http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c86h4nx1 No online items Inventory of the John M. Weatherwax Collection SPC.2015.005 Karen Clemons California State University Dominguez Hills, Gerth Archives and Special Collections 2021-04-22 University Library South -5039 (Fifth Floor) 1000 E. Victoria St. Carson, CA 90747 [email protected] URL: https://www.csudh.edu/libarchives/ Inventory of the John M. SPC.2015.005 1 Weatherwax Collection SPC.2015.005 Contributing Institution: California State University Dominguez Hills, Gerth Archives and Special Collections Title: John M. Weatherwax Collection Creator: Weatherwax, John M. (John Martin), 1900-1984 source: National Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case source: Los Angeles Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case source: National Federation for Constitutional Liberties source: American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born source: Los Angeles Committee for Protection of Foreign Born source: Crane-Gartz, Kate source: Weatherwax, Clara , 1905-1958 Identifier/Call Number: SPC.2015.005 Physical Description: 33 boxes Physical Description: 14.6 Linear Feet Date (inclusive): 1913-1981; undated Date (bulk): 1930-1960 Abstract: This collection contains material collected and written by John M. Weatherwax such as correspondence, manuscripts, essays, film treatments, research notes, pamphlets, leaflets, flyers, programs, mailers, and other documents. Material authored by Weatherwax includes drafts of manuscripts, essays, novellas, articles, radio transcripts, and film treatments; as well as notes, revisions, and related research material. Collected material is from organizations such as American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born, National Federation for Constitutional Liberties, Los Angeles Committee to Secure Justice for the Rosenbergs, Alameda County Labor Party, Communist Party of Los Angeles, Socialist Labor Party, and other organizations, groups, and publications focused on sociopolitical issues. Topics include: socialism, marxism, labor, communism, fascism, McCarthyism, the Red Scare, war, political campaigns and elections, and others. Language of Material: English . Conditions Governing Access There are no access restrictions on this collection. Conditions Governing Use All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained. Preferred Citation For information about citing archival material, see the Citations for Archival Material guide, or consult the appropriate style manual. Scope and Contents The John Martin "Jack" Weatherwax Collection (1913-1981, undated) contains 32 boxes and 12.6 linear feet of material that documents Weatherwax's career as a writer, journalist, publisher, union activist and political activist. Series I: Personal Papers contains financial documents and correspondence mostly related to properties in Washington State and Jamaica; as well as family genealogy, notes, business cards, and other material. Series II: Writings and Notes contains drafts of manuscripts, essays, articles, radio transcripts, film treatments, notes, revisions, and research material related to works authored or co-authored by John Weatherwax. Series III: Correspondence contains letters regarding topics such as real estate and construction projects, writing projects, holidays, health, trips, and politics. Series IV: Subject File contains letters, pamphlets, brochures, newsletters, flyers, leaflets, mailers, and other documents mostly related to civil liberties, constitutional rights, African Americans, the Chicano movement, the United Nations; and other political and socioeconomic movements and organizations. This series is divided into twelve sub-series as follows: Sub-Series A: Red Scare, Smith Act, McCarthyism, Communism; Sub-Series B: McCarran Act; Sub-Series C: American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born/Los Angeles Committee for Protection of Foreign Born; Sub-Series: D: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Case; Sub-Series E: National Federation for Constitutional Liberties; Sub-Series F: Socialism, Marxism, Labor, Fascism, Trotskyism; Sub-Series G: May Day; Sub-series H: Anti-War; Sub-series I: Alameda County Labor Party; Sub-Series J: California Politics; Sub-series K: Leo Gallagher Campaign; Sub-Series L: Other Material. Finally, Series V: Kate Crane Gartz contains correspondence, poems, clippings, photographs, and activism ephemera related to Kate Crane Gartz, as well material related to Gartz's travel diary "Around the World with Kate Crane Gartz". Inventory of the John M. SPC.2015.005 2 Weatherwax Collection SPC.2015.005 