Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#3862
WILLIAM RUTHRAUFF AMBERSON PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: William Ruthrauff Amberson (1894- ), professor
at the University of Tennessee Medical School at
Memphis, 1930-1937, advisor to the Southern Tenant
Farmers Union, and trustee of the Delta and Providence
Cooperative Farms in Mississippi.
Primarily personal correspondence relating
to Amberson’s activities as a member of the Socialist
Party and his relationship with the Southern Tenant
Farmers Union (STFU) and the Delta and Providence
Cooperative Farms. Also included are a few clippings,
manuscript copies of some speeches and articles,
eviction notices, and several financial papers,
including receipts of tenants and expense sheets of H.
L. Mitchell, secretary of the STFU. Also scattered
through the main body of the papers are items dealing
with the Socialist Party in Tennessee, the Communist
Party in the South, the Llano del Rio Cooperative
Colony in Louisiana, race relations, the condition of
the southern tenant farmer, and southern politics.
Correspondents include Roger Baldwin, C. T. Carpenter,
Sam H. Franklin, Robert S. Keebler, Howard Kester,
Koss Kimberlin, George Lambert, A. James McDonald,
Mary Connor Myers, Clarence Senior, Frank Trager,
Blaine Treadway, James Peter Warbasse, and Lawrence
Westbrook.
Online Catalog Terms:
Agriculture, Cooperative—Louisiana.
Agriculture, Cooperative—Mississippi.
Agriculture—Mississippi—History—20th century.
Amberson, William Ruthrauff, 1894- .
Baldwin, Roger Nash, 1884- .
Carpenter, Charles Thomas.
Communist Party (U.S.).
Delta Cooperative Farm (Hillhouse, Miss.).
Franklin, Sam H.
Keebler, Robert Samuel, 1889- .
Kester, Howard, 1904-1977.
Kimberlin, Koss.
Lambert, George.
Llano Colony (Secular community).
McDonald, Alexander James, 1876- .
Mitchell, H. L. (Henry Leland), 1906-1989.
Myers, Mary Connor.
Providence Cooperative Farm.
Race relations—Southern States—History—20th century.
Senior, Clarence Ollson, 1903-1974.
Socialist Party (U.S.).
Southern States—Politics and government—20th century.
Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union.
Tenant farmers—Southern States—Economic conditions.
Tenant farmers—Southern States—Social conditions.
Tennessee—Politics and government—20th century.
Trade-unions—Agricultural laborers—Southern States.
Trager, Frank.
Treadway, Blaine.
Warbasse, James Peters, 1866-1957.
Westbrook, Lawrence.
Size: About 100 items (1.5 linear feet).
Date Span: 1933-1972.
Provenance: Received from W. R. Amberson of Falmouth, Mass.,
1968-1973.
Access: No restrictions.
Related Collections: Southern Tenant Farmers Union Records (#3472);
Delta and Providence Farms Records (#3474).
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States
copyright law.
Table of Contents:
Description
DESCRIPTION
Mostly personal correspondence of William R. Amberson,
concerning the Southern Tenant Farmers Union (STFU), the Delta
and Providence Cooperative Farms, the Socialist Party, and
related matters. Also included in the papers are a few
clippings, manuscript copies of some speeches and articles,
eviction notices and several financial papers, including receipts
of tenants and expense sheets of H. L. Mitchell, secretary of the
STFU.
The 1933-1937 papers deal mostly with the STFU in Arkansas and
Oklahoma. There are no papers for 1938. 1939-1940 concerns
principally the Cooperative Farms. There are only seven letters
between 1945 and 1968, including one from Norman Thomas in 1968.
Other topics scattered through the main body of the papers are
the Socialist Party of Tennessee, the Communist Party in the
South, the Llano del Rio Cooperative Colony of Louisiana, race
relations, the conditions of the southern tenant farmers and
southern politics.
Principal correspondents are Roger Baldwin, ACLU, 1934-1939; Paul
Bruton, AAA, 1934; C. T. Carpenter, 1934-1937; Editors of The Nation,
1933-1937; Powers Hapgood, 1935 (one letter); Brooks Hays (one letter), 29
July 1937; Robert S. Keebler (Govt. Lawyer), 1934-1936; Howard Kester,
1935-1937; Koss Kimberlin, 1940-1943; George Lambert, 1936-1937; A. James
McDonald, 1935-1957; Lucille B. Milner, ACLU, 1934; H. L. Mitchell,
1934-1937; Mary Connor Myers, AAA, 1935-1936; Clarence Senior, 1935-1936;
W. H. Stultz, 1934; Norman Thomas, 1934-1937, 1968; Frank Trager,
1936-1937; Blaine Treadway, 1940-1941; Rupert B. Vance, 1934; James Peter
Warbasse, 1936-1937; and Lawrence Westbrook, 1936-1937.
