]> PUBLIC "-//The New York Public Library//TEXT (US::NN::Sc Micro R-3548::Stetson Kennedy Collection, 1916-1950)//ENG" "sckenned.xml" Inventory of the Stetson Kennedy Collection, 1916-1950 Processed by L. Lockhart; Machine-readable finding aid created by Apex Data Services; revised by Terry Catapano.

©2000 The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. All rights reserved.

 Text converted and initial EAD tagging provided by Apex Data Services, April 1999. Revised by Terry Catapano May 2000 Description is in English October 16, 2006 EAD v1.0 finding aid converted to EAD 2002 using UC Berkeley's eadv1to2002.pl perl script. Inventory of the Stetson Kennedy Collection, 1916-1950 Sc Micro R3548 Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture The New York Public Library New York, New York Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. New York Public Library. 515 Malcolm X Boulevard New York, NY 10037-1801 (212) 491-2224 scmarbref@nypl.org http://nypl.org/research/sc/scm/marb.html L. Lockhart April 1979 Apex Data Services; Terry Catapano

©2000 The New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. All rights reserved.
PREFACE

This inventory is one of several prepared as a part of the archival preservation program at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a research division of The New York Public Library.

The Schomburg archival preservation program involves the organization and preservation of primary source material held by the Center and of significance to the study of the Black Experience. It furthermore includes the preparation of detailed inventories of these records, making the information contained therein accessible as well as available to scholars.

The necessary staff and supplies for this program were made available through a combination of Library, National Endowment for the Humanities grant, and State of New York grant funds.

 Descriptive Summary Stetson Kennedy Collection, 1916-1950 Sc Micro R3548 Kennedy, Stetson 6 Boxes (2.5 linear ft.) Also available on 4 reels of microfilm. The New York Public Library Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture English Administrative Information Provenance

Purchased from Stetson Kennedy, ca. 1952.

SCM78-8

 Biography

Stetson Kennedy's career as an author began in the 1930's when he worked as both a writer and an editor on the Federal Writers' Project guide to Florida. The affiliations made there led to an invitation to write the Florida volume in the American Folkways series, edited by Erskine Caldwell. This volume, Palmetto Country (1942) established Kennedy's reputation as an authority on the traditions and culture of his home state. His next book, Southern Exposure (1946) was an expose of the social and political inequities of the South in the 1940's. Later, he continued his crusade with I Rode with the Ku Klux Klan (1954) and Jim Crow Guide to the U.S.A. (1959). At various times, he has contributed articles to the New York Times, New York Post, Saturday Review, Nation, New Republic, and other periodicals in the U.S. and abroad. The author of the column Inside Out, syndicated by the Federated Press, from 1937 until 1950, Kennedy also wrote a column Up Front Down South for the Pittsburgh Courier in the 1960's.

Kennedy's writing career has existed, in his words, “as a tool to air human grievances.” His devotion to the causes of civil rights and equality for all has been lifelong, and is the driving force behind all his books and articles. He has been affiliated with a wide variety of political and social action groups, including, among many others, the C.I.O. Political Action Committee, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League, and the Southern Conference for Human Welfare. As an agent of the Georgia government, he infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan under the pseudonym, John Perkins; both Southern Exposure and I Rode with the Ku Klux Klan are based in part on this experience.

Kennedy was born in Jacksonville, Florida, of an old southern family, on October 5, 1916. He attended the University of Florida, the New School for Social Research, and the University of Paris. As an independent candidate for the U.S. Senate from Florida in 1950, he ran on a “Total Equality” platform. From 1952 through 1960, Kennedy lived and traveled in Europe, Asia, and Africa. His interest in communism led him behind the Iron Curtain, where he lived and worked for three years, primarily in Hungary. He emerged, disenchanted, as a refugee in 1956.

Upon his return to the U.S. and Florida in 1960, Kennedy remained active in the civil rights and peace movements as a writer and lecturer. He joined the federal anti-poverty program in Miami in 1965, and later became its assistant director. He has been married several times.

 Scope and Content

The Stetson Kennedy Collection (1916-1950) consists of Kennedy's research files on various organizations, individuals, and subjects. Collected during the 1930's and 1940's, the material provided the basis for the books Southern Exposure and I Rode with the Ku Klux Klan and many newspaper and magazine articles. Included in the collection are correspondence; typescripts of articles; Kennedy's notes; newspaper and magazine clippings; and printed material, including publications and insignia of the organizations. Many items are photostatic copies, and numerous others are incomplete. The collection is divided into two series, the Ku Klux Klan Research File and the General Research File.

