Congress of Racial Equality Records, 1941-1967

Container Title
Series: Series 3: Executive Secretary's File
Scope and Content Note

The Executive Secretary's files include CORE records from the time of the organization's inception in 1942, through the 1940's when CORE began to have a major structure and unified organization. They serve as a basis for understanding the changes CORE has undergone through the years. The files contain chiefly the correspondence of George M. Houser who was the mainstay of CORE in the 1940's and early 1950's. For about a decade, Houser served either as chairman or executive secretary, while maintaining some duties as an officer of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, apparently receiving no salary from either. In 1954 James Robinson became executive secretary and remained in that office until 1961, when the executive secretary's position was abandoned and Robinson was made membership director.

The Executive Secretary's files are organized by subject, and chronologically by months under each subject. They are concerned primarily with the first group of CORE chapters, and the letters of inquiry about this developing organization. There is some correspondence of James Farmer, but most of the material pre-dates Farmer's term as director.

The Executive Secretary's files contain material relating to the early national conventions including correspondence with both affiliated and unaffiliated chapters. There are also papers of Billie Ames who was group coordinator for a few years in the 1950's. Some material is included in the files concerning organizations with whom CORE worked.

Box/Folder   1/1
Reel   8
Action Against Jim Crow in Northern States, 1948
Box/Folder   1/2
Reel   8
Action Conference and Convention, 1947-1948
Box/Folder   1/3
Reel   8
Advisory Committee, 1945-1954
Box/Folder   1/4
Reel   8
Affiliated Organizations, 1942-1953
Ames, Billie
Box/Folder   1/5
Reel   8
1954
Box/Folder   1/6
Reel   8
1955-1957
Box/Folder   1/7
Reel   8
Baltimore, CORE, 1952-1954, 1958
Box/Folder   1/8
Reel   8
Berkeley, CORE, 1948-1951
Box/Folder   1/9
Reel   8
Bibliography of the History of Negroes in the Trade Union Movement
Box/Folder   1/10
Reel   8
Boston CORE, 1948 November-1951 November
Box/Folder   1/11
Reel   8
Brooklyn CORE, 1947, 1950
Chicago CORE
Box/Folder   1/12
Reel   8
1942-1947
Box/Folder   2/1
Reel   8
1948-1953
Box/Folder   2/2
Reel   8
Chicago Workshop, 1945 Summer
Cincinnati Affiliated Groups
Box/Folder   2/3
Reel   8
1946-1950
Box/Folder   2/4
Reel   9
1951-1955, undated
Box/Folder   2/5
Reel   9
City College of New York, 1949-1953
Box/Folder   2/6
Reel   9
Cleveland, Ohio, 1946-1953
Box/Folder   2/7
Reel   9
Columbia, Missouri, 1952-1955
Box/Folder   2/8
Reel   9
Columbus, Ohio, 1945-1951
Box/Folder   2/9
Reel   9
Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service, 1947-1948
Committee for Immediate Action in the Sharkey-Brown-Issacs Bill
Box/Folder   3/1
Reel   9
1957
Box/Folder   3/2
Reel   9
1957-1958, undated
Box/Folder   3/3
Reel   9
Committee for Racial Democracy, 1947
Box/Folder   3/4
Reel   9
Committee on the Practice of Democracy - Bartlesville, Oklahoma, 1946-1951, undated
Convention
Box/Folder   3/5
Reel   9
1944, 1945
Box/Folder   3/6
Reel   9
1946
Box/Folder   3/7
Reel   9
1947
Box/Folder   3/8
Reel   9
1948-1949
Box/Folder   3/9
Reel   9
1950
Box/Folder   3/10
Reel   10
1951
Box/Folder   3/11
Reel   10
1952
Box/Folder   3/12
Reel   10
1953
Box/Folder   4/1
Reel   10
CORE Comments, 1942-1944
Box/Folder   4/2
Reel   10
CORE Council, 1948-1954
Box/Folder   4/3
Reel   10
CORE Film, 1949-1951
Box/Folder   4/4
Reel   10
CORE Projects Reports, 1952
Box/Folder   4/5
Reel   10
Denver, Colorado, 1943-1950
Box/Folder   4/6
Reel   10
Detroit, 1945
Box/Folder   4/7
Reel   10
Discrimination - general, 1948-1952, 1956-1957
Box/Folder   4/8
Reel   10
Discrimination in Interstate Transportation, 1947-1954
Box/Folder   4/9
Reel   10
Evanston, Illinois, 1949-1955
Executive Committee
Box/Folder   4/10
Reel   10
1943-1947
Box/Folder   4/11
Reel   10
1948-1949, 1952-1954, 1959, undated
Farmer, James
Box/Folder   5/1
Reel   10
Bulletins, etc.
Box/Folder   5/2
Reel   10
Correspondence, 1950, 1960-1961 March
