00701.xml IRENE PAULL: An Inventory of Her Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society Finding aid prepared by Frank Hennessy. Minnesota Historical Society
St. Paul, MN.

Manuscripts Collection

 Finding aid encoded by Christopher G. Welter, February 2009. Finding aid written in English. OVERVIEW Minnesota Historical Society Paull, Irene, 1908-1981. Irene Paull papers. 1934-1981. Materials in English. Photocopied correspondence (1964-1966, 1972-1977, 1980?), literary notebooks (1958-1975), published works (1937-1981), typescripts of prose, poetry, and acting skits by Minnesota-born writer and political activist Irene Paull; her compiled collections of material on progressive politics and labor movements in Minnesota (undated and 1907-1959); and memorials or condolences for William Heikkila (1959-1960), Martin Mackie (1967), and Irene Paull (1981). 1.0 cu. ft. (1 box). 149.C.7.2F: See Detailed Description for shelf location. SCOPE AND CONTENTS

Born in Duluth, Minnesota, on April 18, 1908, Irene (Levine) Paull was a writer and radical labor activist who married Henry Paull, a Duluth attorney who was retained as counsel in multiple cases involving radical labor and political groups. The collection consists of Paull's personal papers, as well as material she collected about progressive politics and Minnesota labor movements.

Her personal papers consist of primarily photocopied correspondence (1964-1966, 1972-1977, 1980?); literary notebooks (1958-1975); published works (1937-1981); typescripts of prose, poetry, and acting skits; a memorial program and condolence letters upon her death (August 12, 1981); material on William Heikkila (1959-1960), a Finnish immigrant and ex-communist; material on Martin Mackie (1967), a communist labor and political leader from the Mesabi Iron Range; poetry of Arnold E. Johnson; and a forty-eight page transcript of Paull's interview (May 1972) with Stanley Volansky, a survivor of a Nazi-run Polish ghetto.

The correspondence is primarily between herself and Morris U. Schappes, editor of Jewish Currents. Other correspondents include Peter Werner and William Jones, civil rights activists who worked with Paull in Hattiesberg, Mississippi, and Carol Jochnowitz, another Jewish Currents editor. Topics include a discussion of German and Jewish character based on a critical article Paull wrote about Werner's German background (March 26-June 10, 1965); her friendship with Fannie Lou Hamer and her assistance in Hamer's book writing (1965); her fight against cancer and its interference with her writing (1965-1966); jobs she held other than writing; a discussion of Black and Jewish relations resulting from an anti-Semitic hate letter Paull received (June 3-July 25, 1966); her views on charges of Jewish nationalism and Zionism brought by the leaders of the U.S. Communist Party in an effort to expel Paul Novick, editor of the Yiddish-language Morning Freiheit (March 9, 1972); her relationship with her children; and Jewish Currents' presentation of the Joseph Shachnow Prize to Paull, including an article from the magazine containing a tribute to Paull, along with her response (June 1977).

The notebooks are typed and handwritten and contain prose portions, occasional correspondence, journal entries, and passages from others' published work. Her own published works appear in magazines, in particular Jewish Currents (October 1958-March 1979), and pro-labor newspapers, in particular The Worker, Midwest Labor (written pseudonymously as "Calamity Jane"), and Minnesota Labor. Among the prose typescripts are two self-reflective pieces (ca. 1980), precursors to an anthology of her work, Irene, that was ultimately published by Midwest Villages & Voices (1996). Upon Paull's death, friends and family held a memorial service (October 11, 1981), for which there is a printed program. There are also numerous condolence letters and cards addressed to Paull's daughter, Bonnie, including one from folk singer Pete Seeger recalling the time he and Woody Guthrie stayed over with the Paulls in their Duluth home in 1941.

The material on progressive politics and labor movements in Minnesota is concentrated in three areas: Chester Watson and Workers Alliance (1934-1940), International Woodworkers of America, Local 12-29 (1944-1959), and mining and farm strikes (undated, 1907, 1947).

 CATALOG HEADINGS

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics: African Americans -- Relations with Jews. Agriculture -- Minnesota -- Economic aspects. Civil rights workers -- United States. Communists -- Minnesota. Deportation -- United States. Farm foreclosures -- South Dakota -- Sisseton. Finnish Americans -- Minnesota. Iron mines and mining -- Minnesota. Jewish authors. Jewish communists. Jews, American -- Political activity. Iron miners -- Labor unions -- Minnesota. Loggers -- Minnesota. Lumbermen -- Labor unions -- Minnesota. Political activists -- Minnesota. Radicals -- Minnesota. Strikes and lockouts -- Iron mining -- Minnesota. Persons: Hamer, Fannie Lou. Heikkila, William Kaino, 1906-1960. Johnson, Arnold E. Mackie, Martin, 1906-1967. Novick, P., 1891-. Paull, Henry, ca. 1900-1947. Schappes, Morris U. (Morris Urman), 1907-. Watson, Chester. Organizations: Industrial Workers of the World. International Woodworkers of America. Local 12-29 (Duluth, Minn.). People's Lobby (Minn.). Timber Producers Association. United States. Work Projects Administration. Western Federation of Miners. Workers' Alliance of Minnesota. Places: Arrowhead Region (Minn.). Sisseton (S.D.) -- Trials, litigation, etc. Document Types: Plays (document genre). Poetry. Titles: Jewish currents. ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Paull, Irene, Irene Paull papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Provenance:

Portions of the Irene Paull papers were donated by Meridel Le Sueur, Paull's friend and literary peer.

