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After resources, oral history interviewees are listed alphabetically by name
Columbia University Oral History Research Project
Guide to the Oral History of the American Left, edited by Jonathan Bloom and Paul Buhle. New York: Tamiment Institute/Ben Josephson Library, 1984. 58 pp.
Beumer, Steve Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Bloomfield, Norman Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Boggs, Grace Lee Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Boggs, James Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Breitman, George Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Brorsen, Nikki Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Bruce, D(ouglas) Alan (1910- )
1988, 1989. 2 hrs. 20 p. Interview focuses on Bruce's work as state director of WPA Worker Education Program in the 1940s. Discusses accusations of radicalism against the program and efforts of Communists and Trotskyists to influence the program. Also discusses the militant labor movement. Interviewer: Carl Ross. MN History Center.
Buch, Peter Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Burbank, David (CLR James in Missouri) Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Carlson, Grace Holmes (1906-92)
1987. 3 hrs., 20 min. 48 p. Carlson was the Socialist Workers party candidate for U.S. Senate in 1946, vice-president in 1948, and Congress in 1950. Along with other local Trotskyists, she was convicted in 1941 of violating the Smith Act and served a term in a federal prison. She describes growing up in the Irish community of St. Paul, her work in Minnesota as an organizer for the Socialist Workers party, the 1934 Minneapolis truck drivers' strike, and relations between Trotskyists and Socialists. Interviewer: Carl Ross. MN History Center.
DeBoer, Harry (1905-91), Pauline DeBoer, and Jake Cooper (1916-90)1988. 75 min., 60 min. 18 p., 15 p.
DeBoer was a paid organizer for the Teamsters. He was convicted in 1941 under the Smith Act of conspiring to overthrow the government. With the help of Pauline DeBoer, his wife, and Jake Cooper, a Chaska store owner involved in militant unionism, he discusses the truck drivers' strike of 1934, Trotskyists, the IWW, the Communist party, Ray Dunne, and Carl Skoglund.
Interviewers: Sal Salerno (first interview); Sal Salerno, Peter Rachleff, and Randy Furst (second interview). Dobbs, Farrell (1907-83), and Marvel S. MN History Center.
Dobbs, Farrell (1907-83), and Marvel Dobbs. 1977. 4 hrs. Open for research only.
The Dobbses, who grew up in Minneapolis, discuss personal history, the development of their political philosophy, Carl Skoglund, and their membership in the Communist and Socialist Workers parties. They also talk about radical unionism and describe in detail the 1934 truckers' strike in Minneapolis and their involvement in organizing it. Interviewers: Tom O'Connell and Steve Trimble. MN History Center.
Drake-Raphals, Susan (CLR James in the 1940s) Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Draper, Hal Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Dunayevskaya, Raya Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Dunne, Vincent Raymond (1889-1970)1969 1 hr., 45 min. 45p. Restricted.
A major organizer of the 1934 truckers' strike in Minneapolis describes his boyhood in Kansas and on a Minnesota farm, migrant work on the West Coast, and his experiences in the IWW and the Communist party in the 1920s. He discusses ideological differences within the Communist party and the Socialist Workers party, organizing labor groups, and the 1934 strike. Interviewer: Lila Johnson. MN History Center.
Eberl, A. P. (Slim) (1901- )1974. 60 min. 28 p.
Born in New Ulm, Eberl began working for the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad in the carshops in I9I8 and was vice-president of the Tracy local union of car men in 1919 He discusses his involvement in the Teamsters Union, Local 221, 1928-41, and attempts by the Socialist Workers party to gain control of Teamster unions in Minneapolis. He also was a vice-president of the Minnesota AFL in 1956 and talks about the merger of the AFL and CIO. Interviewer: James Dooley. MN History Center.
Enestvedt, John (1906- )1988. 60 min. 17 p.
Born and raised near Sacred Heart, MN, Enestvedt was actively involved in the NPL, the Socialist Workers party, and the Farm Holiday Assn. He discusses these organizations and also his association with Farrell Dobbs.
Interviewer: Sal Salerno. MN History Center.
Faber, Seymour Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Ferguson, Duncan Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Geldman, Max (1905-89)1988. 30 min. 15 p.
