Robert Marshall Papers

Manuscript Collection No. 204

1919-1973. 5.2 Linear ft.

ACCESS AND PROVENANCE
The Robert Marshall Papers were donated to the American Jewish Archives by Mr. James Marshall, New York, New York, in a number of segments between the years 1979-1983. Property rights are assigned to the American Jewish Archives. All literary rights to materials authored by Robert Marshall are held by Mr. James Marshall and the Marshall heirs. Literary rights to materials authored by others are held by the individual author or his/her heirs. Questions concerning rights should be addressed to the Director of the American Jewish Archives.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH top
Robert Marshall was born in New York City on January 2, 1901 to prominent New York lawyer and American Jewish leader, Louis Marshall, and his wife, Florence (Lowenstein) Marshall. One of four Marshall children, Robert was raised in New York and received a B.S. degree from the New York State College of Forestry in 1925, a Master of Forestry degree from Harvard University in 1926 and a Ph. D from Johns Hopkins University in 1930.
Marshall was a devoted conservationist and environmentalist and he devoted his life's work to these causes. He served first as the Assistant Silviculturist at the Northern Rocky Mountain Experiment Station from 1925-1928 before engaging in exploration, ecological studies, and anthropological research in northern Alaska from 1929-1931. From 1933-1937 Marshall served as Director of Forestry, Office of Indian Affairs, for the U.S. Department of Interior. In 1937 Marshall was appointed Chief of Division of Recreation and Lands, U.S. Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, the position he held at the time of his death in 1939.
Marshall authored many books and articles on forestry and conservation, including The Problem of the Wilderness (1930), Arctic Village, (Literary Guild selection for May, 1933), The People's Forests (1933), The Forest for Recreation (selection in the U.S. Forestry's Service's A National Plan for American Forestry, 1933), The Universe of the Wilderness is Vanishing (1937), and Alaska Wilderness: Exploring the Central Brooks Range (1970; first edition published in 1956 under the title, Arctic Wilderness). He also made a map of 12,000 miles square miles of previously unchartered country in northern Alaska in 1934 which was published by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Marshall was active in many environmental organizations. He was a member of The Wilderness Society (Executive Committee Member), the Society of American Foresters, the Ecological Society, the Society of Plant Physiologists, the Society of Anthropologists and was a member of the Explorers and the Cosmos Club.
Robert Marshall died in Washington, D.C. on November 11, 1939 at the age of 38. But, as a result of the positive impact he had on all those with whom he came in contact, Marshall continued the pursuits of his life even after his death. In his will, Marshall left one-half of his entire estate to aid trace unionism and the "promotion and advancement of an economic system based upon the theory of production for use and not for profit," and designated the other half for the establishment of two trusts: The Robert Marshall Civil Liberties Trust, devoted, in the words of his will, to the "safeguarding and advancement of the cause of civil liberties in the United States of America" and the Robert Marshall Wilderness Fund, dedicated to "the preservation of wilderness conditions in outdoor America, including, but not limited to, the preservation of areas embracing primitive conditions of transportation, vegetation and fauna."
In 1941 the U.S. Forest Service dedicated the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area on Flathead and Lewis & Clark National Forests in Montana in "recognition of his distinguished work in development of its system of wilderness areas." In addition, there are three other geographic points in the United States named in his honor: Marshall Lake in the Brooks Range, Alaska; Mount Marshall in the Adirondack Mountains; and the Bob Marshall Recreation Camp in the Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota.
For further information on Robert Marshall please see: "Bibliography of Robert Marshall, 1901-1939, With Reviews of His Published Works and Biographical Appreciations," prepared by George Marshall, in The Living Wilderness, Autumn, 1951, pp. 20-23; and "Bibliography of Robert Marshall: A Supplement," in The Living Wilderness, Summer, 1954, pp. 31-35, prepared by George Marshall.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE top
The Robert Marshall Papers (1919-1973) describe the life of Robert Marshall, conservationist, forester, and scientific explorer; and the activities of the Robert Marshall Civil Liberties Trust, a philanthropic trust established by the will of Robert Marshall for the purpose of promoting and establishing civil rights and liberties. The Papers deal primarily with the work of the Robert Marshall Civil Liberties Trust with the bulk of the material spanning the years 1940-1960. The Papers are divided into two series:

