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National Rosenberg Defence Committee records
2007C10  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Access
  • Use
  • Acquisition Information
  • Preferred Citation
  • Historical Note
  • Scope and Content of Collection

  • Title: National Rosenberg Defence Committee records
    Date (inclusive): 1952-1954
    Collection Number: 2007C10
    Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
    Language of Material: English
    Physical Description: 2 manuscript boxes (0.8 Linear Feet)
    Abstract: Minutes, correspondence, press releases, circulated material, pamphlets, clippings, and a photograph relating to the espionage trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
    Creator: National Rosenberg Defence Committee (Great Britain)
    Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives

    Access

    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

    Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2007.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], National Rosenberg Defence Committee records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

    Historical Note

    The National Rosenberg Defence Committee was an organization created in England, most likely during 1952, as a result of the publicity surrounding the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Maintaining contact with the New York based Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case, this organization sought to enlist the support of the British public in the drive to obtain clemency for the Rosenbergs. Members of the committee included Felicity Whittaker, Percy Belcher, Rev. Stanley Evans, and D.N. Pritt, QC. In addition to writing letters to the editors of various leftist, union, and Jewish publications around Britain, they sought public support through sponsoring rallies in London, letter writing campaigns targeted at U.S. leaders, and other forms of protest. In one such letter writing campaign, they enlisted the support of many well-known British authors, including Graham Greene, Dylan Thomas, Sean O'Casey, and a host of others.
    Following the execution of the Rosenbergs, the National Rosenberg Defence Committee sponsored a new fund to benefit their two sons. The group organized a meeting the following month to serve as a fundraiser for this new undertaking, and the following year, on the one-year anniversary of the execution of the Rosenbergs, they held another commemorative meeting in London.

    Scope and Content of Collection

    The collection contains minutes, correspondence, press releases, circulated material, pamphlets, clippings, and a photograph, relating to the espionage trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Espionage, Russian -- United States
    Civil rights -- Great Britain
    Rosenberg, Julius, 1918-1953
    Rosenberg, Ethel, 1915-1953