Register of the Naomi Blair Papers, 1930s-1960s
Processed by The Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research staff; supplementary encoding and revision supplied
by Xiuzhi Zhou.
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
6120 S. Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, California 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 Naomi Blair Papers, 1930s-1960s
Collection number: MSS 006
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
Los
Angeles, California
Contact Information:
- Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
- 6120 S. Vermont Avenue
- Los Angeles, California 90044
- Phone: (323) 759-6063
- Fax: (323) 759-2252
- Email: archives@socallib.org
- URL: http://www.socallib.org
- Processed by:
- Nancy J. Johnson
- Date completed:
- June 1985
© 2000 Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Naomi Blair Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1930s-1960s
Collection number: MSS 006
Creator:
Blair, Naomi
Extent: 6 document cases
2 cubic feet
Repository:
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
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 item and is not intended to include or imply permission of the
copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Naomi Blair Papers, MSS 006, Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, Los Angeles.
Biography
Naomi Blair was born on March 21, 1902 and grew up in central Wisconsin. Her family was of French-Canadian descent and her
father was a miner in Wisconsin.
From Wisconsin she moved to New York where she attended the Nursing School of New York University (NYU). Included in the collection
are notes and mimeographed handouts from her classes at NYU from about 1939 to 1947 (her insurance policies indicate that
she had become a registered nurse). In 1948, Blair moved to Southern California, where she had a brother living. The exact
date of her death is not known, but it is estimated to be in the late 1970s.
It appears from Blair's papers that she was quite concerned with political and social issues. There is evidence that she was
involved with the Communist Party (CP) beginning in the 1930s and that she was also involved with labor organizing in Wisconsin
and with civil rights activities.
Her brother Fred Blair was the chairman of the Wisconsin CP and her other brother John was part of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
that fought in the Spanish Civil War. He was for a time a prisoner of war and his sister was very active in the cause to free
him. While in California she worked with the Independent Progressive Party, particularly on civil rights issues.
Scope and Content
The Naomi Blair Collection covers the period of the late 1930s to approximately 1970. It is arranged in three series: PERSONAL,
EDUCATION and ORGANIZATIONS.
In the PERSONAL Series there is a letter from Peggy Dennis asking Blair about Peggy's husband Gene who had been Secretary
of the Communist Party of the United States in the 1950s. The response is a very long letter that goes into great detail about
Blair's activities and remembrances about the CP in Wisconsin in the 1930s. In addition to correspondence, this series contains
insurance and financial records which were retained because they provide rudimentary biographical information about Blair,
such as her date of birth, and, in the absence of more substantial personal papers, give some indication of her daily life.
The EDUCATION Series contains material on Blair's training as a nurse and notes from Communist Party classes she attended
in Southern California.
It is from the ORGANIZATIONS series that the most information about her interests can be obtained. Here are different pamphlets
and publications that she received or collected. She gathered material on Black rights, HUAC, and Latin America in addition
to other social and political concerns.
Box 1, Folder 1
Correspondence. 1960-1971.
Box 1, Folder 2
Fictional Writings by Naomi Blair.
Box 1, Folder 3
Nursing Association membership Information.
Box 1, Folder 4
Song Sheets and Song Book.
Box 1, Folder 5
Tax and Employment Records. 1962-1966.
Box 1, Folder 7
December 1964-September 1965.
Box 2, Folder 8
October 1965-November 1966.
Box 3, Folder 14
Writings of Cyril Briggs.
Box 3, Folder 15
William C. Taylor Campaign.
Box 3, Folder 16
Board of Supervisors. Notes. [1963?].
Box 3, Folder 17
NYU School of Education. Problems in Nursing Education. 1939-1947.
Box 3, Folder 18-20
CPUSA Education Department:
Box 3, Folder 18-19
Notes from Classes Attended. [1957?].
Box 3, Folder 20
Notes From Classes Attended. 1958.
Box 3, Folder 21-22
Pamphlets and Publications. 1950s-1960s.
Box 4, Folder 25
Southern California District. 1950s-1960s.
Box 4, Folder 26
Subscription to
Daily Peoples World. 1960s.
Box 4, Folder 27
Black History and Black Rights. 1930-1960.
Box 5, Folder 30
Committee to Preserve American Freedoms.
Box 5, Folder 31
Protection of the Foreign Born.
Box 5, Folder 32
American Civil Liberties Union.
Box 5, Folder 36
Latin America Today. April 1953-October 1956.
Box 5, Folder 37
Latin American Facts. February 1951-December 1952.
Box 5, Folder 38
Latin American General Pamphlets.
Box 6
Oversized Materials. Newspaper Clippings. Copies of
The Open Forum from April 1961-June 1968 and the
Civil Liberties from January 1963-May 1968.
Box 6
Two (2) copies of a drawing by Ruben Arthur, 10/50 Old Riley. Upstairs in the Graphic File.
