Finding Aid prepared by Sarah Heatherton
Collection ID: MSS - 314
Repository: William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library
Title: Samuel and Jane Alexander Civil Rights Collection
Creator: Samuel and Jane Alexander
Dates: 1954-1972; bulk dates 1960s
Quantity: 1.46 linear ft. in four boxes + flat storage folder for pennants
Language: English
Abstract: The materials in this collection broadly document civil rights initiatives during the 1960s as witnessed and experienced by Massachusetts activists Samuel and Jane Alexander.
Biographical History
This collection was created by Samuel S. Alexander (1924-2020) and Jane de Peyster (Peck) Alexander (1923-2013). Samuel Alexander was born and raised in Lynn, Massachusetts. He attended Harvard University as a commuter student and subsequently took a job as a research chemist in Cambridge. Jane Peck was raised in Concord, Massachusetts, and met Samuel in Cambridge while working at the Harvard University Press after earning her Master's Degree from Columbia University. The pair bonded while volunteering for a presidential campaign and married a year later in 1953. They were married by Jane's father, Reverend Charles Russell Peck, and then moved to Boxboro, where they had three children. Samuel went on to spend almost fifty years working as a research chemist at Ionics, Inc., while Jane was engaged in community activities. Throughout their lives, Samuel and Jane were active in local politics. They helped found the influential Nashoba Association for Equal Rights (NAER), which worked with both local and international civil rights initiatives. Through this organization, they helped bring the integrated People's Theatre Group of Cambridge to perform in Acton, Massachusetts, where they sold out two shows. They were also heavily involved in the Nashoba Fair Housing Committee and educating the general public about fair housing legislation and tenant rights. In addition to serving as co-founders and board members on local organizations, the Alexanders were members and supporters of groups with far-reaching influences across the country, such as the "Friends of SNCC," which supported civil rights efforts in Mississippi. They were also able to partake in some landmark moments of the Civil Rights movement. For example, Samuel traveled from Boston by bus to attend the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. In 1980, the pair settled in Concord, where Jane had grown up. They continued their community engagement and activism for their remaining years and are remembered fondly for their commitment to
justice and civil rights.
Collection Scope and Notes
The scope of this collection is primarily the civil rights movement in the 1960s as witnessed and experienced by Samuel and Jane Alexander. Subjects of interest within the collection include the enforcement of civil rights legislation, tackling de facto segregation in Boston schools, fair housing policies and tenant rights, and integrated theatre. Additional topics include welfare legislation, prison reform, the Vietnam War, and extremist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Materials include a personal journal, handwritten letters, formal correspondence, publications intended for mass distribution such as newsletters and pamphlets, newspaper clippings, black-and-white photographs, and a pair of felt pennants.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into the following series:
Series I: Personal Papers
This series includes personal writings of Samuel Alexander in a journal dated 1960-1964, personal correspondence exchanged by the Alexanders with a variety of politicians and public figures, and newspaper clippings written by Samuel Alexander as part of an ongoing conversation conducted via Letters to the Editor in the Assabet Valley Beacon with politician Frank Anthony. Access Points: Politicians involved in the correspondence include Secretary of State William J. Luby, Senator William I. Randall, House Representative Philip J. Philbin, Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division Burke Marshall, and Chief of Litigation John L. Murphy. Referenced government bodies include the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Department, the United States Department of Justice, and the Congress of the United States House of Representatives. Telegrams written by Samuel Alexander are addressed to President Lyndon B. Johnson, President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Representative John McCormack.
Series II: Civil Rights & Activism
This series spans the political and social changes happening across the United States in the 1960s amid the Civil Rights movement. The records on Massachusetts have been organized into a subseries that contains information on local movements for fair housing, voting rights, and the end of de facto segregation in Boston schools. The remaining civil rights documentation can be found in a second subseries that covers the United States more broadly. Towards the end of this second subseries is material specific to the South. States with their own folders are Alabama and Mississippi. In addition to documenting civil rights, the Alexanders collected records detailing societal issues that intersect with race, such as national poverty and welfare, prison reform, and pacifist activism.
Subseries I: Civil Rights & Activism in Massachusetts
Subseries II: Civil Rights & Activism in the U.S.
Series III: Integrated Theatre
This series documents integrated theatre in Massachusetts in the 1960s -- primarily performances by the People's Theatre Group of Cambridge. The Nashoba Association for Equal Rights (NAER) sponsored the group to perform a play entitled "Day of Absence" by Douglas Turner Ward in Acton, which is extensively documented with photographs and newspaper clippings. Also included is a play transcript titled "Sit Down," with handwritten stage notes and blocking layouts, signed on the front page by Stan Edelson, who earned acclaim in life as the Cambridge theater director, playwright, and acting teacher.
Access Points
People – Alexander, Samuel. Alexander, Jane. Anthony, Frank. Edelson, Stan. King Jr., Martin Luther.
Philbin, Philip.
Subjects – Activism. Civil Rights. De Facto Segregation. Fair Housing. Freedom Schools. Ku Klux Klan.
