Kenneth Gibson Fuller collection, 1960-1994

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Summary

Creators:
Fuller, Kenneth Gibson
Abstract:
The Kenneth Gibson Fuller collection contains leaflets, pamphlets, and serial issues, mostly related to the New Left and counter-culture in the San Francisco Bay Area between 1965 and the mid-1970s. Many of the materials concern protests and demonstrations at the University of California at Berkeley and the area around the campus. These include announcements of anti-war and other protests, as well as leaflets and serial issues regarding the 1969 events surrounding People's Park. While there is a major focus on Berkeley, the collection does contain publications from around the Bay Area, including Stanford University, San Jose, and San Francisco. There are also some documents pertaining to radical activism in Southern California, New York City and Madison, Wisconsin, as well as publications with a larger national and international emphasis.
Extent:
57 manuscript boxes (23.8 Linear Feet)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Kenneth Gibson Fuller collection, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

The Kenneth Gibson Fuller collection contains leaflets, pamphlets, and serial issues, mostly related to the New Left and counter-culture in the San Francisco Bay Area between 1965 and the mid-1970s. Many of the materials concern protests and demonstrations at the University of California at Berkeley and the area around the campus. These include announcements of anti-war and other protests, as well as leaflets and serial issues regarding the 1969 events surrounding People's Park.

While the focus is on Berkeley, the collection does contain publications from around the Bay Area, including Stanford University, San Jose, and San Francisco. There are also documents pertaining to radical activism in Southern California, New York City and Madison, Wisconsin, as well as publications with a larger national and international emphasis.

The publications and flyers collected by Fuller record the significant issues that preoccupied the New Left and the protest movements of the 1960s and 1970s: the Vietnam War, above all else; black militancy, especially that exemplified by the Black Panther Party; political trials and prisoners' rights; the women's and gay liberation movements; and the condition of the American working class. By definition, the leaflets in the collection qualify as ephemeral and fugitive materials, but many of the pamphlets and serial issues fall under this category as well. Most of the serial issues had limited runs and, as the heyday of radical activism passed, many went out of existence.

In terms of the serial issues in the collection, many were published by rival Marxist-Leninist organizations seeking to establish themselves as the vanguard party for what they believed would be an eventual revolution in the United States. However, there are also many generic New Left groups that figure in the materials. In these documents, one can trace the evolution of the New Left from its origins in the mid-1960s to the factional disputes that roiled the student movement in 1969 and afterwards. Other serial issues relate to the counter-culture of the 1960s and early 1970s and have a less political tone to them. In its breadth and extent, the collection complements the New Left collection in the Hoover Institution Library & Archives, and it is an important resource on American radicalism and the counter-culture in the era of the Vietnam War.

Acquisition information:
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives in 1993.
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], Kenneth Gibson Fuller collection, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US
Contact:
(650) 723-3563
hooverarchives@stanford.edu
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