Title: David A. Shannon Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1955-1958

Creator:

• Shannon, David A., 1920-1991

Call Number: Mss 992

Quantity: 3.0 c.f. (8 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of David A. Shannon, professor of history at the University of Wisconsin and author best known for his histories of socialism and the Communist Party of the United States. The papers include research Shannon conducted for his manuscript “The American Communists since 1945,” which was later to be named The Decline of American Communism (1959). This book was part of a series studying Communist influence in American life and supported by the Fund for the Republic, a non-profit organization founded in 1952 advocating free speech. Included are drafts of Shannon's manuscript, research notes, and clippings and pamphlets from smaller presses, including Communist Party publications. These include pamphlets written by Earl Browder (circa 1945-1946); pamphlets and handouts written by Irwin Edelman documenting the Rosenberg and Sobell case (circa 1952-1955); notes, schedules, and speeches from the Communist Party U.S.A Convention (1957 February); and four pamphlets written by Communist Party U.S.A. general secretary Eugene Dennis (circa 1946-1949). There is a small body of correspondence, chiefly with colleagues and publishers, including C.P. Baldwin, Curtis D. MacDougall, Henry A. Wallace, and the Fund for the Republic.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00992

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David A. Shannon, professor of history and writer best known for his histories of socialism and the Communist Party of the United States, was born on November 30, 1920 in Terre Haute, Indiana. During his undergraduate studies at Indiana State College, he met Jane Short whom he married on August 31, 1940; he and Jane eventually had two daughters, Molly and Sarah. In 1941, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in History at Indiana State College, and in 1946 received his Masters of Science degree in History in 1946 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While pursuing a Ph.D. in History from Madison, he also worked as an instructor of history at the Carnegie Institute of Technology from 1948 to 1951. Upon completion of his doctoral thesis, “The decline of the American Socialist party,” Shannon obtained a position as an assistant professor at Columbia Teacher's College followed by a position as associate professor at the same institution. His first book, The Socialist Party of America, was published in 1955.

In 1957, he returned to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and joined the faculty as a Professor of History. During this time, he completed the manuscript “The American Communists since 1945”; this manuscript was published in 1959 under the name The Decline of American Communism. Soon after the publication of this text, Shannon published The Great Depression (1960). In 1965 he published Between the Wars and left the University of Wisconsin to accept a position as Chairman of the History Department and Professor of History at the University of Maryland. In 1966, he published Progressivism and Postwar Disillusionment. In 1969, after three years at Maryland and one year at Rutgers University, Shannon became Dean of Arts and Sciences, as well as Professor of History, at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. In 1971, he was promoted to Vice President and Provost. Shannon was a member of the American Historians, where he had held positions on several executive committees. He died on November 8, 1991 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The papers document the overall research Shannon conducted for his manuscript “The American Communists since 1945,” which was later to be named The Decline of American Communism (1959). This book was part of a series of studies of Communist influence in American life supported by the Fund for the Republic. The Fund for the Republic, a nonprofit membership corporation, was started in 1952 in an effort to support activities directed toward the elimination of restrictions on freedom of thought, inquiry and expression in the United States, and the development of policies and procedures best adapted to protect these rights. The two additional books that were a part of the series were The Roots of American Communism by Theodore Draper and The Communists and the Schools by Robert W. Iversen; all three texts were edited by Clinton Rossiter and published by Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York.

The collection contains very little personal material but focuses rather on Shannon's writings and includes manuscript drafts, research files (including research notes and citations, clippings, and pamphlets), and some correspondence. While the sources Shannon consulted date as early as the 1920s, he primarily compiled and wrote his manuscript between 1955 and 1958. The research files contain many of the original sources Shannon consulted among which are: pamphlets written by Earl Browder (circa 1945-1946); pamphlets and handouts written by Irwin Edelman documenting the Rosenberg and Sobell Case (circa 1952-1955); notes, schedules, and speeches from the Communist Party U.S.A. Convention (1957 February); and four pamphlets written by Communist Party USA general secretary Eugene Dennis (circa 1946-1949). Also of interest are several articles taken from Political Affairs and The Daily Worker, both Communist Party publications.

The collection is divided into three main series: Manuscript Drafts, Research Files, and Correspondence.

