Title: Dorothy M. Zellner Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1960-1979, 1983

Creator:

• Zellner, Dorothy M., 1938-

Call Number: Mss 674; Audio 1135A; PH 3677

Quantity: 2.8 cubic feet (2 record center cartons and 2 archives boxes), 4 tape recordings, 107 photographs, and 62 negatives

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 created and collected by Dorothy Zellner with contributions from Robert "Bob" Zellner, two civil rights activists who worked for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Southern Conference Educational Fund (SCEF) during the 1960s and early 1970s. Most of the materials are near-print items, with some original correspondence, memos, reports, and notes, concerning SNCC, SCEF and its Grass-Roots Organizing Work (GROW) project, among white southerners and many other civil rights and labor organizing groups. Among the other topics treated are the seven-month strike of Local 5-443, International Woodworkers of America against the Masonite Corporation, in Laurel, Mississippi and the Gulfcoast Pulpwood Association. Few personal papers are included; among them are autobiographical and biographical writings; other writings and correspondence; and a few items pertaining to Robert's father, Rev. James A. Zellner, and his civil rights activities. The tape recordings include a meeting of poor white people from Sunflower and Bolivar counties in Missisippi with GROW representatives in 1968 and an account by Robert Zellner of his early civil rights experiences and the couple's role in the formation of GROW. The photographs portray picketing by the Boston Friends of SNCC in 1965 and various unidentified meetings and rallies.

Note:

There is a restriction on access to and 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-mss00674

Dorothy "Dottie" Miller was born in January 14, 1938 in New York City. She was educated at Queens College and went South in 1961 to work for the Southern Regional Council. In 1962 she joined the public relations staff of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In 1963 Dorothy married Robert "Bob" Zellner.

Following their marriage the couple moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Dorothy ran the New England Regional Office of SNCC while Bob attended Brandeis University. Both then worked as SNCC staff members in Mississippi during the summer of 1964. Later, they worked for the New Orleans-based Grass-Roots Organizing Work (GROW) project of the Southern Conference Educational Fund (SCEF) and Deep South Education and Research Associates, sponsored by Interreligious Foundation for Community Organizations Inc. Both GROW and DSERA were established to organize poor white Southerners into effective interracial labor and political groups.

During the late 1960s and 1970s Dorothy Zellner became active with feminist and health care groups. The Zellners were separated in 1980 and divorced in 1990.

The records have been arranged in two series: PERSONAL PAPERS and RECORDS OF ORGANIZATIONS AND OTHER MATERIALS.

This collection provides a good, but incomplete picture of southern civil rights work during the 1960s and 1970s. Of particular interest also are records concerning grassroots white organizing and labor organizing in the woodcutters industry. The majority of the documentation consists of near-print items dating from the early 1960s through the early 1970s.

After the collection was arranged Dorothy Zellner reviewed the material and selected individual folders that were to be restricted until 2038. These folders are listed in the contents list (along with the designation R by each folder), although they have been removed to separate sealed boxes at the end of the collection.

The PERSONAL PAPERS are primarily comprised of original material created by Dorothy and Robert Zellner, together with a few near-print items. The series includes most of the general correspondence in the collection. Of particular interest in these files are the following: an October 6, 1962 report from Charles Dunlap, Neblett, and O'Neal to James Forman, executive director of SNCC, regarding a selective buying boycott in Cairo, Illinois and Sikeston, Missouri, and a voter registration project in Charleston, Missouri; a mimeographed memo by James A. Zellner (a SCEF board member), prepared October 20-26, 1963, immediately after the Louisiana police raided SCEF's New Orleans office, relating his fears of arrest and his resolution to attend the November 9 SCEF board meeting in Birmingham; a carbon copy of Jack Minnis' December 11, 1963, letter to Leslie W. Dunbar of the Southern Regional Council complaining about his dismissal from the staff of the Voter Education Project; a memo, February 4, 1969, and accompanying letter, February 5, 1969, by Jane McManus about the Masonite boycott; and a memo to the SCEF Interim Committee from Jim Grant, postmarked June 13, 1975, regarding the “present crisis in SCEF” between blacks and whites, the discharge of executive director Walter Collins, and the reaction of the Louisville black community.

