Student League for Industrial Democracy Records
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Abstract
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a radical student group descended from the Student League for Industrial Democracy (SLID), the student branch of the League for Industrial Democracy (LID), a social democratic organization. SDS was expelled from the LID in 1965 and gained national prominence in the late 1960s as SDS. The records contain predominantly SLID material including conference and convention proceedings, correspondence, minutes of national executive committee meetings, membership files, and reports of committees, student secretaries, chapters and other activities.
Historical/Biographical Note
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) is a radical student group that descended from the Intercollegiate Socialist Society (ISS) which was founded in 1905. The ISS changed its name in 1921 to the League for Industrial Democracy (LID), a social-democratic educational and organizational group. Its student branch, the Student League for Industrial Democracy (SLID), merged with National Student League in 1935 to form American Student Union (ASU) but soon split over ASUs alleged communist affiliations. SLID revived in 1946 changing its name to Students for a Democratic Society in 1959. It was expelled from the LID in 1965 and gained national prominence in the late 1960s as SDS.
Arrangement
The folders are arranged chronologically.
Scope and Contents note
The records contain predominantly SLID material including conference and convention proceedings, minutes of national executive committee meetings, membership files, and reports of committees, student secretaries, chapters and other activities. Includes correspondence of student field secretary James Farmer (1952-1955), and student secretary Gabriel Kolko. Other correspondence relates to Young People's Socialist League, Co-operative Commonwealth Youth Movement (Canada), International Union of Socialist Youth, National Student Association, and Students for Democratic Action. Also some unpublished pamphlet material. SDS material (1962-1966) includes internal documents, correspondence among Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, Paul Booth, Todd Gitlin, and Lee Webb, and reports on projects such as ERAP (Economic Research and Action Project) and PREP (Peace Research and Education Project).
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by the Student League for Industrial Democracy, was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Student League for Industrial Democracy Records; TAM 024; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Provenance is unknown for boxes 1-10, however we believe that the League of Industrial Democracy gifted the Student League for Industrial Democracy Records in 1964. The accession number associated with this gift is 1967.001.
George Vickers sent a gift of internal documents of the Students for a Democratic Society, correspondence in the early period between the leaders Tom Hayden, Todd Gitlin, Paul Booth, Lee Webb, Rennie Davis, and reports from local projects such as ERAP and PREP in September 1972, which is found in Box 11. The accession number associated with this gift is 1964.002.
Separated Materials
Three boxes of printed material were removed from the collection and consolidated with the Students for Democratic Society Printed Ephemera Collection (PE 035).
About this Guide
Processing Information
In 2014, the finding aid was reformatted to EAD and made DACS compliant.
