Lee D. Webb Papers, 1955-1968


Summary Information
Title: Lee D. Webb Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1955-1968

Creator:
  • Webb, Lee D., ca. 1940-
Call Number: Mss 571

Quantity: 7.2 c.f. (7 record center cartons and 1 archives box)

Repository:
Archival Locations:
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:
Papers, primarily composed of correspondence, writings and notes, and reference materials and clippings, created and collected by a radical activist and former national officer of the Students for a Democratic Society. A variety of papers illustrate Webb's activities with SDS and its major projects from 1962 until 1967, and his involvement with the National Conference for New Politics (which he helped organize in 1964-65), and the Chicago Jobs or Income Now (JOIN) project, and as executive director of the 1967 Vietnam Summer effort. A major portion of the collection consists of subject files on labor unions, which were probably collected by Webb as background for a newsletter published in 1966 in Chicago. Also represented in the collection are several of Webb's writings, including drafts of SDS position papers and college term papers, with notes and associated reference materials.

Note:

There is a restriction on use of this material; see the Administrative/Restriction Information portion of this finding aid for details.



Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00571
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Biography/History

Lee Dunham Webb came from a working-class New England background and was educated at Andover School and Boston University. He spent his summers working as a laborer and was a peace activist at Boston University in 1962 when he was enlisted by Robb Burlage as a member of the Students for a Democratic Society. Webb quickly rose through the SDS ranks, and at the 1963 convention was elected National Secretary and National Council member. He had a role in organizing SDS's Economic Research and Action Project (ERAP), initiated in September 1963 and reorganized early in 1964 with Rennie Davis as project head. The immediate goal of ERAP was to form projects of students in several cities to work during the summer of 1964 toward the formation of grass roots political organizations. Although ERAP's success was hard-won and the projects quickly became isolated from other SDS activities, the organizers did manage to raise funds from the United Auto Workers and the Packinghouse Workers Union. With the Packinghouse Workers Union, the SDS set up the Chicago Jobs or Income Now (JOIN) program in 1964; Webb joined the staff shortly thereafter. Webb had moved to Chicago to work with the Urban Training Center religious group, as required alternate service under the terms of his Conscientious Objector draft status. He also continued to work for SDS in the Illinois-Wisconsin area during 1964.

Early in 1965 Webb left the now-faltering JOIN organization to work full-time as a campus organizer in preparation for the April 17, 1965, March on Washington in protest against the Vietnam War. Later that year he joined in the formation of the National Conference for New Politics (NCNP), led by Arthur Waskow; Webb served on the NCNP national board. Webb's involvement with SDS continued through this period, and he ran unsuccessfully for president in 1966. However, by this time he (and other early leaders from the period of the Port Huron Statement in 1962) had been all but swept aside as the "old guard" by younger members with a different political philosophy.

In 1967 Webb became executive director of the Vietnam Summer project, a liberal movement to make the middle class throughout the country aware of and united behind the anti-Vietnam war effort. Although Vietnam Summer was viewed with suspicion by the leadership of SDS, several older SDS members joined the project. Following Vietnam Summer, Webb took a position with the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. In 1968 he was a sponsor at the organization of the New University Conference, and that same year, worked as an organizer for the National Mobilization Committee prior to the riots at the Democratic National Convention in August.

Since the late 1960s, Webb's work has taken several directions. He has worked with The Guardian in Washington, and spent several years teaching at Goddard College in Vermont. Later he was associated with the Conference on Alternative State and Local Public Policies in Washington, D.C.

For more information refer to the records of the Students for a Democratic Society, the papers of Robb Burlage and Arthur Waskow, and Kirkpatrick Sale's history entitled SDS (New York, Random House, 1973).

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Lee Webb illustrate his work with the Students for a Democratic Society and other groups during the mid-1960's. There are no clearly personal papers in the collection, although correspondence with friends concerning both organizational and personal matters is interspersed through- out the files. The collection has been arranged in six series reflecting, in large part, the original arrangement by Lee Webb: STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY PAPERS, WRITINGS AND NOTES BY LEE WEBB, RECORDS OF OTHER ORGANIZATIONS AND SDS PROJECTS, UNION AND LABOR FILES, SUBJECT FILES, and CHICAGO URBAN ORGANIZATIONS FILES. Several folders of miscellaneous and unidentified material are located at the end of the collection.

