Oregon Historical Society, Davies Family Research Library
Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97205
Phone: 503-306-5240
Fax: 503-219-2040
E-mail: libreference@ohs.org
Mss250
Ruuttila,
Julia, 1907-1991
Julia Ruuttila
Papers
1878-2004
1935-1970
5 linear ft. (6 document cases, 2
oversize folders)
The collection is predominantly in English
Papers of a prominent Northwest labor
activist and journalist include correspondence, ephemera, legal papers,
manuscripts, and published materials.
Biography of Julia Ruuttila:
Julia Ruuttila (1907-1991) was born in Eugene, Oregon, to John and Ella
Godman, who were labor and women's suffrage activists. She grew up in logging
camps and on a farm, as well as in Eugene. After one short-lived early marriage
to William Bowen, Julia attended the University of Oregon during the 1925-1926
school year and then married Maurice "Butch" Bertram and had her only child,
Michael Jack, in 1928. After living in California, Oregon, Denver and Chicago,
the Bertrams returned to Oregon in early 1929. Butch worked at the West Oregon
lumber mill in Linnton, and Julia bought a typewriter. In 1943, Julia divorced
Butch and married Ben Eaton, a seaman. That marriage lasted until 1946. She
married Oscar Ruuttila in 1951, and they lived in Astoria, Oregon, until his
sudden death from a heart attack in 1962. They had no children but raised
Julia's grandson, Shane McDonald.
Julia's labor activism included organizing for the woodworkers' union,
and she was instrumental in organizing women's auxiliaries of the woodworkers'
and longshoremen's unions. In 1936, Julia created the Free Ray Becker Committee
to obtain the release of the last IWW prisoner from the Centralia, Washington,
tragedy of 1919. She became a lifelong activist on behalf of workers, for
peace, and against racial prejudice and political repression, forming many
committees and participating in many protests.
Although she wrote poetry, novels, and stories, Julia became best known
for her journalism. She wrote for union papers, The
Timber Worker (International Woodworkers of America) and the
Dispatcher (International Longshoremen's and
Warehousemen's Union); the People's World; and for Federated Press, a news service. She wrote
under several names: Julia Godman, Julia Bertram, Julia Eaton, and Julia
Ruuttila, as well as pen names, Kathleen Cronin and Kathleen Ruuttila.
After World War II, Julia worked as a secretary for the State Public
Welfare Commission before being dismissed for her writing and political
activities. She then worked as a secretary for the Longshoremen's Union and
fishermen's unions. In 1956, she was subpoenaed to testify at the House
Un-American Activities Committee hearings in Seattle, Washington, based in part
on her participation in the Oregon Committee for Protection of the Foreign
Born. She had been the subject of FBI surveillance since the early 1940s.
Julia continued her journalism and activism into old age and spent much
of 1970 doing interviews and research on Louise Bryant for Virginia Gardner,
who published Friend and Lover: The Life of Louise
Bryant in 1982. Ill health forced Julia to move to the Marshall Union
Manor, a union-operated retirement home, in 1976. Soon, she was editing the
Manor's newsletter. Julia became a historical resource herself, frequently
speaking to high school and college classes and organizations on labor, civil
rights, and women's history. She spent the last years of her life with her
grandson, Shane, and his family in Anchorage, Alaska, where she continued to
participate in committees and protests.
NOTE: Sticking to the Union:
An Oral History of the Life and Times of Julia
Ruuttila by Sandy Polishuk provides a full account of Julia's life, much
of it in her own words.
The Julia Ruuttila Papers consist of correspondence, ephemera, legal
papers, interview transcripts and reports, manuscripts, published materials,
and her FBI File, which was obtained by her biographer, Sandy Polishuk, under
the Freedom of Information Act.
Correspondence, manuscripts, and published materials do not represent
her full output but provide a good sampling of her career as a journalist and
writer and of her wide-ranging activities on behalf of labor, civil rights, and
peace movements protesting the Vietnam and Gulf wars. The collection also
reflects her research contributions to a biography of Louise Bryant,
Friend and Lover, by Virginia Gardner.
Much of the collection is original materials, but it also includes
photocopied materials. A few of these were collected by Julia Ruuttila in the
course of her work, but most of the photocopies, including family
correspondence, were collected by Sandy Polishuk.
The collection includes Julia's own contributions to the history of
labor, civil rights, and peace movements as reflected in her correspondence,
manuscripts, and published materials. Although most of her published work is
journalistic in nature, the collection reflects her love of writing poetry and
includes an unpublished novel.
The collection is organized into the following series and subseries:
- Series A: Correspondence, Ephemera and Legal Documents,
1907-2004
- Subseries 1: Julia Ruuttila's Correspondence
- Subseries 2: Correspondence and Papers of Family
Members
- Subseries 3: Ephemera and Legal Papers
- Subseries 4: Sandy Polishuk's Correspondence
- Series B: Activism and Organizations, circa 1920-1988
- Series C: Manuscripts, circa 1935-1991
- Series D: Published Materials and Writings by Others,
1925-1990
- Subseries 1: Published Materials
- Subseries 2: Writings by Others
- Series E: Research for Biography of Louise Bryant,
1878-1987
- Subseries 1: Virginia Gardner
- Subseries 2: Julia Ruuttila
- Subseries 3: California and Nevada Research
- Series F: Julia Ruuttila's FBI File, 1941-1993
The collection is open to the public.
