Archival Resources in Wisconsin: Descriptive Finding Aids

Container	Title
M98-001	Part 5 (M98-001): Additions, 1930-1985 Physical Description: 1.0 c.f. (1 record center carton) and 4 photographs Scope and Content Note: Additions, 1930-1985, to the Bruce Rubenstein Collection of the Alvah Bessie Archive, including biographical material; clippings and notes; personal and professional correspondence; manuscripts of writings by Alvah Bessie; and four personal photographs. Of note is correspondence between Alvah and his wife and daughter while he was in prison, 1950-1951.
	Series: Biographical
Box 1 Folder 1	Clippings, vitae, financial notes, et cetera, 1940-1985
Box 1 Folder 2	HUAC-related items, 1949-1955 Scope and Content Note: Subpoenas, documents prepared for attorneys, statements and court speeches, petitions, parole board documents, et cetera
Box 1 Folder 3	Gabriel Miller on Alvah Bessie, 1977-1982 Scope and Content Note: Reviews of Alvah Bessie books and introductions to his works by Gabriel Miller.
	Series: Correspondence	⇧
Box 1 Folder 4-5	Alvah Bessie/Helen Bessie/Eva Bessie Correspondence, 1950-1951 Physical Description: 191 letters (including a few inserts) Scope and Content Note: Correspondence exchanged between Alvah Bessie, his wife Helen Clare Nelson Bessie, and their daughter Eva (aged 6 in 1950) from just before Alvah Bessie's sentencing for contempt of Congress in June 1950 to his release from Texarkana Prison in April 1951 (the entire correspondence was sent to Eva Bessie Wilson by Alvah Bessie in 1968).
Box 1 Folder 6-7	Alvah and Sylviane Bessie's Letters to Eva Bessie Wilson and her family, 1965-1986 Physical Description: 117 letters Scope and Content Note: Correspondence from Alvah and Sylviane Bessie to Alvah's daughter Eva, her husband Wes Wilson, and their children (the Wilsons' side of the correspondence is not included).
	Miscellaneous professional correspondence Scope and Content Note: Exchanges of letters (usually the letters received by Alvah Bessie and carbons of his own letters) between Alvah Bessie and others concerning matters of politics, writing, publishing, screenwriting, employment, et cetera. The correspondence falls into a series of discrete groups of letters over a short period on a particular topic, and these groups have been foldered here by correspondents in chronological order of the beginning of the correspondence.
Box 1 Folder 8	Henry Moe of the Guggenheim Foundation, 1935-1950, on Alvah Bessie's Guggenheim Writer's Award
Box 1 Folder 9	Ernest Hemingway, open letter from the Veterans of the Lincoln Brigade, 1940
Box 1 Folder 10	Henry Shine, regarding a projected anti-Hitler magazine, 1941
Box 1 Folder 11	Luther Adler, regarding publishing matters, 1948
Box 1 Folder 12	Elia Kazan, regarding producing a play by Alvah and Helen Clare Nelson Bessie, 1948
Box 1 Folder 13	Ramón Sender, regarding his novel The King and the Queen, 1948
Box 1 Folder 14	Screen Writer's Guild, regarding Alvah Bessie's membership, 1951
Box 1 Folder 15	Herbert [?], regarding writing for L'écran Français/Les Lettres Françaises, May 19, 1952
Box 1 Folder 16	Morris [?] of the International Longshore Workers Union, regarding Alvah Bessie's employment by the Union, 1953
Box 1 Folder 17	People's World magazine, notes for articles and correspondence about book reviews, 1956
Box 1 Folder 18	Harry Bridges, regarding Alvah Bessie's position with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, 1958
Box 1 Folder 19	Dalton Trumbo and Angus [?] of Cameron Associates, regarding a film or novel drawing on Alvah Bessie's night-club experiences, 1958
Box 1 Folder 20	Oronite statement, returned by Cuban revolutionary management, 1961
Box 1 Folder 21	Herb Caen, regarding a gossip column item on Alvah Bessie, 1961
Box 1 Folder 22	San Francisco Chronicle, regarding an article on the Rosenberg case, 1965
Box 1 Folder 23	David and Daniel Bessie, and Jaime Camino, regarding the screenplay for the film The Hostages, 1971-1975
