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Evers (Williamson M.) papers
87011  
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Table of contents What's This?
  • Access
  • Use
  • Acquisition Information
  • Preferred Citation
  • Biographical Note
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Index of Major Groups
  • Related Collections

  • Title: Williamson M. Evers papers
    Date (inclusive): 1952-2013
    Collection Number: 87011
    Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
    Language of Material: English
    Physical Description: 227 manuscript boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 1 floppy disk, 1 optical disk (115.5 Linear Feet)
    Abstract: Bulletins, newsletters, clippings, election campaign literature, serial issues, minutes, correspondence, reports, memoranda, manuals, curricular material, and photographs relating to libertarian thought in the United States, activities of the Libertarian Party, and Libertarian Party electoral campaigns, especially the 1984 campaign of David Bergland for president of the United States; establishment of academic standards for California public schools; and national educational policy in the United States.
    Creator: Evers, Williamson M.
    Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives

    Access

    Box 218 closed. Boxes OCM6, FH18, 22, 78-80, 84, 99, and 108-110 may not be used without permission of the Archivist. The remainder of the collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

    Use

    For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

    Acquisition Information

    Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in increments between 1987 and 2012.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Williamson M. Evers papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

    Biographical Note

    An American libertarian and member of the Libertarian Party National Committee, Evers served as chair for the Libertarian Party of California, national campaign manager for Bergland for President Committee in 1984, and as a member of the California Commission for the Establishment of Academic Content and Performance Standards from 1996 to 1998.

    Biographical Chronology

    1997-2004 President, East Palo Alto Charter School Board of Directors
    1998-2007 Member, Math Content Review Panel, Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program
    1999- Member, Koret Task Force on K-12 Education, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
    1999-2001 Education Policy Advisor, George W. Bush 2000 presidential campaign
    1999-2007 Member, California History-Social Science Project Advisory Board
    2001-2002 Member, National Educational Research Policy and Priorities Board
    2001-2007 Member, White House Commission on Presidential Scholars
    2002 Co-recipient, Koret Prize
    2003 Senior Adviser for Education to L. Paul Bremer of the Iraq Coalition Provisional Authority
    2004 Co-editor, Testing Student Learning, Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness
    2004-2007 Member, Santa Clara County Board of Education
    2007 Senior Advisor to Margaret Spellings, United States Secretary of Education
    2007-2009 Assistant Secretary, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, United States Department of Education
    2010 Appointed by Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California State Academic Content Standards Commission

    Scope and Content of Collection

    The papers document the career of Williamson M. Evers, a political scientist, editor, campaign manager for Libertarian presidential candidate David Bergland, Hoover Institution fellow, and member of the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education. The collection contains documents related to libertarian thought in the United States, activities of the Libertarian Party, Libertarian Party electoral campaigns, the establishment of academic standards for California public schools, and national educational policy in the United States. Although the collection has not been arranged into series, an index to major groups of material exists for this collection; however, not all materials are represented in these groups.
    Evers was a political science student at Stanford University, beginning his study for a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1966 and earning his Ph.D. from the university in 1978. His files document activism and student protests on the Stanford campus during the late 1960s and early 1970s, a time that saw ROTC recruitment at the university and the first use of police as a response to protests on the Stanford campus. During 1969, students protested weapons research conducted at the Stanford Research Institute. They adopted the name "April 3rd Movement" for their demonstrations, named after a series of meetings beginning on that date which led to a sit-in at the Applied Electronics Laboratory (boxes 18 and 19). The activism file documents this movement, as well as the case of H. Bruce Franklin, a Stanford professor who was fired based on charges of disrupting a speech delivered by Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. and inciting an occupation of the Stanford Computation Center in 1971. Documents on the New Left and Students for a Democratic Society can be found in this file.
    Evers was a member of the Libertarian Party, joining the Libertarian National Committee in 1975 and becoming a member of that group's Publications Committee in 1977. The Libertarian file includes material on the Libertarian Party (especially the Libertarian Party of California), other Libertarian organizations, and materials from related groups, with letters from Murray Rothbard (box 68) and Libertarian Party founder David Nolan. The collection includes material on the Libertarian Party Radical Caucus and its publication Libertarian Vanguard, which ran Evers' "Bouquets and Brickbats" column. Evers was a board member for the Center for Libertarian Studies (CLS), an organization founded by Murray Rothbard and Burton Blumert in 1976. Documents from the Libertarian Scholars Conference, which was the origin of the CLS, can be found in this file. Also included are newsletters from various county and state Libertarian groups, as well as the files of Mary Gingell, who served as chair of the Libertarian Party of California and national vice chair of the Libertarian Party.
    In 1980, Evers campaigned as the Libertarian Party candidate for the House of Representatives in the 12th Congressional District of California, outpolling the Democratic candidate in San Mateo County. Evers took an anti-draft and anti-inflation stance in his campaign, arguing that cutting federal spending and balancing the budget would curb inflation. Materials from his campaign include campaign literature, correspondence, and voting research (boxes 6, 20-22, and 77).
    Evers was the campaign manager for David Bergland's 1984 presidential campaign. Documents from the Ed Clark presidential campaign of 1980 can be found throughout the Bergland campaign files (boxes 4, 6, 7-11, 13, 23, 55, 72, and 75).
    In addition to his activities in the Libertarian Party, Evers was involved in various education initiatives, including the creation of education standards for the state of California. From 1996 to 1998, Evers served on the California State Commission for the Establishment of Academic Content and Performance Standards, also known as the Academic Standards Commission, a group that developed California's first academic standards for grades K through 12. This file includes drafts of standards and materials related to the acceptance of those standards by the California State Board of Education.
    Evers was a member of the Honest Open Logical Debate (HOLD) on Math Reform, a group that argued against mathematics curriculum changes in the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD). This file includes material from HOLD that documents debates over math curriculum, as well as clippings, correspondence, and campaign literature related to school board elections.
    In addition to those groups, Evers was a member of the content review panel of the California 2005 History-Social Science Adoption, a program that led to the adoption of instructional materials aligning with content standards for history and social science education in California. Included in this file are instructional materials reviewed by this panel, such as textbooks from "Reflections: California Series" published by Harcourt School Publishers.
    The collection includes material on charter schools in California. Evers was president of the board of directors of the East Palo Alto Charter School from 1997 to 2004. This file includes meeting materials of the board and discussions of a merger with the Aspire Public Schools network. In addition, the Santa Clara County Office of Education file contains materials related to charter schools, such as charter petitions, as well as meeting materials of the Santa Clara County Board of Education.
    His work in education led Evers to become an education policy advisor to George W. Bush during Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, when Evers served on a transition advisory team. The George W. Bush administration and campaign file includes materials concerning Bush's education policy, as well as documents related to the 2000 presidential campaign.
    Sources: Lyman, Richard W. "The Troubles at Stanford: Student Uprisings in the 1960s and '70s." Sandstone & Tile. Winter 2011: 3-14.

