Collection context
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The Speeches and Writings series of the papers contains an unpublished, book length manuscript by Bertram Wolfe, "The Corrido in Mexico."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 York1916 B.A., College of the City of New York1917 Married Ella Goldberg1917-1919 Member, Socialist Party1919-1929 Member, Communist Party, U.S.A.1925-1928 Agitation and Propaganda Director, Communist Party1928-1929 U.S. Representative, Executive Committee, Communist International1929-1940 Affiliated with Lovestoneite opposition party1931 M.A., Columbia University1939 Author, Diego Rivera: His Life and Times1948 Author, Three Who Made a Revolution1950-1954 Chief Ideological Adviser, International Broadcasting Division, U.S. Department of State1956 Author, Six Keys to the Soviet System1957 Author, Khrushchev and Stalin's Ghost1961-1962 Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of California, Davis1963 Author, The Fabulous Life of Diego Rivera1965 Author, Marxism: 100 Years in the Life of a Doctrine, and Strange Communists I Have Known1966-1977 Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace1967 Author, The Bridge and the Abyss: The Troubled Friendship of Maxim Gorky and V. I. Lenin1969 Author, An Ideology in Power: Reflections on the Russian Revolution1977 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
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Russian literature
Communism -- United States
Communism
Art -- Mexico
Communism and culture
Audiotapes
Video tapes - Names:
- Communist International
Communist Party of the United States of America
Lenin, Vladimir Ilสนich, 1870-1924
Marx, Karl, 1818-1883 - Places:
- Soviet Union -- Politics and government
Spain -- History -- Civil War, 1936-1939
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 UniversityStanford, CA 94305-6003, US
- Contact:
- (650) 723-3563