Library of Social History collection

Institution Library.) United States materials are nevertheless voluminous, including issuances of rival organizations,
materials on the trade-union, unemployed and women's movements, and a large number of Communist Party pamphlets.
The other three series of the Library of Social History Collection are thematically related. The Cuban Revolutionary
Government Series is devoted to speeches and writings of leaders of the revolutionary government that came to power in
Cuba in 1959 under the aegis of the Movimiento Revolucionario 26 de Julio. The Nicaraguan Revolutionary Government
Series covers speeches and writings of leaders of the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional revolutionary government of
1979 to 1990 in Nicaragua. The Grenadian Revolutionary Government Series covers speeches and writings of leaders of the
New Jewel Movement revolutionary government of 1979 to 1983 in Grenada. As might be expected in light of the durability
of its subject, the Cuban Revolutionary Government Series is much the largest of these three. Speeches and writings of
Fidel Castro through 1991 alone account for more than 30 manuscript boxes. Arrangement of all three series is parallel.
Within each series materials are listed alphabetically by name of individual revolutionary leader and thereunder in
chronological order. Materials are printed in most cases, but derived from such diverse sources as to render the aggregate
unique and its duplication impracticable. At the end of each series are materials not attributable to a single leader.
Wherever possible these are listed alphabetically by issuing agency. The Grenadian Revolutionary Government Series also
includes a microfiche set of Grenadian documents captured by U.S. armed forces.
All materials in the collection relating to Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada are concentrated in the last three series.
Consequently there are no entries for these countries in the Fourth International Series. A modest amount of material on
Fourth International affiliates in Cuba and Nicaragua may be found in the Cuban and Nicaraguan Revolutionary Government
Series respectively.
Scope and Content of the Incremental Materials
The Hoover Institution Archives acquired holdings of the Library of Social History, New York City, in 1991. A Register to the
Library of Social History Collection was prepared in 2000 and remains the principal overall description of and finding aid to
the collection. Since its preparation additional shipments of material have been received, boxes 266-307.
The most significant portion of the addendum is the Nicaraguan Revolutionary Government Series, which is a continuation
of the series of the same name in the main body of the collection. It consists of issuances of and materials about the Frente
Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) revolutionary government of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990. Most of this material
is printed or near-print but is derived from such diverse sources as to make it a uniquely valuable documentary resource. It
includes documentation on the origins and early factional struggles within the FSLN prior to the revolution of 1979; writings
of and biographical materials about the FSLN founder Carlos Fonseca Amador; statutes, official reports and statistics
documenting FSLN governmental programs; international assessments of the government's performance (mainly from
academic journals and from left-wing theoretical journals); and documentation of the decline and fall of the FSLN
government. It also includes many speeches, statements and interviews of FSLN government leaders, notably Daniel
Ortega (president), Sergio Ramírez (vice president), Tomás Borge (minister of the interior), Humberto Ortega (minister of
defense), Ernesto Cardenal (minister of culture), Henry Ruíz (minister of planning), Jaime Wheelock (minister of agriculture
and agrarian reform), Luís Carrión (deputy minister of the interior), Bayardo Arce, and Victor Tirado.
Foldering of materials by the Library of Social History has been largely retained. Folders tended to fall into two
categories-those whose contents were from the same narrow time frame and those whose contents had a common topical
theme. The dual criteria of arrangement suggested division of the series into a Chronological Subseries and an Alphabetical
(topical) Subseries. Most materials relating to the earliest period and to the latest period of FSLN history respectively will be
found in the Chronological Subseries, while most materials relating to substantive activities of the FSLN while in
government power during the intervening period will be found in the Alphabetical Subseries. Researchers will wish to
consult both subseries, however.
The General Subject File consists of material on a variety of topics relevant to international twentieth-century revolutionary
movements. These include the Fourth International and its sections in various countries; Soviet anti-Trotskyism and political
trials; social legislation in the Soviet Union; the Soviet-Yugoslav breach; the revolutionary governments of Cuba and
Grenada; and revolutionary struggle in South Africa. The material consists mostly of pamphlets and other printed items, but
there is also noteworthy unpublished material. This includes academic dissertations and other typescript studies; a
multi-volume collection of writings by Ernesto Guevara, typeset but apparently unpublished; and a multi-volume
documentary history of revolutionary movements in South Africa, likewise typeset but unpublished.
A series of Monographs contains substantial printed volumes on similar subjects. Other books and serial runs have been
incorporated into the holdings of the Hoover Institution Library.
A small Audiovisual File includes miscellaneous items, notably a number of mounted photographs of Barcelona during the
Spanish Civil War. There is also a small Oversize File.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Register of the Library of Social
History Collection
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