Cindy Sheehan Papers
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Abstract
Cindy Sheehan (b. 1957) is an activist, author, former congressional candidate for California's 8th District, and former gubernatorial candidate for the state of California. The Cindy Sheehan Papers record Sheehan's involvement in the post September 11, 2011 anti-war peace movement, the Gold Star Families for Peace, Camp Casey, her 2008 congressional campaign, and her 2014 gubernatorial campaign. The collection consists of Cindy Sheehan's notebooks; newspaper clippings about Sheehan's anti-war efforts and the Iraq War; copies of her own monographs; photographs from protests, Camp Casey, and her gubernatorial election; as well as artifacts such as campaign pins and protest banners. The collection also includes video and audio memorials for her deceased son (U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan), protest and election brochures, anti-war posters, magazines detailing Sheehan's political activities, as well as correspondence to Sheehan, the Gold Star Families for Peace, and Camp Casey.
Biographical Note
Cindy Sheehan (b. 1957) is an activist, author, former congressional candidate for California's 8th District, and former gubernatorial candidate for the state of California. Sheehan's anti-war activism stems from the death of her eldest son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Austin Sheehan (1979 - 2004), who was killed in combat during the Iraq War. In 2005, Sheehan garnered national and international media attention when she established an anti-war encampment, later named Camp Casey, outside of President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. Camp Casey existed for five weeks, attracting the voices and physical presence of supporters and detractors alike.
Sheehan is also a founding member of the Gold Star Families for Peace. Established in 2005, this organization is an affilite of Military Families Speak Out and supports families whose loved ones were killed in action during the Iraq War. In addition to her activism, Sheehan has written several books --Dear President Bush,Peace Mom,Not One More Mother's Child,I Left My Marbles in San Francisco: The Scandal of Federal Electoral Politricks, and The Obama Files: Chronicles of an Award-Winning War Criminal-- all of which discuss her political views as a part of her anti-war campaigning.
In 2008, Cindy Sheehan ran against Nancy Pelosi for a seat in Congress, but was unsuccessful, having received only 16% of votes. In 2012, she was selected as the Vice Presidential nominee for the Peace and Freedom Party. In 2014, Sheehan participated in California's gubernatorial election and lost having only received 1.2% of the statewide vote.
Starting in 2009, Sheehan began hosting a weekly radio show where she interviewed individuals including Hugo Chavez and Howard Zinn. Sheehan also maintains a blog called "Cindy's Soapbox."
Arrangement
Materials in this collection have been grouped together thematically and then arranged alphabetically.
Scope and Contents
The Cindy Sheehan Papers record Sheehan's involvement in the post September 11, 2011 anti-war peace movement, the Gold Star Families for Peace, Camp Casey, her 2008 congressional campaign, and her 2014 California gubernatorial campaign.
Cindy Sheehan's involvement in the post September 11, 2011 anti-war peace movement roughly spanned from 2004 to 2016. The collection includes personal notes from Sheehan's anti-war activism; photographs of her participation in peace protests; a video recording documenting her protest near President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas; and letters of support from fellow anti-war protests. The collection also contains letters sent to the Gold Star Families for Peace, Camp Casey, and official White House correspondence sent to the Sheehans after their son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed by enemy action during the Iraq War, as well as an audio memorial for Casey Sheehan.
Published versions of Sheehan's books Dear President Bush, Peace Mom, Not One More Mother's Child, I Left My Marbles in San Francisco: The Scandal of Federal Electoral Politricks, and The Obama Files: Chronicles of an Award-Winning War Criminal are included within the collection.
The Cindy Sheehan Papers document Sheehan's 2008 congressional campaign in the form of flyers and notebooks. Her 2014 California gubernatorial campaign is documented in the form of sample voter ballots, voter information packets, photographs, brochures, official documents, flyers, campaign materials, as well as correspondence.
The collection also includes a blog containing clips from news shows, articles, and interviews relating to issues of war, independence, and government, both in the United States and abroad. The blog consists of entries dating from 2009 to the present.
