The collection consists of David Beito's own papers, plus material he solicited from a number of individuals formerly active in SLS. The records reflect activities at the national level, Beito's involvement in two SLS local chapters -- Minneapolis and then Madison, and actions at other Midwestern campuses. These files date from 1978 to 1984 but are quite fragmentary. A large portion of the collection consists of political flyers, press releases, position papers, and newspaper clippings. Correspondence, financial records, and organizational records are incomplete. The collection may be best used as evidence of the issues of concern to SLS, libertarian ideology regarding those issues, the events SLS organized, and the organizations with whom SLS worked. This collection provides important insights into Madison draft resistance activities and student politics in general in the early 1980's.
The NATIONAL SLS RECORDS include some significant organizational records, such as the 1980-1981 annual report; the constitution adopted at the National Convention in New York City in August 1981; and the SLS organizing manual by Kathleen Jacob-Richman. The correspondence files are good on the interaction between leaders across the country, communication with the SLS local chapters, and the responsibilities of the national office, such as supervision of the content and format of the SLS periodical, Liberty. These files reveal some of the tension between Kathleen Jacob-Richman and Chris Gunderson over the National Director's position. Major correspondents include: Jacob-Richman, Gunderson, Jeff Friedman, Milton Mueller, and Eric Garris, the 1979 National Field Coordinator.
The convention records are spotty, containing advertisements and programs for the conventions, campaign literature of candidates for SLS national director, and scattered material about matters discussed. at the meetings, such as the constitution and the Student Board. A history of the SLS constitution by Scott Olmsted is included.
The Student Board records are likewise quite incomplete, consisting mainly of notes and correspondence. They cover the periods 1980-1981, when Chris Sciabarra was chair, and 1981-1982, when Beito was chair. The national SLS records also contain small folders of press releases and leaflets regarding SLS activities.
MIDWEST COORDINATOR'S RECORDS contain August 1980 reports from fourteen universities in Minnesota, Ohio, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The file provides little information regarding Beito's responsibilities or activities in this position.
Original CHAPTER FILES maintained at the local level are present for these campuses: Minneapolis, Madison, and Northwestern. The bulk of the Minnesota SLS Records are from two years, 1979 through 1980. Included are some materials about the formation and functioning of the group, such as the application for formal affiliation with SLS, registration as a university student group, a 1979 organizing report, a 1980 constitution, and information on people interested or involved in SLS. The correspondence file is limited, but does provide information on some activities that SLS coordinated in conjunction with the Minneapolis gay and lesbian community, commentary on President Reagan's election, and a report on the status of SLS. The literature file contains a few flyers about local rent control, anti-racism, and anti-war beliefs. Financial records include an initial statement from April 1979 and detailed expenditure and income ledgers only for the period from February to June, 1980. Records of the Young Libertarian Alliance (YLA) include a draft of a constitution, correspondence, and flyers.
The Minnesota anti-draft files include correspondence, opinion papers, press releases, clippings, flyers and literature from SLS-Minn. and numerous anti-draft organizations, including specifically the Minnesota Committee Against Registration and Draft (MCARD), and the Northland Resistance Committee and National Resistance Committee (NRC). Other groups represented in the general anti-draft files are Minnesotans Against Selective Service (M.A.S.S.) and the Twin Cities Stop the Draft Committee. These files document the major concern of SLS-Minn. during these years and provide useful information on how different political groups worked together on a single issue.
The Madison SLS Records are very similar to the Minneapolis records. The organizational file contains a copy of the 1980-81 registration as a university student organization, agendas, and records of people involved In SLS, including phone trees, mailing lists, lists of contributors, and sign-up sheets. SLS activities are reflected in the general correspondence, press releases, clippings from local newspapers, and literature. As with the Minneapolis records, the financial file is meager, containing only bank statements and some receipts.
The Madison files reflect more diverse SLS activities. The issues file contains correspondence, opinion papers, press releases, flyers, and clippings about schools tax support, the Campus Anarchy Party campaigns, Beito's campaign for U.S. Congress, anti-draft activities, the idea of a flat tax, war tax resistance, and reaction to the anti-pornography movement. Of note are an SLS-Madison position paper about the privatization of public schools, questionnaires from the League of Women Voters and the Wisconsin Nuclear Freeze Campaign and correspondence with incumbent Robert Kastenmeier in the Beito for Congress file, and comments on Beito's seminar paper on the history of war tax resistance and correspondence with the Conscience and Military Tax Campaign in the flat tax and war tax resistance files. The anti-draft material includes the 1981 statement of purpose of the Ad Hoc Committee to Stop Militarism and the Draft, a feminist anti-militarism group; material regarding Gillam Kerley's refusal to register; and organizing documents of the Madison Draft Resistance Coalition, a campus group organized by Kerley. The anti-pornography file includes opinion papers of the Feminist Anti-Censorship Taskforce (FACT) and copies of proposed ordinances in Minneapolis and Madison.
Also included is a small file from the Northwestern University SLS chapter in Evanston, Illinois, covering the years 1983 to 1984, preserved by chapter president Lee Cronk. Included are Cronk's correspondence, some organizing and campaign literature, lists of members and interested persons, literature, and limited financial records.
There are four MISCELLANEOUS FILES. First is a small file of Libertarian Party material, including a position paper and a brochure for the 1981 LP convention, which Beito attended. Second is the correspondence, 1984-1985, between Beito, Friedman, and Mueller, concerning the donation of these papers to the Historical Society. Third and fourth are photographs and a poster of anti-draft demonstrations in Minneapolis and Madison, circa 1980.
