Free Speech Movement Documents

A Hub for scans of the original documents of the FSM.

1/4/1965, We Want a University

Throughout the past semester, the FSM has been producing leaflets and pamphlets at a furious pace. We have been patient, repititious, sometimes boring; we have tried to explain what we're doing and who we are. As we look back at our written communications of the semester, we discover that to some extent we have failed. Each day was an emergency, a crisis, so that although we said important things, issues arose which were not of the moment--important issues which we have not adequately discussed. We take this opportunity to more fully discuss our movement, the University, and our education.

Barbara Stack's page on FSM Documents

Michael Rossman's Who Said What to Whom
Rossman's Alphabetical Index Chronological index Thematic Index of Documents

The Leaflets of the Free Speech Movement: An Introduction

Printing
also see David Lance Goines, THE FREE SPEECH MOVEMENT COMING OF AGE IN THE 1960s
FSM Printing Methods and Machines
Lincoln Cushing article on Berkeley Graphic Arts
Red in black and white: The New Left printing renaissance of the 1960s – and beyond by Lincoln Cushing

FSM Newsletters, edited by Barbara Garson, as pdfs:

I October 9, 1964 text
II October 20, 1964 text
III November 2, 1964 text
IV November 17, 1964 text
V December 10, 1964 text

FSM-issued documents as jpgs:
September-October, 1964 (54 pages)
November, 1964 (101 pages)
Administrative Pressures & Student Political Activity (Rossman-Hollander Report) Hub
December, 1964 (150 pages)
Spring, 1965 (55 pages)
FSM Docs from Reproduction Masters see note on methodology below

PRE FSM
SLATE
Bancroft SLATE Oral Histories
BASCAHCUA: Bay Area Student Committee for the Abolition of the House Committee on Unamerican Activities
1936-1942 Peace Movement

OTHER SOURCES DURING FSM

Press

ACLU
Administration -- coming soon
ASUC
Campus Americans for Democratic Action (1 document; 15 pages)
Committee On Campus Political Activity (68 pages)
CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) (133 pages)
Departmental Organizations
Faculty (Hub page)
Independent Socialist Club (27 items)
International Students
Legal Central
(Hub)
Opposition to FSM (60 pages) USLO Leaflets transcribed
Particle Berkeley (7 pages)
Religious voices (Hub)
Student Undergraduate Association

University Church sign
Spartacists (29 items)
SDS (30 items)
W.E.B. DuBois Club (70 pages)
Progressive Labor Party

POST FSM

1964-1981 Participant Studies Documents Participant Studies (Bibliography)
1964-65 Graduate Coordinating Committee (68 pages) (brief history)
  Associated Graduate Council  
1965 Obscenity (aka "Filthy Speech Movement," "Due Process") see also Goines, The Free Speech Movement, Chap. 50 (57 pp)
1965 Spider Magazine  
1965 Free Student Union (107 pages)
1965-1972 Free University Berkeley (187 pages)
1965-66 FSM Arrestees denied CA Teaching Credentials, appeal, prevail (161 pages)
1965-66 Vietnam Day Committee (160 pages) and contemporary organizations
May, 1968 Vietnam Commencement (57 pages) Note that FSM-A does not own these items
  Education Reform  
  Howard P. Jeter, Seventh Congressional Democratic Club  
  etc., etc., etc.  
     


FREE SPEECH SONGBOOK (early Jan., 1965) as pdf (6.6MB, 17pp, OCR'd)

FSM Objects (punchcards, armbands, buttons, pins, etc.)
FSM Audio Recordings

FSM Press Releases Oct-Jan (as text)

FSM Posters Note that these are all post-FSM. The FSM didn't produce any posters.

FSM Newspaper Headlines

INDEPENDENT CAMPUS NEWSPAPER
1964 09-28 The Gate v2 n4
1964 10-05 The Gate v2 n5
1964 10-12 The Gate v2 n6
1964 10-19 The Gate v2 n7
1964 11-16 The Gate v2 n9
1964 12-07 The Gate v2 n10
1964 12-14 The Gate v2 n11
1965 01-04 The Gate v2 n12
1965 01-11 The Gate v2 n13

A note on method. Not all FSM-issued documents survived. Michael Rossman's inventory was informed by the collection of reproduction masters saved by Print Central. These also provide dates and contectual notes at times, and establish that the FSM printed documents authored by groups within the coalition, such as the University Society of Libertarians and the Iranian Students Group. The FSM also reprinted items from the Faculty Senate, newspapers, and others. Finally, there are multiple masters for important documents which were intended to be circulated widely, pointing to a deep and dedicated typing pool as well as the limited reproduction capacity of each master sheet.

Various methods were used: some proof docs were attached to the folders which held the repro masters, and a few among these turned out to be the only printed copies extant; in some cases the repro master had a light colored face and this was scanned conventionally, with a reflective scanner, with the print showing as dark images; in one case there was a good image on the blotter sleeve holding the master, created by excess ink after the print run, and scanned conventionally; the remaining masters were rested upon a light table (a computer screen showing white) and photographhed by a hand-held Sansung S8+ phone in a dark room, and post-processed in Photoshop. It is possible that prints were never made of some masters, or were made, but not distributed.

You can zoom in on the dcument below, which shows a hand-held photo of the (posed on a light table) master on its two sides and the resultant positive made from the left-most scan.

1964 12-04-05 IRANIAN STUDENTS on 8.5 x 18 Kleen Write perforated sheet