The Oregon Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the
Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication,
and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library
before any publication use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to
all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may
require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Julia Ruuttila Papers, Mss250, Oregon Historical Society Research
Library
Julia Ruuttila made several donations of papers to the Oregon Historical
Society between 1970 and 1990. Sandy Polishuk donated papers she had collected
from or copied from Ruuttila and her family, along with oral history audio
tapes and FBI files that she used in writing Julia's biography. Arthur Spencer,
a former librarian at the Oregon Historical Society, added correspondence that
he had conducted with Ruuttila in the course of her research for journalism and
book projects.
Gift of Julia Ruuttila, 1970-1990 (Accession nos.11735, 11755, 11785,
18187, 18677, and 20152). Gift of Sandy Polishuk (Accession no. 25451).
Accessions arrived at the Oregon Historical Society in no particular
order. Some items were transferred to vertical files and to the artificial
Labor Collection (Mss1505) at the time of donation. To the extent that these
could be identified, they were pulled from these locations and reunited with
the collection. Previously, two accessions were given the designations:
Mss250-1 and Mss250-2. These have been incorporated into the series arrangement
of Mss250.
Photographic materials were separated into the Julia Ruuttila
Photographs Collection (Organized Lot 700). Ruuttila's material on the Free Ray
Becker Committee was separated into Mss2003. A large group of oral histories
conducted by Sandy Polishuk with Julia Ruuttila, her friends, co-workers, and
family members were transferred to the Oral History Collection (interviews with
Ruuttila, SR11030.1-25; interviews with others, SR11031-11060; ILWU convention,
SR11061; farewell luncheon, SR11062). Transcripts prepared by Polishuk are
available. Some books that accompanied the collection were transferred to the
Research Library Book Collection and are cataloged individually.
Gardner, Virginia. Friend and Lover: The Life of Louise Bryant. New York: Horizon Press, 1982.
Polishuk, Sandy. Sticking to the Union: An Oral History of the Life and Times of Julia Ruuttila. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
The collection is indexed under the following headings in the online
catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or
places should search the catalog using these headings:
Bertram,
Maurice.
Bridges, Harry,
1901-
Bryant, Louise,
1885-1936
Gardner,
Virginia.
Goodman, Irvin,
1897-1958
James, Cheryl
D.
McDonald, Michael
Jack.
Murnane, Francis J.,
1914-1968
Polishuk, Sandy,
1940-
Ramp, Floyd Cleveland,
1882-1984
Ruuttila, Julia,
1907-1991
Ruuttila,
Oscar.
Industrial Workers of the
World.
International
Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union.
International Woodworkers
of America.
Oregon. State Public
Welfare Commission.
Oregon State Employees
Association.
United States. Congress.
House. Un-American Activities Committee.
United States. Federal
Bureau of Investigation.
Civil
rights--Oregon.
Labor
movment--Oregon--History--20th century.
Labor unions--Northwest,
Pacific--History--20th century.
Labor unions and
communism--United States.
Peace movements--United
States.
Women in
politics--Northwest, Pacific.
Women
journalists--Northwest, Pacific.
Women labor
leaders--Northwest, Pacific.
Women labor union
members--Oregon.
Women
radicals--Oregon.
Women social
reformers--Oregon.
Oregon
Portland
Women
Civil
Activism
Civil
Procedures and Court
Labor
History
Labor
Unions
Correspondence.
Ephemera.
Manuscripts.
Novels.
Poetry.
Speeches.
Series A
Correspondence, Ephemera, and
Legal Documents
1907-2004
1940-1988
Selected correspondence between Julia Ruuttila and union
associates, publishers and editors, friends, and relatives. The series includes
Sandy Polishuk's correspondence with Julia and others in the course of writing
Ruuttila's biography, Sticking to the Union. Also
included in the series is a small quantity of ephemera and legal papers. The
correspondents lists include only those who are fully identified; those
identified only by first name are not listed. The series is organized into the
following sub-series: 1) Julia Ruuttila's Correspondence, 2) Correspondence and
Papers of Family Members, 3) Ephemera and Legal Papers, and 4) Sandy Polishuk's
Correspondence.
Sub-series 1
Julia Ruuttila's
Correspondence
1927-1988
1/1
Outgoing
Correspondence
1946-1970
Correspondents include: Allan Fletcher (Federated
Press), Bishop A. Raymond Grant (Methodist Church, Portland, Oregon), Rev.
Orval M. Whitman (Methodist Church, Astoria, Oregon), Ruova Anna Nevalainen
(Helsinki, Finland), Charles Humboldt (Mainstream), William O. Walker and Carol Williams Walker
(North Bend, Oregon), Morgan Coe (The Daily
Astorian), James Aronson (National
Guardian), Richard C. Berner (University of Washington Library), Ronald
Roley (International Woodworkers of America, Portland, Oregon), Ed Mapes and
R.J. Keenan (Columbia River District Council, IlWU, Portland, Oregon), Robert
E. Burke (Pacific Northwest Quarterly), and Otto
Hartwig.
1/2
Outgoing
Correspondence
1971-1980
Includes an autobiographical memo, dated April 6, 1978,
addressed to "Danny," who requested a resumé to accompany a grant application
to the National Endowment for the Humanities, possibly to support lectures by
Julia.
Correspondents include: Matt Cullen, Nancy Clay, Arthur
Spencer (Oregon Historical Society Research Library), Earl B. Kirkland (Union
Labor Retirement Association, Portland, Oregon), and President [Jimmy Carter?]
re. nerve gas stored at the Umatilla Army Depot, Hermiston, Oregon.