 Related or Complementary Collections

Stetson Kennedy Papers are also located at the Southern Labor Archives, Georgia State University.

 Container List Ku Klux Klan Research File

The KU KLUX KLAN RESEARCH FILE, 1916-1950, is comprised of material collected by Kennedy in the 1940's. Much of it seems to have been gathered through his infiltration of the Georgia Klan. The series has been organized into three subseries, Correspondence, Writings, and Printed Material.

Within each folder, material is arranged chronologically. A substantial portion of the material is not dated. Dates have been approximated when possible; otherwise, undated items follow the chronological sequence. Kennedy's notes are composed largely of small strips of paper. For ease of use, these have been fastened to 8 1/2" by 11" sheets, several to a page. No intellectual relationship is implied by the presence of several of these strips on the same page.

 Correspondence

Correspondence consists of letters to and from Kennedy as well as correspondence between other individuals. Included in the latter are a number of letters from Klan officers to members, among them summonses to meetings.

 1 1 1 Kennedy, Stetson, 1943-1949 1 2 1 Other Correspondents, 1921-1950 Writings

Writings range from reports and typescripts of articles to Kennedy's notes. The reports are particularly notable, as they are first-person accounts of Klan meetings in Georgia and Tennessee from 1944 through 1948. Interviews with Klan leaders such as J.B. Stoner are to be found in this file.

 Reports 1 3 1 1944-1946 1 4 1 1947-1948 1 5 1 Typescripts, 1944-1948, n.d. Notes 1 6 1 1920-1950 1 7 1 n.d. Printed Material

Printed material consists of publications produced either by the Klan for the use of members or about the Klan by other organizations. Membership materials, broadsides, and pamphlets are among the Klan publications. The material published by other organizations includes legal materials and clippings.

 By Ku Klux Klan 1 8 1 Publications, 1916-1942, n.d. 1 9 1 Broadsides, 1936-1948, n.d. 1 10 1 Membership Materials, 1936-1946, n.d. About Ku Klux Klan 1 11 1 Legal Materials, 1940-1950 1 12 1 Clippings, 1936-1948 1 13 1 Miscellaneous Printed Material, 1940-1948 General Research File

The GENERAL RESEARCH FILE, 1934-1950, consists of Kennedy's subject file of research materials, arranged alphabetically. In the majority of cases, Kennedy's own subject headings have been retained. Many of the subjects are conservative, anti-labor, or white power organizations and individuals. Some are represented by only a few items; others by several folders. In each subject file, material is arranged as follows except when otherwise noted: correspondence, typescripts, notes, clippings, printed material. Within each of these groups, arrangement is chronological, with undated items at the end. A file of miscellaneous material on a variety of subjects follows the alphabetical sequence, arranged in the same sequence as the subject files.

The final box of the collection consists of Kennedy's card file. Arranged alphabetically by subject, this file includes information about many of the same subjects as the General Research File, as well as other subjects, organizations, and individuals.

As in the Ku Klux Klan Research File, strips of Kennedy's notes have been fastened to larger sheets, for convenience only. Also, some of these strips contain so little information that no subject is apparent. In these cases, they have been retained in the subject file where they were found.

Throughout this series, material often pertains to both an organization and a prominent individual within that organization. In such cases, the file has been titled according to what appears to be the primary focus. Similarly, the organizations and individuals included in the General Research File overlap to some extent; the subject of one file may be mentioned in a subsidiary way within another. For example, there is a subject file for General George Van Horn Moseley, but he is mentioned as well in the folder for Major Frank Pease.

Some of the subjects covered most completely are: the Columbians, a shortlived Georgia white-power group; the Right-to-Work movement in the 1940's, and the Christian Americans, a group instrumental in that movement; Eugene Talmadge's death prior to his inauguration as Georgia governor in 1947 and his son Herman's subsequent, unsuccessful claim to the governorship. (The latter is filed under Georgia politics.)

