The papers of Cedric Belfrage span the years 1922-1990, with the bulk of the material from 1945-1985. The collection consists mainly of Belfrage's writings both published and unpublished (7 of 11 linear feet). The writings include articles, travel notes, translations, short fiction and non-fiction essays, book manuscripts and research files, and related correspondence. Although this is the largest series in the collection, it does not fully reflect Belfrage's career as an author since there is little information on many of his published books. The collection also contains correspondence (mostly incoming), documentation of Belfrage's political activities, and biographical materials.

The collection provides substantial information about the early part of Belfrage's life as a Hollywood film critic (1920's-1930's), but very little about his subsequent activity in Germany as a press control officer for the U.S. army (1944-1945), though he maintains correspondence with Emil Carlebach, Buchenwald survivor and Communist, whom he met in Germany and about whom he wrote an article. His trip to Southeast Missouri in 1948 is very well documented in the form of writing and research for a book he later began (but never published) about two people he met there. They were the organizers of the Sharecroppers Strike of 1939, Owen Whitfield, a black sharecropper, and Thad Snow, a white farmer. Belfrage's next major project, the founding of the National Guardianin the fall of 1948, is well documented. Information on his involvement with this paper, and detailed correspondence with the co-founder and Belfrage's best friend, Jim Aronson, spans the rest of his life.

The collection also provides documentation of his deportation case and time in jail, mostly in the form of articles about him and correspondence. The next period in his life, as editor-in-exile for the National Guardian, during which he travelled extensively as a journalist, is less well covered. The main forms of documentation are articles by him, travel notes, and correspondence. The collection covers more thoroughly the final period of Belfrage's life, from the time he settles in Mexico in 1973 to his death in 1990. This time span is best chronicled by correspondence, and book and translation projects. Belfrage's evolving political position is well documented, especially regarding the rise of fascism and anti-Semitism in the 1930's, World War II in the 1940's, McCarthyism in the 1950's (there are three linear feet of his writings and research for his book on this subject, The American Inquisition), Cuba in the 1960's, and Latin American countries in general in the 1970's and 1980's. His ambivalent relationship to the Communist Party and the Soviet Union is an on-going theme both in his writings and correspondence. The collection provides a detailed record of Belfrage's relations with friends and family, in the form of correspondence, though it is almost all incoming.

Eighty (80) photographs, four reels of recordings of House UnAmerican Activities Committee hearings (c.1952-1955), and five cassettes of interviews for the unpublished book on Owen Whitfield (1982) have been removed and are located in Tamiment's non-print collection. A videotape interview (circa 1976) of Belfrage re his Hollywood years has been transferred to the Avery Fisher Center and separately cataloged.

The collection is organized into four series, described below.

Series I, Biographical Materials (1922 - 1990) is the smallest portion of the collection. It contains personal notes, passports and other identification, engagement diaries and obituaries.

Series II, Correspondence (1937 - 1990), three linear feet, contains two subseries, family and general correspondence, and is mostly incoming.

Family Correspondence: The family correspondence is arranged alphabetically by the first name of the individual of origin. It is mostly from his daughters Sally and Anne, and Anne's mother Anne-Marie. Most of the topics covered by these letters are personal, relating to family matters, arranging visits, and the goings-on of everyday life. Sally's career as a writer and Anne's as a linguist are also well documented, and they often write about Belfrage's writing projects, helping to find publishers or offering criticism. Sally's participation in the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and her 1964 summer in Mississippi as a civil rights activist about which she wrote her first book, Freedom Summer, is covered in detail. There is also a short but interesting correspondence between Anne (who grew up in Paris) and Belfrage about the worker and student uprising in Paris in May 1968, especially regarding the role of the Communist Party. Most of the correspondence from Belfrage's son, Nick, is about his love life and his career as a wine taster. There is also correspondence from Belfrage's sister-in-law, Joyce Belfrage, regarding the poor health of his brother, Bruce.