1/3
Outgoing
Correspondence
1981-1988
Includes correspondence seeking assistance for Julia's
former granddaughter-in-law, Ruth Ruuttila, who had been seriously injured in a
car accident.
Correspondents include: Jerry Baum, International
Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (Portland, Oregon), John McClellan,
Jr., and editor of the Oregonian.
1/4
Outgoing
correspondence--to Valerie Taylor [and Norma Wyatt]
1961-1967
Valerie Taylor was president of the Federated
Auxiliaries of the ILWU for many years, Norma Wyatt was secretary, and Julia
Ruuttila was in charge of publicity. Letters, which are photocopies obtained by
Sandy Polishuk, also include Julia's news releases.
1/5
Incoming
Correspondence
1927-1958
A 1927 letter from William Dietrich (Communist Party,
Denver, Colorado), includes information on Julia's early union organizing among
coal miners. A 1940 letter from Francis Murnane, president, announced her
honorary life membership in the Plywood and Veneer Workers Union Local No.
9-102, Portland, Oregon.
Other correspondents: Mary Heaton Vorse (Provincetown,
Massachusetts), W.J. Baker (Plywood, Veneer and Box-Shook Council,
International Woodworkers of America, Olympia, Washington), Ora Goodman, Miriam
Kelkin, Irvin Goodman (Portland attorney), William Chester (International
Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, San Francisco, California), William
Price (New York City), Al Richmond (publisher, People's
World), Ben Anderson (Portland attorney), and Anne Braden (Southern
Conference Educational Fund, Louisville, Kentucky).
1/6
Incoming
Correspondence
1962-1970
Included are many letters and cards of condolence, from
people representing all aspects of her life, on the unexpected death of Julia's
husband, Oscar Ruuttila, in December 1962.
Other correspondents include: Milton Meltzer (editor,
Pediatric Herald), Morgan Coe (publisher,
The Daily Astorian), James Aronson (editor,
National Guardian), Richard C. Berner (University
of Washington Library), Jean Van Erman (Seattle, Washington), Oona MacIver
(The Dispatcher), Harold Symmonds (Astoria,
Oregon), Robert E. Burke (Pacific Northwest
Quarterly), Albert F. Gunns (University of Washington), Francis J.
Murnane, Leo Coe, Millard McClung (Oregon Historical Society Library), and
Lloyd Anderson (Portland city commissioner).
1/7
Incoming
Correspondence
1971-1987
Includes circular letter in support of Julia Ruuttila
and other Vietnam War protestors who had refused to pay their telephone tax
that had been levied specifically to support the war. Also includes a get well
card from Harry Bridges of the ILWU, with handwritten personal message.
Other correspondents include: Millard McClung (Oregon
Historical Society Library), Carl Haessler (Detroit, Michigan), Kenneth Porter
(Eugene, Oregon), Tom Copeland (St. Paul, Minnesota), Valerie Seyffert (of
Alcoholics Anonymous to The Dispatcher, praising
article by Julia Ruuttila), C.H. Blyth (of International Transport Workers'
Federation to Harry Bridges of the Longshoremen's Union praising article by
Julia on plight of the crew of the ship, Elgreca),
Juanita Scanlon (Salem, Oregon), Pedro Felipe Ramirez (Valparaiso,
Chile--Spanish with English translation), Gloria T. Collantes (Manila,
Philippines), Vernice Berg (Astoria, Oregon), Charles L. Geiger (Association of
Western Pulp and Paper Workers, Oregon City Local 68), Harry Bridges, Lisa
Uhlman ("Town Hall" KATU television program), Walter Sakai (of Portland Chapter
Japanese American Citizens League to Curtis McClain, ILWU, San Francisco, copy
to Julia Ruuttila), Thomas Vaughn (Oregon Historical Society), and James W.
Overgaard (Union Labor Retirement Association).
1/8
Incoming correspondence
re. stories and letters submitted to pulp magazines
1957-1962
McFadden Publications, including True Story and Cash Box,
for which Julia Ruuttila's submissions won contests: "My Husband was Impotent",
1958; "Important Only to God," 1959; and "I Married an Old Country Finn,"
1960.
True Confessions.
Sub-series 2
Correspondence and Papers of
Family Members
1938-1963
1/9
Maurice Bertram (Julia's
husband)
1938
Includes note from Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union
Local 3, Portland, Oregon, summoning him to meet with National Labor Relations
Board, and a State Relief Committee of Oregon commodity distribution card.
Michael McDonald (Julia's
son)
1/10
Photocopies of
letters to his mother obtained by Sandy Polishuk
1945-1952
1/11
Letters and telegrams
to and from Julia about her son
1958-1959
1/12
Doreen McDonald
Martinez (Julia Ruuttila's daughter-in-law and mother of Shane McDonald
Ruuttila)
circa 1950-1963
Photocopies of letters to Julia and Shane obtained
by Sandy Polishuk.
1/13
Shane McDonald
Ruuttila--correspondence re. adoption by Julia Ruuttila
1963
Oscar
Ruuttila
1950-1962
1/14
Correspondence,
ephemera, greeting cards, and newspaper clippings of Oscar's letters to the
editor.
Ephemera includes a hand annotated brochure, "The
Exile of Hamish MacKay and William Mackie." Also included are personal letters
and a magazine profile of Oscar with photo, all in Finnish (no
translations).
1/15
Correspondence re.
