Inventory of the Robert West Beyers papers

Finding aid prepared by Hoover Institution Library and Archives Staff
Hoover Institution Library and Archives
© 2014
434 Galvez Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003
hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu


Title: Robert West Beyers papers
Date (inclusive): 1962-1967
Collection Number: 2014C42
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 5 manuscript boxes (2.0 Linear Feet)
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.
Creator: Beyers, Robert West, 1931-2002
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. Material in the papers was previously a part of the New Left Collection, Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Robert West Beyers papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives

Biographical/Historical Note

1931 Born, New York City
1953 B.A., Cornell University
1954-1955 Public relations director, U.S. National Student Association
1956-1961 Assistant managing editor, University of Michigan News Service
1961-1990 Director, Stanford University News Service
1964 Volunteer communications coordinator, Mississippi Summer Project
1990-1995 Volunteer associate editor, Pacific News Service
2002 Died, Palo Alto, California

Scope and Content of Collection

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.

Related Materials

New Left collection, Hoover Institution Library & Archives

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Civil rights -- United States
African Americans -- Civil rights
Council of Federated Organizations (U.S.)
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (U.S.)

 

Personal File 1963-1966.

Scope and Contents note

Correspondence, writings, notes and personal documents generated by Robert W. Beyers relating to the Mississippi Summer Project
box 1, folder 1

Mississippi Summer Project data sheet 1964

 

Correspondence

box 1, folder 2

1964

box 1, folder 3

1965

box 1, folder 4

Undated

box 1, folder 5

Speech material 1964-1965.

Scope and Contents note

Drafts and notes for talks at Stanford University and in the San Francisco Bay Area about Mississippi Summer Project
box 1, folder 6

Press releases 1963-1965.

Scope and Contents note

Drafts and final press releases for Council of Federated Organizations in Mississippi and for Stanford University News Service
box 1, folder 7

Incident reports 1964

Scope and Contents note

Draft and final reports of incidents of violence and discrimination associated with the Mississippi Summer Project. Includes interview summaries by Beyers and affidavits
box 1, folder 8

Mississippi notes 1964-1966

box 1, folder 9

Miscellaneous notes, undated

 

Stanford University File 1963-1969.

Scope and Contents note

Circulated materials, newsletters and radio broadcast transcripts relating to Stanford University student participation in the Mississippi Summer Project
box 2, folder 1

General 1964-1969.

Scope and Contents note

Circulars, lists and newsletters emanating from the Stanford University and Bay Area community about the Mississippi Summer Project. Includes lists of participating Stanford students and newsletters of Bay Area support groups
box 2, folder 2

Luke Kabat writings 1964

Scope and Contents note

Circulated typescript and mimeographed letters by Kabat, a Stanford student volunteer in Mississippi
box 2, folder 3

KZSU (Stanford University) 1963-1965.

Scope and Contents note

Radio broadcast transcripts and reports about coverage of civil rights activities in the South
 

Council of Federated Organizations File 1963-1965.

Scope and Contents note

Circulars, reports, memoranda and other issuances by the Council of Federated Organizations relating to the Mississippi Summer Project
box 2, folder 4

Prospectus, leaflets and announcement of Mississippi Summer Project 1964

box 2, folder 5

Background studies 1963-1964.

Scope and Contents note

Includes "Outline for Projected Black Belt Program," "The General Condition of the Mississippi Negro," "The Mississippi Legislature" and "On Arkansas in General"
box 2, folder 6

Circulars, internal memoranda and reports relating to progress of the Mississippi Summer Project 1964-1965

box 2, folder 7

Incident reports of violence and discrimination associated with the Mississippi Summer Project 1964-1965

box 3, folder 1

Freedom Schools reports and circulars 1964

Scope and Contents note

Includes Southern Teaching Program report
box 3, folder 2

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Press releases, circulars and resolutions 1964-1965.

Scope and Contents note

Includes report, "Mississippi: How Negro Democrats Fared"
 

Printed Matter 1962-1966.

Scope and Contents note

Flyers, leaflets, pamphlets, printed articles, clippings and other printed matter relating to the Mississippi Summer Project and civil rights in the South
box 3, folder 3

Congress of Racial Equality issuances 1962-1965

box 3, folder 4

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People issuances 1964-1966

box 3, folder 5

National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee issuances 1963-1965

box 3, folder 6

Southern Christian Leadership Conference issuances 1964-1966

box 3, folder 7

Southern Conference Educational Fund issuances 1964

box 3, folder 8

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee issuances 1964-1966

box 3, folder 9

Miscellaneous civil rights organization issuances 1964-1966

box 3, folder 10

United States government issuances (mainly by the Department of Justice) 1963-1965

box 3, folder 11

Mississippi Black Paper (documentary publication) 1965

box 3, folder 12

Sequoia (Stanford University literary magazine). Special issue focusing on the Mississippi Summer Project 1965

box 3, folder 13

Tucker, Shirley, Mississippi from Within 1965

 

Printed miscellany 1964-1966.

Scope and Contents note

Includes anti-communist circulars, special issue of Jet on Mississippi, and journal article reprints
box 3, folder 14

Printed miscellany

box 3

National press coverage of the Mississippi Summer Project and civil rights in the South

box 4

National press coverage of the Mississippi Summer Project and civil rights in the South

box 3, folder 15

1962-1963

box 3, folder 16

1964 January-June

box 4, folder 1

1964 July-August

box 4, folder 2

1964 September-December

box 4, folder 3

1965

box 4, folder 4

1966

box 4, folder 5

Undated

 

Stanford and Bay Area press coverage of the Mississippi Summer Project and civil rights in the South

box 4, folder 6

1963

box 4, folder 7

1964

box 5, folder 1

1965-1966 and undated

 

Mississippi press coverage of the Mississippi Summer Project and civil rights in the South

box 5, folder 2

1963

box 5, folder 3

1964 March-June

box 5, folder 4-5

1964 July

box 5, folder 6

1964 August-November

box 5, folder 7

1965-1966