General Correspondence: The general correspondence is divided into two sections. The first is arranged alphabetically by individual or organization of origin. This correspondence is mostly with political colleagues discussing their and Cedric's writing projects, current events, and developments in leftist and socialist movements. The primary correspondent in this section in Jim Aronson (1955 - 1990). While this correspondence is mostly incoming, there is a substantial amount from Belfrage to Aronson. They discuss mostly personal issues such as health, family, and their respective publishing projects. They also write about the problems of the National Guardian(see Wilfred Burchett correspondence and the National Guardiansection for more) and current events. In 1979, while Aronson is teaching journalism in Peking, they have a major disagreement about China's presence in Vietnam that threatens their friendship.

Another primary correspondent is Claude Williams (1938-1980), a southern Marxist Christian preacher and the founder of The People's Institute of Applied Religion, about whom Belfrage wrote a biography (appearing variously as Let My People Go, 1937; South of God, 1938, A Faith to Free The People, 1944) . This correspondence is mostly about Claude's work and his collaborative unfinished book project with Belfrage, The People's Book, aka, The Scarlet Thread, a revolutionary reading of the Bible. Belfrage also corresponds with Paul Robeson (1956-1965) regarding the National Paul Robeson Committee (this correspondence is mostly with the secretary of this committee, Frank Loesser). Related to the Robeson correspondence is the correspondence of sisters Hannah and Peggy Middleton (London County Council Member for Greenwich, and Labour candidate for Parliament). This consists of letters from Peggy to Hannah about Robeson. Included are notes by Belfrage on this correspondence. W.E.B. DuBois and his wife Shirley Graham (1955-1964) correspond with Belfrage about DuBois's world tour, and a tribute to DuBois that Belfrage helps organize.

The correspondence with organizations is mostly with journals, magazines and newspapers regarding the publication of Belfrage's articles and letters to the editor. Among the journals is Third World, of which Belfrage was an editor. There is also a short but interesting correspondence with the South Paddington Labour Party (1956-1957) in which Belfrage debates whether or not to join and elaborates on his reasons for not wanting to sign an oath of "political purity."

The second section of general correspondence is arranged alphabetically by country or region of origin. It is mostly with friends and political colleagues about personal issues such as health, family and career, but there is also discussion of politics and current events.

Africa: The main figures in the African section are Conor Cruise O'Brien, the Irish Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana about 'black native power,' and Alfred Kgokong of the African National Congress regarding Belfrage's support of that organization.

Asia: The key writer from the Asian section is Anna Louise Strong who was the National Guardiancorrespondent in Peking during the 1960's.

Australia/New Zealand: This section contains only a few letters. Among them are a letter on Belfrage's behalf by John Baker to the Australian Broadcasting Commission regarding publicity for The American Inquisition, a letter from Disarmament Research Group in Australia asking for a Cuban contact, and two letters from Noel Wilson of New Zealand regarding Jamaican trade unionist Ferdinand Smith.

Canada: The major figures from the Canadian correspondence are Sol Pomerance, Beryl Wheelon (regarding Castro and Cuba) and Betty Madiros of the Socialist Fellowship Seminar where Belfrage spoke on Latin American politics. This correspondence also pertains to surgery that Belfrage had in Canada in 1975 and 1979.

Caribbean and Central America: This section features Rosa Hilda Zell, the Cuban poet, and Steve Nelson of the Libreria El Porvenir in Costa Rica who write often of their respective projects. Europe: Comprised mainly of letters from France and Germany. The main correspondents are Wilfred Burchett who writes from Paris in the late 1960's, Victor Grossman of the Deutsche Akademie Der Kunste Zu Berlin in Berlin regarding a donation to the Paul Robeson archive (1966), and Franz Loesser regarding his book on the Rosenbergs (1975-76).

Ireland/United Kingdom: Contains correspondence between Belfrage and K. Zilliacus about the Soviet-Yugoslav conflict (1950), the Cold War and the National Peace Party (1950's), Cuba (1962), and the British Labor Party (1965). Also in this section Belfrage corresponds with Joan Robinson (a Cambridge professor) (5/76) about China's position on Angola, Clive Jenkins of the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staff, and Heinrich Fraenkel of The New Statesman.

Mexico: Clive B. Smith and Charles Small are the main correspondents in the Mexico section. Small writes about the Chilean political situation, and on behalf of refugees. In 1973 he has an argument with Belfrage over his review of The American Inquisition. There is a short series of letters in 1963 from Carlos Fuentes about Cedric renting his apartment in Mexico.