Processing Information Processed by Kendall Hinesley in 2015. Additonal processing took place in 2018 and 2021. Separated Materials Copies of books by Weatherwax including: The Founders of Los Angeles The Prophets, The Man Who Stole a Continent, The African Contribution, and The Efficent Life have been cataloged and shelved seperately. Oversized material has been removed and placed into Map Case 4, Drawer 5. Related Materials While it is not clear what happened to Jacks files, it is clear that they were dispersed far and wide. The main bulk of Jack's papers are now at CSU Dominguez Hills. Layout materials for his pamphlets came with the Ligon Aquarian Bookstore Collection. The bulk of materials including correspondence and manuscripts were purchased. After 2016 a good deal of Jack's papers were available through antiquarian booksellers. The papers relating to Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera were donated to the Archives of American Art by Seema. Another segment of the Rivera episode was sold to the Newberry Library in Chicago. See also "A Collaboration: Diego Rivera, John Weatherwax, and the Popol Vuh," by Lucretia Hoover Giese in the Archives of American Art Journal. Vol. 39, No. 3/4 (1999), pp. 2-10 (9 pages) Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. The important materials saved by Seema including her photographs are located at Stanford University and the University of California, Santa Cruz. The Idella Purnell Collection at University of Texas, Austin hold materials relating to Jack and Idella. According to Seema's biography the Paul Robeson Center may have housed Jack's collection of African American books and portfolios at some point. Currently there are several collections at CSUDH relating to Weatherwax that were purchased at different times, but at one time were together in the file the Weatherwax's left in Los Angeles. Those collections include: Alfred and Bernice Ligon Aquarian Collection Anti-New Deal Collection (possibly collected by Weatherwax) Biographical / Historical John Martin "Jack" Weatherwax- a writer and political activist was born on July 18, 1900 in Aberdeen, Washington. He died on January 18, 1985 in Santa Cruz, California just a few weeks after moving from Los Angeles, California where he had resided since the 1930s. He was the son of Dora Mabel Bryant (1871-1954) and Clyde Benjamin Weatherwax (1865-1917). At the time of Weatherwax's birth, Aberdeen in Grays Harbor County, which has been referred to as the Gateway to the Olympic Peninsula, was a center of the lumber industry with a large number of lumber mills. During Weatherwax's youth, the Grays Harbor area was also a hotbed for labor unrest and the home of a large contingent of the I.W.W. union also known as Wobblies. Nearby Centralia was the site of the Centralia massacre in which six people died when the Wobblies engaged American Legionnaires. This connection to labor unrest in the lumber industry also led to a creative spark. During the 1930s, several novels (lumped together as "proletarian" novels) were generated by folks who had grown up in and worked around the lumber industry around Aberdeen/Grays Harbor. In addition to the prominent writer Robert Cantwell ( Laugh and Lie Down, The Land of Plenty), Louis Colman ( Lumber!) and Clara Weatherwax ( Marching! Marching!) wrote novels focused on the lumber industry near Aberdeen between 1931 and 1935. Clara was John M. Weatherwax's sister and co-author with John of a few children's books. Cantwell and Clara Weatherwax attended the same high school, which was named after Clara and Jack's grandfather, the J.M. Weatherwax High School. A review of Marching! Marching! in the February 1936 edition of the New Republic gave Cantwell the opportunity to muse about the literary output of his hometown. The novel was awarded a prize as the best American novel on a proletarian theme in a contest sponsored by the John Day Publishing Company and New Masses. Jack Weatherwax would also try his hand at documenting the Lumber Industry in Aberdeen with a series of screen treatments entitled "Skidroad," "Timber Pirate," and "Three-Star Marshall". According to the book On The Harbor edited by John C. Hughes and Ryan Teague Beckwith, J.M. Weatherwax (1826-1896) was a Grays Harbor pioneer who led his family from Michigan and who opened the area's third lumber mill in 1886. Sources vary on how much wealth the Weatherwax Family generated in the last two decades of the 19th century, but they consistently point out they lost a lot of that wealth. The lumber mill was no longer owned by the family by the late 1890s. In turn the J.M. Weatherwax High School opened in 1908.