Library Guides: Social Protest and the Free Speech Movement: Primary Sources

Free Speech Movement - Primary Sources Online

Bancroft Library Free Speech Movement Digital Archive (some materials online) (home)

Chronology (from California Monthly magazine)

Bibliography of Books (mostly primary sources)
Bibliography of Articles (primary Sources)
Oral Histories
Manuscript Collections (links to finding aids)
Reports and Studies
Pamphlets
Legal Documents

Internet Archive - Search "free speech movement" or "mario savio" for videos and sound recordings

Free Speech Movement Archives: home

Chronologies

Full Text online

American Radicalism (Michigan State University)

An online collection of digital texts and images from the American Radicalism collection at Michigan State University. Among the many subject areas included are the Hollywood Ten, Black Panthers, Birth Control, I.W.W., Ku Klux Klan, Wounded Knee and Students for a Democratic Society.

Freedom Archives
"The Freedom Archives contains over 12,000 hours of audio and video recordings which date from the late-1960s to the mid-90s and chronicle the progressive history of the Bay Area, the United States, and international movements. We are also in the process of scanning and uploading thousands of historical documents which enrich our media holdings. Our collection includes weekly news, poetry, music programs; in-depth interviews and reports on social and cultural issues; numerous voices from behind prison walls; diverse activists; and pamphlets, journals and other materials from many radical organizations and movements."

Library Databases for Primary Sources - Social Activism

Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives This link opens in a new window
Digitized archive of primary documents of key events, trends, and movements in 1960s America. Includes letters, diaries, oral histories, posters, broadsides, pamphlets, advertisements, and rare audio and video materials. [1960 - 1974]
Documents the key events, trends, and movements in 1960s America. Includes 70,000 pages of letters, diaries, and oral histories; more than 30,000 pages of posters, broadsides, pamphlets, advertisements, and rare audio and video materials. Enhanced by dozens of scholarly document projects, featuring annotated primary-source content that is analyzed and contextualized through interpretive essays by historians.
Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975 This link opens in a new window
A collection of original archival material from libraries in Britain and America covering issues such as youth culture, student protest movements, civil rights, women's rights, the Vietnam War, and nuclear disarmament. [1950 -1975]
A collection of original archival material from libraries in Britain and America covering issues such as youth culture, student protest movements, civil rights, women's rights, the Vietnam War, nuclear disarmament and popular culture in Britain and America from 1950 to 1975.
Alternative Press Index This link opens in a new window
Progressive, radical, and left North American magazines, newsletters, and journals. [1991 - present]
Approximately 90% of publications included are not indexed elsewhere. Indexes editorials, regular columns, essays, fiction; speeches, interviews, statistics, reprints; bibliographies, biographies, obituaries, memoirs; and reviews. Interfaces available for French, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese. Alternative Press Index Archive provides coverage of materials from 1969 to 1990.
Ethnic NewsWatch (ENWH) This link opens in a new window
Index of over 200 ethnic, minority, and native press publications, including news, culture, and history topics. Searchable in English and Spanish. (ENWALL) [1960 - present]
Also includes a retrospective backfile of titles (1960-1989).
GenderWatch This link opens in a new window
International journals, magazines, newsletters, regional publications, special reports, and conference proceedings devoted to women's and gender issues. [1970s - present]
Includes magazines, academic journals, newspapers, newsletters, books, pamphlets, conference proceedings, and government reports that focus on the impact of gender across a broad spectrum of subject areas.
Archives of Sexuality and Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940 This link opens in a new window
Includes newsletters, organizational papers, government documents, manuscripts, pamphlets, personal correspondence and more related to LGBTQ communities around the world. Topics include the gay rights, lesbian activism, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and more (Formerly titled Archives of Human Sexuality and Identity) [1940-present].
Documents from the Women's Liberation Movement This link opens in a new window
A collection of various aspects of the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States. [1969 - 1974]
Focuses specifically on the radical origins of the movement during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Independent Voices This link opens in a new window
Over 1000 alternative press titles focusing on the 60s, 70s and 80s. Includes publications by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Latinos, gays, lesbians and more. [1960 - 2000]
FBI Confidential Files and Radical Politics in the U.S., 1945-1972 This link opens in a new window
Contains the records of the FBI and the Subversive Activities Control Board investigating “subversive” activities.
This ProQuest History Vault module contains J. Edgar Hoover's office files; documentation on the FBI's so-called "black bag jobs," as they were called before being renamed "surreptitious entries"; and the "Do Not File" File. The "Do Not File" file consists of records that were originally supposed to be destroyed on FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's order, however large portions of these files survived. Another key collection in this module consists of the records of the Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB). The SACB files is one of the most valuable resources for the study of left-wing radicalism during the 1950s and 1960s. [1945-1972]
Vietnam War and American Foreign Policy, 1960-1975 This link opens in a new window
Includes 104 ProQuest microfilm collections; records of the Associated Press's Saigon Bureau, Military Assistance and Advisory Command, Vietnam; and National Security Files from the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford administrations.
Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 (WASM) This link opens in a new window
Collects and analyzes documents, images and other primary resources on the history of women and social movements in the United States. Also includes links to other websites and a dictionary of social movements and organizations.
Contains 110 document projects and archives with almost 4,200 documents, more than 1,000 images, with more than 2,200 primary authors. Collects and analyzes documents and almost images on the history of women and social movements in the United States between 1600 and 2000. Also includes links to other websites and a dictionary of social movements and organizations.
Leftist Historical Newspapers and Periodicals This link opens in a new window
A collection of 22 newspapers and periodicals supporting the ideology of communism, most published in the United States. Dates range from 1848 through 1978, with most coverage in the early 20th century. There are some gaps in coverage.
Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984 This link opens in a new window
FBI files on surveillance conducted on Black Americans, civil rights organizations, and other institutions.
Includes FBI files relating to: A. Philip Randolph, Adam Clayton Powell, the Atlanta Child Murders (ATKID), the Black Panther Party (North Carolina), the Committee for Public Justice, Elijah Muhammed, the Highlander Folk School, the Klu Klux Klan Murder of Viola Liuzzo, Malcolm X, MIBURN (Mississippi Burning), the Moorish Science Temple of America, the Murder of Lemuel Penn, the Muslim Mosque, Inc., the NAACP, the National Negro Congress, the Organization of Afro-American Unity, Paul Robeson, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Roy Wilkins, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Thurgood Marshall, W.E.B. Du Bois, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Marcus Garvey
Disability in the Modern World: History of a Social Movement This link opens in a new window
Online collection of newspapers, videos, texts and images that document the rise of a social movement around Disability. Includes material in many formats and from a wide range of disciplines.
Readers' Guide Retrospective This link opens in a new window
Indexes American magazines and journals published between 1890 to 1982.
EBSCOhost (formerly WilsonWeb) (EBSCO)
San Francisco Chronicle Archive, Complete (historical and current) This link opens in a new window
Two searchable databases comprising the complete San Francisco Chronicle, Northern California's largest circulation newspaper. 1865-1984, page images from the print edition. 1985 onward, full-text from the electronic edition, lacking graphics.