Box 1 Folder 24	Time magazine, in response to an article about Charles Chaplin, 1972
Box 1 Folder 25	Robert Crichton, regarding his father, Kyle Crichton, 1975
Box 1 Folder 26	Victor Navasky, about his HUAC research, 1975
Box 1 Folder 27	Ring Lardner, Jr., in response to a review of his book My Family Remembered, 1976
Box 1 Folder 28	Ring Lardner, Jr., Lester Cole, Albert Maltz, and the San Francisco Chronicle, in relation to an article by Lardner, 1978
Box 1 Folder 29	Lester Cole, in relation to his book Hollywood Red, 1982
Box 1 Folder 30	PEN American Center (especially Kathy Boyle), regarding a possible award for Alvah Bessie, 1982
Box 1 Folder 31	Martha Gellhorn, principally about a television documentary-drama on Ernest Hemingway in Spain, 1982-1985
Box 1 Folder 32	Edward Anser, about an appeal on behalf of El Salvador trade-unionists, 1984
Box 1 Folder 33	Ring Lardner, Jr., in relation to his book, All for Love, 1985
Box 1 Folder 34	Lou Gottlieb, about the introduction to a performance of some of Alvah Bessie's songs, 1985
	Series: Writings of Alvah Bessie	⇧
	Miscellaneous unpublished manuscripts
Box 1 Folder 35	“The Ballad of the International Brigade”: libretto for oratorio or radio ballad, undated
Box 1 Folder 35	Untitled play about the Spanish Civil War, undated
Box 1 Folder 35	Jules Roy, The Horses of the Sun, translated by Sylviane and Alvah Bessie, undated
Box 1 Folder 35	“Condena,” poem in Spanish by Rafael Alberti, December 8, 1970, with translation by Alvah Bessie, as “Sentence”
	Novels
Box 1 Folder 36	Chapter from The Un-Americans with preface for publication in The Contemporary Reader, undated, 1950s
	Short stories
	Five short stories by Alvah Bessie with unsigned cover letter to “Bruce” [Rubinstein] from Dan or David Bessie
Box 1 Folder 37	“Like Father,” 1935
Box 1 Folder 37	“Libation,” 1935
Box 1 Folder 37	“The Professor's Friend,” undated
Box 1 Folder 37	“Problem in Design,” 1936
Box 1 Folder 37	“Vermont Landscape: 1931”
Box 1 Folder 38	“American Underground,” by Peter Redman [pseudonym?], 1950
Box 1 Folder 38	“In French,” undated
Box 1 Folder 38	“I Am Mr. Russki,” undated
Box 1 Folder 39	“Bubo virginanus” (first published in Alvah Bessie's Short Fictions, 1982)
	Poetry
	Unbound Typescripts
Box 1 Folder 40	“Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?”, undated
Box 1 Folder 40	“The Co-Existence Blues,” 1956
Box 1 Folder 40	“Five Prison Poems” ( August 10, 1951-titles: “White Night,” “For My Dead Brother,” “A Song for the New Year”-two versions, “For Mr. Lincoln,” “The Free World”)
Box 1 Folder 40	“Five Songs for Spain” (Missing titles: “Lamentations, For My Dead Brother”; Present titles: 2. “Memory of Battle,” 1951; 3. “Flamenco,” , 1952; 4. “The Dead Past,” , 1952; 5. “For Steve Nelson,” , 1953)
Box 1 Folder 40	“For My Daughter,” undated
Box 1 Folder 40	“For My Dead Brother/Love and Live,” undated
Box 1 Folder 40	“For My Sons,” undated
Box 1 Folder 40	“For the Political Prisoners,” December 30, 1953) Physical Description: 3 versions
Box 1 Folder 40	“Getting Short,” undated
Box 1 Folder 40	“I Am Addicted to You,” undated
Box 1 Folder 40	“June 19, 1953,” undated
Box 1 Folder 40	“Miltown Blues” ( 1956), and copy with “Miltown” crossed out and replaced with “Valium” throughout
Box 1 Folder 40	“Outside Looking In,” 1951
Box 1 Folder 40	“Parole Board,” undated
Box 1 Folder 40	“Rest Room,” October 21 with Los Angeles Times, , October 20, 1949, clipping on arrest of Dalton Trumbo for drunkenness
Box 1 Folder 40	“Those Subversive Blues,” verse play, 1960
Box 1 Folder 40	Untitled, January 1, 1956
Box 1 Folder 41	The Free World (and other captive verse) by Alvah Bessie (introduction, April 9, 1951) Physical Description: Bound typescript of poetry collection
	Film stories and screenplays
Box 1 Folder 42	Cross of Gold, 1950 story by Alvah Bessie(?) Physical Description: Inscribed “Black market original ... sold by Ned Young”.
