Walter Goldwater Radical Pamphlet Collection
Collection Information
Size of the Collection
Over 17,000 volumes.
History of this Collection
The Library established the Radical Pamphlet Collection in 1966 with a collection of pamphlets purchased from Walter Goldwater, a book dealer who specialized in radical politics, and who was also one of the first book dealers to specialize in African American Studies. The collection sat uncataloged for nearly thirty years, but in the mid-1990s the Library developed a streamlined method for cataloging pamphlets and resumed collecting in this area. The collection grew substantially with increased coverage of political issues and expanded to the present day. In memory of the source of the first acquisition, the collection was named for Walter Goldwater.
Overview/Highlights of Collection
While the initial radical pamphlet collection focused mainly on the American and British Radical Left, it also included a smaller number of Right wing materials, such as the pamphlets of Charles Coughlin and other far right political writers from the late 19th century and the first half of the twentieth century. A substantial number of far right pamphlets were added to the collection in more recent years as described in our description of the Far Right Political Movements and Social Issues Collections described above.
Collection Strengths
Radical Left Political Movements and Social Issues
Books, pamphlets, periodicals, and ephemera documenting a wide range of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century leftwing political, social, and cultural issues and movements throughout the world. The Collection is strongest in American Old Left and New Left issues. Topics in this research collection include: the history of Socialism and Communism, Free Thought, Social Protest, American Counterculture, Anarchism, Underground Press and Alternative Periodicals, Student and Campus Protest Movements including the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, the Vietnam War Protest, the Black Power Movement, Sexual Revolution, Pacifist and Peace Movements, Communes and Utopian Thought, Eco-terrorism and Radical Environmentalism, Third World Liberation Movements, and the Anti-Globalization Movement.
Far Right Political Movements and Social Issues.
Books, pamphlets, periodicals, and ephemera documenting a wide range of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century rightwing political, social, and cultural issues and movements in America. Topics in these research collection include the published record of a number of groups on the far right extremes of political, social, cultural and religious discourse. Topics in this research collection include Fascism, Nazism and Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists, Ku Klux Klan, Racism and Segregationists, Hate Groups, Skinheads, Holocaust Denial, Anti-Semitism, Domestic Terrorism, Religious Extremism and Cults, Aryan Nations, Christian Identity Movement, and Conspiracy Theories.