Title: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1917-1923

Creator:

• Flynn, Elizabeth Gurley

Call Number: New York Mss L; Micro 491

Quantity: 0.4 c.f. (1 archives box) and 1 reel of microfilm (35 mm)

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:

Correspondence of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a prominent New York communist mainly relating to her work as an organizer for the Workers Defense Union to secure justice for political prisoners, anarchists, labor agitators, and others accused of subversion during World War I. Of special note are a series of letters from persons confined in federal prisons awaiting deportation.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-ny00l

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, prominent New York liberal, author, and organizer for the Workers Defense Union between 1917 and 1923 was a leader in the fight for civil rights for over forty years. She worked to secure justice for political prisoners, anarchists, labor agitators, IWW members, Socialists, and others whom it was felt were being deprived of their civil rights. The organization through which much of the work was carried on was the Workers Defense Union which was closely tied to the Industrial Workers of the World.

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn died while on a trip to Moscow, September 6, 1964, at the age of 74.

This collection of papers consists of one box of correspondence and other miscellaneous papers relating to Flynn's work during the years 1917 through 1923. Included in the correspondence is material relating to legal efforts to prevent deportation of aliens or to secure the release from prison of others accused of political crimes. There are copies of letters and petitions to various governmental officials including Presidents Wilson and Harding and various Cabinet members. There are also letters, or copies of letters, from persons confined in the Federal prisons or at Ellis Island awaiting deportation. These letters describe the conditions of the particular place of detention as well as descriptions of the ship board conditions of deportees. The bulk of the material falls between 1919 and 1922, the period after World War I when fear of foreign elements, and Communism particularly, was the greatest.

This collection is also available on microfilm.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, New York, New York, 1958.