Vogel, Virgil J. Collection

This series contains correspondence, teaching materials, and writings of Virgil Vogel.

Files are arranged chronologically, spanning 1940-1977. The bulk of this series consists of manuscripts and proofs of his book This Country Was Ours: A Documentary History of the American Indian. Also included are manuscripts and clippings of writings for political publications, a bibliography on the history of American socialism, and teaching materials from his work in Chicago city colleges.

Additional political writing by Virgil Vogel was published in some of the periodicals found in Series VI. Vogel's correspondence related to political activities is found mainly in Series III and IV. Oversize proofs have been transferred to Series VIII: Subseries 1.

This series documents leftist political activities at University of Chicago from 1944-1970. Materials were collected by Virgil Vogel, first in his role as a politically active student, and later as an alumnus who was attentive to campus political events. Files are arranged chronologically and contains announcements, broadsides, clippings, memoranda, minutes, newsletters, and reports.

Earlier materials in this series represent a number of campus organizations that focused on issues such as labor, revolutionary movements, and civil liberties. Files from 1969-1970 pertain mainly to the 1969 student occupation of the Administration Building following the dismissal of Marlene Dixon, and the subsequent disciplinary proceedings. There is also a file on student participation in the 1970 National Student Strike, which was organized in response to the invasion of Cambodia and the killing of four students at Kent State University.

Of particular note are broadsides and announcements produced by student groups on campus. Also of interest are minutes of a regional YPSL meeting critiquing the activities of the Socialist Club at University of Chicago.

Series IV contains a small number of additional items related to the University of Chicago. A protest sign from the 1969 sit-in, as well as oversize material related to the National Student Strike, have been transferred to Series VIII: Subseries 2.

This series contains records of the Socialist Party (known during the 20th century as the Socialist Party of America, the Socialist Party-Social Democratic Federation, and Socialist Party USA).These records were collected by Benjamin Williger and Virgil Vogel through their activities with national, regional, state and local branches of the party.

This series is organized into five subseries:

Subseries 1: National Conventions and Conferences, consists mainly of convention and conference proceedings. Proceedings include agendas, ballots, bulletins, constitutions, minutes, platforms, reports, resolutions, and statements. Also included are related ballots, correspondence, drafts and notes. Files span 1919-1978 and are arranged chronologically by event. Most files are on the party's national conventions and conferences, which were held annually or biannually. There are also files on one-time conferences held to address specific issues or events. Of note is a report from the 1919 Emergency National Convention, during which the party's Left Wing Section split to form the Communist Labor Party of America.

Subseries 2: National Committees, contains agendas, broadsides, bulletins, correspondence, minutes, reports, resolutions, and statements. Files span 1938-1979 and are organized alphabetically by committee name. The bulk of material in this subseries consists of minutes of the National Action Committee, National Executive Committee, and National Committee. Minutes for these committees were occasionally circulated as one document: These documents are filed after National Action Committee minutes.

Subseries 3: National Membership, contains a wide variety of materials circulated for general communication within the Socialist Party and to the public. Included are bibliographies, ballots, bills, broadsides, bulletins, catalogues, circulars, clippings, constitutions, correspondence, manuals, news releases, pamphlets, reports, and statements. Files span the 1920s-1978 and are organized alphabetically.

Subseries 4: Socialist Party of Illinois, contains material related to state and local activities of the Socialist Party. Much of the content of this subseries relates to the activities of the State Executive Committee, meetings and events held by state and local branches, and the organization of conventions and conferences. Materials include announcements, broadsides, constitutions, correspondence, minutes, pamphlets, periodicals, and resolutions. Files span 1903-1976, but are concentrated in the 1930s-1960s. Files in this subseries are organized chronologically. Of particular interest are files documenting the intervention of the national party into Chicago local conflicts in the mid-1940s. Also of note are minute books describing the early development of the Socialist Party in the Chicago area.

Subseries 5: Other Branches, is a small group of files on socialist party branches outside of Illinois, as well as the Indiana-Illinois regional branch. Most of the materials in this subseries consist of announcements, broadsides, pamphlets and periodicals. Files on the Indiana-Illinois regional branch also contain correspondence, minutes, and convention proceedings. Files span 1939-1964 and are organized alphabetically by state.

Additional periodicals published by the Socialist Party and its affiliate organizations are in Series VI and VII. Records of the Young People's Socialist League, the party's youth affiliate, are in Series IV. Oversize periodicals, pamphlets, and a broadside have been transferred to Series VIII: Subseries 3.

This series contains records of the Young People's Socialist League, the youth group affiliated with the Socialist Party. These records were collected by Benjamin Williger and Virgil Vogel through their activities with national, regional, state and local branches of the party.

This series is organized into five subseries. Subseries 1 contains early material collected by Benjamin Williger. The remaining subseries contain material from the 1930s and later, collected mainly by Virgil Vogel.

Subseries 1: 1915-1922, documents the early development of the Young People's Socialist League from its launch in 1915, through the exit of the group's left wing faction in 1919, to reorganization in the early 1920s. Included are records of national YPSL activities, as well as files on state and local YPSL branches. Materials include affidavits, constitutions, correspondence, forms, leaflets, membership lists, minutes, publications, reports, resolutions and statements. Files are arranged alphabetically.

Subseries 2: National Conventions, consists mainly of convention proceedings. Proceedings include agendas, correspondence, handbooks, minutes, programs, reports, and resolutions. Also included are related notes, drafts, and organizational correspondence. Files span 1939-1949 and are arranged chronologically.

Subseries 3: National Committees, contains records of YPSL's National Executive Committee, its National Organization Committee, and the Socialist Party-Young People's Socialist League Coordinating Committee. Materials include agendas, correspondence, minutes, and reports. Files span 1937-1961 and are organized alphabetically by committee name.

