Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Social Movements Collection, Accession #9430-f, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection was given to the University of Virginia Library by John Shepherd for the estate of Charles P. Finn, Charlottesville, Virginia, on April 3, 1989.

Biographical/Historical Information

Charles Patrick Finn was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1947. Finn began working for the University of Virginia Library system in 1969 in the Serials section of the Cataloging Department, and remained at Alderman Library until his death in 1988. Finn was one of the founders of the Library's Committee for a Social Movements Collection, which acquired items from social movement groups including newsletters, posters, buttons, mailings, clippings, and stickers throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Finn was an anarchist and was active in politics and the anti-war movement throughout his life. In his own words, Charlie described collecting social movements materials: "My hobby can better be described as an avocation: analysis of the Indochina War and the problems and struggles that conflict has drawn attention to. For me, Vietnam has remained an obsession so that radical political action to end that war and change society takes precedence over more 'conventional' hobbies."

Scope and Content

This collection consists of papers concerning various radical political organizations and social action groups in the United States, including the University of Virginia, chiefly collected by Charles Finn, ca. 1959-1989, 2000, and undated, ca. 5,500 items (20 Hollinger boxes, 8.5 linear feet). Social action groups included in the collection span both radical left and right wing groups including Students for a Democratic Society, Southern Student Organizing Committee, The Weather Underground, Freedom From Religion Foundation, National Organization for Women, Jerry Falwell, The Moral Majority, National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and a diversity of other environmental, religious, social and political organizations. The majority of the items are dated between 1970 and 1988. Related printed material has been transferred to Rare Books and catalogued separately. There is a large section of material on various organizations active at the University of Virginia, and specifically there is a section of material concerning the May 1970 Strike (Box 16) including event schedules, correspondence, and a student thesis written about the strike.

Arrangement

These papers have been organized into three series: Series I: Topical Files (Boxes 1-18); Series II: Memorabilia (Box 19); and Series III: Personal Papers of Charlie Finn (Box 20). The Topical Files have been organized by social movement group at the folder level, and chronologically within folders. The Memorabilia files include buttons, stickers, and other accessories. They have been organized by type of memorabilia and social movement group. The Personal Papers of Charlie Finn series includes correspondence, papers from the University of Virginia Library system, and miscellaneous written notes.

Separated Material

Related printed material has been transferred to Rare Books and cataloged separately. Each item contains the note "SPECIAL COLLECTIONS: Transferred from the Social Movements Collection, MSS 9430" and can be found in the online catalog by a keyword search for "Social Movements Collection."