Among the other correspondence are many letters from Anne Braden and a few letters from family and friends. Also here are a series of “confidential memoranda” from James Z. Zellner to Robert Zellner (January 1962) discussing Bob's upcoming trial and defense strategies.

Other personal papers include Robert Zellner's autobiographical notes (1964), and incomplete biographical sketch (1963), and two articles about him; contact lists created by both Zellners and fragmentary files containing legal papers, correspondence, and clippings from three lawsuits against Robert Zellner and one lawsuit instituted by Dorothy and others against the New Orleans police chief and the commander of the NOPD intelligence division. The Zellners' writings are represented by two drafts of a position paper about SCEF written by Dorothy, a sociology term paper by Bob, and other writings on the Black Panthers that are probably by the Zellners. Also included are a transcript of Bob Zellner's interview on his China trip in 1972, together with other related items.

The tape recordings include a meeting of poor white people from Sunflower and Bolivar Counties in Mississippi with Zellner, Jack Minnis, and others from GROW in New Orleans in 1968 that concerned grassroots and labor organizing, Head Start, and the labor struggles with Masonite Corporation; an account by Robert Zellner of his early civil rights experiences and role of the Zellners in the formation of GROW; and an analysis of the place of the IWW in the New Left given by Bob Cook at AIM in 1969.

The photographs in the collection include picketing by the Boston Friends of SNCC (probably also portraying Dorothy Zellner as a picketer, pushing a baby stroller) in 1965; unidentified civil rights rallies and meetings (many dating from 1962); and other photographs concerning labor organizing in the South.

RECORDS OF ORGANIZATIONS AND OTHER MATERIALS mainly include items collected by the Zellners during their work with SCEF and SNCC. While there are sizable files on both organizations, most of the documentation is near-print material that was intended for wide distribution; few unique papers are included. (Original letters to and from these groups have been filed with the General Correspondence.) From these and other civil rights, anti-war, feminist, and labor groups there are flyers, brochures, pamphlets, press releases, membership solicitations, conference papers, clippings, and occasional notes and letters, all of which were collected by the Zellners.

Records of the Zellners' work with the Southern Conference Educational Fund, include a lengthy run of minutes of meetings of SCEF's Interim Committee, general staff meetings, and board meetings, with a variety of reports, treasurer's financial reports, committee papers, and other materials considered at the meetings; scattered “News from SCEF” press releases; staff and internal newsletters, 1967-1972; and two draft histories of SCEF, one covering the period 1938 to 1963 and the second covering the period 1964 to 1973. There is also a long report by Joe Hoban to the staff discussing his views of SCEF work.

In the late 1960s the Zellners established the Grass-Roots Organizing Work project under SCEF auspices. Aimed at poor white people in the South, GROW proposed to “win white people away from the destructive and dead-end philosophy of racism and help them organize for the building of a democratic South.” Records of GROW, which the Zellners ran from a New Orleans headquarters, are rather scattered, but include correspondence between Robert Zellner and Mervin Harris, 1968-1969; prospectuses, reports, and statements; and two near-print publications “The Lessons of Laurel: Grass-Roots Organizing in the South,” and “A New Movement in the White South.” There is also a proposal to foster grass root organizing in Houston, apparently not written by GROW. GROW and the Zellners did become involved with the lengthy strike of Local 5-443 of the International Woodworkers of America against the Laurel, Mississippi, Masonite Corporation. The collection includes copies of the local's by-laws; an agreement with Masonite (circa 1970); a collective bargaining agreement, 1960; legal papers from two lawsuits concerning the strike; and general material about Masonite Corporation, the union, and the strike. GROW was also apparently involved in the establishment or operation of the Gulfcoast Pulpwood Association, the Woodcutters Mutual Assistance Company Inc., and the Mississippi Gulf Coast Pulpwood Association. Gulfcoast Pulpwood Association is best represented by proposals, a statement of purpose, materials from several lawsuits, and near-print pamphlets. For the Woodcutters Mutual Assistance Company Inc. and the Mississippi Gulf Coast Pulpwood Association there are only incorporation papers.