Subseries 4: National Membership, contains materials circulated for general communication within YPSL and to the public. Included are announcements, broadsides, bulletins, circulars, clippings, constitutions, correspondence, directories, drafts, memoranda, minutes, newsletters, pamphlets, programs, reports, and statements. Files span 1936-1961 and are arranged alphabetically.

Subseries 5: Chicago, contains material generated by YPSL branches in Chicago. Included are announcements, broadsides, bulletins, circulars, constitutions, correspondence, handbills, minutes, motions, pamphlets, programs, reports, resolutions and statements. Files span 1939-1949 and are arranged alphabetically.

Additional periodicals published by YPSL and its affiliate organizations are in Series VI and VII. Oversize material, including early YPSL periodicals and educational course programs, have been transferred to Series VIII: Subseries 4.

This series consists of Benjamin Williger and Virgil Vogel's collections of material from a wide variety of international, national and and local political and social organizations. The content of these materials addresses such issues as civil rights, civil liberties, community organization, labor organization, leftist and radical political organization, nuclear disarmament, and pacifism.

Files span 1914-1980 and are arranged alphabetically. Materials include announcements, annual reports, broadsides, bulletins, circulars, pamphlets, periodicals, reports, and statements. Most files contain only one or a few items; however, there are substantial files on the Black Panther Party, the Campaign for Youth Needs, the Chicago Peace Council, the Committee for Nonviolent Revolution, Industrial Workers of the World, Students for a Democratic Society, the War Resisters League, and the Workers Defense League. Particularly well-represented in this series are socialist and communist movements of the 1930s-1940s, the New Left movement, and Chicago-area social and political organizations. Also of note is a collage portfolio produced by the National Urban League to commemorate the 1963 March on Washington.

Records of the Socialist Party and the Young People's Socialist League are in Series III and IV. Additional records of political and social organizations are in Series VI and VII. Oversize materials have been transferred to Series VIII: Subseries 5; included are early organizational materials from the Continental Congress of Workers and Farmers for Economic Reconstruction, a Marxist labor group organized by the Socialist Party.

This series contains periodicals collected by Benjamin Williger and Virgil Vogel. Many of these periodicals were published by organizations represented elsewhere in the collection, particularly the Socialist Party and the Young People's Socialist League. Files span 1932-1980 and are organized alphabetically.

Most of the material in this series consists of periodicals such as newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters and bulletins. Some files contain promotional items such as pamphlets and subscription cards. Most files contain only one or a few individual issues of a periodical. However, there are larger (though still incomplete) runs of Catholic Worker, Challenge!, Hammer and Tongs, The Humanist, Industrial Worker, Liberation, New America, News and Letters, Socialist Call, Socialist Review, Socialist Tribune, Student Socialist, Workmen's Circle Call, Young Socialist Review, YPSL Affairs, and YPSL Views.

Oversize periodicals, including large runs of Anvil, Arise, Black Panther, Fourth International, Industrial Worker, Labor Action, The New International, Socialist Tribune, Weekly People, Western Socialist, and Young Socialist Challenge, have been transferred to Series VIII: Subseries 6. Additional periodicals are found in Series III-V and VII.

This series consists of files that document specific topics or individuals. Files span 1918-1979 and are arranged alphabetically. Materials include broadsides, circulars, clippings, monographs, organizational constitutions and by-laws, pamphlets, periodicals, reprints, and transcripts. Of note is a set of files relating to community organization in Elmhurst, Illinois; these were presumably collected by Elmhurst resident Benjamin Williger. There are also large aggregations of files on international political affairs, the New Left, and race and ethnicity. Many of the files on race and ethnicity apparently pertain to Vogel's teaching and research on ethnic minorities in Chicago. One unusual item is a circa 1920s pamphlet promoting the so-called "convict ship" Success.

Oversize material has been transferred to Series VIII: Subseries 7. Most oversize material consists of newspapers and clippings. Of note are broadsides related to the White City Roller Rink protest, Maynard Krueger's 1948 Congressional campaign, and the Black Panther Party. Also included are materials from Vogel's teaching on race and ethnicity.

This series consists of oversize materials transferred from Series I-VII. Materials are organized into 7 subseries corresponding to Series I-VII.

Subseries 1: Virgil J. Vogel Papers, contains material transferred from Series I, consisting of proofs of This Country Was Ours and American Indian Medicine.

Subseries 2: University of Chicago, contains material transferred from Series II, including a poster from the 1969 sit-in, notes on other posters and signs observed at the sit-in, and broadsides and periodicals related to the 1970 National Student Strike.

Subseries 3: Socialist Party, contains material transferred from Series III, including periodicals, pamphlets and a broadside.

Subseries 4: Young People's Socialist League, contains material transferred from Series IV, consisting of periodicals and educational course programs.

Subseries 5: Organizations, consists of material transferred from Series V. Included are organizational materials from the founding of the Continental Congress of Workers and Farmers for Economic Reconstruction.

Subseries 6: Periodicals, consists of material transferred from Series VI. Included are large runs of Anvil, Arise, Black Panther, Fourth International, Industrial Worker, Labor Action, The New International, Socialist Tribune, Weekly People, Western Socialist, and Young Socialist Challenge, have been transferred to Series VIII: Subseries

Subseries 7: Subject Files, consists of material transferred from Series VII. Most oversize material consists of newspapers and clippings. Of note are broadsides related to the White City Roller Rink protest, Maynard Krueger's 1948 Congressional campaign, and the Black Panther Party. Also included are materials from Vogel's teaching on race and ethnicity.