with the new regime she left to travel and speak in Europe. She published Anarchism and Other Essays(1917), Living My Life(1931), My Disillusionment in Russia(1924), and My Further Disillusionment in Russia(1925).
In 1924 she was permitted to make her home in England and married James Colton for the convenience of British citizenship. Alternatingly residing in England, Canada (Toronto), and the South of France (St. Tropez), she wrote her autobiography, Living my Life(1931). A tour through Germany convinced her of the threat of fascism. Her lectures on the topic gained her a ninety-day visit to the United States in 1934. The Spanish Civil War provided her with a needed distraction from Alexander Berkman's suicide. She devoted herself to the loyalists and worked in England on behalf of the Spanish government. Early in 1939, she returned to Canada where she died May 13, 1940, retaining to the last her revolutionary ideals.
Sources:
Falk, Candace, Emma Goldman: a Guide to Her Life and Documentary Sources. Companion volume and index to: The Emma Goldman Papers [microform].
Arrangement
The folders arranged numerically (by document register number ranges) in series one, and alphabetically in series two, and topically in series three.
Organized into three series:
Missing Title
- 1. Correspondence
- 2. Oversized Correspondence and Writings (Photocopies)
- 3. Emma Goldman Speaks by Jeanne Levey: Typescript and Research Materials.
Scope and Content Note
Contains, correspondence, manuscripts by and about Goldman, printed sources, speeches, and notes. Includes correspondence with her publisher and personal correspondence dealing with her life and deportation. There are transcriptions of most of her significant letters, addresses, and articles (1908-1939), many from Mother Earth, apparently compiled by Jeanne Levey during the course of her research for her unpublished biography, Emma Goldman Speaks, and keyed to pages in the typescript thereof, also included in the collection, along with index cards containing research notes. The most frequent correspondent is Arthur Ross, Goldman's literary representative. Notable correspondents and/or individuals represented include Roger Baldwin, Alexander Berkman, Eugene V. Debs, Havelock Ellis, Clifton Fadiman, Eleanor M. Fitzgerald, John Haynes Holmes, Alfred A. Knopf, Peter Kropotkin, Jeannette Levey, Max Nettlau, Herbert Read, Ben Reitman, Bertrand Russell, Anna Strunsky, Upton Sinclair, Norman Thomas, Harry Weinberger, Rebecca West, Israel Zangwill, and Doris Zhook. Some of the letters are addressed to E.G. Colton (pseudonym for E.G.). There are also three Goldman manuscripts, respectively titled The Chinese Revolution, Hitler, Mussolini.
Also available at the Tamiment Library: Series 1 Correspondence Register for an item-level description of the contents of this series, listed by item number.
Subjects
Organizations
People
Topics
Donors
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Because of the assembled nature of this collection, copyright status varies across the collection. Copyright is assumed to be held by the original creator of individual items in the collection; these items are expected to pass into the public domain 120 years after their creation. Tamiment Library is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from this collection.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Emma Goldman Collection; TAM 012; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Jeanne Levey in 1971; an additional accession was donated in 1972 by Arthur Leonard Ross. The accession number associated with these gifts is 1971.001.
About this Guide
Edition of this Guide
Repository
Series 1. Correspondence
71M4:1 – 71M4:27 Goldman letters to Doris Zhook, et al, Dec 24, 1926-Jul 31, 1939
71M4:28 – 71M4:43 Goldman letters to Herbert Read, Nov 20, 1939-Mar 10, 1952
71M4:44 – 71M4:48 Letters to Goldman from Doris Zhook, et al, Aug 14, 1936-Nov 30, 1940
72M1:1 – 72M1:25 Goldman letters to Arthur Ross, Jul 18, 1929-Dec 23, 1929
72M1:26 – 72M1:57 Goldman letters to Arthur Ross, Jan 7, 1930-Dec 4, 1930
72M1:58 – 72M1:90 Goldman letters to Arthur Ross, Feb 1, 1931-Dec 29, 1931
72M1:91 – 72M1:114 Goldman letters to Arthur Ross, Jan 11, 1932-Dec 26, 1932
72M1:115 – 72M1:123 Goldman letters to Arthur Ross, Jan 4, 1933-Dec 30, 1933
72M1:124 – 72M1:146 Goldman letters to Arthur Ross, Jan 8, 1934-Dec 14, 1934
72M1:147 – 72M1:151 Goldman letters to Arthur Ross, Feb 7, 1935-Aug 4, 1935
72M1:152 – 72M1:166 Goldman letters to Arthur Ross, Apr 10, 1936-Jul 20, 1939
72M1:167 – 72M1:198 Goldman letters to Others; Documents re Goldman., Jan 22, 1930-Jun 12, 1939
General note
Contents: Includes letters to Roger Baldwin, John Dewey, Clifton Fadiman, John Haynes Holmes, Alfred Knopf, Upton Sinclair. Includes documents re renewal of visa, the Emma Goldman Fund, Alexander Berkman; The POUM Trial in Barcelona (ms), etc.
72M2:1 – 72M2:26 Arthur Ross Correspondence (most incoming) and Third Party Letters to Goldman., Aug 21, 1929-Jun 22, 1932
General note
Contents: includes letters from Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman. Also includes contract (1929) between E.G. and Alfred Knopf for the Autobiography of Emma Goldman.
72M2:27 – 72M2:89 Arthur Ross Correspondence (most incoming) and Third Party Letters to Goldman., Dec 29, 1932-Jun 13, 1968
General note
Contents: also contains flyers and copy of E.G.'s Will (1934).
