Grace and Max Granich Papers and Photographs
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Abstract
Grace Granich was the secretary for Earl Browder, the head of the Communist Party, USA. In the 1930s, she traveled to the Soviet Union and to Shanghai, China, where she served as a liaison to Chinese radicals, notably Agnes Smedley. She also edited The Voice of China (her husband Max Granich was its publisher), the organ of the League for National Salvation, headed by Mme. Sun Yat Sen. During World War II she headed Intercontinent News, a Communist Party news agency. Max (Manny) Granich was the younger brother of writer Michael Gold and served as chauffeur to Earl Browder. Following World War II, the Graniches distanced themselves from the CPUSA and in 1946 founded Higley Hill Camp (Wilmington, Vermont), a left-wing summer camp for children, which they ran until 1964. The collection contains typescripts, oral history transcripts, correspondence, clippings, government reports, photographs, and some ephemera and research notes and materials that document Grace and Max Granich's involvement with the Communist Party and Higley Hill Camp.
Historical/Biographical Note
Grace (b. Maul) Granich (1895-1971) was a key administrative figure in the national office of the Communist Party, USA (CPUSA) from 1930 to 1945, serving as secretary to CPUSA General Secretary Earl Browder and as a member of the Organization Department. On behalf of the CPUSA and the Communist International (Comintern), she traveled to the Soviet Union in 1930-1931, and in 1935-1937, to Shanghai, China, where she served as a liaison to Chinese radicals, notably Agnes Smedley. She also edited The Voice of China (her husband Max Granich was its publisher), the organ of the League for National Salvation, headed by Mme. Sun Yat Sen. During World War II she headed Intercontinent News, a CPUSA news agency, and served as a foreign agent for Service Universel de Presse (Moscow).
Max (Manny) Granich (1896-1987) was the younger brother of writer Michael Gold (b. Itzok Granich). He joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1917, participating in several agricultural organizing campaigns in California. He joined the Communist Party sometime in the late 1920s, married Grace Maul and accompanied her to Soviet Union, where he did engineering work, and to China. Upon their return, he served as chauffeur and bodyguard for Earl Browder, and (through 1942) as Managing Editor of China Today. Following the postwar expulsion of Earl Browder, the Graniches distanced themselves from the CPUSA and in 1946 founded Higley Hill Camp (Wilmington, Vermont), a left-wing summer camp for children, which they ran until 1964. Grace Granich died in an automobile accident in 1971. In the 1970s, Max Granich was active in the Chinese-American Friendship Association and led tours to the People's Republic of China. In the early 1980s, he recorded a lengthy oral history and began work on a memoir. He died in 1987.
Arrangement
The folders are arranged alphabetically.
Scope and Content Note
The collection contains typescripts, oral history transcripts, correspondence, clippings, government reports, photographs, and some ephemera and research notes and materials. There is an autobiographical typescript by Grace Granich, approximately 100 pp., largely concerned with her experiences in China (along with a three-page outline of a planned autobiography covering her entire life). There is also a transcript of an oral history interview with Max Granich (607 pp.), covering his life through the 1970s, and a combined typescript-transcript, apparently the beginnings of a memoir. Shanghai police and U.S. Consular and State Department reports document the Graniches' China activities. The correspondence principally covers Grace Granich's World War II press work, much of it concerned with her registration as a foreign agent for Service Universel de Presse (Moscow), including numerous telegrams to/from Moscow; their time at and the administration of Higley Hill Camp (including letters from Herbert Aptheker and Pete Seeger); and their trips to Mexico. Other Higley Hill materials include research notes and correspondence by Higley Hill alumna Gina Luria Walker for a proposed autobiographical memoir, approximately 75 black and white photographs of the camp and campers, and ephemera and memorabilia. There is also a small amount of material related to the writer and poet Rewi Alley, who was a CPUSA member and a friend of Grace and Max when they lived in Shanghai to edit and publish Voice of China.
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People
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 and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from this collection.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; Grace and Max Granich Papers and Photographs; TAM 255; Box number; Folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of John McDermott, 1991. Additional material was donated by Gina Luria Walker in 2001. Mailing list (1998), alumni newsletter, and letter (1971) donated by Marion Nestle, 2008. Additional donation of clippings, photographs, and Rewi Alley materials by Eugene and Vera Donefer in 2012. The accession numbers associated with these gifts are 1991.006, 1991.012, 2012.084 and NPA.2003.073.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Photographs were separated from this collection during initial processing and were established as a separate collection, the Grace and Max Granich Photographs (PHOTOS 103). In 2013, the photograph collection was reincorporated into the Grace and Max Granich Papers and Photographs.
