These are the personal papers of Helen Travis, a journalist, teacher and political activist. The collection includes correspondence, travel journals, travel and family photographs. The bulk of the collection is comprised of copies of FBI, CIA, State Department and U.S. Department of the Treasury files on Helen Travis. There is also a brief and clippings relating to the case Travis vs. U.S.A. which decided that the passports of U.S. citizens could not be revoked for traveling in countries restricted by the U.S. State Department.

Helen Levi Travis was born in New York City on September 3, 1916. Raised in a secular Jewish family, she attended Barnard College and graduated in 1937. In 1934, at the end of her freshman year she took a student tour to the Soviet Union. After college she had jobs as a journalist, English teacher and a production line worker. But her main activities were as an activist working for peace and social justice in Detroit and later in Los Angeles. She married Robert Travis, a militant union organizer who led the Flint sit-down strike in 1936-1937, that led to General Motors finally recognizing the United Auto Workers Union.

3 cartons,

3 linear feet

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