American Fund for Public Service records, 1922-1941.

Links

• View catalog record
• View PDF finding aid (9.94 MB)

Creator

American Fund for Public Service.

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division

Extent

• Originals: 31 linear feet (59 boxes).
• Copies: 36 microfilm reels.

Access Restrictions

Restricted access; Manuscripts and Archives Division; Permit must be requested at the division indicated.

Microfilm must be used in lieu of originals.

Scope/Contents Note

Records of the American Fund include internal and externalcorrespondence of members of the board of directors, treasurer, and legal counsel, 1922-1941; board of directors meeting minutes, 1922-1941; several committee reports and surveys, 1923-1939; memoranda and reports on policy, 1922-1932; auditor's reports, 1922-1941; lists of appropriations and loans, 1922-1941; and application filesfor each individual or organization requesting assistance. Grant and loan application files account for 70% of the collection and contain the correspondence of the applicantwith the Fund and often a variety of supporting materials such as reports, memoranda, publications, financial records, leaflets, as well as comments by Fund officials regarding the application. Files are divided into two series: Applications Accepted and Applications Refused.

Biographical/Historical Note

The American Fund for Public Service, also known as the Garland Fund, was created in 1922 by Charles Garland to support radical social and economic causes. The board of directors included prominent leaders of the labor movement,the Socialist and Communist parties, and civil rights and minority groups. From 1922 to 1941 the Fund gave nearly two million dollars to a variety of left-wing organizations and enterprises, such as labor unions, cooperatives, schools for workers, radical publications, bail and legal defense funds, and civil liberties, penal reform, and minority rights groups.

Controlled Access Terms

• American Fund for Public Service.
• Birth control.
• Civil rights.
• Communism.
• Endowments.
• Imperialism.
• Labor movement.
• Minorities.
• Political prisoners.
• Publishers and publishing.
• Sacco-Vanzetti Trial, Dedham, Mass., 1921.
• Social problems.
• Socialism.
• Labor unions.
• Working class -- Education.

Additional Creator Names

• Baldwin, Roger Nash, 1884-
• Flynn, Elizabeth Gurley.
• Foster, William Z., 1881-1961.
• Garland, Charles.
• Hillman, Sidney, 1887-1946.
• Johnson, James Weldon, 1871-1938.
• Kirchwey, Freda.
• Lovett, Robert Morss, 1870-1956.
• Magnes, Judah Leon, 1877-1948.
• Nearing, Scott, 1883-
• Thomas, Norman, 1884-1968.
• American Birth Control League.
• American Civil Liberties Union.
• Brookwood Labor College (Katonah, N.Y.)
• Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
• Commonwealth College (Mena, Ark.)
• American Fund for Public Service.
• League for Industrial Democracy.
• Manumit School (Pawling, N.Y.)
• Mooney Molders Defense Committee.
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
• Rand School of Social Science.
• Scottsboro Defense Committee.
• Southern Tenant Farmers' Union.
• United Mine Workers of America.
• Vanguard Press.
• Daily worker.
• Liberator.
• Il Martello.
• New masses.