Bertram David Wolfe papers, 1903-2000

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Summary

Creators:
Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957, Wolfe, Bertram D. (Bertram David), 1896-1977, and Wolfe, Ella
Abstract:
Writings, correspondence, notes, memoranda, clippings, other printed matter, and audiovisual material relating to Marxism; the international communist movement; communism in the Soviet Union, the United States, and elsewhere; literature and art in the Soviet Union and in Mexico; and the Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Includes some papers of Rivera and papers of Ella Wolfe, wife of Bertram D. Wolfe. Digital copies of select records also available at https://digitalcollections.hoover.org.
Extent:
184 manuscript boxes, 3 card file boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 2 small object boxes, 35 envelopes, 6 microfilm reels, 5 videocassettes, 13 sound tape reels, 22 sound cassettes (85.6 Linear Feet)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Bertram David Wolfe papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

Writings, correspondence, notes, memoranda, clippings, other printed matter, and audiovisual material, relating to Marxism; the international communist movement; communism in the Soviet Union, the United States, and elsewhere; literature and art in the Soviet Union and in Mexico; and the Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Includes some papers of Rivera and papers of Ella Wolfe, wife of Bertram D. Wolfe.

The materials in the increment consist largely of correspondence, writings, and printed matter added to the collection by Bertram D. Wolfe's widow, Ella Wolfe, in the years following his death in 1977. Additional items became part of the papers after Ella Wolfe's death in 2000. Much of the incremental materials pertain to Bertram Wolfe's career as a critic and historian of Marxism and Soviet communism, as well as his work as a biographer of Diego Rivera. They also document Ella Wolfe's role as her husband's collaborator and caretaker of his legacy, while showing her as a personality in her own right with a wide network of friends and correspondents.

The Speeches and Writings series of the papers contains an unpublished, book length manuscript by Bertram Wolfe, "The Corrido in Mexico." A work of cultural anthropology, this study explores how the corrido, a folk ballad form, has served as a vehicle for the expression of popular sentiment in Mexico, including as a means of commentary on various topical issues. In this series there is also a rare pamphlet in Spanish containing a text written by Wolfe during his visit to Spain in 1937, at the height of the Civil War. The series additionally includes the typescript draft of Bertram Wolfe's autobiography, A Life in Two Centuries, and the proofs of another posthumously published work, Revolution and Reality.

The Correspondence series records Bertram Wolfe's dealings with his publishers, as well as his exchanges with a number of colleagues in the fields of Soviet history and Marxist studies. A substantial amount of the correspondence relates to Ella Wolfe and her many friends and acquaintances. Included in this are many letters written to Ella Wolfe by Svetlana Allilueva, the daughter of Joseph Stalin. The Writings by Others series includes a number of unpublished papers, mainly relating to Soviet history, Marxism, and the Spanish Civil War.

The Photographs series includes many pictures of Bertram and Ella Wolfe. There are also several hundred photographs that depict paintings, sketches, and murals by Diego Rivera. These were used by Bertram Wolfe in the preparation of his book, The Fabulous Life of Diego Rivera. There are copies of a number of books by Bertram Wolfe, including Italian, Spanish, and German translations of some of them, in the Printed Matter series of the increment.

The Biographical File contains materials such as college yearbooks and membership cards, as a well as number of tributes to Bertram Wolfe written after his death. It also includes the transcript of an oral history interview with Ella Wolfe.

The 2015 increment consists of biographical materials, correspondence, writings, photographs, printed matter, and a subject file largely related to Bertram Wolfe. Received from a family member, this increment includes letters, writings, and other materials sent by Wolfe to members of his family, including his brothers Paul and Henry and his niece Evelyn (Rinna), as well as Wolfe's subject file on communist/USSR apologists.

Biographical / historical:
Bertram David Wolfe, 1896-1977
Date Event
1896 January 19
Born, Brooklyn, New York
1916
B.A., College of the City of New York
1917
Married Ella Goldberg
1917-1919
Member, Socialist Party
1919-1929
Member, Communist Party, U.S.A.
1925-1928
Agitation and Propaganda Director, Communist Party
1928-1929
U.S. Representative, Executive Committee, Communist International
1929-1940
Affiliated with Lovestoneite opposition party
1931
M.A., Columbia University
1939
Author, Diego Rivera: His Life and Times
1948
Author, Three Who Made a Revolution
1950-1954
Chief Ideological Adviser, International Broadcasting Division, U.S. Department of State
1956
Author, Six Keys to the Soviet System
1957
Author, Khrushchev and Stalin's Ghost
1961-1962
Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of California, Davis
1963
Author, The Fabulous Life of Diego Rivera
1965
Author, Marxism: 100 Years in the Life of a Doctrine, and Strange Communists I Have Known
1966-1977
Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace
1967
Author, The Bridge and the Abyss: The Troubled Friendship of Maxim Gorky and V. I. Lenin
1969
Author, An Ideology in Power: Reflections on the Russian Revolution
1977 February 21
Died, Palo Alto, California
Acquisition information:
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives between 1977, with increments received from 1982 to 2015.
Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Boxes 183 and 189-191 may not be used without permission of the Archivist. The remainder of 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.

Terms of access:

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Bertram David Wolfe papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US
Contact:
(650) 723-3563
hooverarchives@stanford.edu
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