The MANUSCRIPT DRAFTS include various drafts of Shannon's “The American Communists since 1945” The drafts that are most complete contain very little, if any, revisions while other drafts include comments either by an editor, an unnamed acquaintance, Olive Golden, or Shannon himself. The manuscript drafts also include Shannon's tentative outline and prospectus for a “book on the history of the Communist Party, 1945-circa 1955.” The published edition of The Decline of American Communism is available in the Historical Society library.

The RESEARCH FILES represent the largest and most important area of the collection. The Files have been sub-divided into notes, and clippings and pamphlets. Each is arranged alphabetically by subject, except in the one instance where the General Notes have been placed at the beginning of the sub-series.

The notes are predominantly typewritten, usually containing a quote, its source, the date, and commentary by Shannon. Occasionally, the note files will contain some clippings and pamphlets that relate to the subject. The sources cited date from the early 1940s to the mid-1950s and range from popular publications, such as the New York Times, to less mainstream publications, such as Political Affairs and The Nation. Included are the pamphlets written by both Earl Browder and Eugene Dennis, a list of Smith Act cases involving Communist Party leaders, as well as general information on the Communist Party.

The clippings and pamphlets are largely from smaller presses and publications and are arranged by subject. Publications date from 1940s to the mid-1950s and include clippings and copies of Political Affairs, The Daily Worker, The Nation, New Masses, The American Socialist, The New Republic, and The New Leader. Included in the clippings and pamphlets sub-series are the speeches, schedules, and notes from the Communist Party U.S.A. Convention, held in New York City, February 1957. The Rosenberg and Sobell Case folder contains several handouts and pamphlets, many written by Irwin Edelman, which argue for the defense and release of the Rosenbergs. Other areas of interest include the Communist Party Crisis and the Twentieth Congress; these folders contain documentation of the Communist Party reaction to the famous six-hour “secret speech” Khrushchev gave denouncing the crimes of the Stalin era at the 20th party congress in 1956.

The CORRESPONDENCE documents the period 1955-1956 and consists of incoming mail with carbons of outgoing letters oftentimes attached. The correspondence generally revolves around professional matters and contains no personal correspondence. The General Correspondence, as well as the A.D.A. and A.H.A. correspondence, include letters to colleagues in various History departments and others in professional agencies. The few letters to and from C.P. Baldwin, Curtis D. MacDougall, and Progressive Party leader Henry A. Wallace, all cover the general topic of Communism, and pay special attention to certain details addressed in The Decline of American Communism.

Acquisition Information

Presented by David A. Shannon, Madison, Wis., 1963 and 1965.

Processing Information

Processed by Sarah Schild (Practicum student), 2003.

