CRWS Archives and Resources

The Center is actively engaged in gathering data and resources that can be used by scholars studying the Right. These include:

READ MORE ABOUT THESE RESOURCES BELOW

Other resources:

John Birch Society and Related Audio and Visual Recordings from the 1960s / early 1970s

This collection of rare audio and visual recordings used to recruit and mobilize individuals in the 1960s and early 1970s was donated to CRWS and is available for listening/viewing in the CRWS auido-video archive.  The materials were transferred from their original format (3x3” audio tapes, 5x5” audio tapes, 7x7” audio tapes, 14x14” film) to CDs and DVDs, thanks to generous funding provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The collection includes recordings of workshops, lectures, films, spot ads, and other educational materials used by the John Birch Society (JBS) to recruit new members and promote right-wing causes following the Second Red Scare. The collection also includes audio recordings of right-wing figures such as Phyllis Schlafly, Lola Belle Holmes, G. Edward Griffin, W. Cleon Skousen, and Robert Welch, who describe the perceived communist threat to American democracy. Several recordings explain the logics behind JBS recruitment and organizing strategies (e.g., Operation Book Sales). Films in the collection include, among others, Katanga: The Untold Story, a case study that accuses the U.S. and U.N. of colluding with Soviet powers to form a new world government; The Grand Design, a filmed lecture in which G. Edward Griffin explains the communist-led threat of world government; and In One Generation, a banquet speech by Robert Welch in which he recites chosen excerpts from The Blue Book verbatim to show how the book he authored in 1959 predicted the communist-sympathizing actions of the U.S. government during the previous 15 years.

Scholars who are interested in obtaining access to these recordings should consult the finding aid to see which particular DVD's you want access to. Once you have those details, email crws@berkeley.edu to set up an appointment to view the DVDs. Unfortunately we do not have an archivist who can help you find material related to a specific topic. Scholars will need to bring their own laptop, CD-Rom reader, and headphones with them in order to listen to/view the collection.

CCSRWM-People for the American Way Archive of Conservative Political Ephemera, 1980-2004

In June of 2010, People for the American Way donated its vast and unique collection of materials on the American Right to CRWS (formerly known as CCSRWM).  This archive is permanently housed at UC Berkeley's prestigious Bancroft Library, one of the largest and most heavily used libraries of manuscripts, rare books, and unique materials in the United States.

Comprised of approximately 1,220 organizations, 300 individual files, and 80 rare right-wing magazines and newspapers, the Collection charts the flourishing movements of American conservatism from the 1980s to the early twenty-first century. The materials in the collection, which include organizations' and individuals' pamphlets, direct mailings, publications, speeches, conference programs, internal financial records, membership lists, fundraising strategies, voter guides, manuals, and biographies document the ideological orientations, policy positions, talking points, and organizational structures and strategies of hundreds of right-wing organizations, individuals, and publications. A large portion of the collection focuses specifically on documents associated with the "religious right." Of particular interest (due to scope) are materials pertaining to the American Family Association, Christian Coalition, Coalition for Better TV, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council, the Moral Majority, and the Pat Robertson Papers. Additionally, there are comprehensive collections of the following publications: Charisma & Christian Life, Chalcedon Report, Chronicle, Focus on the Family and New American.

Issues covered in the Collection include political strategy and tactics, taxation, race, guns, the judiciary, marriage, homosexuality, foreign policy, the military, and the role of religion in American politics It is our hope that political  scientists, sociologists, historians, legal scholars, policy makers, and other scholars will use the collection to illuminate our historical and social understanding of the American Right. 

Read more about the materials in the Collection and how to access them. Please do not contact CRWS re accessing these materials as we cannot help you with that.

View a list of the names of organizations, individuals and publications that comprise the materials in the archive. 

CRWS-People for the American Way Archive of Conservative Broadcasting

CRWS's video archive consists of approximately 2,200 DVDs with content transferred from the videotape collection of People For the American Way (PFAW). PFAW recorded network and cable broadcasting throughout the 1980s, 90s and 2000s, widely documenting year-to-year developments among major figures and organizations of the right. Televangelist broadcasts occupy a good portion of the archive, including such television programs as Pat Robertson's 700 Club, The Old Time Gospel Hour, and Falwell Live, among others. In many instances the archive finding aid indicates the guests or issues covered on a particular show. The archive also includes speeches by important figures on the right (e.g. Ronald Reagan, Pat Buchanan); coverage of important Congressional proceedings (e.g. the Bork nomination); coverage of important conservative events (e.g., The Conservative Political Action Convention); and one-off productions on particular subjects by right-wing groups (e.g., Falwell's film on the Clintons, Circle of Power).

The video archive is housed at CRWS.  Scholars who are interested in obtaining access to these recordings should consult the finding aidto see which particular DVD's you want access to. Once you have those details, email crws@berkeley.edu to set up an appointment to view the DVDs. Unfortunately we do not have an archivist who can help you find material related to a specific topic. Scholars will need to bring their own laptop, CD-Rom reader, and headphones with them in order to listen to/view the collection.

Read more about the video archive and access the collection's finding aid.