South America: This section is mostly in Spanish. It contains several letters from the Peoples' Progressive Party in British Guyana about articles by Belfrage for them, from Harry Drayton of the University of Guyana about the political situation in that country, and from Maurice Bazin in Brazil about Brazil and Portugal.

United States: This is the largest section. Some of the prominent figures from whom Belfrage receives letters are Theodor Dreiser and Erich Fromm in the 1940's, Anna Louise Strong in the 1950's, Rockwell Kent in the 1960's, Alger Hiss in the 1970's, Virginia Durr and Serge Chermayeff in the 1980's, and Pete Seeger (undated). Some of the most frequent U.S. correspondents are Lorna D. Smith regarding the Civil Rights movement in the south and Stokeley Carmichael, Maxwell Geismar regarding his writings, politics and U.S. leftist periodicals, and Decca Treuhaft. Some of the major topics covered are events in Cuba in the early 1960's, Theodore Dreiser's death (1963-64), the endorsement of McGovern's presidential campaign (1972), Third World leftist politics (c.1979-1981), and Belfrage's participation in the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Union "Are You or Have You Ever Been?" symposium (1980). In an outgoing letter (9/74) to Carl Braden Belfrage discusses Marxism, revolution and party organization.

Series III, Political Activities (1944-1987), one linear foot, contains three subseries: Belfrage's press control activity in Germany, his deportation, and the National Guardian. The Germany section is the smallest, containing mostly travel orders from the U.S. Army (see also unpublished writings, c.1947, for two short manuscripts on this topic). The deportation section is the largest and contains mostly articles about Belfrage, correspondence, and legal documents from his case. There are a few articles here about Russian espionage charges against Belfrage (1949) (see obituaries for a discussion of these charges). The National Guardiansection mostly contains correspondence, articles by Belfrage, and his notes on the events covered in the paper (see also Something to Guard, Belfrage and Aronson's book about the National Guardianin the writings section). There is a fair amount of documentation on the founding and early years of the paper, and a brief but important series of letters from 1967 that chronicle Belfrage and Aronson's resignation from the paper.

Series IV, Writings (1924-1990), seven linear feet, contains 12 subseries each of which is arranged chronologically (except for Box 7 through Box 8, folder 24 which principally contain American Inquisition research materials and which are arranged alphabetically). The first consists of published and unpublished articles, travel notes, and translations. There is substantial documentation of Belfrage's two trips to Cuba (1961-1962 & 1975-1977), including notes, articles and correspondence. There is a long correspondence with Belfrage's friend and colleague, Eduardo Galeano about Belfrage's translation of his trilogy, Memory of Fire.

Several sub-series document Cedric's published book projects and contains typescripts, correspondence and research files. There is a large section of writing and correspondence for the section of Belfrage's book, The Frightened Giant (about his deportation) called, The Admiral (1955-1965). This is about Scotty MacKenzie, who posed as a Naval admiral for many years, whom Belfrage met in jail. There is also a substantial section of Something to Guard materials, mostly reviews, notes and correspondence (1974-1980). The American Inquisition is the largest section (three linear feet). It consists mostly of research files which contain Belfrage's notes and source material. One linear foot exclusively contains information on the case of Miami lawyer Leo Sheiner who was taken before the Florida Supreme Court for alleged Communist Party affiliations, and on the `Red Cases' of several Miami residents taken before the House Un-American Activities Committee for the same reason. There is also a great deal of research on the atomic espionage cases of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and Morton Sobell. The American Inquisition section documents Belfrage's 1973 publicity tour in the U.S., his first time back since his deportation in 1955, and his continuing campaign to obtain visas to visit the U.S.

Other sub-series contain unpublished writings. They are mostly book projects, but there are also numerous shorter pieces. The two longest projects are his book on Owen Whitfield and Thad Snow (Belfrage's fictional name for Owen Whitfield is Hugh Goodrum), and his Hollywood book and memoir. The Hollywood section contains many of Belfrage's articles as a film critic, manuscripts of chapters, and a small amount of correspondence and source material. There is also a short general memoir project including chapter notes on people who played influential roles in his life and an autobiographical outline. Most of the shorter pieces are light-hearted, humorous spoofs on miscellaneous topics. There are also two short manuscripts on Belfrages' German press control activities (c.1947).