The Emma Goldman Papers

Please ignore the rando entries not from me!

Emma Goldman Papers Public History:
June 2024 Newsletter:

Photo 1:
A young Emma admirer spotted in the park on a summer day.
Photo 2:
The late June Brumer, relaxing after thirty five years as a volunteer for the Emma Goldman Papers just before her 96th birthday!

--
Happy Birthday Emma! June 27th rings in Emma’s 155th Birthday. Emma’s activism and advocacy for free speech, women’s reproductive agency, and social justice still inspires us, as we aspire to understand our own historical situation and relationship to today’s political landscape.

In Other News:

* A brief biography in animation from the New-York Historical Society’s YouTube Channel: Emma Goldman: Radical Activist (WAMS E29) (https://youtu.be/zWtJsvKuNH0?si=D7xmOUFyi9fqjLHA)
* Locally at Shapeshifters Cinema, in Oakland, Paris-based filmmaker Noah Teichner screened feature-length experimental essay film about the 1919 deportation of 249 anarchists and radicals from the United States to Russia on the Buford (nicknamed the "Soviet Ark"), the same ship that would later be used as the set of Buster Keaton's The Navigator. The film utilizes scratchy archival film footage and text from the journals of the exiles (including Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman), a clip can be seen on YouTube (https://youtu.be/0FmozdZ91RU?si=t_0iKjbGz2RUMQsU) .

From the EGPPHP office:

We at the Emma Goldman Papers Public History Project appreciate your generous donations and continued belief in the value of our work. Candace is still recuperating, has been working from home, and remains in constant communication with EGPPHP staff.

Help us complete the last volume by sending a tax-deductible donation through our secure PayPal account: https://www.paypal.me/EGPPHP

With love, gratitude, and strength,
Candace, Alex, and Angela
Ayelet, Sheila, and Susan
Longtime volunteer:
Rae

Outreach mavens:
Laura, and Paul

Faculty advisors:
the late Leon F. Litwack,
and Robert P. Cohen

Happy May Day! In 1919, Emma Goldman celebrated May Day behind bars at the Missouri State Penitentiary, in the company of her fellow inmate Kate Richards O'Hare, whose account of the day was published in the American Guardian:

"It was a strange May Day for me. Emma Goldman was ill, but little Ella, the Italian girl, and myself wore our colors. It was all that we could do. Emma gave us a bit of red ribbon, and we wore it above our hearts while we bent to the task at the roaring machines. It was a strange sight--yet how typical of our capitalist system. The dirty, grimy shop, whose windows are so high that no sunbeams can ever fall upon its inmates...
..Yet in two hearts at least there burned the fires of revolt and over two hearts there glowed the tiny knots of red ribbon, the worldwide insignia of human brotherhood. There is enough of the ribbon for two tiny bows; one I want you to keep for me. Some day I shall stand with the comrades of all nations in the New International, and I shall want to wear it in memory of this May Day."

A May Day Letter from Kate Richards O'Hare, 3 May 1919 [in the American Guardian, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 24 May 1919, p. 3).

Today, we celebrate our comrades behind bars and those who are free, those who are working and those who are not. Like Emma, we offer these words like red ribbon.

Some thoughts on International Women's Day! 🎉
.. Brave souls have expressed themselves in keeping with their vision of a new social order based on freedom from every form of coercion. True, the price they had to pay was high. They were deprived of most of the comforts society offers to ability and talent, but denies when they will not be subservient. But whatever the price, their lives were enriched beyond the common lot. I, too, feel enriched beyond measure.

From "Was My Life Worth Living?" 1934.

“I wish you more for the New Year than words can express, peace of mind and rest of your body, supreme satisfaction in your personal life, and in your work. Much joy and some happiness snatched from a mad and bloodthirsty world.” - Emma Goldman, 1939

***************************

We want to thank all of the incredible donors and supporters who have kept us afloat during this difficult year as Candace and team inch towards the completion of the fourth and final volume, Democracy Disarmed 1917-1919.

In September, we asked our Emmasaries to help us reach our goal of $20,000 by the end of the year and we’re a quarter of the way there! With your help, we’ll be able to complete the fourth and final 850-page volume, Democracy Disarmed 1917-1919, upgrade our website, keep the lights on in our office, and pay our archivist to organize our collection for its permanent home.

***************************
Help Us Keep On Keeping On:

Make your tax-deductible donation through our secure PayPal account: https://www.paypal.me/EGPPHP

Or send a check by mail to:

ISI- ℅ Emma Goldman Papers Public History Project,
2241 Channing Way
Berkeley, CA 94704

If you would like to dedicate your donation “In honor of” or “In memory of” a person or event, please let us know. The dedication will be included in our forthcoming volume — Democracy Disarmed 1917-1919.

Ways to Stay in Touch

Email: [email protected]
Follow project news on facebook: TheEmmaGoldmanPapers
Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/g3sAZz
A reminder that our 22,000 document treasure trove is free and accessible to all:

https://archive.org/details/emmagoldmanguide00falk
and
https://archive.org/details/emmagoldmanpapers