Primary Sources - Authoritative Web Sites

Library of Congress: American Memory

Browse by Topic: (example: Native American History, Women's History)

Online Archive of California

A searchable and browseable resource that brings together historical materials from a variety of California institutions, including museums, historical societies, and archives. Contains over 120,000 images; 50,000 pages of documents, letters, and oral histories; and 8,000 guides to collections. Images are organized into thematic and institutional collections, such as historical topics, nature, places, and technology.

Documents from the Women's Liberation Movement

GLBT Historical Society

Lesbian Herstory Archives

FBI Files: The Vault

Primary Sources

Primary sources can be found in a variety of library tools:

UC Library Search allows you to find primary sources in physical libraries like The Bancroft Library and the Main Stacks, as well as online sources
Online book and text collections
Primary Source databases provided by the Library
includes databases for finding newspaper articles, such as Historical Newspapers (ProQuest) or magazine articles, such as Reader's Guide
Vetted sites on the web:

For specific search strategies, see the Library's Guide to Finding Historical Primary Source s

Learn more about your topic in advance:

names of relevant individuals and organizations
dates of events
places
what terminology was used at the time by participants and observers? (ex: negro or colored instead of african american)

Use the bibliographies of secondary sources and reference sources to find citations to specific primary sources; search UC library Search to locate them on campus, or ask for assistance at the Library.

Sample Searches for Primary Sources in OskiCat

Search OskiCat for primary sources using keywords and adding terms that denote primary sources, such as:

-correspondence
-sources
-diaries
-personal narratives
-interviews
-speeches
-documents
-archives
-newspapers

Examples:

1.   (keywords) gay rights sources
       (subject) gay rights united states history sources
       (keywords) mexican american* vietnam* personal narratives

2. Search individuals as author AND as subjects:

(author) chavez, cesar
(subject) chavez, cesar

3. search by organizational author:

author: black panther party

4. Also try limiting by date:

advanced keyword

(keywords) homosexuality

language: english

years: 1945 to 1970

sort by date

5. limit by format:

(keywords) american indian movement pull down "entire collection" menu to "sound recordings"

Sample Searches - Primary Source Databases

Library home > Electronic Resources > By Type > Archival Collections and Primary Sources > Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives

Browse > Browse Subjects > Themes (examples: gay and lesbian movements; women's movements)

Search > All Subjects: american indian (then select from list)
: alcatraz
: mexican

Finding Supreme Court Cases

Supreme Court cases

Opinions:

http://supreme.justia.com/ by year

Briefs:

Making of Modern Law: US Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978

A fully searchable collection of briefs and other documents related to cases brought before the U.S. Supreme Court. It contains over 150,000 cases and 350,000 documents. Search results are linked to the actual full-text PDF documents.

Lexis-Nexis Academic (Supreme Court briefs 1936 - onwards).

click on Advanced Options; in the window that appears, next to Source, enter U.S. Supreme Court Case Briefs; accept the suggested text; click on Apply

back at the search screen, enter your additional search terms; your search will be limited to Supreme Court briefs.

Oral arguments:

- Oyez Project: Audio recordings of oral arguments before Supreme Court 1968 - 2010
  - selective before 1968 and after 2010
  - Briefs and opinions also selectively available.
- Supreme Court of the US official web site: transcripts of oral arguments 2000 - present
  - audio of oral arguments 2010 - present

Secondary menu

Social Protest and the Free Speech Movement: Primary Sources