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Michael Munk collection, 1890-2015

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Munk, Michael
Title
Michael Munk collection
Dates
1890-2015 (inclusive)
Quantity
5.5 cubic feet, (13 document cases and 1 oversize folder)
Collection Number
Coll 516
Summary
Papers of Michael Munk, a historian and political activist of Portland, Oregon. The papers consist primarily of research materials for his books on leftist and labor union figures in Oregon history, including John Reed, Louise Bryant, Tom Burns, and Stanley Moore, a professor at Reed College dismissed for alleged Communist activity.
Repository
Oregon Historical Society Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
97205
Telephone: 503-306-5240
Fax: 503-219-2040
libreference@ohs.org
Languages
English
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Historical Note

Michael Munk was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1934 and moved to Portland, Oregon with his parents in 1939. He attended Reed College, and after serving in the United States Army, he later received a Ph.D. from New York University. He went on to teach political science at several universities, including Stony Brook University, Roosevelt University, and Rutgers University. Upon retirement from teaching, Munk returned to Portland, where he switched his focus to Portland’s history and Oregon’s radical and working-class past. Munk published several articles on the subjects of labor and political radicalism in Oregon in the Oregon Historical Quarterly, The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Portland Monthly and The Oregonian. In 2007 Munk published the book The Portland Red Guide.

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Content Description

This collection contains materials collected by Michael Munk while he was researching and writing about various aspects of Portland and Oregon history, especially issues of radical left-wing politics and labor. The collection includes notes, correspondence (letters and email printouts), posters, pamphlets, flyers, news clippings, brochures, photographs (printed out, developed, and on CD-ROMS), and cassettes. Many of the items in this collection are copies of primary sources, although there are a number of original documents, especially in the Ephemera folders. Subjects include leftist and labor union figures in Oregon history, including John Reed, Louise Bryant, Tom Burns, and Stanley Moore, a professor at Reed College dismissed for alleged Communist activity. Also included are materials relating to places outside Portland and in Washington State.

Munk has had a long history of involvement in radical politics, and materials on his personal activities are interwoven with materials on the subjects of his research. As a result, this collection, while primarily a collection of Munk's own research materials, also contains some materials relating to his own involvement in Portland and Oregon history.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.

Preferred Citation

Michael Munk collection, Coll 516, Oregon Historical Society Research Library

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into nine series:

Series A: John Reed and Louise Bryant

Series B: Carl Walters and Helen Lawrence Walters

Series C: Art and culture

Series D: Women and women's activism

Series E: Various cultural groups

Series F: Labor history

Series G: Radical political history

Series H: Stanley Moore

Series I: General research materials

Acquisition Information

Acquired 1997 and 2015 (Lib. Acc. 23341 and Lib. Acc. 28641).

Separated Materials

Cassette tapes were separated to the Oregon Historical Society Research Library's oral history collections.

  • Tom Norton Part 1 of 2, Oral history interview of Thomas Allen Norton an American Volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, from Portland Oregon, 1992
  • Tom Norton Part 2 of 2, Oral history of Thomas Allen Norton an American Volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, from Portland Oregon, 1992
  • MCHD-6, contents unknown, undated
  • MCHD-7, contents unknown, undated
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Detailed Description of the Collection

  • Series A: John Reed and Louise Bryant, 1904-2007

  • Series B: Carl Walters and Helen Lawrence Walters, 1913-2015

  • Series C: Arts and culture, 1936-2015

    • Description: Oregon arts and culture

      General research materials regarding art and culture in Oregon.

      Dates: 1936-2015
      Container: Box Folder 3/3
      Location: Series C: Arts and culture, 1936-2015
    • Description: Woodstock, NY Art/Art History 1987-2002

      Materials relating to art colonies and communities in and around Woodstock, New York. Also includes materials relating to Carl and Helen Walters, who lived in the area for some time.

      Dates: 1987-2002
      Container: Box Folder 3/4
      Location: Series C: Arts and culture, 1936-2015
    • Description: Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie

      Includes research materials regarding Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger in regards to their connections to Oregon and Portland.

