The papers offer a detailed and comprehensive account of Leo Koch's career, philosophy, personal life, organizational affiliations, and political activities, including his military service and scientific research; his personal battle in behalf of free speech; his interest in humanism and alternative education; and his activities on behalf of peace, civil liberties, sexual reform, and civil rights. The papers span the period from his military service in World War II to his move to Arkansas to begin farming but are best for the period from 1956 to 1970. The largest part of the collection concerns his controversial dismissal from the University of Illinois. Much of the remainder of the collection also relates indirectly to the case because of the dramatic impact on his career which the case had. The collection also contains a great deal of information for researchers on the 1960s because of the wide variety of issues with which Koch was involved. These range from detailed scientific information on his LSD experiments and the concession stand his wife operated at Woodstock to his organization of one of the leading chapters of Vets for Peace and his work on behalf of alternative education.
The papers consist of personal correspondence, clippings, a diary and biographical material, files on his dismissal from the University of Illinois, drafts and reprints of articles and speeches, and records of various organizations with which he was involved. They are organized as BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL, CORRESPONDENCE, KOCH CASE FILES, ORGANIZATIONS AND ACTIVITIES, and SPEECHES AND WRITINGS. Photographs received with the papers are filed in the Name File in the Visual Materials Archive.
The BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL primarily documents Koch's life prior to 1960. Included are several resumes and a lengthy autobiographical sketch containing details of his childhood and personal life which was prepared as part of an LSD experiment. Documenting Koch's military career are a 201 file, a diary, and records of the national security investigation which led to his resignation from the Reserves in 1958. The clippings filed here concern Koch's family, teaching jobs, and activities prior to his departure from the University of Illinois. A few clippings concerning his life in Arkansas, the only material in the collection concerning his interest in agriculture, are also included.
The CORRESPONDENCE files contain chronologically-arranged incoming and outgoing letters from 1952 to 1969. The content is largely personal, including exchanges with Koch's family and wide circle of colleagues, friends, and acquaintances.
The KOCH CASE FILES exhaustively recount the events surrounding his dismissal from the University of Illinois, the legal appeals, and the public reaction to the case. The alphabetically-arranged files also document the involvement of the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Association of University Professors. There are also materials on the Committee for Leo Koch, reports and a complete transcript of his final hearing before the trustees, and numerous clippings concerning the case and his subsequent lecture tour.
The ORGANIZATIONS AND ACTIVITIES files trace Koch's role in such groups as the American Humanist Association, the School of Living, New York City League for Sexual Freedom, Rockland County Committee to End the War in Vietnam, the Liberal Party, and Veterans for Peace. There are smaller files on other interesting activities such as Summerlane Camp, LSD, and Woodstock. The organizational files typically contain correspondence, clippings, minutes, membership lists, press releases, printed material, and scattered financial records. Files of organizational newsletters (for which Koch frequently served as editor) have been separated to the SHSW Library.
The majority of Koch's writings are organized as SPEECHES AND WRITINGS. These files have been divided into works on bryophytes (mosses) and writings on general topics; within each category the files are arranged chronologically. A list of Koch's bryological publications precedes that section. Topics in the general section include humanism, religion, philosophy of science, educational theory, academic freedom, civil rights, nudism, sex education (a draft of his unpublished book for teenagers is included), sexual morality, drugs, politics, and the war in Vietnam. Correspondence concerning his writing is largely filed in this series, although the general correspondence series contains some material concerning his relationship with sex reformer/publisher Rey Anthony.