ADDITIONS
1969
Correspondence between W. R. Amberson and Sam H. Franklin, Jr., Dec.
1935-Feb. 1937, concerning the eviction of Union people from the farms
where they worked, plans for a cooperative farm, developments at the Delta
Cooperative Farm, of which Sam H. Franklin was director in 1936, and the
problem of financial support for the Delta farm at Hillhouse, Miss. Dr.
Amberson was in Memphis during this time. Included is a copy of the
Constitution and By-laws of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, approved by
the executive council (pamphlet, 8 pp., undated, placed in Southern
Pamphlet Collection). Also included are two relevant clippings dated 11
May 1934, and 29 Feb. 1936.
1972
1934. Materials on the League of Industrial Democracy’s
local lecture committee; Socialist Party matters; the tenant
farmer situation at Tyronza, Ark., the resulting unrest, strife
and investigation; a tri-state rural economic survey in the
spring; and the writing of articles and reports. Among the
correspondents are Norman Thomas, Paul Bruton, H. L. Mitchell at
Tyronza, Robert S. Keebler, Buck Jones and George McLean in
Mississippi, C. L. Buck in Missouri, officers and employees of
American Civil Liberties Union and AAA, other members of
voluntary committees, and government lawyers. Clippings and
published articles of 1934 added to Folder 8.
1935. Correspondence on the same topics as in 1934—the
Tyronza situation, Ward Rodgers, etc. Dr. Amberson’s
correspondents include Robert S. Keebler, Roger Baldwin, Mary
Connor Myers, Frank W. McCulloch, John Herling, and others
connected with the Department of Agriculture, FERA, members of
committees and commissions, professors, and local people in
Arkansas. Clippings and published articles of 1935 added to
Folder 13b.
1936-1937; 1939. Correspondence with the ACLU, LID, STFU, and
with various government lawyers and officials of the AAA, FERA,
Federal Power Commission, and United States Department of Labor.
Also correspondence about articles for publication in 1937, and
about Amberson’s resignation from the Board of Delta Cooperative
Farm in April 1939.
1940-1959. Letters from A. J. McDonald. All signed “Mac.”
1972. Amberson’s Dillinger story concerning events of 1934.
1973
Sample settlement sheets (accounts of tenant and landowner),
Scott, Miss., 22 Nov. 1933.
Tri-State Rural Economic Survey (forms completed for about 35
farm laborers), Mar. 1934. Added to Folder 2b.
“The Plight of the Southern Share Cropper,” by Olive M. Stone,
Washington, D. C., 8 Dec. 1934. (Mimeographed, 4 pp.).
Federal document. Senate bill - 2367 (74th Congress, first session), 9
May 1935. Reported by Mr. Bankhead - “To Create Farmers Home
Corporation....”
Packet of newspaper clippings, New York and Memphis, regarding
tenant farmers in the south, their plight and activities, 1934, 1935, and
undated. Added as Folder 13c.
Xerox copy of an article “To Rescue the South,” by William R.
Amberson, Christian Register, pp. 178-180, 18 Mar. 1937.
Xerox copy of a letter dated 2 May 1939, from J. P. Warbasse,
president of the Cooperative League of the USA., New York, to Amberson, and
copy of Amberson’s statement of 22 Feb. 1939, resigning from the Board of
Cooperative Farms.
Issues of The Share-Croppers Voice, Vol. I, Numbers 1 (Apr.
1935?), 3 (June 1935), 5 (Aug. 1935), and 10 (Jan. 1936). Also 2 undated
mimeographed sheets. Added as Folder 27.
Folder 1 1933
1934
2a-e. Jan.-June
3 July-Oct.
4 Nov. 1-16
5 Nov. 17-30
6 Dec. 1-17
7 Dec. 18-31
8 Undated; Clippings and Published Articles
1935
9 Jan. 1-17
10 Jan. 18-31
11 Feb.-Mar.
12 Apr.-Aug.
13a. Sep.-Dec.
13b. Clippings and Published Articles
13c. Newspaper Clippings
1936
14 Jan.-Feb.
15 Mar.-July
16 Aug.-Nov.
17 Dec.
1937
18 Jan.-Feb.
19 Mar.-Dec.
20 1939
1940
21 Jan.-May
22 June-Dec.
23 1941
24 1942-43
1945-46
1949
1954
1957
1968-72
25 Undated
26 The Llano Cooperative Colony and What It Taught, by A.
James McDonald (Manuscript)
27 Issues of The Share-Croppers Voice