Students for a Democratic Society records

May 4 Collection - Box 107

Finding Aid

Prepared by Francis J. Cizmar, April 26, 1995; Updated August 2022

Extent: 1 half-size record storage box, .5 cubic foot
Inclusive Dates: 1967-2005 (bulk 1968-1970)
Physical Location: 12th floor

Scope and Content: This collection is comprised of documents created by the Students for a Democratic Society, including materials from the Kent State University chapter, regional SDS organizations, and national level SDS materials. Included are many publications and reprint publications produced by SDS related to a range of political and social protest movement topics. Many of the materials are undated but are believed to have been created from around 1968 through 1970.

Arrangement: The collection is organized into the following two series:

Series 1: SDS: Kent State University and Other KSU Groups
Series 2: SDS: Regional and National

Related Materials: Additional records related to SDS, particularly investigations of the organization's activities can be found in the Kent State University Police records.

Sponsor: Digitization of this collection was funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

May 4 Collection -- Box 107
Folder -- Contents

Series 1: SDS: Kent State University and Other KSU Groups

1. SDS: KSU: Charter Application and Constitution (photocopy), February 20, 1968
2. SDS: KSU: Correspondence to “Faculty Friends” from Richard Skirvin, November 11, 1968
   Scope and Content: Regarding publication of a KSU SDS newspaper. Manuscript (heavily damaged by ink) and typescript of letter are included.
3. SDS: KSU: Correspondence to "Frances/B.M.S." from Unidentified, November 17, 1968
   Scope and Content: Photocopy containing contents of envelope and letter that were received by a student who had attended SDS meetings. Authorship of letter is unknown.
4. SDS: KSU: Correspondence to President White from "Kent SDS", November 11, 1968
   Scope and Content: Includes demands to deny Oakland Police Department usage of Kent State facilities and a request to respond to those demands.
5. SDS: KSU: Flyers, 1968
6. SDS: KSU: Flyers, 1969
7. SDS: KSU: Flyers, undated (date uncertain)
8. SDS: KSU: Notes: “The SDS Plans,” undated
   Scope and Content: Includes quotations by SDS leaders. Origination and authorship of notes is unknown.
9. SDS: KSU: Posters: Kent SDS Gathering, May 2005
   Physical Location: Shelved in map case.
10. SDS: KSU: Publication regarding “The Four Demands,” undated but likely 1968
11. SDS: KSU: Publication: “Record Beacon Stater,” 1969?
    Physical Location: Shelved in map case.
12. SDS: KSU: Publication: "Who Rules Kent?", undated
13. SDS: KSU: Rally Stickers, undated but includes “Four Demands”
14. Other KSU Groups: Correspondence, 1968
    Scope and Content: Contains Statement of Concern from the Religious Counselors' Office and call for restraint from David A. Ambler, Director of Resident Halls.
15. Other KSU Groups: Flyers and Postings, 1968-1970
    Scope and Content: Includes materials by Kent Liberation Front; Radical Arts Project; Student Grievance Committee; Student Senate; Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW); World Historians Opposed to Racism and Exploitation (WHORE)
16. Other KSU Groups: Program: Kent Free University, September 1968

Series 2: SDS: Regional and National

17. SDS: Columbia University: Publications and Documents, 1968-1969; undated
    Physical Location: One item from this file is shelved in the map case.
18. SDS: Documents, 1969; undated
    Scope and Content: Includes planning for actions related to Nixon inauguration; Solidarity with the Vietnamese document; discussion of classroom organizing techniques; history of anti-war movement in US history
19. SDS: New York/New Jersey Region: Publications and Documents, 1968-1970; undated
20. SDS: Ohio Region: Publications and Documents, undated, but likely 1968-1969
21. SDS: Poster: "Inauguration 69," 1969
    Physical Location: Shelved in map case.
22. SDS: Publication: “Bring the War Home! Chicago - Oct. 11,” 1969?
23. SDS: Publication: “CAW!” magazine, No. 1, February 1968
24. SDS: Publication: “CAW!” magazine, No. 2, May-June 1968
25. SDS: Publication: "Columbia" by Mark Rudd, undated
26. SDS: Publication: “Cuba: a history 1868-1959” by Sharon Krebs, undated
27. SDS: Publication: “Cuba: Cuba vs. U.S. Imperialism” by Edward Boorstein, undated
28. SDS: Publication: “Cultural Revolution in China,” originally published in 1969
29. SDS: Publication: “Exploitation or Aid? US-Brazil Economic Relations” by Andre Gunder Frank (Radical Education Project publication), originally published in 1963
30. SDS Publication: "Fight Fascism: Bring the War Home (SDS Education Packet)," undated
    Physical Location: Shelved in the map case.
31. SDS Publication: "Fire Next Time" Volume 1, Number 1, 1969
32. SDS: Publication: “FTA: Two GIs in the Struggle” (regarding the Fort Hood 43), 1969
33. SDS: Publication: “Huey Newton Talks to the Movement,” August 1968
34. SDS: Publication: “The Iceberg Strategy” by Martin Nicolaus (Radical Education Project publication), undated
35. SDS: Publication: “Imperialism Old and New” by Hamza Alavi (Radical Education Project publication), originally published in 1964
36. SDS: Publication: “Liberation Will Come from a Black Thing” by James Forman, undated
37. SDS: Publication: “The Meaning of Economic Imperialism” by James O’Connor (Radical Education Project publication), undated
38. SDS: Publication: "SDS: New Left Notes" Volume 4, Number 32, October 21, 1969
39. SDS: Publication: “The New Radicals in the Multiversity” by Carl Davidson, May 1968
40. SDS: Publication: "Occupation Troops Out! Chicago Oct. 8 - 11," 1969?
41. SDS: Publication: “The Political Economy of Youth” by John and Margaret Rowntree (Radical Education Project publication), undated
42. SDS: Publication: “SDS: An Introduction,” undated
43. SDS: Publication: “SDS: Which Side Are You On? U.S. History in Perspective” by Noel Ignatin, undated
44. SDS: Publication: “SDS Work-In 1968: Towards a Worker-Student Alliance,” undated
45. SDS: Publication: “Turn Your Guns Around, Chicago Oct. 8-11,” 1969?
46. SDS: Publication: “United States 1967: High Tide of Black Resistance” by James Forman, March 1969
47. SDS: Publication: “The University” by Allen Krebs (Radical Education Project publication), 1967
48. SDS: Publication: “U.S. Imperialism” by David Gilbert and David Loud, March 1968
49. SDS: Publication: “Vietnam,” undated
50. SDS: Publication: “Who Controls Vietnam?” by Wilfred Burchett, February 1968
51. SDS Publication: “Youth Exploitation”; “The Political Economy of Youth”; “The Militarization of Society,” undated
    Physical Location: Shelved in map case.