Pacifism. Peaceful Protest. Racial Inequality. Theatre. Welfare.
Groups – American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Boston Industrial Mission (BIM). Citizens Committee to Change Welfare (CCCW). Congress on Racial Equality (CORE). Fair Housing Federation of Greater Boston (FHFGB). Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). Nashoba Association for Equal
Rights (NAER). People's Theatre Group of Cambridge. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
Acquisition Information: The collection was donated by Helen Arden Alexander in 2021. She is the daughter of Samuel and Jane Alexander. Donations of clothing belonging to Jane Alexander's parents and grandparents can be found on the Historic New England online collections by searching for "Jane De
Peyster (Peck) Alexander." Their biographical history is included in box 1, folder 4, with that of Samuel and Jane.
Processing Information: The collection was processed by Sarah Heatherton in 2021.
Restrictions: The collection is open to researchers.
Copyright: Some material in this collection may be subject to copyright.
Citation: Please cite as: Samuel and Jane Alexander Civil Rights Collection, Courtesy of the William Munroe
Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library
Container List/Inventory:
Series I
Box I, Folder 1 -- Personal Journal of Samuel Alexander, 1960-1964
Box I, Folder 2 -- Alexander Correspondences, 1963-1966
Box I, Folder 3 -- Assabet Valley Beacon "Letters to the Editor", 1962-1964
Box I, Folder 4 -- Biographic information
Series II
Subseries I. (Massachusetts)
Box 1, Folder 5 -- Nashoba Association for Equal Rights, 1964-1965
Box 1, Folder 6 -- Fair Housing Federation of Greater Boston, 1960-1964
Box 1, Folder 7 -- Fair Housing Committees & Legislation, 1958-1967
Box 1, Folder 8 -- Fair Housing Materials for Distribution, ca. 1963-1965
Box 1, Folder 9 -- Fair Housing Newspaper Clippings, 1960-1964
Box 1, Folder 10 -- Racial Inequality in Boston Schools, 1962-1965
Box 1, Folder 11 -- Boston School Boycott Printed Materials, 1963-1964
Box 1, Folder 12 -- Boston School Boycott Newspaper Clippings, 1964
Box 1, Folder 1 -- Boston Northern Student Movement (Tutoring), 1964
Box 2, Folder 2 -- Civil Rights in Massachusetts, 1961-1968
Box 2, Folder 3 -- Martin Luther King Jr. Visit to Boston, 1965
Box 2, Folder 4 -- Citizens Committee to Change Welfare, 1969-1972
Box 2, Folder 5 -- Richard Neff "Self Help" Articles, 1964
Box 2, Folder 6 -- Concord, MA, March for Civil Rights, 1965
Box 2, Folder 7 -- Prisoner's Peaceful Movement (Concord, MA), 1972
Box 2, Folder 8 -- Boston Industrial Mission "Vectors" Newsletters, 1968-1972
Subseries II (United States)
Box 2, Folder 9 -- March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 1963
+ Flat folder -- Pennants
Box 2, Folder 10 -- Civil Rights Act of 1964 (H.R. 7152)
Box 2, Folder 11 -- Civil Rights Clippings & Publications, 1960-1972
Box 2, Folder 12 -- Racism & Extremism in the U.S., ca. 1962-1964
Box 2, Folder 13 -- Civil Rights Magazines,1954 -1968
Box 2, Folder 14 -- Black Empowerment Newspapers, 1966, 1970
Box 3, Folder 1 -- Newsweek Magazines, 1965-1967
Box 3, Folder 2 -- Nutrition & Poverty in the U.S., 1967-1969
Box 3, Folder 3 -- National Welfare Initiatives, 1968-1970
Box 3, Folder 4 -- Social Issues and Activism, 1962-1969
Box 3, Folder 5 -- Martin Luther King Jr. (Printed Material), 1957-1963
Box 3, Folder 6 -- Congress on Racial Equality Member Correspondence, 1959-1964
Box 3, Folder 7 -- Congress on Racial Equality Newsletters, 1956-1964
Box 3, Folder 8 -- CORE Materials for Distribution, ca. 1958-1964
Box 3, Folder 9 -- Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, 1963-1966
Box 3, Folder 10 -- The Student Voice Newsletters, 1963-1965
Box 3, Folder 11 -- Civil Rights in Mississippi, 1963-1966
Box 3, Folder 12 -- Northern Support for Mississippi/SNCC, 1963-1965
Box 4, Folder 1 -- Civil Rights in Alabama, 1956-1965
Box 4, Folder 2 -- Montgomery Improvement Association Newsletters, 1956-1961
Box 4, Folder 3 -- Southern Civil Rights Printed Materials, 1961-1964
Series III
Box 4, Folder 4 --"Day of Absence" Performances, 1968
Box 4, Folder 5 -- "Sit Down" Transcript, undated
Box 4, Folder 6 -- Integrated Theatre in Greater Boston, ca. 1966