Summary Information
Radical America Records
1966-1975
Mss 271
2.0 c.f. (5 archives boxes)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Records of a journal of the history of American radicalism. Although primarily comprised of correspondence with readers and contributors that tends to disclose the aspirations and malaise of the New Left during the late 1960s, there are files of published and unpublished articles, internal policy statements, minutes, circulation and subscription material, and publicity.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00271 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
The bi-monthly journal Radical America (RA) grew out of the experiences of Paul Buhle, its founder and original editor, in a 1966-1967 national study group on American radicalism. The study group was conducted by mail and coordinated by Buhle while he was a graduate student at the University of Connecticut at Storrs. He sent out several mimeographed newsletters containing bibliographies, short articles, and correspondence on the history of American radicalism. The first issue of RA was a more ambitious version of the newsletter; both were for individuals who were trying to find historical predecessors for the radical student movement of the 1960s. RA presented material to satisfy different levels of knowledge about the commitment to radicalism. It aimed to give local study groups a sense of identification with a national community of scholars and also provide a national channel of communication; and it would help the local study groups avoid the tendency to become simply Marxist indoctrination centers. In providing this national forum for independent radical ideas, RA was also partially filling the vacuum left by the demise of Studies on the Left in the fall of 1967.
RA was mainly edited by Paul Buhle, a University of Wisconsin graduate student, from his Madison home until the fall of 1970 when an editorial board was formed to share this responsibility. After Buhle and James O'Brien, a board member, moved to the Boston, Massachusetts, area in the summer of 1971, they created a new board; Buhle's voice, however, dominated. When his wife, Mari Jo Buhle, who occasionally contributed to RA, accepted a teaching position at Sarah Lawrence College, Buhle's editorial input diminished because of his geographic distance from RA's Cambridge, Massachusetts offices.
RA has always listed a number of persons as associate editors, which is a position that implies varying degrees of responsibilities. Some associate editors regularly contribute articles; others have been active in the past and so are still given the benefit of the title; and others have never been active in RA affairs and could simply be called “friends” of the publication.
Staff members identify three phases of development in RA's short history. At first, its main concern was to trace the roots of American radicalism; consequently its format was similar to any other history journal committed to an ideological position and included articles, annotated bibliographies, book reviews, and reprints of policy statements of the Old Left in the United States. However, especially after Buhle's article “New Perspectives on American Radicalism” (July-August 1968), the editorial emphasis switched to a cultural critique of American society; the highlight of this phase was the special comic book issue of January-February 1969. In its third phase the journal has concentrated on the history, development, and prospects of the American working class, drawing parallels with the European working class whenever appropriate.
Financially RA was never dependent on Students for a Democratic Society or its Radical Education Project, from which it received moral support only during the first several years of RA's existence. It has remained solvent on the basis of subscription sales and sales to bookstores and to college classes. Also its occasional appeals for donations have met with some success.
(This information was obtained from telephone interviews on October 19, 1973 with James O'Brien, Nancy Schromm, and Patrick M. Quinn; an O'Brien letter of December 8, 1973; and from the journal and the material in this collection. As of January 1980, the journal continued publication.)
Scope and Content Note
The collection provides a portrait, through the correspondence and internal policy records, of the struggles of a left-oriented organization to publish a radical, yet professional magazine.
The CORRESPONDENCE is arranged alphabetically, with general folders often followed by folders for individual correspondents or, less frequently, folders for publications and organizations such as Monthly Review or the New England Free Press. Occasionally correspondence from an individual may appear in a folder labelled with the name of an organization as well as under his or her own name. While some of the correspondence consists of mundane requests for literature or subscriptions, a large portion of it, particularly from 1971-1975, pertains to various readers' comments and criticisms on Radical America's policies and articles. Correspondents include Paul Breines; Dick Howard; Martin Glaberman of the Friends of Facing Reality Publishing Company; and Mark Naison, a frequent contributor to Radical America who expresses sentiments typical of the malaise of the New Left in the late 1960s. Also important are letters from the New England Free Press, which publishes reprints of radical literature; Fredy Perlman of the Black and Red Gang; Franklin Rosemont, who deals extensively with surrealism; and Gilbert Shelton and Denis Kitchen of underground comics fame.
The OFFICIAL RECORDS contain few records prior to 1971 and are most complete for 1972-1974. The Internal Policy records provide extensive information on discussions held by the editorial board to determine the direction of the magazine as well as day-to-day operations. The Published Articles and Poems do not comprise a complete set of manuscripts for material published in the magazine.
Related Material
For other collections relating to leftist journals, see the papers of Studies on the Left, the Alternative Press Centre, The National Guardian, and Carl and Anne Braden (editors of The Southern Patriot).
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Radical America via Paul Buhle, Boston, Massachusetts, 1971 and 1975; and by Christopher Densmore, Oswego, New York, 1973. Accession Number: M71-220; M73-281; M75-119
Processed by Eleanor McKay and W. Thomas, July 15, 1974. Reprocessed by Jan Heininger and Joanne Hohler, 1979-1980.