Subjects
Genres
People
Donors
Conditions Governing Access
Box 11 contains sensitive financial documents and materials protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) that are restricted. The electronic file "Correspondence - Lori Ann Zarlenga -- Medical Records" contains material protected under HIPAA and is also restricted. The remaining materials in the collection are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Cindy Sheehan, the creator of this collection, were relinquished and transferred to the public domain in 2016 by Cindy Sheehan. These materials are governed by a Creative Commons CC0 license, which permits publication and reproduction of materials accompanied by full attribution. See, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Cindy Sheehan Papers; TAM 715; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
To cite the archived website in this collection: Identification of item, date; Cindy Sheehan Papers; TAM 715; Wayback URL; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Cindy Sheehan in 2016. The accession number associated with this gift is 2018.088.
http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/ was initially selected by curators and captured through the use of Archive-it in 2017. The accession number associated with this website is 2017.029. Archive-It uses web crawling technology to capture websites at a scheduled time and displays only an archived copy, from the resulting WARC file, of the website. In 2020, https://cindysheehanssoapbox.podbean.com/ was added. The accession number associated with this URL is 2021.053. In 2022, https://cindysheehan.substack.com/ was added. The accession number associated with this URL is 2022.087.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Advance notice is required for the use of computer records. Original physical digital media is restricted. Born-digital materials have not been transferred and may not be available to researchers. Researchers may request access copies. To request that material be transferred, or if you are unsure if material has been transferred, please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
Take Down Policy
Archived websites are made accessible for purposes of education and research. NYU Libraries have given attribution to rights holders when possible; however, due to the nature of archival collections, we are not always able to identify this information.
If you hold the rights to materials in our archived websites that are unattributed, please let us know so that we may maintain accurate information about these materials.
If you are a rights holder and are concerned that you have found material on this website for which you have not granted permission (or is not covered by a copyright exception under US copyright laws), you may request the removal of the material from our site by submitting a notice, with the elements described below, to the special.collections@nyu.edu.
Please include the following in your notice: Identification of the material that you believe to be infringing and information sufficient to permit us to locate the material; your contact information, such as an address, telephone number, and email address; a statement that you are the owner, or authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed and that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; a statement that the information in the notification is accurate and made under penalty of perjury; and your physical or electronic signature. Upon receiving a notice that includes the details listed above, we will remove the allegedly infringing material from public view while we assess the issues identified in your notice.
Separated Materials
During processing, a large selection of commercially published books, DVDs, and CDs were removed from the collection. Several digital video files were also removed from the collection due to copyright.
About this Guide
Processing Information
At the time of accessioning, materials were placed in new acid-free folders and boxes. One notebook with mold was cleaned, and re-filed into Box 6. In 2021-2022, additional archived websites were added to the finding aid. In 2022-2023, content warnings in the scope and content note regarding misinformation and transphobia on her blog. In May 2023, crawling ceased on her websites.
During summer 2022, the Cindy Sheehan Papers were processed at the file level and related materials were grouped together. The collection was rehoused into acid-free folders and boxes. Some original titles were maintained, however, due to the vague description of most origintal titles, more specific titles were applied, when possible. During processing, duplicate materials were discarded and commercially published materials were removed from the collection.
New York University Libraries follow professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the content. 10 optical disks were forensically imaged using FTK Imager, Exact Audio Copy, and Isobusters Pro. After being analyzed by an archivist, 6 of the disks were eventually deaccessioned either due to copyright or lack of data on the disk.
File titles were reviewed by the processing archivist and when identified as restricted, these materials were physically separated and stored in a designated restricted box (Box 11). The electronic file associated with "Correspondence - Lori Ann Zarlenga -- Medical Records" contains material protected under HIPAA and was also restricted.