Coast Guard denial of Port Security card
1951-1954
Sub-series 3
Ephemera and Legal
Documents
1907-1973
Ephemera
1946-1948
1973
1/16
American Federation
of State, County and Municipal Employees, Oregon State Employees Association,
Portland Local No. 191--membership book, Julia Ruuttila
1946-1948
1/16
CIO Convention,
Portland, Oregon--press card, Kathleen Cronin of Federated Press
1948 November 22-26
1/16
Bloody July Fifth
parade and memorial service--sticker
1973
Legal
documents
1907-1972
1/17
Birth certificate
(photocopy), Julia Evelyn Godman
1907 April 26
1/17
Marriage certificate
(photocopy), William Clayton Bowen and Julia E. Godman
1924 March 13
1/17
Divorce decree
(photocopy), Juulia Bowen from William Bowen
1925 January 30
1/17
Marriage certificate
(certified copy), Maurice A. Bertram and Julia Godman
1926 July 6
1/17
Affidavit re. 1937
International Woodworkers of America strike
1947 February 28
1/17
Court summons to
appear re. Shane Ruuttila's arrest in a protest at the Sheraton Motor Hotel,
Portland, Oregon
1966 December 21
1/17
Papers re. Internal
Revenue Service collection of federal telephone tax that Julia Ruuttila had
refused to pay on principal
1972
Sub-series 4
Sandy Polishuk
Correspondence
1988-2004
1/18-20
Incoming correspondence
from Julia Ruuttila
1988-1991
1/21
Other
correspondence--letters, emails, and notes
1992-2004
Correspondents include: John R. Godman (Huntsville,
Alabama, Julia's brother), Valerie Taylor, Rickie Sollinger (Boulder,
Colorado), Virginia Warner Brodine (to Richard Meigs, copy in Sandy Polishuk's
files), Cindy Shadd (Clatsop County Circuit Court), Linda Showalter, and
(Marietta College Library).
Series B
Activism and
Organizations
circa 1920-1988
The largest part of this series represents Julia Ruuttila's
activities with the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union and
Federated Auxiliaries. The series is arranged alphabetically by names of
activities and organizations.
2/1
Anti Tax Shifting
League--flier
1936
2/2
Cheryl James
Committee--leaflet and circular letter
1972
2/3
Columbia River Fishermen's
Protective Union--flier
1952
2/4
Committee Against Higher
Utility Rates--fliers, news clippings, press releases
1975
2/5
Council of Women of Organized
Labor--convention program, Seattle, Washington
1937 November 6-7
2/6
Emergency Peace Mobilization,
Chicago--program
1935
2/7
Free Ray Becker
Committee--circular letter and letterhead (blank)
1936
The Free Ray Becker Committee Records are collection number,
Mss 2003, at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
2/8
House Un-American Activities
Committee
1956 November-December
Includes subpoena and letter requiring Julia Ruuttila to
testify at hearings in Seattle, Washington, conducted by Representative Francis
E. Walters of Pennsylvania. Also newspaper clippings reporting Julia's
testimony and including a photograph of her.
2/9
Industrial unions organizing
conference, Portland, Oregon--minutes
1938 December 7
Industrial Workers of the
World (IWW or Wobblies)
circa 1920
1922
1979
2/10
Membership
book
circa 1920
2/10
"Preamble and
Constitution"
1922
2/10
Report by Mary Catherine
Lamb of Centralia Massacre 60th anniversary commemoration, Montesano and
Chehalis, Washington--from unidentified publication
1979 November
2/10
International
Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU)
2/11
Convention reports,
Vancouver, British Columbia
1965 April 5
Correspondence and
testimony
1966
circa 1970
2/12
Letter from Howard Bodine
to Matt Meehan recalling struggle for health and welfare benefits
1966 March 31
2/12
Testimony by John J.
Fougerouse, representing ILWU pensioners, to Portland City Council in favor of
peace resolution
circa 1970
2/13
Civil lawsuit against ILWU
Local No. 8, Portland, Oregon, re. race discrimination
1968-1969
1993
2/14
Fougerouse Defense
Committee--pamphlet and letterhead (blank)
1951
The committee was formed in response to an Immigration
Service arrest and attempted deportation of John J. Fougerouse, Portland
longshoreman.
2/15
Mechanization and
Modernization Agreement--photo book, Men and Machines: A
Story about Longshoring on the West Coast Waterfront
1963
Photographs by Otto Hagel, text by Louis Goldblatt.
Published by the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union and the
Pacific Maritime Association.
Federated
Auxiliaries
Records and newspaper
clippings
1937
1957-1969
2/16
Minutes of First City
Wide Conference of Union Auxiliaries, Portland, Oregon
1937 September 29
2/16
Constitution, 1957
April, and revision
1965
2/16
"Never Underestimate
the ILWU Women," The Dispatcher
1959 March 13
2/16
Convention, San
Francisco, California--letters and press releases
1967 June
2/16
"Longshore Auxiliary
Lends Helping Hand" re. Portland housewives' meat boycott protesting high
prices, People's World
1969 August 1
2/17
Handbook
1965
2/18
Regional conference,
Portland, Oregon--executive board meeting minutes and newspaper
clippings
1964 September 18-19
2/19
International Women's
Day, Portland State University--program
1973 March 7-8
Lists Julia Ruuttila and Artha Adair speaking on
"Working Women and History of International Women's Day."