A. Personal
B. Robert Marshall Civil Liberties Trust
The Personal series (1919-1940) consists of one and one-half Hollinger boxes of correspondence with family members and friends, plus clippings, articles, and correspondence concerning the interests and activities of Robert Marshall. The correspondence is arranged alphabetically by the name of the person or organization. Letters are arranged chronologically within each folder. Of particular importance in this series is the large amount of correspondence between Robert Marshall and his father, Louis, for the years 1920-1929.
Note: Access to some of the more important subjects and individuals may be made through the Box and Folder List and the Subject Tracings at the end of the inventory.
The Robert Marshall Civil Liberties Trust series (1938-1973) makes up the bulk of the collection, consisting of eleven and one-half Hollinger boxes of correspondence, minutes, reports and grant applications. Sub-Series 1. Administration Records, consists of one and one-half boxes of general correspondence, letterbooks, financial records, trustees minutes and other records concerning the operation and maintenance of the trust.
Sub-Series 2. Grant Applications, consists of ten boxes of applications from persons and organizations for grants from the Robert Marshall Civil Liberties Trust. The applications are arranged alphabetically by the name of the person or organization and the letters are arranged chronologically within each folder. Robert Marshall was very concerned about the civil liberties and rights of the American Indian, and a large part of this sub-series contains information concerning the assistance given by the Robert Marshall Civil Liberties Trust to the Association on American Indian Affairs and the National Congress of American Indians.
BOX AND FOLDER LIST top
Box  Folder    Content

SERIES A. PERSONAL

1    1         American Civil Liberties Union 1933; 1935-1939
     2         American Congress for Peace and Democracy 1938-1939
     3         American Student Union 1936-1939
     4         American Youth Congress 1936-1939
     5         Billikopf, Jacob 1920-1921; 1926; 1930-1931
     6         Committee on Spanish American Affairs 1937-1939
     7         Dies Committee [Communist Charges] 1938-1939
     8         Fish, Hamilton [Communist Charges] 1935
     9         League for Industrial Democracy 1932-1933; 1936-1939
     10        Marshall, James 1928-1934; 1938, n.d.
     11        Marshall, Lenore G. 1928-1933
     12        Marshall, Louis 1920
     13        Marshall, Louis 1922-1923
     14        Marshall, Louis 1924-1925
     15        Marshall, Louis 1926; 1928-1929

2    1         Mooney, Thomas J. 1936-1939
     2         National Negro Congress 1936; 1938
     3         National Popular Government League 1937-1939
     4         People's Lobby 1937-1939
     5         Reynolds, Robert R. 1936
     6         Socialist party, USA 1933-1936
     7         Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act 1936
     8         Stolz, Joseph 1933; 1937; 1939
     9         United Cannery, Agricultural, Producing and Allied
                    Workers of America 1938-1939
     10        United Federal Workers of America 1938-1939
     11        Washington League of Women Shoppers 1928; 1938-1939
     12        Wirt, William A. [Communist Charges] Ap 1934
     13        Workers Alliance of America 1937; 1939-1940
     14        Writings, n.d.
     15        Miscellaneous 1919; 1937-1939

SERIES B. ROBERT MARSHALL CIVIL LIBERTIES TRUST

     Sub-Series 1. Administrative Records

     16        General Correspondence 1938-1946
     17        General Correspondence 1947-1948
     18        General Correspondence 1949-1951
     19        General Correspondence 1952-1955

3    1         General Correspondence 1956-1957
     2         General Correspondence 1958-1965, n.d.
     3         Letterbook [Index] 1956-1964
     4         Letterbook 1956-1959
     5         Letterbook 1960-1964
     6         Final Distribution of Assets and Securities
                    Transactions 1959; 1961-1964
     7         Meetings and Internal Affairs 1940-1973
     8         Policy Matters 1956-1959, n.d.
     9         Tax Exemption Correspondence 1941-1960
     10        Trust Inquiries and Policies 1963-1964

4    1         Trustees Minutes 1941-1948
     2         Trustees Minutes 1951-1961

     Sub-Series 2. Grant Applications

     3         A-B, General
     4         African Academy of Arts and Research 1946
     5         American Association of University Professors
                    [re: Academic Freedom] 1959-1961
     6         American Civil Liberties Union 1940-1952; 1961; 1965
     7         American Committee for Cultural Freedom [re: 
                    Security and Loyalty Cases] 1954-1958
     8         American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born
                    1940-1941
     9         American Council of Spanish Speaking People
                    1950-1952
     10        American Council of Spanish Speaking People
                    1953
     11        American Council of Spanish Speaking People
                    1954-1955

5    1         American Council on Race Relations 1946-1950
     2         American Foundation for Continuing Education
                    [re: Political Education] 1959
     3         American Jewish Committee [re: Constitutional
                    Liberties Review] 1953; 1959; 1962
     4         American Friends Service Committee [re: Hirabayashi
                    and Rights of Conscience] 1943; 1957-1961; 1965
     5         American Labor Conference on International Affairs
                    1944-1945
     6         American Veterans Committee [re: Civil Liberties]
                    1951-1957; 1959
     7         American Veterans Committee [Grant Application]
                    1951-1952
     8         American for Democratic Action 1947-1948
     9         Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith 1949; 1958
     10        Antioch College 1942; 1947-1948; 1955
     11        Association on American Indian Affairs (AAIA) 1941;
                    1943; 1947-1950
     12        AAIA 1951-1952