The "Primary Source Documents" page makes all primary source documents related to the Archive of Conservative Video Broadcasting available to researchers. These documents may be used to conduct additional text-based research that will supplement and complement video-based research. Researchers can also use this section to double-check descriptive information provided in the searchable database and learn more about programming for which there is no video held in the archive.

Bibliography of Academic Theses and Dissertations on the American Right 

CRWS is pleased to make available Ernie's Lazar's extensive bibliography of academic theses and PhD dissertations on the American Right. Mr. Lazar has spent three decades collecting archival material on the right wing and is committed to making his work available to a wide audience of researchers. The list is organized thematically and some of its citations go back more than 50 years. To our knowledge, this is the most exhaustive directory of its kind available on line or elsewhere.

The Bibliography is organized around the following subject areas:

  • Anti-Communism / Red Scare / House Committee on Un-American Activities / Subversion / Internal Security / FBI / COINTELPRO
  • Anti-Evolution / Creationism
  • Anti-Semitic Individuals, Groups, and Ideology / Jews and Communism
  • Conspiracy Theories in Politics, Literature, Cinema
  • Conservative History, Philosophy, and Politics / New Right / Neo-Conservatism / Libertarianism / Anti-Statism
  • Christian Right Leaders, Politics & History / Fundamentalist & Apocalyptic Ideology / Christian Reconstructionism & Christian Identity Movements
  • Holocaust Denial and Revisionism
  • Illuminati and Freemasonry / Anti-Masonic Movement / Jesuit Conspiracy Theories / Anti-Enlightenment
  • John Birch Society
  • McCarthyism / Sen. Josephy R. McCarthy
  • Miscellaneous Controversies: Persons, Groups, Publications and Ideas Attacked By Right Wing
  • Neo-Nazi Movement / American Nazi Party / Fascism in U.S. or Elsewhere / Authoritarian Belief Systems
  • Power Elites / Council on Foreign Relations / Trilateral Commission / Bilderbergers / New World Order / Cecil Rhodes and Roundtable / Foundations
  • Right-Wing Extremism--General / Radical Right / Patriot Movement / Militias / Posse Comitatus / Biographies
  • White Supremacy and Nativism: Individuals, Groups, Ideology / KKK / White Citizens Councils / State Sovereignty Commissions / Anti-Catholicism / Know-Nothing Party / Racism / Segregation / Jim Crow

 Download a PDF of the Bibliography. 

FBI Freedom of Information Act Archive of Radical Right-Wing Groups and Individuals

This archive is an extensive collection of materials released in redacted form by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in accordance with requests made under the Freedom of Information Act by Ernie Lazar over the course of more than three decades. It contains 40,000 pages of printed material the Bureau collected on radical right-wing groups and individuals, as well as newspaper articles dealing with groups and individuals being monitored by the FBI. In addition, the FBI files often contain detailed background information about individuals, as well as private correspondence. 

From 2017-2019 CRWS scanned over 40,000 pages of files contained in the collection and converted them to searchable PDF documents that can now be accessed at CRWS. They are all available online in the Internet Archive Ernie Lazar FOIA Collection. This site has an excellent search function, but you may also consult this finding aid and then look for the file at the link above. We also have back-up files so if you are not able to find the file you are looking for at the link above, contact crws@berkeley.edu to make an appointment to come in.

Archives and Private Papers Pertaining to Conservative and Extreme Right Movements in the United States

Prepared by independent scholar Ernie Lazar, this annotated bibliography includes descriptions of and links to:

  • Personal papers of conservative or extreme right individuals who acquired a significant amount of right-wing publications and/or who correspondend with many prominent conservative or extreme right persons and organizations;
  • Conservative organizations or publications or TV/radio programs that donated their records to an institution;
  • Research files by scholars, organizations and authors who studied and wrote about the conservative and extreme right movements in the U.S.;
  • Videos of speeches made by right-wing personalities or listings of radio/TV interview programs hosted by right-wing personalities;
  • Personal papers of politicians and public figures who have been subjected to attacks by the right-wing;
  • Links to databases or other archival references pertaining to conservative/extreme right history.

Download a copy of the annotated bibliography.

Sara Diamond Collection on the Religious and Political Right

Research materials on the religious and political right gathered by Sara Diamond during the 1980s and 1990s are now available for scholars to access at the UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library.

The collection consists of 66 linear feet of materials (50 cartons, 1 box, 6 oversize boxes) that document organizations, individuals, and topics connected to right-wing movements in the United States, mainly in the 1980s and 1990s but also, to some extent, in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Included are mailings; newspapers, magazines, and other publications generated by right-wing organizations; correspondence; conference brochures and handouts; books published by right-wing individuals and organizations; reports; news clippings; and assorted other research material.

View the collection's finding aid here. For more information about the collection and how to access it click here. Please do not contact CRWS re accessing these materials as we cannot help you with that.

Sara Diamond is a practising attorney in Berkeley, California. She received an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Irvine, a doctorate in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a law degree from Hastings College of Law. Her dissertation was entitled Right-Wing Movements in the United States, 1945-1992.  She is the author of four books on the political and religious right in the United States, including Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right, Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States, Facing the Wrath: Confronting the Right in Dangerous Times, and Not by Politics Alone: The Enduring Influence of the Christian Right.

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