SCL HIST 112 (Rutledge)

This collection addresses the history of labor in the postwar years by exploring the impact of the global contest between the United States and the Soviet Union on American workers and labor unions. The essays focus on the actual behavior of Americans in their diverse workplaces and communities during the Cold War. Where previous scholarship on labor and the Cold War has overemphasized the importance of the Communist Party, the automobile industry, and Hollywood, this book focuses on politically moderate, conservative workers and union leaders, the medium-sized cities that housed the majority of the population, and the Roman Catholic Church. These are all original essays that draw upon extensive archival research and some upon oral history sources.

Consisting chiefly of genealogical files are DuBose, Gaillard, MacDowell, McDowell and related families, correspondence with family members in the U.S., Canada, and Scotland, and topical files are Beech Island, S.C., and elsewhere. In addition to family history files, Box 8 includes topical files on various aspects of S.C. history, including churches, cemeteries, the American Revolution in S.C.; and many aspects of life in Beech Island vicinity of Aiken County, S.C., including local families, African Americans, and dueling at Sand Bar Ferry, etc.

The Topical subseries, the largest in the Personal series, documents Culbertson’s many interests and activities. There are extensive Persons files, containing much of his correspondence with well-known figures such as Thurgood Marshall and Eleanor Roosevelt, and others whom he counted among his friends, including Judge J. Waties Waring, Modjeska Simkins, Olin Johnston, and Hubert Humphrey. Culbertson’s relationship with Judge and Mrs. Waring seems to have begun when, in response to the Warings’ critical public remarks about South Carolinians, the General Assembly approved a resolution to purchase the Warings one-way tickets out of the state. This symbolic move was deplored by Culbertson, then a legislator. He personally apologized to the couple and they struck up a correspondence of many years. In 1951, Judge Waring wrote him: “We are thrilled at your magnificent courage and persistency in supporting the right and decency of citizens in this state and we are thrilled to hear how unwavering you and the very few who are with you have been...”

"... While he was not a present father, Hammett did sporadically correspond with his family. The letters that he sent to his daughters and to Josephine are in the collection. After his death, his partner Lillian Hellman was the executrix of his estate and frequently wrote to his daughters concerning the management of the estate. These letters are also included in the collection. Hammett was politically active for decades, participating in several organizations including the Communist Party USA. In the age of McCarthyism, Hammett was swept up in the Red Scare and was imprisoned for refusing to name the sources of bail funds for communists. Later in 1953, he was blacklisted after testifying to a Senate Committee and his writings were branded “subversive”. In the collection are many publications relating to the various political causes that Hammett supported. From the Spanish Civil War to U.S. government guide to subversive organizations..."