Revisions to this Guide
Repository
View Inventory
22nd Kelly McGillis Classic (Special Guest - Cindy Sheehan), 2013
2014 Gubernatorial Election, 2014
2014 Gubernatorial Election - Donation Reports, 2008-2009, inclusive
2014 Gubernatorial Election - Report of Receipts, 2008-2009, inclusive
2014 Gubernatorial Election - Pin, 2014
AAFIA - A National Call for an Innocent Woman (Dr. Aafia Siddiqui), undated
Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism, 2015
Anti-War Flyers and Brochures, 2007-2009, inclusive
Anti-War Pins, undated
Anti-War Posters, 2001, 2006, inclusive
Arthur J. Jones, undated
Articles Written by Cindy Sheehan, 2004-2005, inclusive
Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association - 6th Annual API Forum, 2007
Beyond Iraq - Building the Beloved Community, 2005
Birthday Card to Cindy Sheehan, undated
Breaking the Silence - Facing the Real Costs of War Organizing for a Just Future, undated
Calendars, 2006
Camp Casey - Correspondence, 2007
Camp Casey - Diary, 1998
Camp Casey - Florida Notebook, undated
Camp Casey - Phoenix, AZ Banner, 2005
Camp Casey - Photograph, 2005
Camp Casey - Portraits, undated
Camp Casey - Poster, undated
Camp Casey - Property Deed, 2007
Campaign Against Pelosi Notebooks, 2008
Carol Troyer-Shank Notebook, 2005
Casey's Legacy by Daniel Dupuis, 2007
Digital materials
Casey Sheehan - Grave Photograph, undated
Casey Sheehan - Notebook Honoring Service, undated
Casey Sheehan - Photograph, undated
Cindy for Congress - Photographs, 2008
Cindy Sheehan 2008 Campaign Flyer, 2008
Cindy Sheehan's Birth Day Certificate, 2005
Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox - Correspondence, 2013-2014, inclusive
Cindy Sheehan Speeches, undated
"Close Guantanamo" Postcards, undated
Code Pink Decorative Pin, undated
Columbus, Ohio Vigil Photographs, undated
Common Ground Relief, 2006
Congressman Charles Rangel, 2005
Correspondence, 2004-2014, inclusive
Correspondence - Linda Auxer, 2006
Correspondence - Lori Ann Zarlenga, 2007
Correspondence - Lori Ann Zarlenga -- Legal Papers, 1998, 2000-2001, 2006-2007, inclusive
Digital materials
RESTRICTED Correspondence - Lori Ann Zarlenga -- Medical Records, 2004-2005, inclusive
Correspondence - New Hampshire, undated
Correspondence - State of Utah to Cindy Sheehan, undated
Correspondence - Sunflower Sketch from Mark Smith, undated
Correspondence - U.S. Government to Sheehans about Death of Casey Sheehan, 2004
Crawford Peace House, undated
Digital materials
Crawford Peace House - Correspondence, 2005
Crawford Peace House - Photographs, undated
Current Biography (article about Cindy Sheehan), 2007
Dear President (Cindy Sheehan) (Arabic), undated
"Dear President Bush" (Cindy Sheehan), 2005
Directory of Cindy Sheehan Supporters, undated
The Eagle's Own Plume - Poems on Iraq, 2006
Eugene V. Debs Award Honoring Cindy Sheehan, 2016
Eyes Wide Open - An Exhibition on the Human Cost of the Iraq War, 2005
Eyes Wide Open Exhibit Photographs, 2005
Global Women's Rights Award, 2006
"Greetings from Camp Casey" Postcard Poster, undated
Gold Star Families for Peace - Correspondence, 2006-2007, inclusive
The History of the Bush Presidency in Cartoons (includes cartoons about Cindy Sheehan), 2005
Holistic Lifestyles Institute New College, 2012-2013, inclusive
Houston Peace and Justice Center Awards, 2007
Digital materials
I Left My Marbles in San Francisco (Cindy Sheehan), 2013
Impeachment and Trial Notebook, 2006
Inspire: Princeton Theological Seminary Magazine (article about Sheehan), 2005
"La Nobile Causa", 2005
Learning Journey in Detroit, 2012
Lebanon Banner, undated
Legendaria Magazine (article about Cindy Sheehan), 2005
Mamma Pace (Peace Mom Italian Edition) (Cindy Sheehan), 2006
"Messages to Cindy" Notebook, undated
Michael K. Green, 1998, 2006-2007, inclusive
Mid South Peace and Justice Center, 2009
Military Personnel - Reporting additional Servicemember Demographics Could Enhance Congressional Oversight, 2005
Military Voices Against Endless War and Occupation, undated
Mothers Acting Up (MAU), 2006
"Mother to the Lost Innocents", 2001
Myth America Tour, 2009
Newspaper Clippings, 1982-2016, inclusive
