Ellen Chase Verdries Collection (Interviews/Paper):
Blacklisted Teachers in Los Angeles,
1992-1996
Processed by Julia Bazar
Southern California Library for Social Studies and
Research
6120 South Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90044
Phone: (323) 759-6063
Fax: (323) 759-2252
Email: archives@socallib.org
URL: http://www.socallib.org/
© 2000
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. All
rights reserved.
Register of the Ellen Chase Verdries Collection
(Interviews/Paper): Blacklisted Teachers in Los Angeles,
1992-1996
Collection number: MSS 043
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
Los
Angeles, California
Contact Information:
- Southern California Library for Social Studies and
Research
- 6120 South Vermont Avenue
- Los Angeles, CA 90044
- Phone: (323) 759-6063
- Fax: (323) 759-2252
- Email: archives@socallib.org
- URL: http://www.socallib.org/
- Processed by:
- Julia Bazar
- Date Completed:
-
Nov. 2000
- Encoded by:
- Julia Bazar
© 2000 Southern California Library for Social Studies and
Research. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Ellen Chase Verdries Collection
(Interviews/Paper): Blacklisted Teachers in Los Angeles,
Date (inclusive): 1992-1996
Collection number: MSS 043
Creator:
Verdries, Ellen Chase
Extent:
1 half-box
1/4
linear foot
Repository:
Southern California Library for Social Studies and
Research
Abstract: Oral history interviews with three blacklisted
teachers and Ph.D. Dissertation using this material.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Provenance
Donated to the Library by Ellen Chase Verdries
Access
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.
Publication Rights
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.
Historical Note
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).
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.
Arrangement
The oral histories are arranged alphabetically by interviewee. The
dissertation follows.
Related Material at the Southern California Library for Social
Studies and Research
Title: Frances Robman Eisenberg: Blacklisted Teachers in Los
Angeles,
Date: 1928-1995
Physical Description:
4 boxes and 1 oversize box
Title: Abraham Minkus Papers: Blacklisted Teachers in Los
Angeles,
Date: 1945-1983
Physical Description:
4 boxes
Title: Florence Sloat Papers: Blacklisted Teachers in Los
Angeles,
Date: 1959-1991
Physical Description:
1 box
Title: Greg Goldin Collection (Interviews): Blacklisted Teachers
in Los Angeles,
Date: 1977
Physical Description:
1 box, 15 audio cassettes
Title: Thomas Fagan Collection (Interviews): Blacklisted Teachers
in Los Angeles,
Date: 1989-1990
Physical Description:
3 folders, 5 audio cassettes
Title: Jean Benson Wilkinson Papers: Blacklisted Teachers in Los
Angeles,
Date: 1953-1955
Physical Description:
1 folder
Title: Los Angeles Teachers Union Collection,
Date: 1933-1982
Physical Description:
2 boxes
Title: Dorothy Doyle Collection (Interviews): Blacklisted
Teachers In Los Angeles,
Date: 1986
Physical Description:
1 audio tape
Title: Clipping Collection: Blacklisted Teachers in Los Angeles,
Date: 1967-1982
Physical Description:
1 folder
A copy of the collection register is kept in the first box of the
collection (1/0).
Box-folder 1/1
Frances Robman Eisenberg,
1992
Box-folder 1/3
Florence Sloat [handwritten corrections on copy],
1992
Box-folder 1/4
Teaching with the Enemy: An Archival and Narrative Analysis
of McCarthyism in the Public Schools,
Claremont Graduate School,
1996