Box/Folder   5/3
Reel   10
Correspondence, 1961 April-December, undated
Box/Folder   5/4
Reel   11
Speaking Engagements, 1960-1961 August
Box/Folder   5/5
Reel   11
Speaking Engagements, 1961 September-1962
Finances
Box/Folder   5/6
Reel   11
1944-1946
Box/Folder   5/7
Reel   11
1947-1949
Box/Folder   5/8
Reel   11
1950-1951
Box/Folder   6/1
Reel   11
1952
Box/Folder   6/2
Reel   11
1953 January-May
Box/Folder   6/3
Reel   11
1953 June-December
Box/Folder   6/4
Reel   11
1954, 1955, undated
Houser, George
Box/Folder   6/5
Reel   11
1941-1945 June?
Box/Folder   6/6
Reel   11
1945 July-December, undated
Box/Folder   6/7
Reel   11
1946 January-August
Box/Folder   6/8
Reel   11
1946 September-December, undated
Box/Folder   6/9
Reel   12
SWP-Chicago, 1946
Box/Folder   7/1
Reel   12
Correspondence, 1947-1949
Box/Folder   7/2
Reel   12
Correspondence, 1950-1955
Box/Folder   7/3
Reel   12
Housing Segregation, 1953-1954, undated
Box/Folder   7/4
Reel   12
Incorporation of CORE, 1948-1950
Inquiries
Box/Folder   7/5
Reel   12
1943-1944
Box/Folder   7/6
Reel   12
1945
Box/Folder   7/7
Reel   12
1947
Box/Folder   7/8
Reel   12
1948 January-May
Box/Folder   7/9
Reel   12
1948 June-December
Box/Folder   8/1
Reel   12
1949 January-August
Box/Folder   8/2
Reel   12
1949 September-December
Box/Folder   8/3
Reel   12
1950 January-April 5
Box/Folder   8/4
Reel   13
1950 April-December
Box/Folder   8/5
Reel   13
1951 January-April
Box/Folder   8/6
Reel   13
1951 May-December
Box/Folder   8/7
Reel   13
1952
Box/Folder   8/8
Reel   13
Inter-Office, 1950, 1961
Box/Folder   9/1
Reel   13
Interracial Workshop - Washington, D.C., 1947-1951
Box/Folder   9/2
Reel   13
Kansas City CORE, 1944-1947
Box/Folder   9/3
Reel   13
Lawrence, Kansas CORE, 1947-1950
Box/Folder   9/4
Reel   13
Lincoln, Nebraska CORE, 1945-1947
Box/Folder   9/5
Reel   13
Louisiana CORE, 1945-1950
Box/Folder   9/6
Reel   13
Minnesota CORE, 1946-1954
Box/Folder   9/7
Reel   13
Miscellaneous, 1937-1944
Box/Folder   9/8
Reel   13
Miscellaneous, general
Box/Folder   9/9
Reel   14
Nairo 1956 Commission on Housing, 1956?
Box/Folder   9/10
Reel   14
National Training Laboratories, 1961
Box/Folder   9/11
Reel   14
Non-violent Direct Action Campaign Against Jim Crow, 1945
Box/Folder   9/12
Reel   14
Oberlin CORE, 1945
Box/Folder   10/1
Reel   14
Omaha CORE, 1951-1954
Box/Folder   10/2
Reel   14
Pasadena CORE, 1949-1959
Box/Folder   10/3
Reel   14
Pennsylvania State College, 1947-1950
Box/Folder   10/4
Reel   14
Peoria CORE, 1945
Box/Folder   10/5
Reel   14
Philadelphia, 1946-1949
Box/Folder   10/6
Reel   14
Puerto Rico Independence, 1942-1948
Box/Folder   10/7
Reel   14
Recreation Discrimination, 1947-1954
Box/Folder   10/8
Reel   14
Robinson, James, 1955, 1957-1961
St. Louis Affiliated Groups
Box/Folder   10/9
Reel   14
1948-1951
Box/Folder   10/10
Reel   14
1951-1954
Box/Folder   10/11
Reel   14
San Francisco Area, 1947-1949
Box/Folder   10/12
Reel   14
Second Journey, 1951
Box/Folder   11/1
Reel   14
Setzuan, script, undated
Box/Folder   11/2
Reel   14
School Segregation, 1950-1952
Box/Folder   11/3
Reel   14
Sholl's Case, 1950
Box/Folder   11/4-6
Reel   15
Speaking Done
Box/Folder   11/7
Reel   15
Speaking Engagements, 1962
Box/Folder   12/1
Reel   15
Speaking Engagements, 1962 (continued)
Box/Folder   12/2
Reel   15
Speakers - Miscellaneous, 1960
Box/Folder   12/3
Reel   15
Supreme Court Civil Rights Decision, 1952-1954
Box/Folder   12/4
Reel   15
Syracuse CORE, 1943-1946
Talley, Manuel
Box/Folder   12/5
Reel   15
1948-1949 March
Box/Folder   12/6
Reel   15
1949 April-December
Box/Folder   12/7
Reel   15
Trip, Winter 1949
Box/Folder   12/8
Reel   15
1950
Box/Folder   13/1
Reel   15
Thank you - Congratulation letters, 1961
Box/Folder   13/2
Reel   15
University of Chicago CORE, 1948-1950
Box/Folder   13/3
Reel   15
Up to Date With CORE: publication, 1951-1955
Box/Folder   13/4
Reel   15
Waring Meeting, 1951 February
Washington Interracial Workshop
Box/Folder   13/5
Reel   16
1949-1952
Box/Folder   13/6
Reel   16
1953-1955
Box/Folder   13/7
Reel   16
Publications, 1949-1954
Box/Folder   13/8
Reel   16
Wichita CORE, 1949-1950
Box/Folder   13/9
Reel   16
Young Women's Christian Association, 1941, 1944-1950