6    1         AAIA 1953-1955
     2         AAIA 1956-1957
     3         AAIA 1958-1959
     4         AAIA 1960-1962
     5         AAIA [The American Indian] 1948-1951, scattered
     6         AAIA [Bulletins] 1940-1958, scattered
     7         AAIA [Miscellaneous Reports] n.d.
     8         Bennett, Thomas Browne [re: Communism]
                    1954-1955
     9         Berueffy, Carl W. [re: Greene v. Wilson] 1954; 1957-1959
     10        Boone, Ilsley [re: Censorship] 1953; 1957
     11        Braden, Carl [re: Integration] 1955-1957
     12        Brandeis University [re: Civil Rights Program]
                    1958-1959
     13        Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 1950-1951
     14        Bureau for Inter-Cultural Education [re: Race
                    Relations] 1947

7    1         C-E, General
     2         Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors 1959-1960
     3         Ciepley (Marion)-Rappaport (Irwin) Legal Fund 1960-1961
     4         Committee for People's Rights in Eastern Pennsylvania 1940
     5         Council for Civil Rights in the Nation's Capital 1948
     6         Council on Indian Affairs 1956-1959, n.d.
     7         Descendants of the American Revolution 1940-1941
     8         Education Guild [re: Teachers] 1956-1957
     9         Edwards, Ernest Lee [re; Edwards v. New York] 1956
     10        Emergency Civil Liberties Committee [re: Bill of Rights
                    Test Cases] 1955
     11        Emergency Rescue Committee [re: Exit Visas] 1941
     12        F-K, General
     13        Flynn, Elizabeth Gurley [re: Smith Act] 1954
     14        Friends of Democracy [re: Nazism] 1940-1943; 1949
     15        Frontier Films 1940-1941
     16        Georgia Workers Education Service 1949-1950
     17        Greater New York Committee for Japanese Americans
                    [re: Japanese Americans] 1946
     18        Hammond, Joseph [re: POW Compensation] 1958-1959
     19        Highlander Folk School [re: Education] 1953-1956;
                    1960-1961; 1964

8    1         Hynning, Clifford J. [re: Vitarelli v. Seaton] 1958-1959
     2         Indian Rights Association 1952; 1958-1959
     3         Institute of Ethnic Affairs 1946-1950
     4         Institute of Ethnic Affairs 1951-1954
     5         International Rescue Committee 1948-1949
     6         International Student Service 1941-1942
     7         Japanese American Citizens League 1943; 1951-1952
     8         Julian, Joe [re: Communism] 1955-1957
     9         Karamu House [re: Cultural Arts] 1941-1943
     10        Kutcher, James [re: Kutcher Civil Rights Committee]
                    1953-1954
     11        L-N, General
     12        League of American Writers 1940-1941
     13        Mankin, Helen Douglas [re: Suffrage] 1949-1953
     14        Manumit School 1941
     15        McCollum, Vashti [re: Church and State] 1948
     16        Metropolitan Board for Conscientious Objectors 1952-1953
     17        Mooney, Thomas J. 1941

9    1         National Agricultural Workers Union 1953-1956
     2         National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
                    (NAACP) [re: Racial Discrimination] 1939-1941
     3         NAACP [re: Racial Discrimination] 1942-1945; 1950;
                    1953; 1957
     4         NAACP [Racial Discrimination] 1960-1965
     5         National Civil Liberties Clearing House 1948-1952
     6         National Civil Liberties Clearing House 1953-1959; 
                    1961-1962
     7         National Committee on Segregation in the Nation's Capital
                    1949
     8         National Committee to Protect Labor Rights of Montgomery
                    Ward Workers 1944
     9         National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) 1944-1949
     10        NCAI 1950-1954
     11        NCAI 1955-1956

10   1         NCAI 1957-1958
     2         NCAI 1959-1960
     3         NCAI 1961-1962
     4         NCAI 1963-1973
     5         NCAI [Bulletins, Miscellaneous Records, etc.] 1950-1961,  n.d.
     6         NCAI [Senate Hearings] 1952
     7         National Council for a Permanent Fair Employment 
                    Practice Committee 1944-1948
     8         National Farm Labor Union 1946