International Woodworkers
of America (IWA)
1937-1940
2/20
Manual
1937
2/20
Resolution re. West
Oregon Mill strike
1937 March
2/20
News bulletin re. AFL
and CIO dispute at Plylock Plant, Portland, Oregon
1937
2/20
President's Address
by Harold J. Pritchett, second constitutional convention, Seattle,
Washington
1938 September 12-17
2/20
Newsletter,
The Saw, re. West-Oregon Mill strike
1938
2/20
Newspaper clippings
re. West-Oregon Mill strike and other IWA issues and activities, including some
about Julia Bertram
1938
1940
2/21
Labor for Jobs and
Peace--organizational meeting minutes
1971 March 11
2/22
Multnomah County Citizen
Involvement Committee--newspaper, Conduit
1988
2/23
National Lawyer's
Guild--excerpt from Bulletin re. Harry Bridges
trial (photocopy)
1938
2/24
Oregon Labor
Press
1941
undated
2/24
Clipping (photocopy),
"Free Speech and the Courts" by C.E.S. Wood, excerpt from brief in the case of
Dr. Marie Equi
1918
2/24
Pamphlet
(photocopy)--The Enemy Within: Dealing with the Enemy
within the gates--The Trojan Horses of the Democracies--the
Communists
1941 An original is located in Mss 1505
Labor Collection
Oregon state
circa 1920
1929
2/25
Industrial Accident
Commission--pamphlet, Work-Accidents in
Oregon
circa 1920
2/25
Legislature--directory of committee rooms, 35th
Legislative Assembly
1929
2/26
Oregon State Federation
of Labor (AFL)--leaflet, "An Exposé of the Anti-Labor Bill" (Ballot Measure
317)
1938
2/27
People's World--flier, testimonial to Floyd Ramp,
Portland, Oregon
1975 January 26
2/28
Petition re. Medicare and
Social Security
1980
Signed by residents of Marshall Union Manor, addressed
to Mark Hatafield, Bob Packwood, and Les AuCoin.
2/29
Poor Peoples Alliance
(Portland, Oregon)--bus petition asking lower fares
undated
2/30
Portland Labor Unity
Council--flier
circa 1940
2/31
Radical Education Project
(Detroit, Michigan)--pamphlet, Double Jeopardy: to be
Black and Female
circa 1970
2/32
St. Johns workers
(Portland, Oregon)--resolution condemning relief agencies
1937 November 12
2/33
Unions--list of locals in
Oregon, by location
undated
2/34
United Brotherhood of
Carpenters and Joiners Ladies Auxiliary--ritual
1927
2/35
United States
Senate--report, "Violation of Free Speech and Rights of Labor"
1937
2/36
Women's International
League for Peace and Freedom--circular letter asking support of Bail
Fund
1972
Series C
Manuscripts
circa 1935-1991
Selected typescript manuscripts by Julia Ruuttila include a
never-published novel, The Wolf at the Door, as
well as articles, biographical sketches, memorials and obituaries, poetry,
speeches, and testimony at hearings. The folders are arranged alphabetically by
type of materials, and chronologically thereunder. Folder descriptions list
names she wrote under.
Articles
By Kathleen
Cronin
1953
1959
3/1
"The Sage of
Yoncalla" [about Jesse Applegate by Kathleen Cronin]
1953
3/1
"The Great-Hearted
Strangers" [published as "Forgotten men in Oregon's History,"
People's World, 1959 June 13]
3/1
"What the Foreign Man
Said to Dan McGann" [published as "Economic base: native timber, foreign
labor," People's World, 1959 June 20]
3/1
"The Union Card in
the Red Plaid Pocket" [Labor's great awakening in Oregon,"
People's World, 19519 June 27]
By Julia
Ruuttila
circa 1970-1979
3/2
"Origin and Meaning
of the Peace Symbol"
circa 1970
3/2
"Viet Nam"
[sic]
circa 1970
3/2
Untitled [re. Cheryl
James case]
1972
3/2
"The 1948 Strike,
Portland"
circa 1975
3/2
Untitled [re. federal
legislation to ban log exports]
1978
3/2
Untitled [report of
Bloody July 5 memorial speech by Everett Ede]
1978 [?]
3/2
Untitled [report of
Pacific Northwest Labor History Association 60th anniversary commemoration of
Centralia tragedy]
1979
By Julia
Ruuttila
1980
circa 1980
3/3
Untitled [memories of
the waterfront strike, 1934]
1980
3/3
"Cowtown in the Eagle
Valley"
circa 1980
3/3
Untitled [Joe Hill,
one-time Longview, Washington, longshoreman, and his book of poetry,
We Are Portland Too!]
circa 1980
3/3
Untitled [Astoria and
Finnish immigrants]
circa 1980]
3/3
"ILWU" [re. Bloody
July 5 commemoration and Francis J. Murnane]
circa 1980
3/4
Autobiography
[fragments], "Only the Lonely"
1970
3/5
Biographical sketches,
tributes by others, and maternal genealogy
1972-1991
3/6
Book--untitled, re. civil
rights [partial]
circa 1975
Chapter titles include: "The Civil Rights Law," "The
Fair Employment Practices Act: Discrimination by the Employers and Jimcrow
[sic] in the Unions," "Discrimination in the Civil Service," "Legal Redress,"
"The Negro in Politics," "The Vanport Flood," "Jimcrow [sic] in Death," "No
Room at the Inn," "Does Education Draw a Color Line in Portland?" "The NAACP,"
"Role of the Urban League," and "Housing: Last Beachhead of Bigotry."
