International Labor Defense

File — Box: 2, Folder: 5

Identifier: Folder 5

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: The bulk of the Frank Henry Selden papers range in date from 1930 to 1950. Although held for some time by a third party, the papers were mostly in their original folders when they arrived at the University Archives. For preservation reasons the papers were put into new folders and the original headings were copied from the old folders. Selden probably kept these in simple alphabetic order and so the archive has done the same. The bulk of the material is made up of correspondence. There is also a fair amount of ephemera, which reflects his interests and activities. Texts of speeches he gave are included, as are the unpublished manuscripts he submitted to journals. There are numerous correspondences to journals and magazines. Selden would often respond to an editorial or an article. He typically would label his folder by the name of the magazine he was corresponding with. Thus his opinions on a topic may not appear under the expected topic heading, but rather would come under the name of a magazine. For example, the folder Christian Century may have opinions on religion not found in the folder labeled religion. Selden was involved in the labor movement and many of his papers are related to this topic. Of particular interest to this part of Pennsylvania, is his folder labeled Girard Manufacturing Co. Herein is a record of the strike activities at that plant in the 1940's. Another topic that comprises much of Selden's writing, is the economic causes of war. This is to be expected since many of his papers were written during World War II. Likewise, there are numerous writings on world peace.