The Sidney M. Peck Papers consist of the following series: INTERVIEWS FOR THE RANK AND FILE LEADER; ANTI-WAR AND NEW LEFT FILES; PEACE AND NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT FILES; and FBI FILES AND RELATED PAPERS. The FBI series comprises more than half of the collection. There are no personal or family papers, nor any teaching materials or career documentation from Clark University.
INTERVIEWS FOR THE RANK AND FILE LEADER (circa 1963), Peck's University of Wisconsin doctoral dissertation and subsequent book, were conducted in the late 1950s. Utilizing a new research technique, the group discussion interview to collect data for his thesis, Peck studied rank-and-file union members to determine whether they were a distinct body with their own political and social beliefs.
At the beginning of each interview session, Peck played a recording of a fictitious German exchange worker, Martin Mueller, who presumably had been working in the United States and involved in union activity for two years. Mueller addresses many issues, such as corruption in unions, political action by labor, socialism, racism, women in the work place, juvenile delinquency, war, and overall rank-and-file philosophy. Stewards would then react to Mueller's statements, giving their own views. Each discussion lasted about two hours.
Seventeen union locals participated in the discussion groups, with a total of 184 union stewards, the rank-and-file union leaders, from the Milwaukee area. Only one union group is not represented in this tape collection--Machinists District 10. Stewards involved in these groups were assigned animal names (heard on the recordings) to insure anonymity and complete openness. When the union names on the recording labels are different from those in the book, the former are noted in parentheses. Some of the recordings contain other segments unrelated to the project.
ANTI-WAR AND NEW LEFT FILES consist mainly of correspondence and other materials concerning the national and international anti-war organizations and conferences in which Peck was a participant. Peck's activities at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, his injuries, and arrest as part of the Chicago 10, and subsequent acquittal are well documented by his papers, news articles, a tape recording, and a few photographs. (See also FBI FILES series.)
Few materials pertain to any internal discussions, disputes or operations within or between the anti-war groups, conferences, and actions. There is only sparse material concerning two of the groups which Peck co-founded--People's Coalition for Peace and Justice and its predecessor, the National Coalition Against War, Racism, and Repression.
This series also contains tape recordings containing discussions by Peck of the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Vietnam peace accords, and anti-war protest press releases and speeches. The series is arranged alphabetically by organization, followed by articles and clippings, posters, speeches and writings and tape recordings.
PEACE AND NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT FILES mainly document Peck's role as director of the International Liaison Office in Support of the UN Special Session on Disarmament II (SSD II), 1982; and coordinator of the International Peace Conference in Support of SSD III, 1988. For SSD II, Peck was also a member of the Bureau (executive committee) of the NGO Committee on Disarmament. The series contains exchanges with individuals and organizations from the United States and foreign countries who were active in the peace and disarmament movement, as well as documentation of the individual sessions, workshops, events and demonstrations related to the conferences.
Following these files are those of several other international conferences, as well as speeches and writings on peace and disarmament by Peck and others. The collection does not include papers concerning RECAP-International (Research*Education*Consulting*Action*Policy), a consulting group on social issues and movements, which Peck has served as co-director.
FBI FILES AND RELATED PAPERS mainly consist of files requested by Peck under the Freedom of Information Act and materials relating to hearings and court cases which grew out of the Freedom of Information Act, in which Peck was a party. These cases include Peck's efforts to obtain his files, and cases which sought to restrict federal government agencies, such as the FBI, CIA and NSA, from violation of First Amendment rights.
Although the accuracy of the information in the files may be questioned and much information is blacked out, Peck's FBI files demonstrate the close and continued scrutiny under which Peck was watched by the FBI and other agencies as far back as 1948, as well as FBI attempts to disrupt the activities of “dissenters” such as Peck through their counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO).
The FBI files are organized by name (Sidney Peck), city, event, and organization, and thereunder alphabetically. These files are followed by miscellaneous documents, including indexes, electronic surveillance (ELSUR), and CIA documents.