      Dates: 1954-2013
      Container: Box Folder 3/5
      Location: Series C: Arts and culture, 1936-2015
    • Description: Café Espresso and beatniks

      Dates: 1993-2004
      Container: Box Folder 3/6
      Location: Series C: Arts and culture, 1936-2015
    • Description: Dorothea Lange, part 1 of 3

      Materials relating to photographer Dorothea Lange's Oregon photographs taken during the Great Depression. Includes copies of Lange's photographs.

      Dates: 1936-2009
      Container: Box Folder 3/7
      Location: Series C: Arts and culture, 1936-2015
    • Description: Dorothea Lange, part 2 of 3

      Dates: 1939-2009
      Container: Box Folder 3/8
      Location: Series C: Arts and culture, 1936-2015
    • Description: Dorothea Lange, part 3 of 3

      Dates: 1939-2008
      Container: Box Folder 3/9
      Location: Series C: Arts and culture, 1936-2015

  • Series D: Women and women's activism, 1912-2004

  • Series E: Various cultural groups, 1898-2013

    • Description: Portland LGBT history

      Includes materials about the "Burnside Triangle Walking Tour" and an article about the Edward McAllister Case.

      Dates: 1912-1998
      Container: Box Folder 4/5
      Location: Series E: Various cultural groups, 1898-2013
    • Description: Romani deportation Portland

      Includes a series of photographs of a Romani living in Portland, contemporary news clippings and a 2001 newspaper article.

      Dates: 1944-2001
      Container: Box Folder 4/6
      Location: Series E: Various cultural groups, 1898-2013
    • Description: Chinese Americans in Oregon

      News clippings relating to the history of Chinese Americans in Oregon.

      Dates: 1995-1996
      Container: Box Folder 4/7
      Location: Series E: Various cultural groups, 1898-2013
    • Description: Japanese American internment

      News clippings relating to the history of Japanese Americans and internment in Oregon.

      Dates: 1995-2011
      Container: Box Folder 4/8
      Location: Series E: Various cultural groups, 1898-2013
    • Description: African American history, part 1 of 4

      Dates: 1898-2011
      Container: Box Folder 4/9
      Location: Series E: Various cultural groups, 1898-2013
    • Description: African American history, part 2 of 4

      Dates: 1945-2013
      Container: Box Folder 4/10
      Location: Series E: Various cultural groups, 1898-2013
    • Description: African American history, part 3 of 4

      Contains three large sized booklets: Portland Bureau of Planning, “The History of Portland’s African American Community (1805 to the Present),” 1993; Metropolitan Human Rights Commission, “Ethnic and Gender Discrimination in Portland 1844-1980”; PCC Community History Center – The Jackson Forum Symposium, “The Vanport Flood and its impact on the African American Community in Portland,” 1998.

      Dates: 1993-1998
      Container: Box Folder 4/11
      Location: Series E: Various cultural groups, 1898-2013
    • Description: African American history, part 4 of 4

      Contains: Bosco-Milligan Foundation "Buildings of Portland’s African American History Revised & Expanded"

      Dates: 1997
      Container: Box Folder 5/1
      Location: Series E: Various cultural groups, 1898-2013
    • Description: Theodore Jordan murder case

      Copies of materials from time period, including flyers, correspondence and other documents by different groups advocating on the behalf of Theodore Jordan, an African American who was charged with murder and faced a death sentence.

      Dates: 1933-1969
      Container: Box Folder 5/2
      Location: Series E: Various cultural groups, 1898-2013
    • Description: The Portland Roses and baseball

      Materials regarding the Portland Negro League Baseball team, The Roses, and other topics related to African American history and baseball, including the Portland Giants and the Portland Beavers.