The files concerning the Deep South Education and Research Associates contain organization records of the group illustrating its principles and policies. Included are the initial agreements with its sponsoring group, the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization Inc.; articles of incorporation and a draft; correspondence; minutes of a 1967 board meeting with correspondence and resolutions; a proposal to the New York Foundation for the Gulfcoast Pulpwood Association, written by Robert Zellner; a proposal to IFCO for a wood and forest products cooperative; a 1969 report to IFCO; and an application and correspondence with the Internal Revenue Service regarding DSERA's tax -exempt status. There is also a small file about the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, including articles of incorporation; by-laws; reports; funding proposals; a work plan; pamphlet on farming techniques prepared for poor Southern farmers; and a copy of the federation's publication, “Peoples Guide to Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway.”

There are relatively few materials representing the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Of greatest interest is the near-print copy of the report of the first meeting of the Temporary Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Atlanta, Georgia, May 13-14, 1960 and a mimeographed copy of Tom Hayden's confidential memo regarding the September 14-17 SNCC meeting in Jackson, Mississippi.

Dorothy Zellner's later work with feminist groups is illustrated in the small file of New Orleans Women's Center papers and in the general file of women's and feminist near-print and single sheet items. A small file of clippings and notes date from the period when Bob Zellner worked in Talladega, Alabama, but it is unclear exactly how they relate to his activities. Likewise, there are handwritten field reports of Mississippi white community work in Vicksburg and Jackson in 1970, but precisely how the Zellners were involved with the project is unknown.

Bob Zellner Papers (M2003-141, M2008-061, M2011-013).

James A. Zellner Papers (Mss 1027)

Access Restrictions

Mss 674 (Boxes 3-4), PH 3677, and Audio 1135A/1-3 may be used only with the written permission of the donor until 2038 or the death of the donor, whichever comes first.

Use Restrictions

The donor has retained copyright until 2038 or her death, whichever comes first. At that time her copyright will be assigned to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Dorothy M. Zellner, New York, New York, 1983. Accession Number: M84-161

Processing Information

Processed by Menzi Behrnd-Klodt, 1986.

