The Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan , originating from the collection of radical ephemera built by Detroit Anarchist Jo Labadie , is recognized as one of the world's most complete collections of materials documenting the history of anarchism and other radical movements from the 19th century to the present.
31-644: The Labadie Collection became a part of the Special Collections Library (then called the Rare Book Room) in 1964. It is named after individualist anarchist Joseph Labadie (1850–1933). With the help of his devoted wife, Sophie, Labadie collected and carefully preserved a vast amount of literature on social movements from the 1870s to his death in 1933, including his own writings and publications. Although offers for this unique and valuable collection came from several institutions, including
62-560: A modest living stipend so that she would not squander her inheritance on radical causes, as she was likely to do. Inglis was acquainted with Jo and Sophie Labadie, and knew of their donation to the Library. After her first encounter with the Labadie Collection her inherent organizing instincts took over, and she stayed to "sort out" the materials and bring some order to the chaos. This decision changed her life, for she stayed at
93-556: A reference librarian in the Social Sciences section of the Library, was assigned full-time to the Labadie Collection. Weber brought his own anti-authoritarian attitude with him, in keeping with the spirit of the Collection and carrying on its tradition. Weber also brought his own social/political interests, which included the radical elements of sexual freedom, gay liberation , Freethought , and civil liberties. Because there
124-591: The Detroit Times , Advance and Labor Leaf , Labor Review , The Socialist , and the Lansing Sentinel , which were admired for their forthright style. His column "Cranky Notions" was widely published. In 1883, Labadie embraced individualist anarchism , a non-violent doctrine. He became closely allied with Benjamin Tucker , the country's foremost exponent of that doctrine, and frequently wrote for
155-567: The Library of Congress as Acting Director of Personnel and of Administrative Services. He served in several roles at the Library of Congress before leaving to be Director of the University of Michigan Library and a professor of Library Science in 1953. He retired from the university in 1982. Wagman also served on the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography , a Commission that
186-533: The Board of Regents graciously accepted the gift, the conservative library administration was at a loss as to what to do with this radical trove of literature. For years after the materials were deposited in the Library, absolutely nothing was done with them. Inquiring researchers would be given a key and sent into a locked cage area on their own, left with boxes of unaccessioned, unprocessed and uncataloged materials. Items undoubtedly disappeared. This might have remained
217-443: The Collection is particularly strong, other topics include socialism , communism , primitivism , labor (especially late 19th and early 20th century), sexual freedom (including the gay liberation movement ), animal liberation , feminism , ecology, youth and student protest , censorship , Black liberation movements , anti-war and pacifist movements , and the radical right. After his arrest, Theodore Kaczynski , also known as
248-402: The Labadie Collection for over 20 years as the collection's unofficial curator. Inglis donated her time to the effort, working without a salary of any kind except for one brief period when she received a small stipend. Inglis died at age 81 on January 29, 1952. Despite the promise of Dr. Warner Rice, the new head Librarian, that the library would continue to add to the Labadie Collection, Inglis
279-482: The Labadie Collection's website one can view over 900 photographs, read descriptions of over 100 archival collections, peruse listings of some non-print materials, explore its online exhibitions, and browse a directory of nearly 9,000 subject files, containing brochures, leaflets, clippings, and other ephemera. Since its creation in 1911 hundreds of people have made donations out of trunks, attics, garages, basements, and even prison cells. In addition to anarchism, in which
310-847: The Unabomber, officially designated the University of Michigan as the recipient of his writings, letters, and other papers for the Collection. Kaczynski's writings, which the Labadie agreed to collect in 2000, are among the most popular archives in the University of Michigan 's special collections . The university's online catalog includes the Labadie holdings. Some of the Labadie's collections have been digitized for online access. 42°16′34.8319″N 83°44′25.4112″W / 42.276342194°N 83.740392000°W / 42.276342194; -83.740392000 Joseph Labadie Charles Joseph Antoine Labadie (April 18, 1850 – October 7, 1933)