11   1         National Farm Labor Union 1947-1952
     2         National Federation for Constitutional Liberties
                    [re: Labor Rights] 1940-1941
     3         National Mental Health Foundation [re: Mental 
                    Institutions] 1948-1950
     4         National Urban League 1937-Jan. 1941
     5         National Urban League Feb. 1941-1947, n.d.
     6         New York Conference for Inalienable Rights 1941
     7         O-R, General
     8         Porter, Charles O. and Shelton, Robert 1960-1961
     9         Portock, Jack [re: Police Bribes] 1952-1953
     10        Princeton Committee for the Trenton Six 1951
     11        Princeton Conference on Civil Liberties Strategy 1956
     12        Progressive Education Association 1942-1943
     13        Public Affairs Committee [re: Publication of Pamphlets]
                    1948-1955

12   1         Puerto Rico [re: Smith Act] 1956-1958
     2         Remington, William W. [re: Communism] 1950-1954
     3         Remington, William W. [Briefs] n.d.
     4         Resettlement Campaign for Exiled Professionals [re:
                    Immigrant Rescue] 1951
     5         S-Y, General
     6         Sanchez, George I. [re: Hispanic Discrimination]
                    1943; 1955-1956; 1962-1963
     7         Scher, Benjamin [re: Government Dismissal]
                    1955-1956
     8         Service Bureau for Intercultural Education [re:
                    Black Education] 1942-1943
     9         Smith, Hazel Brannon [re: Racial Relations] 1956-1957
     10        Socialist Party of California [re: Supreme Court Case]
                    1957-1958
     11        Southern Conference for Human Welfare [re: Poll Tax
                    Reform] 1940-1943

13   1         Southern Electoral Reform League [re: Poll Tax]
                    1940-1942
     2         Southern Negro Youth Congress 1940-1941
     3         Southern Regional Council 1948; 1957
     4         Southern Tenant Farmers Union [re: Sharecroppers]
                    1942-1946
     5         Southern Workers Defense League [re: Labor Rights]
                    1942-1944
     6         Stroup, Herbert [re: Jehovah's Witness Study] 1941
     7         Sunshine Book Company [re: Freedom of the Press]
                    1956-1958
     8         Survey Associates 1942; 1952
     9         Thomas, Norman [re: Charney and Trachtenberg] 1956
     10        Town Hall 1941
     11        Trade Union Program on Civil Liberties and Rights 1957-1958
     12        Tuskegee Institute [re: Black Civil Rights] 1957-1958
     13        Union for Democratic Action [re: Mississippi Civil Rights] 1955
     14        United States Committee for a United Nations Genocide Convention 1949; 1951
     15        Urban League of Greater New York [re: Job Discrimination]
                    1948-1949
     16        Velde, Harold H. [re: Statements concerning Marshall Civil
                    Liberties Trust] 1951
     17        Wirin, A.L. [re: California ACLU] 1956-1957
     18        Workers Defense League 1941-1943
     19        Workers Defense League 1947-1949
     20        Workers Defense League 1950-1958; 1961
SUBJECT TRACINGS top
Note: The following list of subjects and individuals is a selective index to
many of the topics and individuals in the ROBERT MARSHALL PAPERS. It is
selective in that it only attempts to draw attention to the more significant
items in the collection. It does not attempt to list every subject or
individual nor does it try to indicate all places that a listed subject or
individual appears in the collection. When used in conjunction with the Box
and Folder List, the Subject Tracings should help the researcher locate
topics. References are to boxes and folders: e.g.; 2/11 means Box 2, Folder
11.

American Indians 5/11; 8/2; 7/6; 9/9
Anti-Semitism 5/3, 9

Baldwin, Roger 2/16, 17, 18, 19; 3/1, 2; 4/6
Blacks 2/2; 5/1; 9/2, 7; 11/4, 5; 12/2, 12, 15

Communism 1/7, 8; 2/12; 4/7; 6/8; 8/8

Education 1/3; 5/2, 10; 6/12; 7/8, 16, 19; 11/12; 12/8

Farmers and Farming 2/7, 9; 9/1; 10/8; 11/1; 13/4

Hispanic Discrimination 1/6; 4/9, 10, 11; 12/6

Immigrants and Immigration 4/7, 8, 9; 7/11, 17; 8/3, 5; 12.4, 6

Japanese Americans 5/4; 7/17; 8/7

Labor and Laboring Classes 1/9; 2/9, 13; 9/1, 8; 10/7, 8; 11/2; 13/5, 11, 18

Marshall, James 1/10; 2/16, 17; 3/1; 4/1, 2
Marshall, Louis 1/11, 12, 13, 14, 15

Nazism 7/14

Socialist 2/6; 13/9

Thomas, Norman 12/10; 13/9; 2/6
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