    Index of Major Groups

    An index of major groups has been created to draw attention to common groups of materials and their physical location within the collection.
    Box Numbers Groups
    1-16, 20-24, 26, 31-106, 108-111, 138, 146-148 Libertarian file, 1953-1998.

    Includes materials related to the Libertarian Party, Libertarian organizations, or related groups. Materials include campaign literature, correspondence, memoranda, serial issues, clippings, newsletters, conference materials, advertisements, financial reports, videotapes, and bylaws. Includes documents related to Evers' campaign for Congress in 1980 and the 1984 David Bergland presidential campaign.
    17-19, 27-31 Activism file, 1961-1980.

    Includes printed matter, flyers, newsletters, clippings, notes, and writings (including articles by Evers) related to activist groups, especially student activist groups at Stanford University. Includes New Left and Students for a Democratic Society material. For Stanford Libertarian groups, see the Libertarian file.
    158-160 Cato Institute file, 1973-1980.

    Includes correspondence, clippings, and writings related to Inquiry and to staffing. See also Libertarian file, boxes 5, 13, 14, 20, 50, and 78-79.
    155-156, 162-169, 171, 207 Palo Alto Unified School District file, 1974-2006 (bulk 1994-2000).

    Includes material related to Honest Open Logical Debate (HOLD) on math reform and other materials documenting disagreements over math curriculum. Includes clippings, correspondence, and campaign literature related to election of members to the school board.
    112-137, 139 Commission for the Establishment of Academic Content and Performance Standards (1996-1998) file, 1992-2000.

    Includes drafts of academic standards for California schools, memoranda, correspondence, meeting materials, comments on standards, public hearings, and materials concerning acceptance of standards by the California State Board of Education. The commission active from 1996 to 1998.
    153-154 East Palo Alto Charter School file, 1994-2004.

    Includes minutes and meeting materials of the board of directors, including discussion of the merger with Aspire Public Schools, clippings, and reports of the School Futures Research Foundation.
    140-145 George W. Bush administration and presidential campaign file, 1999-2001.

    Includes clippings, correspondence, and Republican National Convention conference materials related to Bush's 2000 presidential campaign and to education policy.
    204-207 California History-Social Science Project (CHSSP) file, 1996-2006.

    Includes meeting materials, correspondence, reports, and lesson plans for CHSSP, which was part of the California Subject Matter Project.
    150-153 Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) file, 1989-2002.

    Includes reports, correspondence, clippings, and sample test questions related to a performance test given to 3rd, 5th, and 8th graders in Maryland and a study commissioned by the Abell Foundation to analyze the test.
    170-183, 201-203, 210 Santa Clara County Office of Education file, 2002-2007.

    Includes charter school petitions, manuals, clippings, correspondence, and meeting materials of the Santa Clara County Board of Education.
    208, 211-217 California 2005 History-Social Science Adoption file, 2000-2007.

    Includes instructional material, such as textbooks, readers, and teacher guidebooks, reviewed during the textbook adoption.
    185-199, 201-203, 210 United States Department of Education file, 2000-2008.

    Includes reports, budget plans, and meeting materials and reports of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel.
    38, 67, 106, 112, 138, 148-149 184, 191, 208, 211, 214, 217 Audiovisual material, 1985-2007, undated.

    Includes compact sound cassettes, videotapes, photographs, and CD-Rs, and CD-ROMs. Descriptions are transcribed from labels on media; accuracy may vary.

    Related Collections

    Libertarian Party of California records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives

    Ed Clark papers, Hoover Institution

    Lawrence Samuels collection, Hoover Institution Library & Archives

    Center for Libertarian Studies records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives

    Roy A. Childs papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives

    Jeffrey Friedman papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives

    June R. Genis papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives

    Scott M. Olmsted papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives

    Karl Peterjohn papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Free enterprise
    Libertarianism -- United States
    Education -- United States
    Presidents -- United States -- Election -- 1984
    Education -- California
    Bergland, David
    Libertarian Party
    California. Commission for the Establishment of Academic Content and Performance Standards