3/7
Interview--Blake Harris
(Vancouver, British Columbia)
undated
3/8
Memoir-- The Bridges of Cé [foreword, chapter titles, and
conclusion only]
circa 1960
3/9
Memorials and
obituaries
1962-1982
Subjects: Oscar Ruuttila, Delbert Dietz, John Zeide, and
Harold Pritchett [memorial folder].
3/10
Notes
undated
3/11-17
Novel--The Wolf at the Door
circa 1938
3/18
Poetry
circa 1935-circa 1985
3/19
Poetry--Rhea's Garden of Verses
1971
Speeches, class
presentations, etc.
1937-1987
undated
4/1-4
Untitled, re. need
for relief assistance for wood workers, public meeting
[1937]
4/1-4
"How Labor Goals Have
Changed During the Growth of the Trade Union Movement," Astoria High
School
circa 1964
4/1-4
"Bonafides,"
unidentified school
circa 1970
4/1-4
Untitled, re. Angela
Davis
1971 January
4/1-4
Untitled, re. Labor
History, Roosevelt High School, Portland, Oregon
1971
4/1-4
Untitled, Julia's
65th birthday celebration
1972 April
4/1-4
Untitled, re.
political prisoners, Unitarian Church, Vancouver, Washington
1972
4/1-4
"Westward the Course
of Empire Holds Its Sway," social studies class, unidentified
school
1974
4/1-4
"Women in the Labor
Movement: A Personal Overview," Pacific Northwest Labor History
Conference
1975 May 9
4/1-4
Untitled, re.
politcs, political science class, Oregon State University,
Corvallis
1975
4/1-4
Untitled, re. Spanish
Civil War, Roosevelt High School, Portland, Oregon
1978
4/1-4
Untitled, thank you
speech for ILWU award, presented in San Francisco
1978
4/1-4
Untitled, re.
anti-war movement and ILWU
1978
4/1-4
"Why Unions? The
Labor Movement in the Northwest", [one version may have been for radio
broadcast
circa 1985
4/1-4
Comments on the book,
Blue Collar Marriage by Mirra Komarovsky,
conference presentation
1987
Testimony at
hearings
1966
1975
1977
1980
4/5
In protest of police
violence, Portland City Council
1966
4/5
In opposition to a
Pacific Power and Light rate increase
1975
4/5
On behalf of ILWU
Women's Auxiliary No. 5 in support of the Health Security Act
1977 October 7
4/5
In support of
Kennedy-Waxman bills on health care
1980
Series D
Published Materials and Writings
by Others
1925-1990
The series is organized into two subseries: 1) Published
Materials and 2) Writings by Others.
Sub-series 1
Published
Materials
1925-1990
The published writings of Julia Ruuttila are arranged by
type of publication: magazine, newsletter, and newspaper, and thereunder
chronologically. The names she wrote under are listed in the content
description. Following those files are newspapers clippings about Ruuttila and
clippings she collected about subjects of interest, arranged
chronologically.
Magazines
1925-1974
4/6
"Shelling Peas" [poem
by Julia Godman], Extension Monitor
1925
4/6
"Welcome to America"
[letter to the editor by Kathleen Cronin], The
Nation
1947 December 27
4/6
"The Caulk Boots are
Marching: CIO Woodworkers United Behind a Fighting Program" [article by
Kathleen Cronin, Northwest correspondent], March of
Labor
1952 March
4/6
"What's Behind the
Screen?" [first in series re. Coast Guard waterfront screening by R.J. Keenan,
ghostwritten by Julia Ruuttila], March of
Labor
1952 April
4/6
"Design for Union
Busting" [second in series re. Coast Guard waterfront screening by R.J. Keenan,
ghostwritten by Julia Ruuttila], March of
Labor
1952 May
4/6
"United in the
Sawdust Belt" [article by Kathleen Cronin], March of
Labor
1954 September
4/6
"America's
Stepchildren" [article by Julia Ruuttila], People's World
Magazine
1956 February 17
4/6
"The Life and Death
of An American Town" [article by Kathleen Cronin]
1958 August
Oversize folder 1
"Christ May Have Begun
It: Some comments on the struggle of the Have-nots against the Establishment"
[article by Julia Ruuttila], Metropolis (Portland
State University)
1974
4/7
Newsletter--ManorGram [Marshall Union Manor, Julia Ruuttila,
editor)
1978 October-1985 October
Newspapers
1937-1990
undated
4/8
Letters to the editor
of the Oregon Journal
1937
1951
4/8
Articles in the
Timber Worker by Julia G. Bertram
circa 1938-1940
4/8
Articles in
People's World and People's
Daily World by Kathleen Cronin (including a series, "Oregon's First 100
Years" for the state centennial, 1959)
1945-1946
1959
4/8
Article in
The Dispatcher by Kathleen Cronin
1948 April 2
4/8
Articles in
The Changing Woman by Kathleen
Ruuttila
1972
4/8
Poem, "Hello to the
Night Star," by Julia Ruuttila, in the Oregonian
1973 June 17
4/8
Letter to the editor
by Julia Ruuttila, Willamette Week
1987 April 2
4/8
Letter to the editor
by Julia Ruuttila, Anchorage Daily
News
1990 August 18
4/8
Poem, "The Heart's
Geography," in an unidentified Finnish newspaper, possibly at Astoria, in
memory of Oscar Ruuttila by Julia Ruuttila
undated
Oversize folder
1
Articles by Kathleen
Cronin in Daily Peoples World
1947
1958
4/9
Newspaper articles about
Julia Ruuttila
1948-1990
Includes coverage of the firing from the Oregon Welfare
Commission of Julia Eaton [Ruuttila], 1948, and Ruuttila's appearance at the
House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in Seattle, 1956 December.
