Inventory of the Robert Edward Edmondson papers

Finding aid prepared by Sarah Cassone
Hoover Institution Library and Archives
© 2022
434 Galvez Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003
hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu


Title: Robert Edward Edmondson papers
Date (inclusive): 1933-1940
Collection Number: 2021C45
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: In English
Physical Description: 1 manuscript box (0.4 Linear Feet)
Abstract: The largest known existing archive of propaganda created by 1930s isolationist provocateur Robert Edward Edmondson, a journalist and America First activist with a pronounced anti-Semitic, anti-New Deal agenda. The collection consists of approximately 375 handbills, broadsides, flyers, and newsletters primarily written by Robert Edmondson and published in New York.
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 in 2022.

Preferred Citation

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

Biographical Note

Robert Edward Edmondson (1872-1959) was an anti-Semitic pamphleteer and journalist for the Cincinnati Post, New York Mail and Express, and the New York Herald. He launched the Edmondson Economic Service in 1934 as a means to publish anti-Semitic literature and critiques of the New Deal and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Scope and Content of Collection

The collection consists of approximately 375 handbills, broadsides, flyers, and newsletters primarily written by Robert Edmondson and published in New York. The majority of the broadsheets are written and signed in print by Edmondson as part of his propaganda service; alternately titled American Vigilante, Special Defense, Defense Series, and Jew Exposure Patriotic Bulletins. Representing the far-right political wing of the anti-interventionist movement prior to America entering WWII, the Edmondson archive complements Hoover's America First Committee records and the 2022 acquisition of the Robert Douglas Stuart, Jr. papers, founder of the America First Committee.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Antisemitism
Fliers (Ephemera)
Isolationism -- United States
World War, 1939-1945 -- United States
Neutrality -- United States
Newsletters
Broadsides
America First Committee

box 1, folder 1

Collection contents list

box 1, folder 2

"The Libel Trial of Robert Edward Edmondson, 1936-1938", article

box 1, folder 3-9

Bulletins 1934-1940

Scope and Contents

375 pamphlets: "American Vigilante" Bulletin, Special Defense Bulletins, Defense Series, "Jew Exposure" Patriotic Bulletins (original titles transcribed)
box 1, folder 10

Other publications 1933-1937

box 1, folder 11

Reprints 1935-1937

Scope and Contents

Reprints of pamphlets by Edmondson.
box 1, folder 12

Publication lists undated