 2 1 1 American Bilbo Club, 1949, n.d. American Plan For Action, 1945 2 2 1 American Shores Patrol, 1946-1949, n.d. App, Austin, 1946, 1949 Armstrong, George W, 1947-1949 Asman, Larry, 1946 Blanchard, William/The White Front 2 3 1 Typescripts And Notes, 1938-1948, n.d. 2 4 1 Clippings And Printed Material, 1936-1945 2 5 1 Byrd For President Movement, 1944 Caribbean Legion, 1949 Columbians 2 6 1 Correspondence, 1944-1947 2 7 1 Typescripts, 1946-1947 2 8 1 Notes, 1946-1947 2 9 1 Clippings, 1946-1948 2 10 1 Printed Material, 1946-1947 2 11 1 Committee For Constitutional Government, 1940-1948, n.d. 2 12 2 Commoner Party, 1939-1948, n.d. 2 13 2 Common Sense, 1948 Commonwealth, 1942-1943 Congress Of Industrial Organizations (C.I.O.), 1937-1944 Congressmen And Senators 2 14 2 B-H, 1943-1948 2 15 2 O-W, 1943-1947, n.d. 3 1 2 Constitutional Education League, 1940-1946, n.d. 3 2 2 Deatherage, George, 1942-1944 Durholz, Otto, 1949 3 3 2 Fight For Free Enterprise, 1945-1946 3 4 2 Fleckenstein, Edward A., 1949 Flynn, John T., 1947 Georgia Politics 3 5 2 Correspondence, Typescripts, Notes, Printed Material, 1935-1948, n.d. Clippings 3 6 2 1941-1946 3 7 2 1947 3 8 2 1948-1950 3 9 2 German Industrial Fair, 1938, 1948-1949 3 10 2 Individualist, 1946 Intelligent American Voters' League, 1947 3 11 2 Johnston, Parson Jack, 1946-1947 4 1 2 Keeling, R. F., 1949 Linder, Tom, 1944-1949, n.d. Mertig, Kurt, 1947 Moral Re-Armament 4 2 2 Correspondence, Typescripts, Notes, 1944-1945, n.d. 4 3 2 Clippings And Printed Material, 1939-1949 4 4 2 Moseley, General George Van Horn, 1946-1948 Mosley, Sir Oswald, 1948 4 5 2 Murray, Alfalfa Bill, 1948-1949 National Association Of Manufacturers, 1945 4 6 2 Nationalist Party/American Nationalist Committee, 1943-1946 4 7 2 Order Of American Patriots, 1945 Patrick Henrys, 1945-1946 4 8 3 Pease, Major Frank, 1934-1946 4 9 3 The Press, 1944-1946, n.d. 4 10 3 Protestant War Veterans, 1939-1946 Religion 4 11 3 Typescripts And Notes, 1942-1948, n.d. 4 12 3 Clippings And Printed Material, 1937-1947 Right To Work Movement/Christian Americans 5 1 3 Correspondence, 1942-1945 5 2 3 Typescripts, 1944-1945 5 3 3 Notes, 1942-1946, n.d. 5 4 3 Clippings, 1942-1946 5 5 3 Printed Material, 1940-1945, n.d. 5 6 3 Schweitzer Case, 1943 Shoemaker Case, 1935-1936 5 7 3 Smith, Gerald L. K., 1940-1949 5 8 3 Smith, Reverend J. Harold, 1946 Terminiello, Reverend A. W. 5 9 3 Correspondence, Typescripts, Notes, 1945-1946 5 10 3 Clippings And Printed Material, 1942-1946, n.d. 5 11 3 United Sons Of Dixie, n.d. Vigilantes Inc., 1942, 1946, n.d. West End Cooperative, 1946-1947 5 12 3 Miscellaneous Subjects, 1939-1948, n.d. Card File 6 1 4 Adams - Byerley, 1940'S 6 2 4 Byrnes - Girl, 1940'S 6 3 4 Goff - Mcgoy, 1940'S 6 4 4 Mcwilliams - Russell, 1940'S 6 5 4 Sanctuary - Yellow, 1940'S Separation Record

The following items were removed from the:

Stetson Kennedy Collection

Accession number: SCM78-8

and have been sent to the division indicated, either to be retained or disposed of there. Any items that should receive special disposition are clearly marked.

General Reference and Research Division:

Two folders: pamphlets, clippings and other printed material to Vertical File.

Photograph and Prints Division:

One folder photographs (prints, negatives, contact sheets). One zinc printing plate.