4/10
Newspaper articles
collected by Julia Ruuttila
1929-1966
Topics include shipping, unions, strikes, log export
ban, and Francis J. Murnane, labor leader.
Oversize folder 2
Includes advertisement
from Ralph and Stanley, Portland grocers, with anti-union message
1938 February
Sub-series 2
Writings by
Others
1950-1974
Includes articles, a manuscript, a school report and speech
arranged alphabetically by last names of the authors.
- "Elmer Smith, 'Wobbly Lawyer'," article,
Industrial Worker, 1973 February
-
Lumberjacks' Lawyer: The
Story of Elmer Smith and the Centralia Tragedy of 1919, manuscript
(rough draft), undated
4/11
Tom Copeland
1973
undated
4/12
John Godman
1973-1974
Articles by Julia Ruuttila's brother on hypnosis,
The Huntsville Times (Alabama)
4/13
Irvin Goodman and John
Caughlan
1950
"Laura Law--Murdered Labor Leader," manuscript chapter
that appears as Chapter 2 of They Were Called Reds
in Mss 1811, Irvin Goodman Papers.
Oversize folder 2
"The Truth in the Case of
Laura Law, Murdered Labor Leader"--tabloid version of chapter in 4/13,
published by Civil Rights Congress
1950 October
4/14
John M. McClelland,
Jr.--article, "Terror on Tower Avenue," Pacific Northwest
Quarterly
1966 April
4/15
Michael Jack
McDonald--poems by Julia Ruuttila's son
1945
undated
4/16
Harold Symonds--student
report on socialism in Astoria, Oregon
1965
Cites a personal interview with Julia Ruuttila. Folder
includes a letter Symmonds received from the United States Immigration and
Naturalization Service in response to his request for information about
deported Finnish aliens.
4/17
Speech by unidentified
Filippino-American union leader at event honoring Martina G. Curl
undated
Series E
Research for Biography of Louise
Bryant
1878-1987
The author, Virginia Gardner, received a Rabinowitz Foundation
grant for reseach into Louise Bryant's background and youth. She arranged for
Julia Ruuttila to conduct interviews and do other research for the Oregon
portion of this work, beginning in 1970. In the course of this research,
Gardner and Ruuttila corresponded, and Gardner sent Julia copies of
correspondence from others on background. The book, Friend and Lover: The Life of Louise Bryant, was
published in 1982. The series is organized into three subseries: 1) Virginia
Gardner, 2) Julia Ruuttila, and 3) California and Nevada Research. It includes
correspondence, interview notes and transcripts, manuscript, research materials
(dates given are dates of materials, not dates they were collected), and book
reviews.
Sub-series 1
Virginia Gardner
1916-1987
Virginia Gardner also signed herself Virginia Gardner
Marberry and Virginia Marberry.
5/1
Outgoing
Correspondence
1970-1977
1987
Correspondents include: Bishop H. Jesse (Trinity
Episcopal Church, Reno, Nevada), Julia Ruuttila (also addressed as Kathleen),
Arthur Spencer (Oregon Historical Society, Portland), Charles Ashleigh (Sussex,
England), Edmund Wilson (New York), Margaret Bome (Reno, Nevada), National
Archives (Washington, D.C.), Kenneth Durant (East Jamaica, Vermont), Giovanni
Gullace (Binghamton, New York), Diane McInychuk (Syracuse, New York), Hazel
Hunkins-Hallinen, Horace V. Gregory (Palisades, New York), Anne Bullitt (Louise
Bryant's daughter), Doris Alexander, and Robert A. Rosenstone.
5/2
Incoming
Correspondence
1969-1975
Correspondents include: Charles A. Pierce (Tarrytown,
New York), Sara Bard Field Wood (Berkeley, California), Miriam Van Waters
(Framingham, Massachusetts), Hazel Hunkins-Hallinan, Doris Alexander, Robert A.
Rosenstone, Louis Shaeffer, and Malcolm Cowley (Sherman, Connecticut).
5/3
Interviews
1972-1973
Interviewees include: Andrew Dasburg (artist, Taos, New
Mexico), Frank Touchet (psychologist), Kitty Cannell, and Albert Boni (New
York).
5/4
Interviews--"Life Among
the Bohemians: An Interview with Floyd Dell"
1968 October 31
5/5
Notes
1973
5/6-12
Manuscript [partial
draft] with outline
circa 1970
Research materials
collected [photocopies]
1919-1934
5/13
Letters, Louise
Bryant to Jack Reed
1919
5/13
Letter, Sara Bard
Field to Louise Bryant
1922 January 26
5/13
Henry G. Reed letters
to Robert Hallowell and Granville Hicks
1934 October 6
5/14
Report of Louise Bryant's
testimony before the Overman subcommittee of the United States Senate Judiciary
Committee
1919 February
Louise Bryant's
writing
1916-1925
undated
5/15
"Two Judges"
[typescript transcript], The Masses
1916 April
5/15
"The Poets'
Revolution" [photocopy], The Masses
1916 July
5/15
Poem, "Aftermath"
[typescript transcript], Current
Opinion
1922 July
5/15
"A Turkish Divorce"
[photocopy], The Nation
1925 August 26
5/15
Poem, "Russian
Memories" [typescript transcript], The
Dial
undated
5/15
Untitled manuscript
re. Jack Reed [photocopy]
undated
Sub-series 2
Julia Ruuttila
1878-1987
Includes correspondence, typescript reports and transcripts
of interviews, and photocopies of research materials. The correspondence not
only reports results to Virginia Gardner, seeks information, and describes the
research work, but also includes aspects of Ruuttila's life other than the
Louise Bryant research project. Letters to Gardner are sometimes signed "Julia"
and sometimes "Kathleen." The subseries also includes Julia's reviews of the
completed book.
