Title: Larry Rubin Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1960-1977

Creator:

• Rubin, Larry, 1942-

Call Number: Mss 565; Tape 895A

Quantity: 0.8 c.f. (2 archives boxes), and 5 tape recordings

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:

Papers and tapes, 1960-1971, 1977, of Larry Rubin, a former Antioch College student who was active in civil rights work in Georgia, Mississippi, and Washington, D.C., and who served as educational affairs director of the National Student Association prior to the 1967 disclosure of the CIA's covert funding of NSA international operations. The collection primarily consists of Rubin's collected files of leaflets; reports of activities, some written by him in journal form; notes, affidavits, correspondence, and articles. The papers illustrate his work in southwest Georgia and Mississippi with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Council of Federated Organizations, with the Southeast Neighborhood House in Washington, D.C., as a student, and regarding his trip to Cuba. Five tape recordings concern a race relations meeting, probably held at Antioch College; CBS news coverage of the 1963 March on Washington; a report on a discrimination case in Yellow Springs, Ohio; and the plight of persons assisted by the Southeast Neighborhood House. The entire collection was loaned for copying.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00565

Larry Wolf Rubin was born June 23, 1942 in Philadelphia, where he lived until 1960 when he entered Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Rubin attended Antioch from 1960 until 1970 where he studied political science and pre-law subjects. He also interspersed his education with various co-op job programs sponsored by the college. He worked for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Mississippi and Georgia between 1961 and 1964, and also was with Acts for Peace in California. Rubin left school during 1967, when he served as the national education director of the National Student Association (NSA), a position which he resigned upon learning that the CIA had secretly funded NSA operations abroad. In 1968 and 1969 Rubin was employed as a reporter for the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News; subsequently he held the positions of organizer, Washington representative, and writer-photographer with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers Union of America, 1969-1976. In 1976-1977 Rubin worked in a public relations capacity for the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council; since 1978 he has been an associate editor for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. In addition to his professional positions, he has been a member of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee and the New Jewish Agenda.

The collection consists of Rubin's collected files of leaflets, reports of activities, notes, affidavits, correspondence, and articles, with a major part relating to his civil rights work. Most of the papers date from the 1960s. All materials were loaned for copying. In particular, Rubin's work as a field organizer for SNCC in southwest Georgia, 1962-1963, and as a Council of Federated Organizations worker in Mississippi, 1964, is illustrated through files of affidavits from residents regarding voter registration and the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service elections in Mississippi in 1964. These topics are also discussed in handwritten and typewritten reports of activities prepared by Rubin and others. There is also a folder on civil rights activities in Yellow Springs, Ohio from the period when Rubin was a student at Antioch College; included are reports, flyers, Rubin's notes, and committee papers concerning the desegregation of Gegner's Barbershop in Yellow Springs. There is a similar folder of materials from Rubin's work as a community organizer at Southeast Neighborhood House, Washington, D.C., 1964. Also in these files are correspondence, clippings, and Rubin's journal from his trip to Cuba in December 1960; a folder concerning the American Jewish Congress; and notes for speeches and writings; and a scrapbook of articles, 1962-1966.

A second major portion of the collection concerns Rubin's involvement with the National Student Association, his position as educational affairs director, and his resignation from the post in 1967 when it was disclosed that the CIA had secretly funded NSA operations abroad. There are an NSA membership list; notes of staff meetings from January and February 1967; articles from several magazines, including the February 14, 1967 Ramparts article initially disclosing CIA activities; and copies of NSA press releases. Also included are Rubin's letter of resignation, March 8, 1967; a memo by Lee Webb to the NSA National Supervisory Board; newsclippings; and papers of the NSA National Congress with a copy of the NSA president's report to the Congress. The remaining materials in the collection consist of a final report from a seminar entitled “Revolution in Black and White,” by Lois Dean Sparks and Larry Rubin, 1967, and a 1977 term paper written by a student who interviewed Rubin as one of his sources.