	Series: Manuscript Drafts
Box   1	Unedited manuscript
	Later chapter drafts without revisions
Box   2 Folder   1	Preface, Part I: Chapter I, “New Leader and New Line”
Box   2 Folder   2	Chapter II, “Party Line for America”
Box   2 Folder   3	Chapter III, “Party Organization, Party Strength, and Party Life”
Box   2 Folder   4	Part II: Chapter IV, “Creating Gideon's Army-the Progressive Party”
Box   2 Folder   5	Chapter V, “Professional Soldiers in a Campaign that Failed”
Box   2 Folder   6	Part III: Chapter VI, “The Party and Anti-Communism” [Chapter VII missing]
Box   2 Folder   7	Part IV: Chapter VIII, “Slow Thaw in the Cold War”
Box   2 Folder   8	Chapter IX, “Tarnished Heroes: Stalin and Foster”
Box   2 Folder   9	Chapter X, “Hungary and Further Disillusion”
Box   2 Folder   10	Chapter XI, “Conclusion: An Impotent Party”
Box   2 Folder   11	Footnotes
Box   2 Folder   12	Bibliographical Essay
	Early chapter drafts without revisions
Box   2 Folder   13	Preface and Chapter I
Box   2 Folder   14	Chapter II, “Domestic Line”
Box   2 Folder   15	Chapter III, “The Party's organization, activities and special problems in the immediate postwar period”
	Drafts with revisions by persons other than Shannon
Box   3 Folder   1	Preface, Chapters I through Chapter II with drafter's comments
Box   3 Folder   2	Preface, Chapters I through III with Olive Golden's comments
	Drafts with revisions by Shannon
Box   3 Folder   3	Preface and Chapter I
Box   3 Folder   4	Chapter II, “The Domestic Line”
Box   3 Folder   5	Chapter III, “The Party's Organization, Activities and Special Problems in the Immediate Postwar Period”
Box   3 Folder   6	Beginning for Part II, notes: Chapter IV, “Professional Soldiers in Gideon's Army”
Box   3 Folder   7	Chapter V, “The Outward Reaction”
Box   3 Folder   8	“A very tentative and incomplete outline or prospectus of a book on the history of the Communist Party, 1945-circa 1955,” February 24, 1956
	Series: Research Files	⇧
	Subseries: Notes
Box   3 Folder   9-12	General Notes, 1924-1957, undated
Box   4 Folder   1	Anti-Communism, 1947, 1951
Box   4 Folder   2	Browder, Earl, 1945-1956
Box   4 Folder   3	Communist Party and Labor, Trade Unions, 1946-1956
Box   4 Folder   4	Communist Party and McCarthyism, 1946-1954
Box   4 Folder   5	Forecasts of imminent depression, 1946-1948
Box   4 Folder   6	General Line and Foreign Policy, 1943-1949
Box   4 Folder   7	Last chapter items (general), 1953-1958
Box   4 Folder   8	Left splinters and expulsions, 1946-1956
Box   4 Folder   9	Party Life, 1946-1956
Box   4 Folder   10	Party Organization, 1945-1956
Box   5 Folder   1	Party Schools, 1947-1956
Box   5 Folder   2-3	Peace [relations with Korea and China], 1949-1952
Box   5 Folder   4-5	Political Action, 1948-1956
Box   5 Folder   6	Press indications of strength, circulation, 1947-1956
Box   5 Folder   7-8	“Slow Thaw in the Cold War” notes [for Chapter VIII]
Box   5 Folder   9	Smith Act, 1947-1953
Box   6 Folder   1-4	Third Party, 1945-1956
Box   6 Folder   5	Tickets and Elections, 1948-1955
Box   6 Folder   6	Varga, Eugene, 1946-1956
Box   6 Folder   7	White Chauvinism, Negro [African-American] Policy, 1946-1956
	Subseries: Clippings and Pamphlets	⇧
Box   7 Folder   1	“American Communists since the Khrushchev Report: a historian's appraisal” [essay], undated
Box   7 Folder   2	“The American Jewish Committee. Library of Jewish Information: 'The Communist Party U.S.A., in crisis'” [report], undated
Box   7 Folder   3	Anti-communism, 1952-1956
Box   7 Folder   4	Congressional Committees, 1955-1956
Box   7 Folder   5	Communist Party (on C.P. directly), 1955-1956
Box   7 Folder   6-7	Communist Party U.S.A. Convention [notes, schedules, speeches], 1957 February
Box   7 Folder   8	Communist Party U.S.A. Convention [post-convention notes], 1957
Box   7 Folder   9-10	Communist Party Crisis, 1956-1957
Box   7 Folder   11	Communist Party Politics, 1956
Box   7 Folder   12	Communist Party and Unions, 1955-1956
Box   7 Folder   13	Communist Party Youth Activities, 1955-1956
Box   7 Folder   14	Gates, John [Articles by Gates from the New York Post], 1958
Box   7 Folder   15	General Federal Security, 1955-1956
Box   7 Folder   16	Fund for the Republic miscellany, 1954-1956
Box   7 Folder   17	Immunity Act, 1954-1956
Box   8 Folder   1	Miscellaneous, 1948-1957
Box   8 Folder   2	Rosenberg and Sobell Case, 1952-1955
Box   8 Folder   3	Russian and American Relations, 1955
Box   8 Folder   4	Smith Act Cases, 1955-1956
Box   8 Folder   5	Subversive Activities Control Board, 1955-1956
Box   8 Folder   6	Tax Affairs, 1956
Box   8 Folder   7	Twentieth Congress-New Line, 1955-1956
	Series: Correspondence	⇧
Box   8 Folder   8	General Correspondence, 1956
Box   8 Folder   9	A.D.A. [Americans for Democratic Action], 1956
Box   8 Folder   10	A.H.A. [American History Association], 1956
Box   8 Folder   11	Baldwin, C.P., 1955-1956
Box   8 Folder   12	Fund for the Republic, 1955
Box   8 Folder   13	MacDougall, Curtis D., 1955-1956
Box   8 Folder   14	Wallace, Henry A., 1956