John Spargo Papers

The Spargo collection consists of three main parts: Spargo's essays, writings and publications; correspondence, both to and from Spargo; and Spargo's autograph collection, of manuscripts and other historical papers, primarily relating to early American and Vermont history. The Spargo writings have been arranged chronologically, and include a wide variety of published and unpublished efforts on different subjects: Socialist articles and speeches from the late 19th and early 20th centuries; numerous anti-Communist writings and views on Russia, from 1918 to 1935; essays from the 1910's and 1920's concerning the establishment of a Jewish state in the Middle East; assorted writings on Vermont history; and numerous political and economic essays on a wide range of current issues of the 1920's - 1930's.

The correspondence section of the collection has been arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent, and includes letters from the 1890's to the 1950's. Spargo's circle of notable friends and associates was quite extensive, and famous names abound in this part of the papers: Bernard Naruch; William E. Borah; Bainbridge Colby; Samuel Gompers; Herbert Hoover; Henry Cabot Lodge; Franklin D. Roosevelt; George Bernard Shaw; William Howard Taft; and Woodrow Wilson, to name a few. The correspondence is also very strong in letters from Socialist leaders, exiled Russian revolutionaries and politicians, and in American letters discussing Socialism, Bolshevism and Russian Communism. In addition, the correspondence contains many letters dealing with Vermont history and current affairs: the Vermont correspondents include most of the state's political and intellectual leaders of the first half of the 20th century.

The Spargo autograph collection contains papers from 1750 to 1950, with both original autograph manuscripts and secondary materials about persons or subjects grouped together under an alphabetical arrangement by name of subject. This portion of the papers includes Spargo's correspondence about historical events and people, as well as his notes and findings concerning them. The heaviest concentration of material here pertains to early Vermont and New England. and many famous names and events are represented: Ethen Allen; the Battle of Bennington; Thomas Chittenden; George F. Edmunds; Anthony Haswell; Matthew Lyon; Justin Smith Morril; Moses Robinson; the Vermont Sesquicentennial Commission of 1941; Isaac Tichenor; and Royall Tyler. There are also Berlioz, Enrico Caruso, Havelock Ellis, James A. Garfield, William Morris, William Tecumseh Sherman, and General Lew Wallace.

The John Spargo Papers were a gift from Mr. Spargo in 1965 and earlier.