Title: Michael E. Eisenscher Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1962-1969

Creator:

• Eisenscher, Michael E., 1944-

Call Number: Mss 111

Quantity: 1.0 c.f. (3 archives boxes)

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 of Michael Eisenscher, a radical organizer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and in Milwaukee, including correspondence, printed matter, minutes, position papers, reports, and clippings on the W.E.B. DuBois Club, the Milwaukee Organizing Committee, the Wisconsin Communist Party, the Wisconsin Student Employees Association, and a variety of other left wing activities and organizations.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00111

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Radical organizer Michael E. Eisenscher was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the early 1960's during which time he was active in a host of left wing activities and organizations. In 1963 he was research director for the Wisconsin Student Employees Association, which attempted to combat discriminatory employment practices against the transient student population working in university facilities. In June 1964 he attended the founding convention of the W.E.B. DuBois Club in San Francisco. Following the convention, Eisenscher returned to Madison to serve as projects director for the local chapter and as Wisconsin regional director for the national club. In the summer of 1965 he moved to Milwaukee to assist in organizing that city's club and to act as Midwest regional coordinator. He also joined the staff of the Milwaukee Organizing Committee, which aimed at organizing the local community based on the issues of civil rights, labor unions, peace, and draft counseling. In July 1965 Eisenscher and a number of other leftist organizers were notified that adverse testimony concerning their activities had been made to the Senate Internal Security Sub-committee. During the period described in the collection Eisenscher was also involved in the National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam and the Wisconsin Communist Party, which he served as party secretary in 1968.

Spanning the period 1962-1969, the papers are arranged as an alphabetical subject file. The majority of the files pertain to activities in the W.E.B. DuBois Club and to the Wisconsin Student Employees Association. Though the bulk of the collection is comprised of printed and near-print material, the files also variously contain correspondence, minutes, constitutions, position papers, reports, and clippings. The DuBois correspondence, which is perhaps the most valuable portion of the collection primarily relates to activities in Milwaukee and includes detailed letters to and from members of the national staff and representatives of clubs around the Midwest. The Wisconsin Student Employees Association files include correspondence, research material, a constitution, minutes, and clippings on the project which was undertaken in conjunction with SDS to organize university student workers. Smaller files of note concern the Wisconsin Communist Party and the Milwaukee Organizing Committee.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Michael E. Eisenscher, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1970, with portions presented via Jim Moore, 1972. Accession Number: M70-160 and M72-200

Processing Information

Processed by Patrick M. Quinn and Eleanor Niermann, October 1971, and by Carolyn J. Mattern, July 1980.

Box   1 Folder   1	Assembly of Unrepresented Peoples, 1965
Box   1 Folder   2	Committee for Community Power (Milwaukee), 1968
	DuBois, W.E.B., Clubs of America
Box   1 Folder   3	Area and regional reports, 1965, undated
Box   1 Folder   4	Clippings
Box   1 Folder   5	Constitution, Madison chapter, 1964
	Conventions (National)
Box   1 Folder   6	Founding convention, 1964, June, resolution, position papers, constitution drafts
Box   1 Folder   7	1965, November
Box   1 Folder   8	1965, December
Box   1 Folder   8	1966, February
Box   1 Folder   9	1966, June
Box   1 Folder   10-11	Correspondence, 1964-1966, 1968
Box   1 Folder   12	Daily Cardinal controversy, 1965
Box   1 Folder   13	Education, undated
Box   1 Folder   14	Madison club position papers, statements, miscellaneous papers, 1964, undated
Box   1 Folder   15	Midwest regional conference, 1965, February
Box   1 Folder   16	Midwest regional conference, 1965, December
Box   1 Folder   17	Miscellaneous meetings, 1965
Box   2 Folder   1	National publications, releases, directives, and miscellaneous publications, 1965-1968
Box   2 Folder   2	Subversive Activities Control Board- Katzenbach activities, 1966
Box   2 Folder   3	Summer projects, 1965
Box   2 Folder   4	Topical reports and proposals, 1964-1968
Box   2 Folder   5	Emspak, Frank, Contemporary Affairs Forum, 1963
Box   2 Folder   6	Goldwater demonstration
Box   2 Folder   7	House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1965-1966
Box   2 Folder   8	Labor research sources, 1964-1965
Box   2 Folder   9	Migrant labor, 1965
Box   2 Folder   10	Miscellaneous Milwaukee activities, 1965-1969
Box   2 Folder   11	Milwaukee Organizing Committee, 1966-1968
Box   2 Folder   12	The Movement, 1963-1965
Box   2 Folder   13	Movement conference prospectus, 1966
Box   2 Folder   14	National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam, 1965-1966
Box   2 Folder   15	Poverty, 1965
Box   2 Folder   16	Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, 1965-1966
Box   2 Folder   17	Siegrist, Bob, 1965
Box   2 Folder   18	“Student Unionism at the University of Wisconsin,” undated
Box   2 Folder   19	University of Wisconsin, Model UN, 1962
Box   2 Folder   20	Vietnam, 1964-1966
Box   3 Folder   1	Wisconsin Communist Party, 1968
	Wisconsin Student Employees Association
Box   3 Folder   2	Constitution and minutes, 1962
Box   3 Folder   3	Correspondence, 1962-1964
Box   3 Folder   4	Mediation Board, 1963
Box   3 Folder   5	Policy statements, undated
Box   3 Folder   6	Publicity and clippings, 1962-1964
Box   3 Folder   7	Research data, surveys, undated
Box   3 Folder   8	Unemployment and jobs, 1963, 1966
Box   3 Folder   9	Young Democrats, 1961-1963