Webb's STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY PAPERS include his correspondence with the national and Midwest offices and individuals regarding publications, copies of publications and discussion bulletins written by himself and others; files of articles and writings considered and rejected for publication with accompanying notes and letters; and documents from conventions and conferences. There is a file concerning the April 17, 1965 March on Washington, illustrating the planning involved in the march, and two folders of National Council minutes, reports, and other papers. Also present are SDS printed memos and prospectuses, a Carl Oglesby proposal (undated), a 1964 paper by Tom Hayden, and work list papers, 1963-1965. Other files include a few papers of the League for Industrial Democracy, and papers and correspondence concerning the South Africa demonstration, March 19, 1965, at the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York.

A separate file of WRITINGS AND NOTES BY LEE WEBB includes notes, outlines, text fragments, and reference material in the form of news clippings and articles. Some of the papers were college term papers, and some writings were created for SDS distribution; but for others the ultimate purpose of the work is unclear. The writings deal with a variety of topics, although several concern reform of the U.S. economy and various aspects of society.

Among the RECORDS OF OTHER ORGANIZATIONS AND SDS PROJECTS are several files documenting ERAP projects in various cities. Most these files are quite fragmentary in nature, but they do provide examples of the activities of individual ERAP projects. There is also a folder of Webb's correspondence regarding ERAP. Three other SDS projects-- Peace Research and Education Project, Political Education Project, and Radical Education Project-- are represented by smaller files of correspondence, minutes of organizational and other meetings, newsletters, and printed material. There are also draft prospectuses from the organization of REP. Similar types of documentation illustrate the 1965 establishment of the National Conference for New Politics (NCNP) and its predecessor, the Organizing Committee of the National Coalition for a New Congress (1964). Webb's involvement with NCNP is seen through his correspondence, memos and reports of meetings, and later (1967) papers. The latter file includes financial and meeting records, convention papers, and writings and articles, some by NCNP founder Arthur Waskow.

Webb's community organizing and alternate service in Chicago are less well documented. Within the RECORDS OF OTHER ORGANIZATIONS AND SDS PROJECTS series are correspondence, a prospectus, and papers concerning organizing created by the staff of the Urban Training Center with which Webb worked. The separate series of Chicago Urban Organizations Files consists primarily of printed and near-print materials and news clippings collected by Webb to provide information about Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois. There is also some material regarding Chicago in the series on unions.

Webb's UNION AND LABOR FILES contain mainly news clippings, with some correspondence, and near-print and printed reference material. Apparently the bulk of the material was collected as background for a newsletter published by Webb in 1966 in Chicago. Two or three issues of the newsletter, Labor News or SDS Labor News, were published for those in SDS interested in labor issues. There are also present a few issues, correspondence, mailing lists, and articles collected for possible publication. Many of the major U.S. trade unions are represented in the collection, with documentation of the United Packinghouse Workers of America predominating.

The SUBJECT FILES collected by Webb concern a variety of political topics. Most of the files are primarily composed of news clippings, although there are a few examples of Webb's writings in the series. These include a bibliography on populism, a Northern Student Movement bibliography on civil rights (partly written by Webb), and Webb's text for the Poverty/Rights Action Center. Also present is his address book, papers from the 1962 National Student Association Congress, and files from his involvement with the National Mobilization in 1967.

The final series in the collection consists of reference materials concerning CHICAGO URBAN ORGANIZATIONS. These news clippings, printed and near-print reports and papers, and flyers pertain to Chicago radical and community organizing groups as well as to general topics such as Chicago's West Side, housing, welfare, and civil rights.

Administrative/Restriction Information
Use Restrictions

Literary property rights are retained; permission for direct quotations from the letters must be obtained from the writers of the letters.