Mss 674	Series: Personal Papers
Box   3 Folder   1-2	General correspondence, 1961-1976, 1983, undated Access Restrictions: Restricted, see Access Restrictions for more detail.
Box   3 Folder   3	Confidential memoranda from James A. Zellner (JAZ) to John Robert Zellner (JRZ), 1962 January Access Restrictions: Restricted
Box   3 Folder   4	Autobiographical notes of JRZ, 1964 Access Restrictions: Restricted
Box   3 Folder   4	Biographical sketch of JRZ, 1963 (incomplete); Article Access Restrictions: Restricted
Box   1 Folder   1	“Claiming the Right to Choose a Profile,” by Edgar A. Love, Article about JRZ, 1962
Box   3 Folder   5	Zellners' contact lists Access Restrictions: Restricted
	Lawsuits
	Alabama vs. JRZ
Box   1 Folder   2	Motion to quash indictment, mimeo letter from JRZ, 1963; Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) press release, clippings
Box   3 Folder   6	JRZ statements and clippings, 1963 Access Restrictions: Restricted
Box   1 Folder   3	Arrest in Louisiana on charges of criminal anarchy, Legal documents, 1962
Box   1 Folder   4	JRZ vs. Albert Lingo and Willie B. Painter, Legal documents and clippings, 1966
Box   1 Folder   5	Richard Aronson,...and Dorothy Zellner vs. Joseph Giarruso and Thomas Drake, Brief for appellants, 1970
PH 3677	Photographs Access Restrictions: Restricted
Audio 1135A	Audio recordings
1135A/1	JRZ speaking on his civil rights experiences during college, his arrests, his work with SNCC, the formation of Grass-Roots Organizing Work (GROW), recorded 1968 May Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
1135A/2-3	Meeting of poor white people from Sunflower and Bolivar counties with JRZ, Jack Minnis, and others from GROW, 1968 January 20-21 on grassroots labor organizing, the labor struggles with Masonite Corporation, and Head Start Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
1135A/4	Analysis of the place of the IWW in the New Left by Bob Cook at AIM, 1969
Mss 674	Writings
Box   3 Folder   7	Dorothy Miller Zellner (DMZ) drafts of a position paper on Southern Conference Educational Fund (SCEF), undated Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   3 Folder   8	JRZ sociology term papers and notes Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   3 Folder   9	Transcription of JRZ interview on his China trip, 1972, Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
	Related material, 1973
Box   3 Folder   10	Zellners' writings on SCEF, the Black Panthers, and other topics Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
	Series: Records of Organizations and Other Materials	⇧
Box   1 Folder   6	American Can Revolution Union Movement, “Voice of the Container,” 1971 August 16
Box   1 Folder   7	Angela Davis Legal Defense Fund, Form letter and brochure
Box   1 Folder   8	Beacon Foundation, Articles of incorporation (Model for DSERA?), 1962
Box   1 Folder   9	Black elected officials, Roster of, 1974
Box   1 Folder   10	Brown, H. Rap, Petition to protest prosecution, circa 1968
Box   1 Folder   11	Catfish farming in Mississippi, Information pamphlets, 1967, undated
Box   1 Folder   12	Committee of Inquiry (CORE of SEDFRE), Testimony and statements, 1962
Box   1 Folder   13	Conference on Anti-Racist Techniques, 1970 May 24-26 Scope and Content Note: Conference agenda, list of participants, papers.
	Deep South Education and Research Associates
Box   3 Folder   11	Agreements with Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, 1968-1969 Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   3 Folder   12	Articles of incorporation and draft, 1967 Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   3 Folder   12	Correspondence, 1969, 1971 Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   3 Folder   13	Minutes of board meeting, 1967 Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   3 Folder   13	Correspondence and resolution; other papers, 1968-1972, 1975 Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   1 Folder   14	Proposal to the New York Foundation for the Gulf Coast Pulpwood Association by JRZ; Proposal to IFCO for Wood and Forest Products Cooperative; and reference materials, circa 1971
Box   1 Folder   15	Report to IFCO, 1969
Box   3 Folder   14	Tax-exempt status, 1968-1969 Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   1 Folder   16	DuBois, W.E.B., Address delivered by Rev. W.H. Melish at memorial service, 1963 September 29
Box   1 Folder   17	Farah Action Committee, Minutes, flyers, newsnotes
	Federation of Southern Cooperatives
Box   1 Folder   18	Articles, by-laws, reports, funding proposals
Box   1 Folder   19	Farming pamphlets
Box   1 Folder   20	“Handicrafts” catalog, 1973
Box   1 Folder   21	“People's Guide to Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway,” 1975
Box   1 Folder   22	Work plans, 1974-1975; proposals and other papers
Box   1 Folder   23	Fellowship of Reconciliation
Box   1 Folder   24	Grass roots organizing in Houston, Proposal, circa 1967
	Grass-Roots Organizing Work
Box   3 Folder   15	Correspondence between JRZ and Mervin Harris, 1968-1969 Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   1 Folder   25	“The Lessons of Laurel: Grass-Roots Organizing in the South”
Box   1 Folder   26	“A New Movement in the White South”
Box   3 Folder   16	Prospectuses, reports, statements Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   1 Folder   27	Grass Rooters Interested in Poverty Elimination (GRIPE), 1969, undated
	Gulf Coast Pulpwood Association
Box   1 Folder   28	“Anger in the Southern Pines” and “Co-op” pamphlets
Box   3 Folder   17	General papers Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   1 Folder   29	Scott Paper Company vs. GPA and International Paper Company vs. GPA, Legal documents, 1973