Tape recordings in the collection include a taped ACRE race relations meeting, probably held at Willett Hall, Antioch College, summer 1963, in which Rubin participated. At the meeting participants discussed differing race perceptions and how these affected their approaches to white and black persons, and the validity of regarding all individuals in a similar manner regardless of race. Two reels record the CBS television coverage of the March on Washington, August 28, 1963, while a fourth reel records the “Report on the Yellow Springs Barbershop Controversy,” giving the history and status of the situation as of September 16, 1963. The fifth reel contains affidavits of persons assisted by the Southeast Neighborhood House, discussing poverty, working with the welfare department and other agencies, and other experiences.

Acquisition Information

Loaned for copying by Larry Rubin, Washington, D.C., 1981. Accession Number: M81-201, M81-208

Processing Information

Processed by John Wright and Menzi Behrnd-Klodt, October 1981.

Mss 565 Box   1 Folder   1	Civil Rights at Antioch College, 1960-1963
Box   1 Folder   2	Rubin's Cuba Trip, 1960-1961
Box   1 Folder   3	Letters from Legislators, 1961, 1964
Box   1 Folder   4	Affidavits and Reports from Georgia, 1962-1963
Box   1 Folder   5	Reports from Mississippi and Georgia, 1962-1964
Box   1 Folder   6	Correspondence, 1962-1966, 1971
Box   1 Folder   7	SNCC in Georgia, 1962
Box   1 Folder   8-9	Georgia Reports, 1962-1963
Box   1 Folder   10	Mississippi Reports, 1964
Box   1 Folder   11	Southeast Neighborhood House, Washington, D.C., 1964
Box   1 Folder   12	Voter Registration, Individual Cases, 1964
Box   1 Folder   13	Voter Registration, Persons Not Hearing From Registrar, 1964
Box   1 Folder   14	ASCS Affidavits, Mississippi, 1964
Box   1 Folder   15	American Jewish Congress, 1964
Box   1 Folder   16	SNCC, Georgia and Alabama, 1965
Box   2 Folder   1	Mississippi, 1965-1967
	National Student Association
Box   2 Folder   2	Membership List, December 1966
Box   2 Folder   3	Notes of Staff Meetings, January 30-February 27, 1967
Box   2 Folder   4	Ramparts Breaks the Story, February 14, 1967
Box   2 Folder   5	Press Releases, February 14-24, 1967
Box   2 Folder   6	NSA-CIA Crisis, February 14-April 1967
Box   2 Folder   7	Lee Webb Memo to National Supervisory Board, February 16, 1967
Box   2 Folder   8	NSA-CIA Crisis, February 17-September 1967
Box   2 Folder   9	Related CIA Articles, February 18-December 30, 1967
Box   2 Folder   10	Receipt for Debt Paid to NSA Before Resignation, February 27, 1967
Box   2 Folder   11	Rubin's Letter of Resignation from NSA, March 8, 1967
Box   2 Folder   12	Correspondence with T.G.P. Cann, March, June 1967
Box   2 Folder   13	U.S. Youth Council Invitation to Testify, March 1967
Box   2 Folder   14	Moderator and Mademoiselle on NSA-CIA, April-August 1967
Box   2 Folder   15	NSA National Congress, August 1967
Box   2 Folder   16	President Gene Groves Report re: NSA-CIA to the National Congress
Box   2 Folder   17	Spark - Rubin to NSA Congress, August 1967
Box   2 Folder   18	Notes for Speeches and Writings
Box   2 Folder   19	Seminar Paper - “Revolution in Black and White,” by Lois Dean Sparks and Larry Rubin, June 1967
Box   2 Folder   20	“The Black Power Movement and the New Left,” by Jeffrey Halpern from an interview with Rubin, May 1977
Box   2 Folder   21	Rubin's Scrapbook, 1962-1966
Tape 895A	Tape Recordings
No.   1	ACRE race relations meeting Note: Probably held at Willett Hall, Antioch College, summer 1963.
No.   2-3	CBS television coverage of the March on Washington, August 28, 1963
No.   4	“Report on the Yellow Springs Barbershop Controversy”
No.   5	Affidavits of persons assisted by the Southeast Neighborhood House