Acquisition Information

Presented by Lee D. Webb, Washington, D.C., 1975, 1977. Accession Number: M75-285, M77-130


Processing Information

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


Contents List
Series: Students for a Democratic Society Papers
Box   1
Folder   1
League for Industrial Democracy, 1962-1963
Box   1
Folder   2
Ann Arbor National Council, n.d.
Box   1
Folder   3
SDS Chapter survey, n.d.
Box   1
Folder   4
Chicago Region, SDS, 1965-1966
Box   1
Folder   5
University of Chicago Chapter, 1964-1965
Correspondence and related material
Box   1
Folder   6
With national office, 1962-1966, n.d.
Box   1
Folder   6a
Other correspondence, 1966-1967
Box   1
Folder   7
Discussion bulletin
Box   1
Folder   8
Discussion papers #1 and #2, 1966
Box   1
Folder   9
Anti-Draft program, 1965
Box   1
Folder   10
Hayden, Thomas, “The American Vision of Power,” 1964
Box   1
Folder   11
Institutes and seminars, 1962-1966
Box   1
Folder   12
Memo on churches and Vietnam, 1965
Box   1
Folder   13
Oglesby (Carl) proposal, n.d.
Conventions and conferences
Box   1
Folder   14-16
1963-1965
Box   1
Folder   17
April 17, 1965 March on Washington
Box   1
Folder   18-19
National Council, December 1965-January 1966
Box   1
Folder   20
Midwest region of SDS, Correspondence, 1964-1966
SDS publications
Box   1
Folder   21-23
Publications by Lee Webb and others
Box   1
Folder   24
Publications accepted for printing, 1964, n.d.
Box   1
Folder   25
Correspondence regarding publications, 1964-1965, n.d.
Box   1
Folder   26
“Letters to be written” file, with writings, 1964-1965, n.d.
Box   1
Folder   27-28
Notes and ideas
Box   1
Folder   29
Permission to reprint letters, 1964-1965
Box   1
Folder   30
Publications program prospectus - drafts
Box   1
Folder   31
“Recent” publications - drafts, publications, 1965, n.d.
Box   1
Folder   32
Publications rejected for printing, 1964, n.d.
Box   1
Folder   33
Publications under consideration, 1964-1967, n.d.
Box   2
Folder   1
SDS “recent” papers (articles, correspondence, reprints), 1965, n.d.
Box   2
Folder   2
SDS San Francisco Regional newsletters, n.d.
Box   2
Folder   3
South Africa demonstration, March 19, 1965, papers, letters, and background material, 1963-1965
Box   2
Folder   4-4a
Worklist papers, 1963-1965, n.d.
Series: Writings and Notes by Lee Webb
Box   2
Folder   5
“An Exploration of the Method of Functional Analysis,” May 9, 1961
Box   2
Folder   5
“Kennedy and Economic Policy,” 1963
Box   2
Folder   6
“The New Political Philosophy” - notes and outlines, 1963
Box   2
Folder   7
The Arts and Communication - notes and text fragments
Box   2
Folder   8
Disarmament - resources, printed material, and notes
Box   2
Folder   9
SDS and Domestic Radical Research and Present Critique - Notes and Text, March 1963
Box   2
Folder   10
Marxism and Alienation - Notes and Text
Box   2
Folder   11
University Reform - Notes, Text and Reference Material
Box   2
Folder   12
“Medical Services: The Continual Failure of American Reform” - Notes, Text and Resources, November 1962
Box   2
Folder   13
“Feelings, Notes and Queries; Doubts and Wonder; Polemics”
Box   2
Folder   14
American Economic Unemployment - Notes, Text, Research Materials, 1962-1963
Box   2
Folder   15
Reworking of Paper on the Economy by McDonald
Box   2
Folder   16
General Criticism of American Society - Notes and Text
Box   2
Folder   17
Miscellaneous Notes
Series: Records of Other Organizations and SDS Projects
