Finding Aid for the Frances R. Eisenberg Los Angeles City Schools Loyalty Oath Collection, ca. 1946-1958
Processed by Saundra Taylor; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé
© 2004
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Finding Aid for the Frances R. Eisenberg Los Angeles City Schools Loyalty Oath Collection, ca. 1946-1958
Collection number: 1078
UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections
Manuscripts Division
Los Angeles, CA
- Processed by:
- Saundra Taylor, May 1970
- Encoded by:
- Alight Tsai, May 2004
- Encoding supervision and revision by:
- Caroline Cubé, May 2004
- Online finding aid edited by:
- Josh Fiala, May 2004
© 2004 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Frances R. Eisenberg Los Angeles City Schools Loyalty Oath Collection,
Date (inclusive): ca. 1946-1958
Collection number: 1078
Creator:
Eisenberg, Frances R., 1905-
Extent:
11 boxes (5.5 linear ft.)
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library.
Department of Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Abstract: Frances R. Eisenberg was an English and journalism teacher at Canoga Park High School in Los Angeles, California. She was
charged with teaching communism in her classes in 1940s, and during the early 1950s, as an English teacher at Fairfax High
School, she was charged with disloyalty, and fired for failure to answer questions before the state senate fact-finding committee
on un-American activities in California. She was also an active member and executive officer of the Los Angeles chapter of
the American Federation of Teachers during the 1940s-50s, and chairman of the Teachers Defense Committee in 1954. The collection
consists of correspondence, clippings, ephemera, and mimeographed and printed materials relating to Eisenberg and the Los
Angeles city schools loyalty oath controversy during the early 1950s, materials relating to accusations against Eisenberg
in the 1940s, as well as tapes of the December 1953 school board hearings involving subpoenaed teachers. The collection also
includes material on the Teachers Defense Committee and the Los Angeles chapter of the American Federation of Teachers.
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including
copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds
the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Restrictions on Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Frances R. Eisenberg, 1969.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Frances R. Eisenberg Los Angeles City Schools Loyalty Oath Collection (Collection 1078). Department
of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography
Frances R. Eisenberg was an English and journalism teacher at Canoga Park High School in Los Angeles, California; she was
charged with teaching communism in her classes in 1940s; during the early 1950s as an English teacher at Fairfax High School,
she was charged with disloyalty; was fired for failure to answer questions before the state senate fact-finding committee
on un-American activities in California; she was an active member and executive officer of the Los Angeles chapter of the
American Federation of Teachers during the 1940s-50s, and chairman of the Teachers Defense Committee in 1954.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of correspondence, clippings, ephemera, and mimeographed and printed materials relating to high school
teacher Frances R. Eisenberg and the Los Angeles city schools loyalty oath controversy during the early 1950s. Also contains
materials relating to accusations against Eisenberg in the 1940s, as well as tapes of the December 1953 school board hearings
involving subpoenaed teachers. The collection also includes material on the Teachers Defense Committee and the Los Angeles
chapter of the American Federation of Teachers.
Expanded Scope and Content Note
This collection consists of correspondence, clippings, memeographed and printed materials relating to the Los Angeles City
Schools loyalty oath controversy during the early 1950s. Mrs. Eisenberg, an English teacher at Fairfax High School, was one
of the teachers charged with “disloyalty” and fired for failure to answer questions before the State Senate fact-finding committee
on un-American activities in California.
The collection is strong in material on the Teachers Defense Committee and on the Los Angeles chapter of the American Federation
of Teachers. Mrs. Eisenberg was chairman of the former group in 1954, and an active member and executive officer of the union
during the 1940's and 50's. In addition to the materials connected with these two groups, Mrs. Bisenberg also collected and
clipped materials dealing with the loyalty question, academic freedom, and education matters in general in all parts of the
country. Thus the last seven boxes of the collection consist entirely of clippings and various publications.
Frances Eisenberg, an alumnus of UCLA, gave the papers to the library in the early part of 1969. Prior to teaching at Fairfax,
she was an English and Journalism teacher at Canoga High in the San Fernando Valley. The first box of the collection concerns
her years there in the 1940s and a charge against her of teaching communism in her classes.
Organization and Arrangement
Arranged in the following series:
- Canoga Park High School Eisenberg case and memorabilia (Box 1).
- 1953 loyalty cases: the teachers fight back (Box 2).
- Los Angeles Federation of Teachers & Teachers Defense Committee (Boxes 3-4).
- Clippings (Boxes 5-10).
- Pamphlets and miscellaneous publications (Box 11).
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Eisenberg, Frances R., 1905- --Archives.
American Federation of Teachers.
Los Angeles Unified School District.
Teachers--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources.
Loyalty oaths--California--Los Angeles.
Anti-communist movements--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources.
