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Alice Wexler Research Files on Emma Goldman

Call Number

TAM.620

Dates

1912-1985, inclusive
; 1912-1940, bulk

Creator

Wexler, Alice, 1942- (Role: Donor)
Goldman, Emma, 1869-1940

Extent

2 Linear Feet in 2 record cartons

Language of Materials

Most materials are in English. Some correspondence is in Russian.

Abstract

Alice Wexler (1942-) is the author of two biographies on Emma Goldman: Emma Goldman in America (1984), which tracks Goldman's political career in the United States up to her deportation, and Emma Goldman in Exile (1989), which cover's Goldman's life from 1919 until her death in 1940. The collection is mostly comprised of copies of primary materials related to Emma Goldman (correspondence, news articles, etc.), collected and often annotated by Wexler in the course of conducting her research.

Historical/Biographical Note

Alice Wexler (1942-) received a Ph.D. in history from Indiana University in 1972. She has taught at UC Riverside, the California Institute of Technology, Claremont Graduate School, Occidental College and UCLA. Wexler is the author of two biographies on Emma Goldman: Emma Goldman in America (1984), which tracks Goldman's political career in the United States up to her deportation, and Emma Goldman in Exile (1989), which cover's Goldman's life from 1919 until her death in 1940. Wexler's other books include Mapping Fate: A Memoir of Family, Risk, and Genetic Research (1996) and The Woman Who Walked Into the Sea: Huntington's the Making of a Genetic Disease (2008). She has been a Research Scholar at UCLA's Center for the Study of Women since 1994.

Arrangement

This collection has not been arranged by an archivist. The materials are arranged in the order in which they were received from the donor. Most papers were arranged and labeled by Wexler according to the year in which the primary materials were generated.

Scope and Content Note

The collection is mostly comprised of photocopies of materials related to Emma Goldman generated during Goldman's lifetime. These primary materials were collected and often annotated by Alice Wexler in the course of conducting her research and include news articles, correspondence written to or by Goldman, and flyers. Wexler's notes on sources she consulted and her transcriptions of primary materials also make up a large portion of the collection. The collection also includes correspondence to Alice Wexler from people who knew Emma Goldman (including members of Goldman's extended family, like Miriam Berman and Ian Ballantine), as well as from scholars who have also written about Emma Goldman, drafts of lectures by Wexler on Goldman, and about 150 photographs (mainly copy photographs of originals in other repositories) of Goldman taken throughout her life as well as photographs of her family and other well-known anarchists like her friend Alexander Berkman. In addition, the collection contains a VHS tape labeled "Emma Goldman," two cassette tapes labeled "Ahrne Thorne" from 1982, and two microcassette tapes containing interviews with anarchist newspaper editor Ahrne Thorne, anarcho-syndaclists Sam and Esther Dolgoff, and others from 1983 and 1984, and two annotated books, The Tragedy of Spain by Rudolf Rocker (1986) and Emma Goldman: Anarquista de ambos mundos by Jose Peirats (1978).

A set of correspondendence donated in 2014 includes letters to Wexler (dated 1974-1985) relating to her research on Emma Goldman and the publication of her work. Correspondents include Ahrne Thorne, Richard Drinnon, Federico Arcos, Kay Boyle, Paul Avrich, and Daniel Malmed.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Alice Wexler were transferred to New York University in 2012 by Alice Wexler. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date; Alice Wexler Research Files on Emma Goldman; TAM 620; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

Existence and Location of Originals

Many of the primary materials in the Alice Wexler Research Files on Emma Goldman are copies from the microfilm of the Emma Goldman Papers at Yale University, a collection which itself is a copy of a portion of the Goldman materials at the New York Public Library. These materials are on microfilm at Yale's Sterling Memorial Library and the Manuscripts and Archives Division of the New York Public Library.

Other Goldman materials from Alice Wexler's research files are from the International Institute of Social History in Holland (a published guide to this microfilm collection is available at the Tamiment Library, call number REF HX843.G6 E42 1989).

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Alice Wexler in 2012; additional materials were donated in 2014. The accession numbers associated with these gifts are 2012.052, 2014.171, 2014.083.

Separated Materials

Several unannotated books, dissertations, and journals were separated for cataloging by the Tamiment Library.

Related Archival Materials at the Tamiment Library and NYU's Bobst Library

Researchers interested in Emma Goldman may also wish to access the following collections at the Tamiment Library:

Emma Goldman Papers (TAM 012)
Alexander Berkman Papers (TAM 067)
Rose Pastor Stokes Papers (TAM 053)
Kate Richards O'Hare Papers (Film R-7359)
Leon Malmed Papers (on microfilm, Film R-7377. This microfilm collection includes almost all of the letters written by Goldman from the Tamiment Library's Emma Goldman Papers. A published guide to this microfilm collection is available in the repository, call number REF HX844.G6 L4 1983)

New York University's Bobst Library Microform Center holds a microfilm edition of Emma Goldman's papers from the Emma Goldman Papers Project at the University of California, Berkeley (Film 3648). A companion volume and index for this microfilm collection, titled Emma Goldman: a Guide to Her Life and Documentary Sources, is available in Bobst's main collection (first floor reference) and at the Tamiment Library (call number REF HX843.7.G65 E55 1995).

Collection processed by

Rachel Schimke

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:39:16 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Finding aid written in English.

Processing Information

This collection is unprocessed. Materials remain in the order in which they were received from the donor. Some materials have been rehoused into archival quality folders, but any original folders with annotations were retained.

In 2017, correspondence from a 2014 donation was added to the collection in box 2. These materials were described at the collection level, and have not been arranged by an archivist.

Revisions to this Guide

February 2016: Edited by Heather Mulliner to include correspondence from 2014 accretion.

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

Container

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012