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Berkeley, CA: Campus Friends of SNCC, [1966]. 2 pages (single sheet, printed both sides). 8-1/2 by 11 inches. In 1966, Stokely Carmichael, a leader and later head of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, set up the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO), in rural Alabama. The group organized the black residents of an overwhelmingly African American region of the state to secure voting rights and elected offices. By state law, the LCFO was required to adopt an emblem. They chose the black panther to contrast with the ruling Democratic Party's white rooster.

This flyer announces an organizational meeting to support the LCFO, emphasizing its informal name, the "Black Panther Party." Huey Newton and Bobby Seale formed their Black Panther Party three months later, on October 15, 1966. Rare with no copies in OCLC (although copies are in the Litwack collection at Yale and the Yuen archive at UC Berkeley). This is one of the first uses of the black panther as a political symbol in the San Francisco Bay Area and directly connects the (mostly white) local SNCC organization with the origins of the Black Power movement. ISBN: 281AIB1021042.

Eagle Grove, IA: 1928. 3 pages, autograph letter, signed. Written longhand to the western author Zane Grey, seeking to interest him in telling Seth Kinman's story. Kinman was one of the more interesting characters who lived in Humboldt County, California. He hunted bear, elk, and Indians with equal enthusiasm. He was a great self-promoter and made elk horn and bear paw chairs, which he presented to Presidents Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Hayes, and Cleveland, but not before having Mathew Brady take his photograph for CDVs, which Kinman sold as souvenirs. His collection of oddities and curios was exhibited at the 1893 World's Exposition in the Humboldt County exhibit. Kinman gave Richmond, the author of this letter, the manuscript of his autobiography and his scrapbook of newspaper clippings. Most of what we know about Kinman (and how much of that is true is a matter for another catalog entry) comes from Richmond's edited version of those materials. This letter offers a brief summary of Kinman's exploits and Richmond's relationship with Kinman. ISBN: 281AIB1030886.

New York: (n.p.), (n.d. but late 1940s). A flyer announcing the formation of "a new national party," perhaps even before it was given its name, the National Renaissance Party (NRP). The NRP, founded in 1949, was a small, but influential neo-Nazi group (called the "most important" in the Encyclopedia of Right-wing Extremism). The group's leader, James Madole, was a science fiction fan and occultist with a deep interest in H. P. Lovecraft and Adolph Hitler.

This call for supporters targeted a specific subgroup of either older or nerdier science fiction aficionados. STF (pronounced "stef") was short for "scientifiction," the term coined by Hugo Gernsback in 1915 to describe the genre later called science fiction. By the late 1940s, STF was seldom used, except to refer to strongly science-based works.

While the NRP would adopt a racist agenda, this flyer emphasizes the formation of "a scientific, advanced society" run by a technocratic Cultural Assembly of 100 men drawn from specialized councils devoted to specific areas of culture and the economy. Madole concludes the leaflet with "this is but a small portion of our new philosophy." The fascist credo would presumably be revealed later.

Dick Eney, in his Fancyclopedia II (1960) offered a dismissive view of Madole. "Fans were to form the nucleus of this political party ... [It was] the last original stirring of the old save-the-world-by-political-action notion among fans... [Madole] is currently (1959) Führer of the National Renaissance Party, America's only for-real Fascist movement — not counting those like the American Nazi Party, whose 'fascism' is actually racism. The NRP's Bulletin carries the masthead-line "The Only Fascist Publication in America", and Madole still howls regularly up in Yorkville, NY, where there is still an audience for this sort of kookabooism." An extremely scarce and early NRP item. ISBN: 281AIB1028161.

[n.d. but 1928-1941]. A single sheet of ribbon-copy typescript on U.S.S. Arizona letterhead. It is not known to this cataloguer if this is simply a transcript of an Amos 'n' Andy sketch heard on the radio or if it was written by a member of the Arizona crew. That the sketch is quite funny (without the racial humor) argues for this to be a transcript; that it contains an abortion joke suggests otherwise. In this short sketch Andy reveals to Amos that he and Madam Queen have been having "recourse" and that Queen has not "demonstrated" for three months. A doctor told Andy that she is "fragrant" and needs to go to a "fraternity house," but Andy doesn't know what that is. Amos explains: "A fraternity house is where dey takes people dat is fragrant and fix dem up so's dey can demonstrate again and put 'em in shape for recourse again." Private maternity houses, in the late 1920s or early 1930s, when this was written, were places where a woman could give birth if she wasn't married. However, such places were often illicit abortion clinics, and Amos's line, "fix dem up" suggests something other than childbirth. As evidence for this interpretation, your cataloguer offers the following: A 1921report on maternity houses in Missouri concluded "that abortions are frequently performed, is certain" (see Mangold, Children Born Out of Wedlock, 1921, p. 34). ISBN: 281AIB0143955.

Delphi, Greece?: (the author), (ca. 1952). 143 by 213 mm. Small broadside manifesto, in Greek, issued by Caresse Crosby for her world citizenship movement. Crosby, an American, was the co-founder of expatriate Black Sun Press in Paris and spent much of her adult life in Europe. In 1948, she published a long Manifesto for Individual Secession into World Community, advocating a pacifist and one global government cause. In the early 1950s, Crosby purchased land in Delphi, Greece, with the goal of establishing a World Citizen Center to be the capital of her one-world organization. The Greek government took offense at this attempt by a foreigner to usurp their sovereignty (however unlikely to succeed), put Crosby under arrest, and subsequently expelled her. See The Cramoisy Queen: A Life of Caresse Crosby by Linda Hamalian (pp. 166ff). The OCLC record for this broadside (two holdings) suggests it was printed in Italy, after Crosby left Greece. However, a comparison of the Italian and Greek editions suggests they were not printed at the same time. The paper is different and the two broadsides are not quite the same size. ISBN: 281AIB1031358.

Santa Monica, CA: Voyager Company, 1991. A single 3-1/2 inch computer disc in a folding paper cover. Voyager released the first commercially produced e-books in 1991, exclusively for Macintosh computers. The books, which displayed text on the computer monitor, offered search, the ability to add notes, and to highlight text. Jurrasic Park is one of the first three books launched simultaneously for MacWorld, which was held in San Francisco in January 1992. The company's explanation of the concept is printed on the back panel of the folder: "Just as computers have changed the way you write, they are beginning to transform the way you read. Electronic text is a dynamic medium that enables you to become a more active reader." Voyager ultimately released about 60 books, which were the first shots fired in the e-book revolution. Rather scarce. ISBN: 9781559401845.