Wayne M. Collins Papers, 1918-1974, bulk 1945-1960

Summary

Creators:

Collins, Wayne M.

Abstract:

Consists of selected material remaining from Collins' San Francisco legal practice. Major portion of collection is devoted to his work as legal representative for the Tule Lake Defense Committee from 1945 to 1960. Includes correspondence, litigation documents for mass civil and equity suits filed for renunciants, individual case files, and financial files for the Committee's trust accounts.
Also includes Collins' legal files representing his civil liberties and general law practice, including case files and other materials concerning East Indian deportation, Levering Act/Loyalty Oath controversy, estate files of Astaroth Haskell and Bruce Porter, and the Berkeley Free Speech Movement. Also includes a small amount of personal papers, including family correspondence, genealogical, other biographical materials, and ephemera.

Extent:

Number of containers: 33 boxes, 4 cartons Linear feet: 18.75 Microfilm: 38 reels

Language:

Collection materials are in English

Background

Scope and content:

The Wayne M. Collins Papers consist of selected material remaining from his San Francisco legal practice and a small number of personal papers, spanning the years 1918-1974.

The major portion of the collection is devoted to Collins' work as legal representative for the Tule Lake Defense Committee from 1945 to 1960. It includes correspondence, litigation documents for mass civil and equity suits filed for renunciants, individual case files, and financial files for the Committee's trust accounts, which Collins managed. Also included are Collins' case files for the 1944 "stockade cases," in which he represented evacuees imprisoned for violations of Tule Lake's special project regulations prohibiting Japanese Nationalistic activities, and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) renunciant case files given to Collins in 1958 by Ernest Besig.

The remainder of Collins' legal Papers contain selected files representing his civil liberties and general law practice from 1947 to 1963. These include case files and other materials dealing with East Indian deportation, the Levering Act/Loyalty Oath controversy, estates of Collins' friends, Astaroth Haskell and Bruce Porter, and the Berkeley Free Speech Movement of 1964. Collins' office files include extensive correspondence with the Society for Helping Boys and the Swedenborgian Churches of San Francisco, Tokyo, and South Africa.

Finally, a small number of personal papers, including family correspondence, genealogical, and other biographical materials and ephemera are also included.

Acquisition information:

The Wayne M. (Mortimer) Collins Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by his son, Wayne M. (Merrill) Collins on March 22, 1978.

Physical location:

For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Rules or conventions:

Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Location of this collection:

UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library

Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US

Contact:

510-642-6481

bancref-library@berkeley.edu

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