The New American Movement records are arranged in two series, National Organization Records and Chapter Records. There is very little original material in the collection; most consists of mass-produced near-print documents, some of which have handwritten annotations.
NATIONAL ORGANIZATION RECORDS include a folder of clippings documenting NAM's first national meeting in 1971, near-print material from early chapter organizing workshops, and annual national convention records through 1978. The latter often contain both pre-convention materials sent to members as a packet, and handouts prepared for the meeting. Included are agenda, resolutions and proposals (often prepared by individual chapters and usually annotated), position and strategy papers, statements, draft constitutional amendments, financial reports, candidates' statements, flyers, and other items. There are similar materials from a 1973 meeting of the National Council.
Other national records consist of topical files on health care and workplace organizing, with proposals, resolutions, newsletters, and a digest; and NAM literature, flyers, position papers, and proposals. There is a small file of position papers, proposals, newsletters, and notes of the Marxist-Leninist Organizing Caucus, a political tendency within NAM.
CHAPTER RECORDS illustrate the local emphasis of NAM and the interrelationships of chapters with other groups. Records of the Athens, Ohio chapter contain reports, proposals, and local newsletters, as well as conference material from a Meeting on Southeastern Appalachian Coordination, held in Athens, November 1971. For the Bay Area (BANAM), Berkeley-Oakland, Chicago (including the Blazing Star women's section), Cleveland, East Bay, and Pittsburgh chapters there are agenda, minutes, proposals, reports, statements, newsletters, bulletins, flyers, and other records. There are also a few records of the East Bay (California) Socialist School, comprised of class schedules, a course outline, a report, and flyers; and a bulletin and working paper from the Mass Intermediate Socialist Organization located in the San Francisco Bay area.
Interested researchers should also consult the separate small collections of records of the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and San Francisco chapters of NAM.