5/16
Outgoing
Correspondence
1970-1977
undated
Correspondents include: Virginia Gardner, Richard C.
Berner (University of Washington, Seattle), Kenneth W. Porter (University of
Oregon, Eugene), Mrs. ? Crichton (Portland, Oregon), Edwin R. Bingham
(University of Oregon, Eugene), Mr. and Mrs. William J. Graeper (Portland,
Oregon), Mrs. ? Jenkins (Portland, Oregon), Evelyn Averbuck, Tess Mack, Floyd
Ramp (Eugene, Oregon), Vera Ramp, Gertrude Haessler (Eden, New York), Miss ?
Gray, Mrs. ? Irwin, Bill Chevalier (Friday Harbor, Washington), Leslie Smith
Miller (Gearhart, Oregon), Alma Davidson, Helmi Mattson, and Lela Goodard
Fenton.
5/17
Incoming
Correspondence
1970
1977
1987
undated
Correspondents include: Richard C. Berner, Kenneth W.
Porter, Arthur Spencer (Oregon Historical Society, Portland), Floyd Ramp
(Eugene, Oregon), and Virginia Gardner.
5/17
Interviews
1970 April-1973
Typescript reports and transcriptions include good
descriptions and background information on the people Ruuttila interviewed, as
well as of their homes when she visited them in person. Some interviews were
conducted by telephone.
5/18
Interviews
1970 April-June
Subjects: Mrs. Linley Chrichton, Lela Fenton, Elizabeth
Oliphant, Marie Louise Feldenheimer, Mrs. Frances Nelson Carroll, Gladys
Mackenzie Hug, Alice Bretherton Powell, Theresa Mack, Olive Vinton, and Mrs.
Frank Jenkins.
5/19
Interviews
1970 July-August
Subjects: Mrs. Lesley Smith Miller, Mrs. Frank Jenkins,
Mrs. Frances Nelson Carroll, Claude Washburne, Louise Gray, Mrs. Mortimer
Hartwell, and Margaret Beasley Campbell
5/20
Interviews
1970 September-December
Subjects: Leila Borchers Irwin, Myra Loveridge Cannon,
Erskine Wood, Ruth Trullinger, Alfred Powers, Edward N. Weinbaum, Theresa Mack,
and Louis Levy.
5/21
Interviews
1971-1973
Subjects: Lura Cronyn and Lucia Wilkins Moore.
5/22
With Floyd
Ramp
[1970]
5/23
Notes
[1970]
Research materials
collected [photocopies]
1878-1959
undated
5/24
Profile of Hugh J.
Mohan from Pen Portraits, R.R. Parkinson,
compiler
1878
5/24
Baptismal and
genealogical information for John Reed from Trinity Episcopal
Church
1888
5/24
University of Oregon
senior play (cast included Louise Bryant)--yearbook pages and page from
scrapbook of Helene Robinson
1908
5/24
Charles Jerome Reed's
obituaries
1912 July
5/24
Newspaper notice of
marriage of Louise Bryant and John Reed
1916 July 12
5/24
Photo and article re.
Henry D. Green, The Blue Flame (Northwest Natural
Gas newsletter)
1959 January
5/24
Pages from
unidentified book in chapter, "'United Front' in the '20's"
undated
5/25
Reviews of
Friend and Lover
1982
Sub-series 3
California and Nevada
Research
1970-1971
Evelyn Averbuck served as an interviewer in California for
her friend, Virginia Gardner. Margaret Bome served as her interviewer and
researcher in Nevada.
5/26
Interviews by Evelyn
Averbuck in California
1970 June-July
Subjects include: Adele Trullinger, Mrs. Fred Cabanski,
Jacob Proebstel, Ben Legere, Sara Bard Field Wood, and Bertha Dorris.
5/27
Interviews and research
by Margaret Bome in Nevada
1970-1971
Subjects include: Ferris Cunningham and Millie Hunewill
Hamblet. Folder includes notes on research in Washoe County and at the Nevada
State Historical Society.
Series F
Julia Ruuttila's FBI
File
1941-1993
The FBI placed Julia under surveillance beginning in 1941 as a
suspected subversive. With Julia's permission, Sandy Polishuk requested
Ruuttila's FBI file under the Freedom of Information Act in January 1990.
However, the files did not arrive until more than a year after Julia's death.
The FBI provided about 500 pages of the total 1,236 pages in Ruuttila's file.
Some of the pages are photocopies of her published writings, some are copies of
newspaper articles covering her activities, but most are reports and memos.
These include annual reports, lists of participants in demonstrations, and
narrative reports of organizations and activities. Much detail is blacked out.
Some files are from Headquarters (HQ) and some from the Portland District
office (PD). They are arranged in that order.
6/1
FBI responses to Sandy
Polishuk's request for the Ruuttila files
1992-1993
6/2-7
Headquarters
files
1941 February-1972 May
6/8-13
Portland District
files
1941-1977
6/14
Other files with prefix,
SE
1946 October-1956 December