Economic Research and Action Project (ERAP)
Box   2
Folder   18
Baltimore Project, 1965, n.d.
Box   2
Folder   19
Boston Project - Newsletter, n.d.
Box   2
Folder   20
Chester (Pennsylvania) Project, n.d.
Box   2
Folder   21
Cleveland Project - Newsletters, 1964-1965
Box   2
Folder   22
General Correspondence, 1963-1965
Box   2
Folder   23
Hazard, Kentucky, 1964, n.d.
Box   2
Folder   24
Newark, New Jersey Project, 1964-1965
Box   2
Folder   25
Newsletters, Reports, and Other Papers, 1964-1965
Box   2
Folder   26
Philadelphia Project, n.d.
Box   2
Folder   27
Prospectuses and Programs, 1962-1964, n.d.
Box   2
Folder   28
Publications, General, 1964-1965
Box   2
Folder   29
San Francisco Project, 1965, n.d.
Box   2
Folder   30
Trenton, New Jersey Project - Newsletter, n.d.
Peace Research and Education Project (PREP)
Box   2
Folder   31
Correspondence, Publications, General Material, 1964-1965
Box   2
Folder   32
Newsletters, 1964-1965
Political Education Project (PEP)
Box   2
Folder   33
Correspondence, Printed Memoranda, Minutes, Printed Material, Notes, 1964-1965
Radical Education Project (REP)
Box   2
Folder   34
Correspondence, Printed Material, Minutes, Draft Prospectuses, 1966-1967, n.d.
National Conference for New Politics (NCNP)
Box   2
Folder   35
Organizational Papers, including Working Paper for the Organizing Committee of the National Coalition for a New Congress, 1964, n.d.
Box   2
Folder   36
Correspondence, 1966-1967, n.d.
Box   3
Folder   1
Memos and Reports of Meetings, 1966
Box   3
Folder   2-3
Papers, 1967, including Financial Records, Records of Meetings, Drafts of Writings (including some by Arthur Waskow), Convention Papers, Articles
Box   3
Folder   4
Clippings and Miscellany
Urban Training Center (UTC)
Box   3
Folder   5
Personal Correspondence, a Prospectus and a Report of a Meeting, 1964-1965
Box   3
Folder   6
Adult Organizing, 1966, n.d.
Box   3
Folder   7-10
General Papers and Printed Material, 1964-1965, n.d.
Box   3
Folder   11
“Recent” Papers, 1965
Box   3
Folder   12
Lutheran Student Association, 1964-1966
Box   3
Folder   13
National Student Christian Federation, 1965-1966, n.d.
Vietnam Summer Files
Box   3
Folder   14
List of 4 boxes of Vietnam Summer Files in the Cambridge Trust Bank, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Box   3
Folder   15-16
Correspondence, March 17-November 9, 1967
Box   3
Folder   17
Questionnaires and Regional Newsletters, 1967
Box   3
Folder   18
Contact Lists
Box   3
Folder   19
National Field Staff Directories and Correspondence
Box   3
Folder   20
Films
Box   3
Folder   21
Printed Memos and Publications
Box   3
Folder   22
Newspaper Publicity
Box   3
Folder   23
Fund Raising and Finance
Box   3
Folder   24
“Vietnam Summer in the Classroom” Teachers' Handbook
Box   3
Folder   25
National Survey and Project Profiles
Box   3
Folder   26
Miscellany
Series: Union and Labor Files
AFL-CIO
Box   4
Folder   1
Actions, 1967
Box   4
Folder   2
Economic Trends Reference Material, 1961-1963
Box   4
Folder   3
Politics and Organizing, 1961-1965
Box   4
Folder   4
Chicago Labor Addresses, 1966, n.d.
Box   4
Folder   5
Federal Labor Laws, 1964
Box   4
Folder   6
“John Herling's Labor Letter,” 1965-1966
Box   4
Folder   7
Labor and the South, 1967, n.d.
Box   4
Folder   8
Labor Newsletter - Miscellaneous Issues, Correspondence, Mailing Lists, 1966, n.d.
Box   4
Folder   9
Labor Newsletter Articles (“Old”), 1966, n.d.
Box   4
Folder   10
National Administrative Committee (SDS) Trade Union Memo, “Vietnam and the Unions,” by Lee Webb