Nightline - Iraq: Why Stay? Ticket, 2005
Not One More Mother's Child (Cindy Sheehan), 2005
Notebooks, 2006-2009, inclusive
Notebook and Loose Notes, undated
The Obama Files (Cindy Sheehan), 2015
Peace House by Cheryl Frances, 2006
Peace Not Poverty, 2005
Peace Prayer Sculptor Aiqiu Hopen - Photographs, undated
Peacemaking, 2008
People Magazine (article about Cindy Sheehan), 2005
Photographs, undated
Power to the People Certificate to Cindy Sheehan, 2008
Press List for Cindy, 2006
Protest Bumper Stickers, 2008
Protest Photograph, 2006
Ray O'Light Newsletter, 2011-2012, 2014-2016, inclusive
Ron Paul, 1999, 2003, inclusive
SACALT - Sacramento's Alternative Magazine (article about Cindy Sheehan), 2013
Sing Shalom! New Prophet Voices, 2006
"Take Me Home" - A Sampler of American Artists for Peace, undated
Tales from the White Dog Café, 2005
Thomas Merton Award Dinner, 2005
Tikkun Magazine, 2007
Time Magazine - A Year in Review (article about Cindy Sheehan), 2006
Tour de Peace, 2013
United States of America v. Cindy Sheehan (Court of Appeals), 2007
U.S. Citizens for Peace and Justice, undated
Veterans for Peace, 2004
The Vigil - 26 Days in Crawford, Texas (forward by Cindy Sheehan), 2005
Violation of US Citizen's Human and Constitutional Rights, 2003
Voices of a People's History of the United States, 2005
A War in Iraq and the Requirement of Moral Certainty (Center for Christian Nonviolence), undated
War is a Racket (Smedley D. Butler, forward by Cindy Sheehan), 2003, 2010, inclusive
War Tax Resistance - A Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military, 2003
White Privilege Conference, 2009
Archived Websites, March 2017-April 2023, inclusive
Extent
Scope and Contents
Websites for Cindy Sheehan's blog and online radio show, called the Soapbox. The blog dates back to 2009, but capture of the website began in 2017. Topics touched on by the radio show and blog include anti-war activism, United States militarism, environmental activism, war tax resistance, critique on President Barack Obama (including publicity for her book the Obama Files), nonviolent intervention, American imperialism, healthcare reform, Women's March on the Pentagon, establishment politics, and local politics in California. The radio show was also occassionally hosted by Irene Sanchez, Matt Sedillo, and Dakotah Lilly. It also includes the Revolutionary Organization of Labor (Ray O'Light) newsletter. In 2022, Sheehan stopped publishing on the Blogspot blog and began publishing on Substack, a newsletter platform. The substack contains episodes of her podcast, her video series with Dakota Lilly titled Shee-Lilly, and blog posts related to anti-capitalism and the anti-war movement.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sheehan published personal accounts of her experience with the pandemic and misinformation about the coronavirus.
Additionally, multiple posts on her Substack include transphobic language.
Appraisal
Robots.txt (a piece of code designed to limit crawler activity within a website) was ignored with the permission of the content owner. Crawl was limited to domains and subdomains of http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com in order to remain within the collection scope and data constraints.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Due to technical or privacy issues, archived websites may not be exact copies of the original website at the time of the web crawl. Certain file types will not be captured dependent on how they are embedded in the site. Other parts of websites that the crawler has difficulty capturing includes Javascript, streaming content, database-driven content, and highly interactive content. Full-Text searches of archived websites are available at https://archive-it.org/organizations/567.
Externally hosted content
https://wayback.archive-it.org/8619/*/http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/
Externally hosted content
https://wayback.archive-it.org/8619/*/https://cindysheehanssoapbox.podbean.com/
Externally hosted content
https://wayback.archive-it.org/8619/*/https://cindysheehan.substack.com/