 Accession Information:

Accession numbers: 11,008; 12,214; 14,525; 15,631

 Processing Information:

Processed by: Frank Hennessy, November 1991, and Christopher G. Welter, February 2009.

Catalog ID number: 1731035

 DETAILED DESCRIPTION 149.C.7.2F 1 Correspondence, October 1964-June 1966, March 1972-September 1977, [December 1980?].

Correspondents: Carol Jochnowitz, William Jones, Meridel Le Sueur, Morris U. Schappes, and Peter Werner.

 Literary notebooks, undated, 1958-1975. 3 folders. Published works: Jewish Currents, October 1958-March 1979. Miscellaneous magazines, undated, 1951, 1961, 1978-1981. The Worker, undated, 1942, 1948. Midwest Labor, ca. 1937-1944. Minnesota Labor, ca. 1944-1947. Unidentified newspapers, undated. Prose tyepscripts, undated, ca. 1980. 3 folders. Skits and poetry, undated. Irene Paull memorial and condolences, undated, August-December 1981. William Heikkila material, 1959-1960.

Includes two-part pamphlet, "The Strange Case of William Heikkila" (1959), about his deportation to Finland under the McCarran-Walter Act (April 1958) and a memorial booklet upon his death (January 1961).

 Martin Mackie material, 1967. Arnold E. Johnson poetry, undated, 1968. Transcript of Stanley Volansky interview, May 1972. Papers related to progressive politics and labor movements in Minnesota: Chester Watson and Workers Alliance, 1934-1940.

Includes campaign literature related to Chester Watson's congressional election campaigns in Minnesota, first as the Farmer Labor candidate for the first congressional district (1936) and later as the Progressive Farmer Labor candidate for the fourth congressional district (1940); letters (1936) from Senator Ernest Lundeen to Watson discussing the passage of the Frazier Lemke Social Security Bill; and two pamphlets (1935, 1936) from the Northern States Cooperative League. Chester Watson was chairman of the Workers Alliance of Minnesota and the remainder of the material relates directly to the Alliance and to the People's Lobby, which was sponsored by the Alliance. The material includes a program from the People's Pilgrimage (April 4-5, 1937), a mass lobbying effort conducted by the People's Lobby; a pamphlet, "The Truth About the People's Lobby," by Dale Kramer (1937); printed flyers distributed by the Workers Alliance of Minnesota (1938); sheet music for the song "Leaning on a Shovel," music by Chester Watson (1938); a program from the Workers Alliance "Relief" banquet (June 4, 1938); a Saturday Evening Post article, "Who Organized the Unemployed" (December 10, 1938), which discusses ties between the Workers Alliance and the Communist Party; a chronology of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) strike led by the Workers Alliance (July 5-22, 1939); and a copy of the Report on the Minneapolis WPA Crisis of July 1939, prepared by the Citizen's Committee of the WPA (January 1940), which discusses the role of the WPA in America, the Woodrum WPA Act, and the role of public officials and the press during and after the strike.

 International Woodworkers of America, Local 12-29, 1944-1959.

Includes twelve pamphlets (1947-1959) containing agreements between the union and the Lumber Producers Association; a letter (June 5, 1944) from H. D. Grow to the union describing unsanitary conditions in the Martin Steiningers lumber camp; and newspaper clippings (1945) covering union officials' testimony to the Minnesota Senate public health committee on sanitary conditions in the camps.

 Mining and farm strikes, undated, 1907, 1947.

Includes a typescript essay, "The Minnesota Miners Strike of 1907," which describes a strike led by the Western Federation of Miners on the Mesabi Range, a typescript chronology of the strike from the Duluth News Tribune (July 18-October 9, 1907), and quotations related to the strike from the Duluth News Tribune and other sources (July 21-August 7, 1907); a typescript essay, "The Mining Industry of Minnesota," written by Eino Krapu for the Duluth Workers Education of the Minnesota Works Progress Administration, which relates the history of iron mining in the state, statistics on iron ore production and taxation, the organizing activities of the Western Federation of Miners and its split from the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and a miners' strike on the Range led by the IWW (1916); a typescript copy of Henry Paull's statement to a jury in defense of farmers on trial for their actions during a farmers' strike in St. Louis County, Minnesota (1930s); and a typescript transcription of reminiscences (January 21, 1969) dictated to Irene Paull by Julius Walstad (1947), which describe the farmers' struggle in Sisseton, South Dakota, against farm foreclosures in the 1930s and the events that led to the arrest of seventeen farmers for their obstruction of one foreclosure. Henry Paull had been called to Sisseton to defend the farmers and Irene Paul briefly recalls his involvement in the case.