Political Literature

The political literature collection includes pamphlets, newsletters, zines, and other ephemera documenting political ideologies, activities, advocacy, and movements from the end of the 19th Century through the present.

Most items are in English, published by small and independent presses in the United States related to their respective movements. Material that is scholarly in viewpoint is generally excluded. 

We are expanding collecting areas that document:

  • Counter-culture and youth movements
  • Conspiracy theory and fringe beliefs 
  • Spiritual and alternative religious movements 
  • We are currently seeking works from or about:
  • Black radical underground press
  • Radical environmentalism and activism (especially climate change)
  • Social and political zines including:
    • Perzines (personal zines) especially from marginalized communities, voices or perspectives (LGBTQ+, Latino/x, non-binary identities)
    • Music zines (as they relate to either historical or underground youth cultures)
    • Alternative and new religious zines (such as witchcraft, neo-paganism) 

Existing areas of the collection we regularly collect include:

  • Civil rights
  • Labor unions and organizations
  • The women's movement
  • LGBT movements and issues
  • Sex and gender politics

Historical focus areas of the collection include: 

  • American radicalism
  • The two World Wars and their aftermaths
  • The Cold War era including the U.S. House Un-American Activities committee
  • The California farm labor movement of the 1960s-1970s, 
  • U.S. foreign policy
  • Communism and socialism
  • The Vietnam-American War

Spotlight on

Emergency issue of El Malcriado.

Emergency issue of El Malcriado.

Liberty in Chains: An Examination of the New McCarthyism.

Liberty in Chains: An Examination of the New McCarthyism.

Red Fascism; Boring from Within ... by the Subversive Forces of Communism.

Red Fascism; Boring from Within ... by the Subversive Forces of Communism.

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