      Dates: 1946-2001
      Container: Box Folder 5/3
      Location: Series E: Various cultural groups, 1898-2013

  • Series F: Labor history, 1910-2013

    • Description: Harry Bridges Institute and Northwest Oregon Labor Council materials

      Dates: 1995-1998
      Container: Box Folder 5/4
      Location: Series F: Labor history, 1910-2013
    • Description: John Reed Club, Oregon arts and political radicalism

      Materials relating to John Reed Club and politically radical Portland artists.

      Dates: 1923-2002
      Container: Box Folder 5/5
      Location: Series F: Labor history, 1910-2013
    • Description: Labor Party

      Dates: 1994-1997
      Container: Box Folder 5/6
      Location: Series F: Labor history, 1910-2013
    • Description: Kenneth Fitzgerald (Journalist)

      Includes news clippings written about Fitzgerald and news articles written by Fitzgerald; “Self-Serve Fairy Tales” Vote No on 4 (anti self-serve gasoline pamphlet); name tag and ribbon from The National Grange 199th Convention in Eugene Oregon, 1985; Phil Frost for Legislature business card; memorial service program; and “Questionnaire to Be Completed by 100 Witnesses Who Relied on the Fifth Amendment before Congressional Committees in 1953 and 1954.”

      Dates: 1934-1997
      Container: Box Folder 5/7
      Location: Series F: Labor history, 1910-2013
    • Description: Harry Bridges

      Dates: 1937-2001
      Container: Box Folder 5/8
      Location: Series F: Labor history, 1910-2013
    • Description: Matt Meehan interview undated

      Matt Meehan was a longshoreman and labor activist, involved in the IWW and the 1934 Waterfront Strike in Portland. Interview includes description of a debate between himself and Harry Bridges

      Dates: 1994-1997
      Container: Box Folder 5/9
      Location: Series F: Labor history, 1910-2013
    • Description: Centralia and Union Mural

      Dates: 1922-1998
      Container: Box Folder 6/1
      Location: Series F: Labor history, 1910-2013
    • Description: The Centralia Case and the IWW

      Contains a pamphlet of “speeches by Elmer Smith, Captain Edward P. Coll Centralia, Wash., March 31 1929 on the Centralia Case” and a PSU masters history thesis titled “Labor Violence: The Centralia Case, the IWW and its Enemies."

      Dates: 1919
      Container: Box Folder 6/2
      Location: Series F: Labor history, 1910-2013

    • Subseries 1: 1934 waterfront strike

    • Subseries 2: General labor materials

      • Description: Pacific Northwest Labor History Association Materials, part 1 of 2

        Dates: 1994-2013
        Container: Box Folder 7/5
        Location: Series F: Labor history, 1910-2013 / Subseries 2: General labor materials
      • Description: Pacific Northwest Labor History Association materials, part 2 of 2

        Dates: 1995-2012
        Container: Box Folder 7/6
        Location: Series F: Labor history, 1910-2013 / Subseries 2: General labor materials
      • Description: Labor history and education

        Dates: 1999-2004
        Container: Box Folder 7/7
        Location: Series F: Labor history, 1910-2013 / Subseries 2: General labor materials
      • Description: Labor and radical politics ephemera, part 1 of 2

        Includes original copies of sources from this time period, including booklets, programs, pamphlets and flyers. Of special interest are several original IWW flyers and leaflets, copies of labor/radical politics flyers, and several original booklets and pamphlets including:

        1. “Reds in the Anti-Defamation League” by Myron C. Fagan, published by Cinema Educational Guild in 1957.

        2. “The Vigilantes Hide behind the Flag” by Isobel Walker Soule, published by International Labor Defense in 1937.

        3. “Communist Youth Programs: Hearings Before the Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws of the Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate Eighty-Ninth Congress Fifth Session,” published May 18, 1965 by Committee on the Judiciary, US Government.

        4. The IWW in the Lumber Industry” by James Rowan, published by Lumber Workers Union No. 500

        5. “Factory Work as It Is and Might Be,” by William Morri, 1922.

        6. “Where is the CIO Going?: A Program for Militant Trade Unionism” by George Morris, published by New Century Publishing in 1949.

