The Benedict Collection was originally called University of Nevada’s Contemporary Issues Collection and it was founded and curated by Russell G. Benedict. He collected periodicals, clippings, pamphlets, brochures and books focusing on the Civil Rights Movement, organized labor activities anti-Communist groups and extremist groups on either side of the political spectrum who targeted particular racial or religious groups or activities in hate literature and/or violent actions. His goal was to broaden the education of the university's students about the essential nature and broad implications of freedom of speech, freedom of association, and political activism. He wrote letters to extremist groups such as the Wide Awake Anti-Communist Crusade to the Cossack Combatants Association requesting literature for students; that he was a “dissatisfied old man, aiding students to be more accurately informed, more vigilant, and more worthily out-spoken”.

The Benedict Collection was originally called University of Nevada’s Contemporary Issues Collection and it was founded and curated by Russell G. Benedict. He had worked in Los Angeles as a business representative for the International Association of Machinists for many years and moved to Nevada in the late 1940s where he wrote a column on labor unions for a northern Nevada labor paper. He began the collection in the early 1960s after having been approached by the library director, Dave Heron, and offered a volunteer position in the library. In March, 1980 the complete Benedict Collection was acquired as a gift donation from the University of Nevada Reno by CSUF. Mr. Benedict had been in declining health and his eyesight was failing which precluded him from continuing to work on the collection. The University of Nevada, Reno sought a more appropriate home for the collection because its focus did not fall within the local history emphasis of UNR's Special Collections Department's collection policy.

294 Document boxes and 9 lateral file drawers

Property rights reside with the California State University, Fullerton University Archives and Special Collections. No part of an audio tape or manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the University Archives and Special Collections, California State University, Fullerton. Requests for permission to quote from these materials should be addressed to: California State University, Fullerton University Archives and Special Collections 800 N. State College, PLS-352 Fullerton, CA 92834-3599, (657) 278-3444. Permission requests for photograph use can be made by the completion of an Application for use-images form.

Open for research.