Verdries (Ellen C.) Collection: Blacklisted Teachers in Los Angeles (Interviews/Papers), 1992-1996

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Summary

Title:
Ellen Chase Verdries Collection (Interviews/Paper): Blacklisted Teachers in Los Angeles,
Dates:
1992-1996
Creators:
Verdries, Ellen Chase
Abstract:
Oral history interviews with three blacklisted teachers and Ph.D. Dissertation using this material.
Extent:
1 half-box 1/4 linear foot
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Ellen Chase Verdries Collection (Interviews/Paper): Blacklisted Teachers in Los Angeles, Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, Los Angeles, California.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of three of Verdries oral history interviews with blacklisted teachers (Frances Robman Eisenberg, Muriel Goldsmith, and Florence Sloat) and a copy of her dissertation, Teaching with the Enemy: An Archival and Narrative Analysis of McCarthyism in the Public Schools. The oral history files consist of a bound transcript of each interview.

The oral histories are arranged alphabetically by interviewee. The dissertation follows.

Biographical / historical:
Historical Context: Blacklisting and the McCarthy Era

The individual collections within the Blacklisted Teachers in Los Angeles Collection share a common historical framework, the Anti-Communist fervor of the Cold War Period and what is commonly referred to as the McCarthy Era. After the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in the ideological battle known as the Cold War. The identification of communists and other radicals through the use of federal and state legislative investigative committees and the punishment of those identified through firing and blacklisting comprised a successful U.S. tactic. The investigations spread from federal and other government employees to the entertainment industry, the professions, labor unions, and the private sector. The major players in these campaigns included, on the Federal level, Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). In California major players included California State Assemblyman (later State Senator) Nelson S. Dilworth, and State Senators Jack B. Tenney and Hugh M. Burns. All three served on the Joint Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities in California (1945) and first Tenney and later Burns chaired the [California] Senate Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities. Of special note are the Levering (1952) and Dilworth (1953) Acts. The Levering Act made refusal to fully cooperate with any state committee grounds for firing a teacher and the Dilworth Act gave local school boards investigating authority and also required that all teachers sign an oath denying any Communist affiliation.

Collection

Ellen Chase Verdries used a combination of oral history interviews and archival research to write her 1996 Ph.D. Dissertation in Education, Teaching with the Enemy: An Archival and Narrative Analysis of McCarthyism in the Public Schools, (Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, California).

Custodial history:

Donated to the Library by Ellen Chase Verdries

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by Julia Bazar
Date Prepared:
© 2000
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Julia Bazar, Jan. 2001

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is available for research only at the Library's facility in Los Angeles. The Library is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Researchers are encouraged to call or email the Library indicating the nature of their research query prior to making a visit.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. Researchers may make single copies of any portion of the collection, but publication from the collection will be allowed only with the express written permission of the Library's director. It is not necessary to obtain written permission to quote from a collection. When the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research gives permission for publication, it is as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Ellen Chase Verdries Collection (Interviews/Paper): Blacklisted Teachers in Los Angeles, Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, Los Angeles, California.

Location of this collection:
6120 S. Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90044, US
Contact:
(323) 759-6063
web@socallib.org
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