Box   4
Folder   11
Negroes and the Unions, 1966-1967
Box   4
Folder   12
Politics and the Unions, 1966-1967
Box   4
Folder   13
Reuther, Walter and George Meany - Newsclippings, 1967
Box   4
Folder   14
Union Counseling for AFL-CIO Members, 1964
Box   4
Folder   15
“Union Democracy in Action” - Correspondence, Newsletters, 1961-1966
Box   4
Folder   16
Union Anti-Vietnam War Activities, 1965-1967, n.d.
Box   4
Folder   17
Unions - Independent, 1966-1967
Box   4
Folder   18
Unions - Statistics, 1967, n.d.
Other Unions
Box   4
Folder   19
United Auto Workers (UAW) - Newsclippings, 1966-1967
Box   4
Folder   20
Communications Workers of America (CWA), 1967-1968
Box   4
Folder   21
Electrical Workers (IEU-UE-IBEW), 1965-1966
Box   4
Folder   22-23A
Farm Workers (UFWOC), 1961-1967
Box   4
Folder   24
Garment Workers (AGWA-ILGWU), 1965-1967
Box   4
Folder   25
Health Professions, 1965-1967
Box   4
Folder   26
Hospital Workers, 1967-1968
Box   4
Folder   27
Public Aid Employees (IUPAE), 1965, n.d.
Box   4
Folder   28
Laundry Workers, Local #46, 1963-1965, n.d.
Box   4
Folder   29
Maritime Union (NMU), 1967
Box   4
Folder   30
Mine Workers (UMWA), 1966-1967
Box   4
Folder   31
Painters Union, 1966-1967
Box   4
Folder   32
Paper Workers, 1967
Box   4
Folder   33
Printing Unions, 1967
Box   4
Folder   34
Public Employees, 1966-1967, n.d.
Box   5
Folder   1
Railway Unions, 1967-1968
Box   5
Folder   2
Retail Workers, 1966-1967
Box   5
Folder   3
Drug and Hospital Workers Union, Local 1199, 1965-1967
Box   5
Folder   4
Rubber Workers, 1965-1967
Box   5
Folder   5
Steelworkers (USWA), 1966-1967
Box   5
Folder   6
Teamsters (IBT), 1966-1967
Box   5
Folder   7
Textile Unions, 1967
Box   5
Folder   8-11A
United Packinghouse Workers of America, 1955-1967
Box   5
Folder   12
Welfare Workers, 1967
Series: Subject Files
Box   5
Folder   13
Airlines - Address List and Miscellany
Box   5
Folder   14-16
American Friends Service Committee, 1965-1966
Box   5
Folder   17
Anti-Draft, 1965-1967
Box   5
Folder   18
Automation and Labor, 1963
Box   5
Folder   19
California Democratic Politics, 1963-1965
Box   5
Folder   20
Center for Radical Research, 1967
Box   5
Folder   21
Clippings, General, 1967
Box   5
Folder   22
Cold War, 1967
Box   5
Folder   23
Communist Party and W.E.B. DuBois Clubs, 1965-1967
Box   5
Folder   24
Congress of Racial Equality, 1966, n.d.
Box   5
Folder   25
Democratic Party, 1966-1967, n.d.
Box   5
Folder   26
Drugs, 1967
Box   5
Folder   27
W.E.B. DuBois Clubs, 1965-1966
Box   5
Folder   28
Free Southern Theater, 1964-1965, n.d.
Box   5
Folder   29
Free Speech Movement, 1964-1965, n.d.
Box   5
Folder   30
Freedom Democratic Clubs of Illinois, 1964-1965
Box   5
Folder   31
Goldsmid, Charles A. - Papers of Urban Renewal, 1966
Box   5
Folder   32
Guns or Butter, 1965-1966
Box   5
Folder   33
Housewives Boycott of Supermarkets, 1966-1968, n.d.
Box   5
Folder   34
Independent Socialist Club, 1966
Box   5
Folder   35-36
Institute for Policy Studies - Correspondence, Reports, Other Writings, 1966-1968, n.d.
Box   6
Folder   1
“The Industrial Workers of the World: An Attempt at Social Change,” by Roger Manela, 1964
Box   6
Folder   2
League of Women Voters, 1965
Box   6
Folder   3
Philadelphia League of Women Voters, 1965-1966, n.d.
Box   6
Folder   4
Liberation News Service, 1967, n.d.
Box   6
Folder   5
March 26, 1966 Peace Parade
Box   6
Folder   6
Massachusetts Political Action for Peace, 1962-1965