341-570: The United States. Joseph Labadie died on October 7, 1933, in Detroit, Michigan, at the age of 83. He donated the vast majority of manuscripts and ephemera acquired in his lifetime to the collection at the University of Michigan Library , a deed he viewed as his primary legacy. [REDACTED] Media related to Joseph Labadie at Wikimedia Commons Frederick H. Wagman Frederick Herbert Wagman (October 12, 1912 – November 30, 1994)
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#1732801057248372-450: The University of Wisconsin, "Jo," as he was known, insisted it should go to the University of Michigan. Not only did he want it to be geographically closer to him, but he also felt the conservative Michigan institution needed some ideological balance in its collections. In a 1912 letter to John R. Commons of the University of Wisconsin, Labadie thanked him for trying to acquire his collection, and said, "I made up my mind it should go where it
403-511: The city postal inspector refused to handle his mail because it bore stickers with anarchist quotations. A month later the Detroit Water Board, where Labadie worked as a clerk, dismissed him from his post for expressing anarchist sentiments. In both cases, public officials were forced to back down in the face of mass public protests in support of Labadie, well known to Detroit citizens as its "Gentle Anarchist". In about 1910, when he
434-486: The collection, an investigator was eventually dispatched. The report returned on Labadie's collection was negative, dismissed as a great mass of "stuff." Labadie remained persistent, however, and he eventually convinced nine Detroit residents, including several businessmen, to donate $ 100 each for the purchase of the collection, which was then donated to the university with requisite pomp. In 1912 twenty crates of material were moved from Labadie's attic to Ann Arbor, forming
465-460: The collection. The libraries of Johns Hopkins University and Michigan State University also made attempts to acquire the collection. Labadie sought instead to keep the material as near to his hometown of Detroit as possible and contacted the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor about their potential acquisition of the material. While the University of Michigan was slow to show interest in
496-564: The fate of the materials had it not been for wealthy Detroit activist, Agnes Inglis , who began doing research in the Labadie Collection in the early 1920s. Inglis had already been involved in radical political activities, organizing lectures for Emma Goldman , other anarchists and the IWW , and rallying support for labor and civil liberties causes, and assisting and even putting up bail money for World War I draft law violators and political prisoners . Her family eventually reduced her allowance to
527-460: The film and the entertainment industry in the Detroit area. Progressive Era Repression and persecution Anti-war and civil rights movements Contemporary Labadie joined the newly formed Socialist Labor Party in Detroit at the age of 27 and soon was distributing socialist tracts on street corners. As a printer, he was also a member of Detroit's Typographical Union 18 and
558-533: The first time in the history of the Collection, able to make legitimate purchases. In 1994 Julie Herrada was hired as the first Assistant Curator, and first trained archivist in the Labadie Collection. When Weber retired in 2000, Herrada took over as curator. The Collection currently contains over 50,000 books, 8,000 serials titles (including nearly 800 current periodical subscriptions) records and tape recordings of speeches, debates, songs, and oral histories, sheet music, buttons, posters, photographs, and comics. On
589-411: The foundation of the renowned Labadie Collection of radical literature. Labadie spent his later years soliciting donations to the collection from friends and acquaintances, donating hundreds more items himself to the library in 1926. Agnes Inglis cataloged and organized the collection. The collection thus preserved is today regarded as among the finest accumulations of 19th Century radical ephemera in
620-489: The latter's publication, Liberty . Without the oppression of the state, Labadie believed, humans would choose to harmonize with "the great natural laws...without robbing [their] fellows through interest, profit, rent and taxes." Labadie supported localized public cooperation, and was an advocate for community control of water utilities, streets, and railroads. He also criticized capitalism and said that it "has had its day" and that "it must go." Although Labadie did not support
651-408: The library helped bring in materials not many other institutions were collecting at that time: pamphlets and posters from the student, gay, civil rights, anti-war and Black, Chicano, and women's liberation movements, as well as underground newspapers, leaflets, political buttons, and other ephemera. It was not until the mid-1970s that the Labadie Collection was finally given a book budget. Weber was, for