Contents List
|
Box
1
Folder
1
|
Series: Paul Buhle's Description of Radical America Collection, 1971
|
|
|
Series: Correspondence
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
2
|
A-General, 1968-1972
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
3
|
Aptheker, Herbert, 1966-1970
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
4
|
B-General, 1968-1973
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
5
|
Barrier, Mike, 1970-1971
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
6
|
Baxandall, Lee, 1966-1972
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
7
|
Brecher, Jeremy, 1969-1971
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
8
|
Breines, Paul, 1968-1971
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
9
|
C-General, 1966-1974
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
10
|
Christoffer, Tom, 1968-1969
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
11
|
Cleaver, Tom, 1966-1971
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
12
|
D-General, 1968-1974
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
13
|
DeLeon, Solon, 1967-1968
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
14
|
Densmore, Chris, 1968-1971
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
15
|
E-General, 1967-1972
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
16
|
Ewen, Stu and Liz, 1968-1969
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
17
|
F-General, 1967-1972
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
18
|
G-General, 1967-1974
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
19
|
Georgekas, Dan, 1968-1973
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
20
|
Gilbert, Jim, 1968-1972
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
21
|
Glaberman, Martin, 1966-1973
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
22
|
Gorman, William, 1967-1972
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
23
|
Greenwood Reprint Corporation, 1968-1972
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
1
|
H-General, 1967-1973
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
2
|
Hayden, Tom, undated
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
3
|
Howard, Dick, 1968-1973
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
4
|
I-General, 1966-1971
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
5
|
J-General, 1967-1973
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
6
|
K-General, 1968-1974
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
7
|
Klare, Karl, 1970-1971
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
8
|
L-General, 1967-1973
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
9
|
Lapping, Mark, 1967-1968
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
10
|
Leinenweber, Charles, 1967-1970
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
11
|
Levine, Andy, 1968-1970
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
12
|
Lynd, Staughton, 1971
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
13
|
M-General, 1967-1973
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
14
|
Mattick, Paul, Sr. and Jr., 1967-1970
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
15
|
Mewshaw, Joseph, 1967-1970
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
16
|
Monthly Review, 1966-1970
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
17
|
N-General, 1966-1973
|
|
|
Box
2
Folder
18
|
Naison, Mark, 1967-1974
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
1
|
National Guardian, 1967-1972
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
2
|
New England Free Press and Don McKelvey (REP), 1967-1971
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
3
|
0-General, 1969-1971
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
4
|
O'Brien, Jim, 1967-1973
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
5
|
P-General, 1967-1973
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
6
|
Perkins, Eric, 1969-1973
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
7
|
Perlman, Fredy and Lorraine (of the Black and Red Gang), 1969-1973
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
8
|
Piccone, Paul (of the Graduate Philosophy Association), 1969-1973
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
10
|
Q and R-General, 1967-1972
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
11
|
Rosemont, Franklin, 1969-1973
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
12
|
S-General, 1968-1974
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
13
|
Shelton, Gilbert, 1968-1970
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
14
|
Simon, Nick, 1968-1971
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
15
|
Socialist Revolution (especially Eli Zaretsky), 1969-1970
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
16
|
Socialist Scholars Conference (especially Bill Miller), 1969-1971
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
17
|
Somerlott, Ron, 1967; undated
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
18
|
T-General, 1967-1971
|
|
|
Box
3
Folder
19
|
U and V-General, 1967-1971
|
|
|
Box
4
Folder
1
|
W-General, 1966-1973
|
|
|
Box
4
Folder
2
|
Weinstein, Jim, 1967-1969
|
|
|
Box
4
Folder
3
|
Y and Z-General, 1967-1972
|
|
|
Box
4
Folder
4
|
Correspondence from unidentified signers, 1966-1973
|
|
|
Box
4
Folder
5
|
Fragments of correspondence, 1967-1971
|
|
|
Series: Official Records, 1967-1975
|
|
|
Box
4
Folder
6
|
Minutes, 1973 March 8-1974 December 29 (incomplete file)
|
|
|
Box
4
Folder
7-10
|
Internal Policy, 1967-1974; undated
|
|
|
Box
4
Folder
11
|
Circulation and Subscriptions, 1968-1969; 1971-1972; undated
|
|
|
Box
4
Folder
12
|
Publicity, 1967-1971; 1974
|
|
|
Box
4
Folder
13
|
Published Articles and Poems, 1971; 1973-1974 July/August
|
|
|
Box
5
Folder
1-2
|
Published Articles and Poems, 1974 July/August, 1975 April
|
|
|
Box
5
Folder
3-7
|
Unpublished Articles and Poems, 1970-1974; undated
|
|
|
Box
5
Folder
8
|
Articles and Poems Submitted to Radical America (unknown whether published)
|
|
|
Box
5
Folder
9
|
Miscellany, undated
|
|
|
