Conference on Democracy in Education Records
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Abstract
The Conference on Democracy in Education (CDE) was originally scheduled to be held in December, 1949 at Columbia University, but the organizers were denied space, apparently because of the alleged Communist affiliations of its original organizers. The conference was eventually held at Midwood High School (adjacent to Brooklyn College) on March 11-12, 1950, after control of the conference organizing process had passed to a collection of liberals, socialists and Trotskyists, with Roger Baldwin giving the keynote address. While the CDE was conceived as an ongoing entity, political differences led to the executive committee's decision, on May 20, 1950, to dissolve the Conference. The collection contains correspondence, minutes, reports, publicity materials, newspaper clippings, and other documents relating to the organization of the CDE and its aftermath. There is also a paper by Michael McGiffert about the conference as well as McGiffert's later reseach notes.
Historical/Biographical Note
Michael McGiffert was a student at Union Theological Seminary during the 1949-1950 academic year, and he played an important role in the organization and convening of the Conference on Democracy in Education (CDE) along with his then-wife, Elizabeth McGiffert. The CDE was originally scheduled to be held in December 1949 at Columbia University, but the organizers were denied space, apparently because of the alleged Communist affiliations of its original organizers. The conference was eventually held at Midwood High School (adjacent to Brooklyn College) on March 11-12, 1950, and was attended by over 400 student and youth delegates from the NYC area. In the interim, control of the conference organizing process had passed to a collection of liberals, socialists and Trotskyists, with Roger Baldwin giving the keynote address. There were three panels, each dealing with an issue in higher education: economic problems, discrimination, and academic freedom. A fourth panel/topic, militarism and the Cold War, appears to have been dropped as the political complexion of the conference evolved. While the CDE was conceived as an ongoing entity, political differences led to the executive committee's decision, on May 20, 1950, to dissolve the Conference.
Arrangement
Folders are arranged alphabetically.
The files are grouped into one series:
Missing Title
- I, General Files
Scope and Content Note
The collection contains correspondence, minutes, reports, publicity materials, newspaper clippings, and other documents relating to the organization of the CDE and its aftermath. There is also an unpublished paper by Michael McGiffert about the conference, "Techniques of Community Organization as Seen in the Conference on Democracy in Higher Education," apparently written in May 1950, for one of his classes at Union Theological Seminary. McGiffert's later research notes contain a chronology and a list of key people and their affiliations. In addition to Michael and Elizabeth McGiffert, Al Cain of the NAACP figures significantly in the collection. Prominent figures who sent letters declining to participate or endorse include Bayard Rustin and Stanley Isaacs. Participants who later attained prominence include Marxist academic Bogdan Denitch, and financier Bernard (Bernie) Cornfeld.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (and related rights to publicity and privacy) to materials in this collection created by Michael McGiffert was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; Collection name; Collection number; box number; folder number;
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Materials were donated by Michael McGiffert in 2000. The accession number associated with this collection in 2000.006.