        7. "History of the American Federation of Labor and Commercial Guide to Friends of All Trade Unions,” published by Commercial Advertising Co., 1910.

        Dates: 1910-1960
        Container: Box Folder 7/8
        Location: Series F: Labor history, 1910-2013 / Subseries 2: General labor materials
      • Description: Labor and radical political ephemera, Part 2 of 2

        Includes labor and radical political materials such as flyers, newsletters, walking tour maps, posters for events and labor newspapers from 1989 to 2013. See oversized folder for further materials.

        Dates: 1989-2013
        Container: Box Folder 7/9
        Location: Series F: Labor history, 1910-2013 / Subseries 2: General labor materials
      • Description: Labor and radical political ephemera oversized

        Includes posters, flyers and art pieces.

        Dates: Undated
        Container: Oversized Oversized
        Location: Series F: Labor history, 1910-2013 / Subseries 2: General labor materials
      • Description: Labor history research materials

        General labor history materials that do not related to other subject folders.

        Dates: 1930-2003
        Container: Box Folder 8/1
        Location: Series F: Labor history, 1910-2013 / Subseries 2: General labor materials

  • Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013

    • Description: The Oregonian Op-Ed: "Portland Always Had Radicals, Too"

      Materials relating to a Munk op-ed published in the Oregonian newspaper, including copies of the article and the editorial it was responding to, as well as letters written to Michael Munk from people responding to the article.

      Dates: 1923-2002
      Container: Box Folder 8/2
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: The Firebrand: Anarchist Newspaper

      Includes newspaper articles and journal article written about the Portland/Sellwood-based anarchist newspaper.

      Dates: 1897-1981
      Container: Box Folder 8/3
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Anti-fascist materials

      Materials relating to antifascist groups and actions in Oregon during the 1930s.

      Dates: 1935-1939
      Container: Box Folder 8/4
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Bonus march

      Includes copies of news clippings and flyers regarding the 1932 Bonus March, as well as recent articles written about the event and its Portland connections.

      Dates: 1932-1975
      Container: Box Folder 8/5
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Oregon Commonwealth Federation

      Materials relating to the far-left liberal organization.

      Dates: 1926-1998
      Container: Box Folder 8/6
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: American Civil Liberties Union

      Primarily contains materials from anti-communist newspapers and other sources attacking the ACLU and arguing that it is a communist organization.

      Dates: 1931-1996
      Container: Box Folder 8/7
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Spanish Civil War, part 1 of 2

      Materials in this folder primarily relate to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and American volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, particularly those who have Oregon connections. Also, see the materials separated to oral history collections, which includes an oral history of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade veteran Thomas Allen Norton.

      Dates: 1926-1998
      Container: Box Folder 8/8
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Spanish Civil War, part 2 of 2

      Contains materials concerning American volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, including correspondence with veterans and veterans' families as well as part of the transcript of an interview with Abraham Lincoln Brigade veteran Thomas Allen Norton. The actual oral history of this interview has been separated to the Oral History Department

      Dates: 1938-2013
      Container: Box Folder 8/9
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Nathan Gillespie, Vanport flood and left politics

      Folder contains materials relating to the correspondence between Michael Munk and Nathan Gillespie regarding the Vanport flood and the connection of certain members of later relief organizations to radical politics. Includes correspondence and research material relating to the Citizens Flood Disaster Committee.

      Dates: 1940-2004
      Container: Box Folder 8/10
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Post-War Progressive Party and progressive politics

      Dates: 1945-2005
      Container: Box Folder 8/11
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Harry (H.M.) Wicks

      Contains materials relating to Harry Wicks, who was involved in the organization of the first American soviet and was a founding member of the American Communist Party. Wicks also ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives as a member of the Socialist Party of Oregon.

      Dates: 1917-1932
      Container: Box Folder 8/12
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Tom Burns

      Includes newspaper articles, photographs and journal articles about Tom Burns and his watch store/worker's lending library.

