The papers of Tom and Karolyn Kerry partially document their joint careers within the Socialist Workers Party and the trade union movement. Like many of the other personal collections presented to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin by the SWP, the provenance of this material is uncertain. The personal correspondence, which dates primarily from the 1930's and the late 1970's clearly originated from files once in the Kerrys' possession. Tom Kerry's party files, which date from the 1950's and 1960's, are incomplete, documenting only his relationship with a few individuals, and it is possible that these files were selected from records in the custody of the national office in the New York City. Karolyn Kerry's labor and party activities are only sparsely represented, and her career and views can only be inferred from letters she received from her husband and from friends. A few writings and speeches are included in the collection.
The collection is arranged as Biographical Material, Correspondence, Speeches and Writings, and Miscellany. The collection is available both in original paper form and also on microfilm.
The Biographical Material includes obituaries, memorabilia, and two biographical questionnaires filled out by the Kerrys in 1979 as part of an SWP survey of individuals who had been party members for fifty years. The memorabilia includes union membership and dues records for both, as well as membership cards for organizations such as NAACP, the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, NOW, and the Coalition of Labor Union Women.
The Kerrys' early Correspondence, which is almost entirely personal and entirely comprised of letters from Tom to Karolyn, predates their membership in the Workers Party. A second group documents his shipboard experiences from 1939 to 1941 with the Pacific Coast Marine Firemen, Oilers, Watertenders and Wipers Association. Here, the letters written during a stopover in Hawaii, 1940-1941, are most descriptive. The single exception to the personal nature of the material dating from the 1930's are several letters from James Cannon to Kerry concerning organizing strategy within the maritime union and an incident of Stalinist infiltration of the SWP-Workers Party branch in San Francisco.
Thereafter the coverage is quite fragmentary, only resuming its previous usefulness in 1953 after the Kerrys had relocated in Los Angeles. During the troubled period 1953 to 1955 the correspondence is largely Kerry's exchanges with National Secretary Farrell Dobbs about activities within the Los Angeles branch and within the national party organization. Scattered personal letters he wrote to Karolyn during this period describe activities while on visits in New York City and Seattle. Included with the correspondence after the Kerrys returned to New York City are numerous items relating to the work of socialist youth leaders Tim Wohlforth and Carl Feingold. During the 1960's the correspondence is dominated by exchanges with George Breitman, Arne Swabeck, and others concerning the editing of The Militant and the International Socialist Review. Also dating from this period is an extended exchange with Louis Sinclair apparently concerning Sinclair's Trotsky bibliography and other research matters and several letters from Nat Weinstein concerning the San Francisco locals of the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators, and Paperhangers and Weinstein's publication of a new newspaper. The early 1970's material is also incomplete prior to the Kerrys' relocation in Arizona in 1977. Thereafter the file largely consists of personal letters Karolyn exchanged with the wives of other SWP leaders.
The Speeches and Writings section is similarly incomplete, and there is no material here reflecting Tom Kerry's reputation as a China expert. Included are draft and printed versions of articles and remarks delivered during the late 1960's and 1970's, together with a proposal for a compilation of his political essays which includes a bibliography of writings (some of which appeared under the pseudonym C. Thomas) in The Militant and various internal party bulletins. Also notable are Kerry's remarks for several classes: “The Emerging Revolt of the Working Class,” “Strategy and Tactics of the Socialist Revolution,” and “Trotskyism and American Labor.” Karolyn Kerry's writings include a tribute to Evelyn Reed.
The Miscellany consists of handwritten notes and materials pertaining to the death of party activist Bea Hanson and Militant cartoonist Laura Gray.
