Bancroft Library

Since 1965, Meiklejohn Institute has collected unique and invaluable materials from many organizations and individuals. The collections listed below vary in size and comprehensive character. They are used continually by scholars, activists, lawyers, etc. They can be viewed at the online Bancroft Archival Collections. The following is a sampling of what you will find in the collections.

Attorneys

Correspondence, briefs, files, oral history snippets, notes of: Osmond K. Fraenkel, Carol Weiss King, Joseph Forer, Samuel Neuburger, David Freedman, Justine Wise Polier, Jeremiah Gutman, Martin Popper, Abraham Isserman, Dennis Roberts, Robert J. Silberstein, Justice Raymond Peters, George W. Crockett, Jr..

Cases

Briefs, pleadings, clippings, unreported opinions, indices to testimony in:

Bakke/DeFunis (on affirmative action in graduate schools)
Harry Bridges (deportation)
Caryl Chessman (capital punishment)
Chicago 8 (trial/appeal)
Angela Davis
Dennis (Smith Act) — George W. Crockett, Jr. files
Free Speech Movement (California v. Savio)
William Heikkila (deportation)
House UnAmerican Activities Committee (contempt cases)
Pentagon Papers (Ellsberg, Russo)
Rosenberg/Sobell
Cases reported in “Civil Liberties Docket” (1955-1969), “Human Rights Docket” (1979), “Human Rights and Peace Law Docket” (1983-1995)

First Amendment

Papers of Alexander Meiklejohn, Bernhard Stern.

Labor and Related Materials

Eugene V. Debs: notes of Ray Ginger, ILWU Civil Liberties Collection (1953-1965), ILWU Collection on HUAC, Labor Surveillance Collection (labor spies 1930’s: unique), Radical Elders Oral History Project, Ray Thompson papers.

Movements: Cases and Extensive Materials

Academic Freedom (1940, 1955-1979), International Law (Betty Elder Coll.), Civil Rights Movement (1955-1969), Nuclear Free Zones (1987 – ), Cold War (1947-1950), Southern Africa (1988-1989), Draft and Military Law (1955-1969), Vietnam War (John H.E. Fried Coll.)

National Lawyers Guild Collection

National Office Files, 1936-1976/Since 1976
National Leaders Files: Henry di Suvero, Ann Fagan Ginger, Robert W. Kenny, Maurice Sugar, Doris Brin Walker, Ruben Tepper
Grand Jury Defence Office Electronic Surveillance Project
NLG Conventions: Tapes and Materials since 1976
NLG Historical Photographs Collection
NLG Law Reviews 1937-1979/Since 1979

Organizational Archives

American Association of Jurists (1974 – ), American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born (national/N. Calif.), Civil Rights Congress, Film Photo League (1930’s Chicago), International Association of Democratic Lawyers,International Juridical Association Bulletin, Prison Law Project (Stender), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Berkeley City Commission on Peace & Justice (1987- )

Sending materials to MCLI

MCLI continues to collect materials on human rights and peace law that will ultimately be contributed to the Bancroft Archival Collections. If you have materials to contribute to the library, please contact MCLI to make arrangements.