Records, 1915-1942
Records, 1915-1942, consisting of the correspondence of the Society and internal records of their activities, as well as printed material and newspaper clippings. Correspondence discusses World War I; the Society's wartime campaign to boycott German goods and stop the teaching of German in schools; the Russian Revolution and Bolshevism; sedition and disloyalty; the I.W.W.; the disloyalty of William Randolph Hearst; the case of Thomas Mooney, the labor activist who was accused of bombing a patriotic march; immigration control; general discussion of U.S. and world politics, including their support for the 1920 presidential candidacy of Warren G. Harding; and antisemitic ideas. The Society's publications included a pamphlet entitled "Protocols and World Revolution," explaining Communism by reference to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Major figures within the Society include Madison Grant, a trustee, and Charles Stewart Davison, appointed chairman in 1918 and succeeded in 1920 by Elon Huntington Hooker, after which he remained as honorary chairman. Much of the correspondence from ca. 1935-1942 is correspondence of Davison's own, not directly related to the Society. Theodore Roosevelt was the Society's honorary president, and they distributed portraits of him after his death. Their internal organizational material includes minutes, schedules, resolutions, press releases, reports from their "operators" on subversive activities, and a few photographs. Printed material includes their own publications and ephemera, as well as publications, posters and ephemera from other organizations. Most of the material comes from like-minded groups, but there are a few communist and anarchist publications. Clippings deal with American Defense Society activities and other topics of interest to the Society
Archival Material, English, 1915