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#1732801057248682-712: The militant anarchism of the Haymarket anarchists , he fought for the clemency of the accused because he did not believe they were the sole perpetrators of violence. He broke with the Knights of Labor when their national leader, Terence V. Powderly , repudiated the defendants completely. In 1888, Labadie organized the Michigan Federation of Labor, becoming its first president, and forged a tenuous alliance with Samuel Gompers . At age fifty he began writing verse and publishing artistic hand-crafted booklets. In 1908,
713-456: The university library, Frederick H. Wagman , inspired by Ralph Ellsworth ’s work at the University of Iowa , directed Weber to start collecting materials on the right as well as the left, so the library got onto the mailing lists of some White-supremacist and ultra conservative organizations. Weber began applying a broader interpretation to the Collection to reflect changing times and movements. His ingenuity and connections both within and outside
744-406: Was 60 years old, Labadie began to prepare for the preservation of the vast collection of pamphlets , newspapers, and correspondence which he had accumulated in the attic of his home. The collection was eagerly sought by the University of Wisconsin , one of the paramount repositories of materials relating to labor and socialist history in the United States, but Labadie spurned their offer of $ 500 for
775-470: Was a few months in a parochial school. Labadie began five years of "tramp" printing and then settled in Detroit as a printer for the Detroit Post and Tribune . He married his first cousin, Sophie Elizabeth Archambeau, in 1877, despite him being agnostic and her being Catholic. Their children were Laura, Charlotte, and Laurance , also a prominent anarchist essayist. The family was also involved in
806-695: Was an American labor organizer, anarchist , Greenbacker , libertarian socialist , social activist, printer, publisher, essayist, and poet. Jo Labadie was born on April 18, 1850, in Paw Paw, Michigan , to Anthony and Euphrosyne Labadie, both descendants of seventeenth century French immigrants of the Labadie family who had settled on both sides of the Detroit River . His boyhood was a frontier existence among Potawatomi tribes in southern Michigan, where his father served as interpreter between Jesuit missionaries and Native Americans. His only formal schooling
837-557: Was an American librarian and president of the American Library Association from 1963 to 1964. Wagman was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He graduated from Amherst College in 1933 before attending Columbia University where he earned both master's and a doctorate degree in 1934 and 1942 respectively. While studying for his doctorate, he taught at the University of Minnesota . In 1945, Wagman joined
868-702: Was most needed—old moss-back Michigan,—conservative, reactionary, and positively crass in some things… I know how well you Wisconsin folk would have done with it, but when you consider what a light it will be to the U of M, I know your discernment will approve my conduct in the matter." The exact size of the original contribution is unknown, but the first shipment arrived in 1912 in about 20 boxes. In addition to materials created on Labadie's printing press and his vast correspondence, there were books, pamphlets, by-laws, newspapers, newsletters, announcements, membership cards, photographs, broadsides, and badges reflecting his activities in various labor and protest movements. Although
899-438: Was not replaced for several years. The Collection was neglected, or worse, was ravaged by the unsupervised patrons who were given free access to its carefully cataloged contents. Due to this abuse, Inglis's precise filing and locating system has been lost forever (though her index cards, mostly handwritten with notes and analytics, are still in use today, filed in an old card catalog). In 1960, Edward Weber, who had been working as
930-700: Was one of its two delegates to the International Typographical Union convention in Detroit in 1878. In 1878, Labadie organized Detroit's first assembly of the Knights of Labor , and ran unsuccessfully for mayor on the Greenback-Labor ticket. In 1880, he served as first president of the Detroit Trades Council, and continued issuing a succession of labor papers and columns for the national labor press, including
961-408: Was still no acquisitions budget, Weber relied on donations and sympathetic library workers, who “adjusted” the accounts somehow and funneled subversive literature into the Collection. Weber was an outspoken critic of censorship and ignorance, as well as a prolific letter writer, and the extensive correspondence he generated throughout his 40-year tenure kept the Collection growing. In 1964, the head of