Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Beyers, Robert West, 1931-2002
- Abstract:
- Speeches and writings, correspondence, notes, press releases, memoranda, and printed matter, relating to work of the Council of Federated Organizations (composed of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and other organizations) in carrying out a voter registration drive among black citizens of Mississippi in 1964, involvement of Northern college student volunteers, and attendant violence.
- Extent:
- 5 manuscript boxes (2.0 Linear Feet)
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Robert West Beyers papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Background
- Scope and content:
-
While Robert W. Beyers had a long and varied journalistic career as director of the Stanford University News Service and in other capacities, his papers in the Hoover Institution Library & Archives are narrowly focused on a single episode in that career, the Mississippi Summer Project of 1964. The project was sponsored by a number of civil rights organizations, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee foremost among them, grouped together as the Council of Federated Organizations. Its goal was to secure voter registration of black Mississippians and otherwise to promote improvement of their condition in what was widely considered to be the most thoroughly segregated state in the country.
The project depended heavily on college student volunteers from the North to carry out this work. Approximately forty Stanford University student volunteers participated in the project. Beyers, taking leave from his job, joined them as volunteer communications coordinator for four weeks in June and July 1964. The project predictably elicited strong opposition from the Mississippi power structure, including local law enforcement officers. Incidents of harassment, arrest, intimidation and violence culminated in the murder of three civil rights workers. Although concrete immediate achievements of the Mississippi Summer Project were limited, it did draw national attention to the condition of blacks in the Deep South and to the broader national civil rights movement.
The collection includes correspondence, internal memoranda, circulated materials and press clippings, documenting the project from a number of perspectives. These include the Stanford University community; the Council of Federated Organizations on the scene in Mississippi; the white Mississippian response, as seen from local newspaper coverage; and the national public reaction, as reflected in national press coverage.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Date Event 1931 Born, New York City1953 B.A., Cornell University1954-1955 Public relations director, U.S. National Student Association1956-1961 Assistant managing editor, University of Michigan News Service1961-1990 Director, Stanford University News Service1964 Volunteer communications coordinator, Mississippi Summer Project1990-1995 Volunteer associate editor, Pacific News Service2002 Died, Palo Alto, California - Acquisition information:
- Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives. Material in the papers was previously a part of the New Left Collection, Hoover Institution Library Archives.
- Physical location:
- Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
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.
- Terms of access:
-
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Robert West Beyers papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives
- Location of this collection:
-
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford UniversityStanford, CA 94305-6003, US
- Contact:
- (650) 723-3563