Title: Madison People's Bicentennial Commission Records
Inclusive Dates: 1974-1976

Creator:

• Madison People's Bicentennial Commission (Wis.)

Call Number: Micro 783

Quantity: 1 reel of microfilm (35mm)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Records of the Madison, Wisconsin affiliate (1974-1976) of the People's Bicentennial Commission, which was formed in 1971 to focus attention on the democratic and revolutionary aspect of the break from Great Britain in 1776 and the dominance of big business in contemporary American society. Present are correspondence; an office log; clippings; notes; and press releases, posters, leaflets, and handouts. The correspondence is quite fragmentary, but it includes a lengthy letter to the national staff concerning planning priorities and “Economic Democracy,” a manuscript by Jeremy Rifkin, head of PBC, sent to the Madison office for criticism. Also of interest are material on surveys of public attitudes toward the capitalist system and an attempt during the 1976 presidential campaign to focus attention on the issue of economic democracy.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-micr0783

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The Madison People's Bicentennial Commission was established in 1974 as an affiliate of the loosely-organized People's Bicentennial Commission (PBC). Like the national organization, MPBC hoped to provide an alternative to the officially-sanctioned American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. Also like the parent organization, the Madison group sought to focus public attention on the revolutionary and democratic aspects of the break from England by engaging in activities which sought to challenge the power exercised by corporate institutions over American life.

In 1975 PBC launched the Common Sense Campaign to focus the upcoming presidential campaign on the issue of economic democracy and corporate domination. In Wisconsin, the Common Sense Campaign was most evident in the disruption by the Madison People's Bicentennial Commission of Ronald Reagan's speeches in Milwaukee and Oshkosh in January 1976.

Throughout its brief existence the Madison People's Bicentennial Commission had few active members and was only loosely organized. It disbanded shortly after the 1976 presidential elections. The national PBC remained in existence, however, under the name People's Business Commission.

The records are a fragmentary collection chiefly consisting of correspondence, clippings, leaflets, and posters. The correspondence includes form letters from the Washington, D.C., office as well as exchanges concerning local activities. Of interest is a lengthy letter from John C. Stauber, head of the Madison group, to the national staff in May 1975 and a draft of an apparently unpublished manuscript “Economic Democracy” by Jeremy Rifkin, the head of PBC, which was sent to Stauber for criticism.

Activity is better documented in files of clippings, posters, press releases, leaflets, and handouts. Oversized posters have been transferred to the Sound and Visual Archives. Filed with a press release dated September 1, 1975, is material pertaining to a national public opinion poll concerning attitudes toward the capitalist system; a similar poll in Madison is documented by material filed with an April 19, 1976, release. Results of both polls are among the topics noted in the newspaper clippings. Also discussed is the group's attempt to dramatize the commercialism of Christmas by means of a “Buy-Centennial” demonstration. Day-to-day activities of 1976 are well represented in an office log used by members to communicate with one another.

The remainder of the collection consists of a single newsletter issued by the Madison group, publications of other PBC chapters, a few fragmentary financial records, notes on economic research on Wisconsin, and a proposal drafted by the Coalition for Responsible Development (of which MPBC members may have been a part) for the further growth of Madison. Miscellany includes questions drafted to ask of Presidential candidate Morris Udall in January 1976 and a satiric Bicentennial play and song.

Acquisition Information

Presented by the Madison People's Bicentennial Commission via Bob Allison, Madison, Wisconsin, January 12, 1977. Accession Number: M77-11

Processing Information

Processed by Michael McManus (Intern) and Carolyn J. Mattern, September 1979.

Reel   1 Frame   001	Correspondence, 1974-1975
Reel   1 Frame   225	Office Log, 1976
Reel   1 Frame   324	Clippings, 1975-1976
Reel   1 Frame   387	Publicity and Posters, 1976
Reel   1 Frame   469	Newsletter, 1976
Reel   1 Frame   472	Financial Records, 1975-1976
Reel   1 Frame   481	PBC Chapter Materials, 1975-1976
Reel   1 Frame   519	Economic Notes and Proposal, undated
Reel   1 Frame   579	Miscellany, undated