Box   3 Folder   18	Proposals and statement of purpose Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   1 Folder   30	“What Pulpwood Men Can do for Themselves,” circa 1971
Box   1 Folder   31	Woodcutters Mutual Assistance Company, Incorporation papers, 1972
Box   3 Folder   19	House Un-American Activities Committee Access Restrictions: Restricted
Box   1 Folder   32	Ingalls Shipyard, Pascagoula, Mississippi, Letter and clippings, 1964-1968
Box   1 Folder   33	Interamerican Training Program, Second draft working document, circa 1973-1974
	International Woodworkers of America, Local 5-443
Box   1 Folder   34	By-laws, agreement with Masonite Corporation, circa 1970
Box   1 Folder   35	Collective bargaining agreement, 1960
	Lawsuits
Box   1 Folder   36	J.D. Jolly vs. Walter Gorman, 1968-1979, undated
Box   1 Folder   37	Masonite Corporation vs. IWA, Legal papers including 1967 settlement, 1969 agreement, correspondence, and list of pleadings
Box   1 Folder   38	Reference material regarding strike and company
Box   1 Folder   39	Jobs or Income Now (JOIN), “Who Wants Urban Renewal?”, undated
Box   1 Folder   40	General labor materials
	McSurely, Alan and Margaret, Pikeville, Kentucky, bombing
Box   3 Folder   20	Memoranda of law, SCEF press releases, excerpts from affidavit, letter, 1968-1969 Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   3 Folder   21-23	Miscellany Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   1 Folder   41	Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party brochure, petitions, and flyers
Box   1 Folder   42	Mississippi Gulf Coast Pulpwood Association Inc., Incorporation papers, 1972
Box   3 Folder   24	Mississippi white community work at Vicksburg, Field reports, 1970 March-May Access Restrictions: Restricted
Box   3 Folder   25	National Council for White Organizing, Correspondence, agenda and call, notes, flyers, 1968-1969 Access Restrictions: Restricted
Box   3 Folder   26	New Orleans Women's Center, Newsletters, flyers, proposal, and correspondence Access Restrictions: Restricted
Box   1 Folder   43	Northern New Mexico Support Committee, Memo and flyers
Box   1 Folder   44	Seeger, Pete, Press release, articles, flyers, and letter about proposed southern tour, 1962
Box   1 Folder   45	Soledad Brothers Defense Committee
Box   1 Folder   46	South Africa and apartheid, Papers and transcript regarding Campaign to Stop South African Coal, 1974
Box   1 Folder   47	Southern Christian Leadership Conference Director's reports, 1960-1961
Box   1 Folder   47	Southern Christian Leadership Conference flyer, printed memo, 1969
Box   1 Folder   48	Southern Committee Against Repression, Minutes and press release, 1969
	Southern Conference Educational Fund
Box   1 Folder   49-50	Appalachian People's History Book by Suzanne Crowell, Chapter outline and synopses
Box   3 Folder   27	Minutes of meetings of SCEF's Interim Committee, general staff meetings, and board; reports to the board, 1967-1976 Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   4 Folder   1	Minutes of meetings of SCEF's Interim Committee, general staff meetings, and board; reports to the board, 1967-1976 (continued) Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   4 Folder   2	Report by Joe Hoban to staff on SCEF work, undated Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   4 Folder   3	Memos, flyers, literature Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   1 Folder   51	“McClellan: The Grim Inquisitor,” by Robert Analavage, NOLA Express
Box   1 Folder   52	“News From SCEF” Press releases, 1962-1971
Box   1 Folder   53	“The Southern Conference Education [sic] Fund (SCEF): , 1938-1963” and SCEF , 1964-1973
Box   1 Folder   54	SCEF Recipes: A Radical Cookbook, 1973
Box   4 Folder   4	Staff and internal newsletters, 1967-1972, undated Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   1 Folder   55	Southern Regional Council, “The Student Protest Movement: A Recapitulation,” 1961
Box   1 Folder   56	Southern Student Organizing Committee, “Freedom for Movement Girls-Now,” 1969
	Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Box   1 Folder   57	James Forman speeches, statement, and paper for organizing workshops, 1967
Box   1 Folder   58	News releases, newsletters, and other papers
Box   1 Folder   59	Report of the first meeting of the Temporary Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, 1960 May 13-14
Box   1 Folder   59	JRZ prospectus for the White Students' Project, 1962
	Students for a Democratic Society
Box   1 Folder   60	Pamphlets by Robb Burlage
Box   4 Folder   5	Papers and memos Access Restrictions: RESTRICTED
Box   2 Folder   1	“Studies in Survival in Clay, Owen, and Putnam Counties,” Mark Van Clay
Box   2 Folder   2	Talladega, Papers
Box   2 Folder   3	Training Institute for Propaganda and Organizing, Papers
Box   2 Folder   4	United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, Grape boycott flyers, IFCO resolution and contact list, 1968 Note: Also includes the “The Grape Line” boycott bulletin, 1969.
Box   2 Folder   5	United Nations International Seminar on Apartheid, Racial Discrimination, and Colonialism in Southern Africa, 1967
Box   2 Folder   6	Wallace, George, brochures and clippings
Box   2 Folder   7	White Organizing Committee, Edwards, Mississippi, newsletter, 1969
Box   4 Folder   6	Women's and feminist materials Access Restrictions: Restricted
Box   2 Folder   8	Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Box   4 Folder   7	Youth Leadership Conference on Nonviolence Resistance, 1960 April 15-17 reports Access Restrictions: Restricted