Box 1 Folder 43	Executive Action, screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, revisions by Alvah Bessie, May 1973; letter concerning Executive Action from Alvah Bessie, , May 9, 1973 Physical Description: Annotated cylostyled typescript of screenplay with revises inserted
Box 1 Folder 44	The “S” Bomb, screenplay by Jerrold I. Zinnamon [and Alvah Bessie, uncredited], 1956
Box 1 Folder 45	To Kill a Man, Film Treatment by Alvah Bessie and Helen Clare Nelson [Bessie] based on Bessie's novel Bread and a Stone, undated, but before Alvah Bessie's imprisonment
Box 1 Folder 46	The Un-Americans, screenplay by Alvah Bessie from his novel, undated
Box 1 Folder 47	The Wasteland, film story by Alvah Bessie, registered April 28, 1976
Box 1 Folder 48	Without Fear or Favor, screenplay by Alvah Bessie, October 6 - November 18, 1943
	Miscellaneous articles and a speech
Box 1 Folder 49	“Wanted: A People's War” ( undated, but during World War II)
Box 1 Folder 49	“A Hero for this Month,” undated, but , late 1940s or 1950s Note: Newspaper article on Joseph Rosmarin
Box 1 Folder 49	“Casablanca Revisited,” article, 1979
Box 1 Folder 49	“Fanning the Flames of Discontent,” text of speech to First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles, May 29, 1983
	Unpublished Articles
	Group of typescripts originally in folder labeled “unpublished”
Box 1 Folder 50	Open letter by Alvah Bessie calling for purchase of War Bonds, January 19, 1942
Box 1 Folder 50	“There's a Difference,” short article by Alvah Bessie, with letter from Frances Pinduck reporting rejection by Liberty magazine, January 5, 1943
Box 1 Folder 50	“Wings of Victory,” film review, undated, but early 1940s
Box 1 Folder 50	Untitled review of film All the King's Men, undated but contemporary with the release of the film
Box 1 Folder 50	“The Touchstone (Franco Spain and America since 1939),” unpublished pamphlet, undated (, 1950 or 1951, by internal evidence)
Box 1 Folder 50	Letter of resignation by Alvah Bessie from the Communist Party of the USA, February 15, 1957 Physical Description: Carbon draft
Box 1 Folder 50	Unpublished reviews of various books on the Spanish Civil War commissioned by Ramparts and San Francisco Chronicle (, 1966-1967)
Box 1 Folder 50	Review of Studs Terkel's Hard Times, commissioned but not published by Scanlan's Monthly, March 30, 1970
	Autobiographical Writings
Box 1 Folder 51	“Where are you, Leon Ansbacher?” (autobiographical essay), undated Physical Description: Photocopy
Box 1 Folder 51	“Slice of Life: Prospectus for a Memoir,” by Alvah Bessie, July 15, 1981 Physical Description: Carbon typescript
Box 1 Folder 52	“Sequel (to Inquisition in Eden)”: correspondence with Carey McWilliams of The Nation, 1972, concerning writing reviews for the magazine and possible sequel to Inquisition in Eden; 1951 clippings on Edward Dmytryk's switching sides; , 1972 clippings about Dmytryk and letters to the press by Alvah Bessie; corrected proof of “Sequel”
	Series: Photographs Scope and Content Note: 4 snapshots, separated from Letters of Alvah and Sylviane Bessie to Eva Bessie Wilson and her family.	⇧
Box 1 Folder 53	Hôtel-Dieu, Beaune (Burgundy), May 22, 1979 Note: Enclosed with Alvah Bessie to Eva Bessie-Wilson, July 4, 1979. Physical Description: 3"x4" color print, inscribed on reverse, “... also known as L'Hospice de Beaune”
Box 1 Folder 53	Alvah Bessie, 1980 Note: Enclosed with Alvah Bessie to the Wilsons, August 26, 1980. Physical Description: 3"x4" color print, inscribed on reverse
Box 1 Folder 53	Alvah and Sylviane Bessie, November 1982 Note: Enclosed in Alvah Bessie to the Wilsons, December 22, 1982. Physical Description: 3"x4" color print, inscribed on reverse, “At a cocktail party recently in Ross”
Box 1 Folder 53	Adam and Alvah Bessie, June 1982 Note: Enclosed with Alvah Bessie to the Wilsons, July 26, 1982. Physical Description: 3"x4" color print, inscribed on reverse, “2 (Adam) and 78 (Alvah)”