The Labadie Collection- Why U-M Has the Largest Collection of Anarchist Ephemera in the U.S.

From YouTube by Firelake Media

Did you know that the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor has the largest collection of anarchist ephemera in the United States? It also has the oldest collection of radical literature in the United States. This assortment of literature and ephemera is called The Labadie Collection, and is on the sixth floor of the Harlan Hatcher Library. It is named after a Detroit anarchist named Jo Labadie who lived from 1850-1933. Ever the pack rat and collector of radical material, Labadie donated twenty crates of goods from his attic to the University of Michigan in 1911. This small collection eventually exploded into taking up a whole floor at the U-M Graduate library, and it includes writings of the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski. How has it lasted all these years? I talk with the librarian and curator of The Labadie Collection, Julie Herrada, to paint a fuller picture of the story.

Back to books, back to ideas

From Anarchist Libraries Network

Back to the roots, back to material solidity. To real discussions, physical spaces of confrontation before connection. Faced with a reality that crumbles between our fingers, with a memory of what anarchist thought once was — now fading in the face of media doublethink and the sweet constraint of new communication channels — the only choice was to rethink the conflicting relationship between what this world imposes — digitization and the dematerialization of relationships — and what we carry in our hearts and refuse to abandon — the rejection of consensus and the love for unique, sensual encounters between individuals struggling against this existing order.

Upstate Anarchist Book Fair report back

From SHH! THIS IS A LIBRARY! by Rocinante

A brief, yet triumphant report back from the first annual Upstate New York Anarchist Book Fair[1].

It was organized by and held at the PM Press space with help from Riot Act Books. PM Press recently moved their warehouse to Binghamton, New York, which is a Leatherstocking city in the southern tier of what has come to be known as New York, along the lines of the Rust Belt, sitting just outside of the Burned Over District, in the lands of the Onondaga, as the rivers of the Susquehanna and Chenango meet in present day downtown Binghamton.

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