72M5:1 – 72M5:46 Arthur Ross Correspondence (most outgoing) and Third Party Letters to Goldman., Jan 15, 1933-Jan 25, 1934
General note
Contents: includes one letter from E.G. to Roger Baldwin.
72M5:47 – 72M5:112 Arthur Ross Correspondence (most outgoing), Jan 25, 1934-Jul 19, 1938
General note
Contents: includes two letters from E.G., one to Roger Baldwin.
72M5:113 – 72M5:165 Arthur Ross Correspondence (most outgoing) and Third Party Letters to Goldman., Jul 12, 1929-Dec 21, 1929
General note
Contents: includes letters from E.G. to A.R., and letters from E.G. to Alfred Knopf and Horace Liveright.
72M5:166 – 72M5:261 Arthur Ross Correspondence (most outgoing)., Jan 7, 1930-Dec 2, 1930
General note
Contents: includes letters from E.G. to A.R.; and a letter from E.G. to Alfred Knopf.
72M5:262 – 72M5:307 Arthur Ross Correspondence (most outgoing)., Jan 6, 1931-Jul 9, 1931
General note
Contents: includes one letter from E.G. to Miss Aaron; one letter from Ben Reitman to Manley Aaron
72M5:308 – 72M5:383 Arthur Ross Correspondence (most outgoing)., Jul 9, 1931-Dec 29, 1931
General note
Contents: includes one letter from E.G. to Alfred Knopf.
72M5:384 – 72M5:428 Arthur Ross Correspondence (most outgoing)., Jan 7, 1932-Apr 28, 1936
General note
Contents: item 388 includes an enclosed ALS from Max Nettlau
72M5:428a – 72M5:435 Arthur Ross Correspondence., undated, inclusive
72M5:436 – 72M5:456 Arthur Ross Correspondence., Nov 27, 1931-Mar 8, 1937
General note
Contents: includes two letters from E.G.
72M5:457 – 72M5:478 Arthur Ross Correspondence (most outgoing)., Oct 21, 1929-Dec 4, 1936
General note
Contents: includes one letter from E.G.
72M5:479 – 72M5:514 Arthur Ross Correspondence ., May 20, 1932-Apr 2, 1937
General note
Contents: includes three letters from E.G.; one letter from Alexander Berkman.
72M5:515 – 72M5:539 Arthur Ross Correspondence (most outgoing)., Aug 1, 1930-Jun 29, 1935
General note
Contents: includes two letters from Alexander Berkman.
72M5:540 – 72M5:554 Arthur Ross Correspondence ., Nov 16, 1929-May 22, 1941
General note
Contents: includes on letter from E.G. to R. Cronan.
72M5:555 – 72M5:586 Arthur Ross Correspondence., Sep 10, 1924-1968
General note
Contents: includes seven letters from E.G.; one letter from Alexander Berkman; one letter from Rebecca West.
72M5:587 – 72M5:589 Arthur Ross Articles, Jan 18, 1962-1970
72M5:591 – 72M5:592 Arthur Ross Correspondence with Judge Wyzanski., May 1965
General note
Note: item 590 was transferred to the Tamiment Library Brief Manuscript Files Collection (see therein, Warren van Valkenburg)
72M5:593 – 72M5:606 Arthur Ross Correspondence (incoming)., Oct 11, 1930-Sep 5, 1941
General note
Contents: consists of letters from Clifton Fadiman.
72M6:1 – 72M6:16 Emma Goldman Letters to Eleanor Fitzgerald, Aug 5, 1938-Oct 24, 1939
72M6:17 – 72M6:34 Emma Goldman Letters to Eleanor Fitzgerald, Nov 9, 1939-May 17, 1940
General note
Contents: also includes two letters to E.G.; and copy of letter from E.G. to Carlo Tresca.
72M6:35 – 72M6:52 Eleanor Fitzgerald Correspondence (most incoming), Sep 24, 1924-May 20, 1943
General note
Contents: principal correspondent is Alexander Berkman; also contains a letter from V.F. Calverton to Isaac Don Levine.
72M6:53 – 72M6:56 Eleanor Fitzgerald Correspondence re Mother Earth, Sep 8, 1916-Nov 11, 1923
72M6:57 – 72M6:60 Eleanor Fitzgerald Speeches, Dec 6, 1919 , undated, inclusive
72M6:61 – 72M6:62 Letters from Leonard Abbott to Eleanor Fitzgerald, Aug 5, 1936 , Aug 27, 1940
General note
Contents: includes enclosure, two prose poems by Anna Strunsky re Alexander Berkman.
72M6:63 – 72M6:67 Ben Reitman Letters (3) to Eleanor Fitzgerald; one letter from E.F. to B.R., Aug 7, 1939-Jul 22, 1942
72M6:68 – 72M6:84 Harry Weinberger Correspondence with Eleanor Fitzgerald and Others, Sep 7, 1922-Sep 20, 1943
72M6:85 Harry Weinberger Last Will and Testament, Mar 11, 1944
72M6:86 – 72M6:89 Eleanor Fitzgerald Correspondence and Documents re Provincetown Playhouse, 1929 , undated, inclusive
72M6:90 – 72M6:94 Eleanor Fitzgerald Documents (Education and experience, Federal Theatre Project and dismissal therefrom), Aug 31, 1936-Jul 13, 1939
72M6:95 – 72M6:105 Eleanor Fitzgerald Correspondence and Documents (theatrical career), Mar 20, 1935-Dec 20, 1945
72M6:107 – 72M6:112 Eleanor Fitzgerald Correspondence (incoming), Feb 27, 1929-Apr 7, 1942
General note
Note: there is no item# 106.
