Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Burnstein, Malcolm
- Abstract:
- Selected professional and personal papers from Burnstein's files relating to the Free Speech Movement defense trial, the Oakland Seven and others. Also includes files on liberal and Berkeley politics.
- Extent:
- Number of containers: 4 boxes, 4 cartons, 1 card file box. Linear feet: 7.1
- Language:
- Collection materials are in English
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Malcolm Burnstein Papers, 1963-1994, consist of selected professional and personal papers from his files relating to the Free Speech Movement defense trial and liberal politics, chiefly during the years 1963 to 1973.
Files from the Free Speech Movement Lawyer's Committee form the bulk of the collection. As the Committee's coordinator for the FSM trial, Burnstein played a major role in both the legal defense and as a liaison with the defendants. The files include correspondence with the defendants, surveys, reports, legal notes and memos, drafts of FSM legal documents, and research materials. Of particular note are the personal statements and letters written to Judge Crittenden explaining why each defendant was involved in the sit-in on Dec. 2-3, 1964, along with the supporting letters of faculty on behalf of the students.
Also included in the collection are Burnstein's legal files for his 1960s and '70s civil liberties cases for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Oakland Seven, Cummings and Rudd versus the Veteran's Administration, and Siegel versus the California Bar Examiners. Burnstein's political files chart his involvement with the National Conference for New Politics (NCNP) which later merged into the fledgling Peace and Freedom Party, and the April Coalition, as well as other Berkeley political events and figures.
Burnstein gave the formal FSM legal documents and trial transcripts to the Meiklejohn Institute in the 1970s. Now among the collections of the Bancroft Library, originals of the trial transcripts are located in cartons 33-34 of the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute Records (BANC MSS 99/281 c). The trial transcripts and many of the published legal documents are available as searchable text through the Free Speech Movement Digital Archive and Oral History Project webpage (www.library.berkeley.edu/BANC/FSM/).
- Acquisition information:
- The Malcolm Burnstein Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by Malcolm Burnstein on July 2, 1999.
- Physical location:
- Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
-
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft LibraryBerkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
- Contact:
- 510-642-6481