Box   6
Folder   7
Melman, Seymour, 1963
Box   6
Folder   8
Mexican-Americans, 1967
Box   6
Folder   9
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, 1964-1965
Box   6
Folder   10
Moderator Conference on the Draft, January 1967
Box   6
Folder   11
National Mobilization, 1967
Box   6
Folder   12
National Student Association
Box   6
Folder   13
NSA Congress, August 19-30, 1962 - Papers
Box   6
Folder   14
New University Thought (NUT), 1967
Box   6
Folder   15
New York Reform Politics, 1964
Box   6
Folder   16
North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Box   6
Folder   17
Northern Student Movement, 1963-1965, n.d.
Box   6
Folder   18
NSM Bibliography on Civil Rights (Partly written by Webb)
Box   6
Folder   19
1964 National Election Campaign Material
Box   6
Folder   20-21
Politics of Africa Term Papers, 1961
Box   6
Folder   22
The Poor, 1967
Box   6
Folder   23
Populism Bibliography by Lee Webb
Box   6
Folder   24
Poverty/Rights Action Center, with Writings by Webb 1966, n.d.
Box   6
Folder   25
Progressive Labor, 1967
Box   6
Folder   26
“Renewal and Removal: Politics and the Poor,” by Jill Hamberg, 1964
Box   6
Folder   27
Right-Wing Clippings, 1967
Box   6
Folder   28
Russell (Bertrand) Peace Foundation, 1967
Box   6
Folder   29
SANE, November 27, 1965 March on Washington
Box   6
Folder   30
Schoenman, Ralph - Anti-War Writings, 1966-1967
Box   6
Folder   31
Social Change, 1967
Box   6
Folder   32-33
Social Welfare Papers, 1962-1963
Box   6
Folder   34
Socialist Party Convention, 1964
Box   6
Folder   35
Sociology Term Papers, 1962
Box   6
Folder   36
Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1965
Box   6
Folder   37
Southern Student Organizing Committee, 1964-1965
Box   7
Folder   1
SSOC, 1966-1968
Box   7
Folder   2
Student Civil Liberties Coordinating Committee, 1963-1964
Box   7
Folder   3
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, 1965-1967
Box   7
Folder   4
Student Peace Union
Box   7
Folder   5
Supermarkets, 1966-1967
Box   7
Folder   6
Systems Analysis Seminar, November 1967
Box   7
Folder   7
Teach-Ins, 1964-1965
Box   7
Folder   8
“Urban Renewal Politics: A Second Look,” by David Garson, 1965
Box   7
Folder   9
Vietnam, 1960-1967
Box   7
Folder   10
“Vietnam Strategy,” 1965-1966
Box   7
Folder   11
The Week, 1965-1967
Box   7
Folder   12
Webb's Address Book
Series: Chicago Urban Organizations Files
Box   7
Folder   13
Illinois State and Local Financial Files - General
Box   7
Folder   14
Chicago Citizens Committee on Farm Workers, 1965-1966
Box   7
Folder   15
Chicago Freedom Movement
Box   7
Folder   16-17
JOIN (Jobs or Income Now) Community Union, 1964-1965
Box   7
Folder   18
Chicago Uptown Area, 1964 (JOIN)
Box   7
Folder   19
Committee for Independent Political Action, 1965-1966, n.d.
Box   7
Folder   20
“Health, Welfare, and Recreation Expenditures in Cook County in 1960,” by Kenneth H. Ives
Box   7
Folder   21
Student Woodlawn Area Project (SWAP)
Box   7
Folder   22
“Housing and Race in Chicago: A Preliminary Analysis of 1960 Census Data,” by Chicago Urban League, July 1963
Box   7
Folder   23
Welfare and ADC
West Side
Box   7
Folder   24
Miscellany, 1964-1965, n.d.
Box   7
Folder   25
Politics, 1960-1966, n.d.
Box   7
Folder   26
“Recent,” 1964-1965, n.d.
Box   7
Folder   27
Cook County Department of Public Aid, Division of Personnel and Training, Staff Development Papers
Box   7
Folder   28-29
Miscellany
Box   8
Folder   1-3
Miscellany, continued