      Dates: 1914-1956
      Container: Box Folder 8/13
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Jim Hill (Poet)

      Dates: 1934-2004
      Container: Box Folder 9/1
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Regina Fisher

      Contains newspaper articles about Regina Fisher, the mother of Bobby Fisher, who joined the Communist Party in 1945 while living in Portland.

      Dates: 1957-2008
      Container: Box Folder 9/2
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Communist Party Portland

      Research materials relating to official Communist political parties in Oregon. Does not focus on repression of Communists. Those materials are primarily located in other folders.

      Dates: 1932-2014
      Container: Box Folder 9/3
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Communism in Portland

      Research materials that focus on communism in Portland but not necessarily official party or party activities.

      Dates: 1932-1954
      Container: Box Folder 9/4
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Portland Red Tour

      Research materials that focus on communism in Portland but not necessarily official party or party activities.

      Dates: 2004
      Container: Box Folder 9/5
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Portland Red Squad and Criminal Intelligence Unit, part 1 of 2

      Contains materials regarding the Portland Police Department's "Red Squad" and the police department's later "Central Intelligence Unit," both of which conducted surveillance on local radical political organizations. The folder also contains materials relating to the protests against the CIU in which Munk played a central role. The reason for overlap of groups in organization is that Munk saw the groups as related or rather the CIU as a continuation of the Red Squad and uses information about the red squad in his protests against the CIU.

      Dates: 2004
      Container: Box Folder 9/6
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Portland Red Squad and Criminal Intelligence Unit, part 2 of 2

      Dates: 1930-2007
      Container: Box Folder 9/7
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Criminal Intelligence Division and Portland Police Department, part 1 of 2

      Contains documents such as news clippings and correspondence regarding the Criminal Intelligence Unit and its later iteration, the Criminal Intelligence Division. The folder also contains materials relating to the Portland Joint Terrorism Task Force.

      Dates: 1952-2011
      Container: Box Folder 9/8
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Criminal Intelligence Division and Portland Police Department, part 2 of 2

      Contains documents such as news clippings and correspondence regarding the Criminal Intelligence Unit and its later iteration, the Criminal Intelligence Division. The folder also contains materials relating to the Portland Joint Terrorism Task Force.

      Dates: 1983-2004
      Container: Box Folder 9/9
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

      Materials in this folder focus on the organization's involvement in the protest against the Criminal Intelligence Division

      Dates: 1987-1991
      Container: Box Folder 9/10
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: FBI Inez Lopez De Molinali espionage case

      FBI case file for Inez Lopez De Molinali of Portland, Oregon, in relation to the Velvalee Dickinson espionage case during World War II.

      Dates: 1942
      Container: Box Folder 9/11
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: The Portland Four materials

      Contains materials relating to the "Portland Four," four Portlanders who were convicted of contempt of Congress during McCarthy Era HUAC hearings.

      Dates: 1949-2012
      Container: Box Folder 9/12
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013
    • Description: University of Washington-Canwell Committee and Red Scare

      Contains materials relating to the dismissal of University of Washington due to supposed Communist connections during the McCarthy era.

      Dates: 1963-1998
      Container: Box Folder 10/1
      Location: Series G: Radical political history, 1897-2013

  • Series H: Stanley Moore, 1952-1996

    The materials in this series were donated by Michael Munk separately and at an earlier date than the rest of the collection. The materials were previously in the possession of: Stanley Moore, Arthur F. Scott, Frank Munk, Robert Richter, and Michael Munk. These materials relate to Stanley Moore, a professor at Reed College who was fired due to his supposed connections to Communism and refusal to testify during a HUAC hearing. The series also contains materials relating to the work by Reed alumni and students to get Reed College to exonerate and apologize to Moore, as well as offer to reinstate Moore to his former position. Michael Munk played a central role in the movement to vindicate Stanley Moore.

  • Series I: General research materials, 1890-2012

Finding aid prepared by Alecia Giombolini
2016 March 19

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