Canoga Park High School - the Eisenberg Case & Memorabilia
Correspondence, 1946-1956
Box 1, Folder 8
Miscellaneous, not relating to the case, 1943-1956.
Box 1, Folder 9
Printed material
re case, October 1946-February 1947.
Box 1, Folder 10
Statements, testimony, etc.
re case.
Box 1, Folder 11
Miscellaneous and fragments.
Box 1, Folder 12
“Regarding charges of racial prejudices in schools.” June 1948.
Physical Description: 12 leaves.
Box 1, Folder 14
Articles by Frances R. Eisenberg; pictures from Canoga High Journalism class.
Box 1, Folder 15
Memorabilia - CPHS Skits, songs, etc.
Box 1, Folder 16
Miscellaneous memorabilia - CPHS.
1953 Loyalty Cases - Teachers Fight Back
Box 2, Folder 1
Eisenberg memorabilia - Fairfax High, 1950s.
Scope and Content Note
Includes 1 tape of B-10 English classes doing phone conversations.
Box 2, Folder 2
Articles and speeches by F. Eisenberg, ca. 1953-1955 (in connection with the charges against teachers).
Box 2, Folder 3
Discharged teachers, 1953, clippings.
Box 2, Folder 4
Statements of fired teachers.
Box 2, Folder 5
Correspondence, and manuscript materials of Teachers' Defense Committee and Los Angeles Federation of Teachers.
Box 2, Folder 8
Hearings before the Board of Education, December 1953.
Physical Description: 3 copies.
Box 2, Folder 8
Speech by A.L. Wirin to T.D.C. (30 minutes) & teachers at a mass meeting.
Physical Description: 1 copy.
Los Angeles Federation of Teachers, 1950s
Box 3, Folder 1
Teachers fight back - F. Eisenberg's source material for journal.
Box 3, Folder 2
Defendents' brief. Superior Court of Los, Angeles County. Board of Education
vs. 5 teachers. Wirin, Rissman, Okrand attorneys.
Box 3, Folder 3
Correspondence and manuscripts.
L.A.F.T. - Local 430. Minutes of Meetings, 1946-1953
Box 3, Folder 7
L.A.F.T. - Local 430. - Union history.
Box 3, Folder 8
L.A.F.T. - Local 430. - Mimeographed materials.
Los Angeles Federation of Teachers (continued) & Teachers Defense Committee
Box 4, Folder 1
L.A.F.T. - Frances Eisenberg, Public relations.
L.A. Teacher: May 1944-October 1956
Physical Description: [incomplete]
Box 4, Folder 3
May 1944-May 1949.
Physical Description: [incomplete]
Box 4, Folder 4
September 1949-June 1950.
Box 4, Folder 6
October 1951-June 1952.
Physical Description: [2 copies]
Box 4, Folder 9
September 1954-June 1955.
Box 4, Folder 10
October 1955-October 1956.
Physical Description: [incomplete]
Box 4, Folder 11
California Teacher (vol.7, no.2-5, 7), 1954.
Box 4, Folder 12
Teachers Defense Committee, 1958-1959. Mimeographed material.
Box 4, Folder 13
Loyalty oath file - education oaths.
Box 4, Folder 15
Loyalty file - Recent cases (Dilworth act).
[Miscellaneous] Clippings, v.d.
Box 5
re teachers fight back, 1948-February 1953.
Box 6
re teachers fight back, March 1953-June 1954.
Box 8
Academic freedom.
Physical Description: (2 folders)
Box 8
Board of Education Election, Spring 1957 (Los Angeles Board).
Box 9
Los Angeles City school curriculum.
Box 9
Negro History School (including some correspondence).
Box 9
School tax problem (Federal aid to education).
Box 9
UNESCO.
Physical Description: (2 folders)
Pamphlets and Miscellaneous Publications
Box 11, Folder 1
American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.
Scope and Content Note
Including scattered issues of
Open Forum &
Civil Liberties.
Also, pamphlets published by ACLU.
Box 11, Folder 2
Citizens Committee to Preserve American Freedoms.
Box 11, Folder 3
Civil Liberties Committee of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.
Box 11, Folder 4
Emergency Civil-Liberties Committee.
Box 11, Folder 5
E.C.L.C
Rights (vol.1, no.8-vol.9, no.1).
Physical Description: [incomplete]
Box 11, Folder 6
Publications about the House Committee on Un-American activities.
Scope and Content Note
Also, a couple of HUAC publications.
Box 11, Folder 7
Miscellaneous ephemera publications.
Box 11, Folder 8
Miscellaneous pamphlets
re education.
Box 11, Folder 9
Miscellaneous pamphlets
re labor.
Box 11, Folder 10
Miscellaneous pamphlets, various subjects.
