Introduction & Background

The Social Movements Collection consists of pamphlets, brochures, and periodicals about the labor movement in the United States as well as global radical political movements, including anarchism, communism, and fascism. The bulk of this collection was acquired by the University of Hawaii at Manoa Library in 1966 from Eugene Bechtold, a bookseller and former instructor at the Chicago Worker’s School. Mr. Bechtold began collecting this material in the 1920s. The collection also includes items from the collection of John Reineke.

There are approximately 10,000 items in the collection. Approximately 3,000 items have been cataloged so far. Many of the items are very fragile and need preservation. This Web page is the first part of a pilot project to preserve, catalog and make available this import resource.

Digital Images

We have digitized approximately 500 covers from the Social Movements collection. Some of the digital images contain flaws or defects that are apparent in the originals, and many appear to be distorted or unaligned due to the original printing being the same. Additionally, handwritten notes, tears, or other markings or damages may appear on the images. Care has been taken to duplicate the originals as closely as possible, including mistakes or damages.

Goals for the Future

UHM Preservation Dept. initiated this project to insure access to and preservation of this significant resource. This project has been completed over the past four years, largely by UHM students.

The goal of UHM Library is to obtain a national grant to preserve this collection of pamphlets through deacidification and to make certain texts available through digitization.