Geldman discusses his experiences as a young Trotskyist in the Minneapolis Young Communist League. The Trotskyist group was expelled from the Communist party in 1929, and Geldman joined a Trotskyist youth group. The interview focuses on the development of the unemployed movement after the 1934 truckers' strike and the WPA workers' strike in July 1939. Geldman describes the united participation of Trotskyists, Communists, and others in the Minneapolis labor movement in support of this strike to save the WPA from liquidation. He was convicted in 1941 for violations of the Smith Act. Interviewer: Carl Ross. MN History Center.
Glaberman, Jessie Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Glaberman, Martin Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Glotzer, Albert Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Goldwater, Walter (CLR James 1940s-60s) Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Grant, Leigh-Dillon Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Johnson, Nellie Stone (1904- )1988. 2 hrs, 35 min. 48p.
The interview covers Johnson's early life in Pine County where her father was was active in the NPL and in the co-op movement in the 1920s and 1930s. She describes coming to Minneapolis in 1924, working at the Minneapolis Athletic Club, and helping to organize Local 665 of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union. She also reflects on her experiences as an African American in the Minneapolis labor movement. Interviewers: Carl Ross, Hyman Berman, Sal Salerno, Deborah Miller, Peter Rachleff, and Rhoda Gilman. MN History Center.
Kempf, Ed Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Kravitz, Nettie Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Kutcher, James, 10-21-77, 44 pp. Film transcript. Tamiment Library.
Maloney, Jack (1911- ), and Don Seaverson 1988. 9 hrs. 127 p.
Maloney participated in the labor movement of the 1930s and became active in the Motor Transport and Allied Workers Industrial Union, Local 544. He discusses IWW members and working conditions for unskilled laborers in the 1920s. He gives detailed accounts of the 1934 Minneapolis truck drivers' strike and other strikes Local 574/544 was involved in and recalls many personal memories of Carl Skoglund, the Dunne brothers, and Floyd R. Olson. Maloney's step-brother, Don Seaverson, comments throughout. Interviewers: Sal Salerno and Peter Rachleff. MN History Center.
Maisel, Robin Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
McKinney, Ernest Rice (pseud. David Coolidge) on microfiche from Columbia University. Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Novack, George, 10-31-77, 26 pp. Film transcript. Tamiment Library
O'Brien, Marjorie (attitude to James & Johnson-Forest in 40s) Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Porterfield, Pearl Zeluck Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Rasmussen, Paul Andreas Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Rauh, Josephy, 10-22-77, 9 pp. Film transcript. Tamiment Library
Rawick, George Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Seidlitz, Leo Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Sharron, Mark Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Skoglund, Carl (1884-1960)Undated. 2 hrs.
Skoglund began his career in the left wing of the Socialist party. He helped form the Communist party in the United States in 1919 He was the district industrial director for the Communist party in Minnesota until he was expelled in 1928 for his Trotskyist beliefs. As a Trotskyist, he organized the Minneapolis truck drivers' strike in 1934 and was elected president of Teamsters Local 544 in 1938. He helped found the Socialist Workers party in 1938 and was convicted under the Smith Act in I941.This interview reflects little of these activities, however, but focuses on his childhood in Sweden, with some discussion of Minnesota labor activism. Interviewer: unknown. MN History Center.
Stone, I.F., 12-7-77, 8 pp. Film transcript. Tamiment Library
Swabeck, Arne Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Syrstad, A.O. Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Trainor, Larry The History of American Trotskyism. 30 lectures digitized into 1.3 gigs of MP3s from old real-to-real tapes. A classic.
Tussey, Jean Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Weir, Stan Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Wald, Alan. Interviews on the history of Trotskyism and intellectuals in the US. Interviewees include Michael Blankfort, James T. Farrell, Leslie Fiedler, Nathan Glazer, Walter Goldwater, Stan Weir. Tamiment Library. Series VII (restricted).
Weiss, Myra Tanner 1982 Interviewer: Jon Bloom. Tamiment Library's oral history project.
Wohlforth, Tim Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Workers Party/Standing Fast Conference (Speakers include Herman Benson, Ricky Flanders, Albert Glotzer, Julius Jacobson, Irving Sanes, Morton Clurman, Paul Cowan, Lewis Coser, Robert Cummings, Phyllis Jacobson) Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
Zeluck, Steve Tamiment Library, Oral Series I (available to researchers).
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Last updated 10 September 2006