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Max Geier The Color of Night Research Files, circa 1900s-2016

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Geier, Max G.
Title
Max Geier The Color of Night Research Files
Dates
circa 1900s-2016 (inclusive)
1940s-2000s (bulk)
Quantity
1.60 cubic feet, including 38 digitized photographs and 5 printed photographs, (5 boxes, including 1 oversize box)
2.3 Gbytes, (1,472 digital files)
Collection Number
MSS Geier
Summary
The Max Geier The Color of Night Research Files include the materials used by author and history professor Max Geier to write his 2015 book The Color of Night: Race, Railroaders, and Murder in the Wartime West. The book revolves around the 1943 trial of Robert E. Lee Folkes, a young black man and train cook who Geier argues was wrongly accused and convicted of the murder of Martha James, a young white woman, while both were aboard a train traveling near the Willamette Valley town of Albany, Oregon. The collection includes Geier’s research on the history of African Americans in Oregon and California, as well as the history of the Pullman Company; legal documents and other materials related to the Robert E. Lee Folkes case; and The Color of Night manuscript drafts and publication related documents.
Repository
Oregon State University Libraries, Special Collections and Archives Research Center
Special Collections and Archives Research Center
121 The Valley Library
Oregon State University
Corvallis OR
97331-4501
Telephone: 5417372075
Fax: 5417378674
scarc@oregonstate.edu
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Languages
English
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Biographical Note

Max G. Geier is a Professor of History, Emeritus, at Western Oregon University, specializing in 19th and 20th century history with a focus on community development in the western U.S. and Canada. A native of rural Minnesota, he lived and worked for many years near downtown Los Angeles. He has written two previous books on the history of forest science research in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

Inspired by his own experience with a racially biased trial that changed his life, Geier undertook an academic study of a 1943 murder trial involving racial, gender, and class issues. The Color of Night: Race, Railroaders, and Murder in the Wartime West, published by the Oregon State University Press in 2015, presents Geier’s research of the murder of Martha James and the subsequent execution of Robert E. Lee Folkes who had been found guilty of her murder.

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Content Description

The Max Geier The Color of Night Research Files span from circa 1900s to 2016, with the bulk of the material dating from 1940s to the 2000s. The collection features a variety of materials gathered, researched, and analyzed by Geier to write his book The Color of Night: Race, Railroaders, and Murder in the Wartime West, published by the Oregon State University Press in 2015. The book depicts the broader context as well as specifics of the 1943 trial of Robert E. Lee Folkes, a cook who worked for the railroad, convicted of murdering Martha James, a passenger, while a train they were both aboard was traveling near the Willamette Valley town of Albany, Oregon. James was a young white woman from the south who was newly married to a Navy pilot, while Folkes was a young black man and train cook from South Central Los Angeles. Through his extensive research and in his book, Geier argues that despite inconsistent and contradictory eyewitness accounts, a flawed and racially biased judicial system, and broader issues of wartime politics, race, and privilege, Folkes was charged and ultimately convicted of the crime.

The research files include Geier’s research on the history of African Americans in Oregon and California, as well as the history of the Pullman Company, a company that manufactured railroad cars in the late 1800s to mid-20th century. The bulk of the collection consists of materials related to the Robert E. Lee Folkes case such as photocopies of evidence, testimonials, court records, assorted legal documents, newspaper articles and other media consulted by Geier to write the book. The collection also contains The Color of Night manuscript materials including research proposals, funding requests, information requests, proof copies, and promotional materials for the book.

The digital files within the collection are available for viewing in the Reading Room.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Various materials within the collection are copies of primary source documents from other archival repositories and in many cases have stamps or related documentation pertaining to the material's original locations. Permission for publication would need to be acquired from the repository in which the original material is housed.

Preferred Citation

Max Geier The Color of Night Research Files (MSS Geier), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

This collection is comprised of three series: Series 1: History of African Americans and Railroading, circa 1900s-2011; Series 2: Robert E. Lee Folkes Case, 1923-2007; and Series 3: The Color of Night Manuscript Materials, 1940s-2016.

Acquisition Information

Max Geier donated these materials to the Special Collections and Archives Research Center April 30, 2016.

Related Materials

This collection is a component of the Oregon Multicultural Archives. Other collections pertaining to the Oregon African American experince include the Urban League of Portland Records, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Corvallis Branch Records, and the Harold C. Williams Papers.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Finding Aid Authors: Cody Hess and Natalia Fernández.
2017

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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