Link: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/loyaltyoath/

A new digital collection documenting the Loyalty Oath Controversy at the University of California has been released by The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

The California Loyalty Oath Digital Collection website brings together a selection of 3,500 pages of fully-searchable electronic text and 30 images drawn from the holdings of the institutional archives of three University of California campuses – Berkeley, Los Angeles, and San Diego – and the Office of the Secretary of the Regents. The site also includes 15 audio clips taken from interviews with some of the controversy’s participants and observers.

The Loyalty Oath Controversy erupted in 1949 when hundreds of University employees refused to sign a special anti-communist oath mandated by the Regents. The protest spread to every campus, attracted international attention, and was supported by faculty at universities across the country. Many faculty and staff, as well as students and alumni, viewed the oath as an attack on academic freedom. The Regents, many of whom believed that the threat of rampant international Communism required the oath, refused to back down. Eventually, dozens of tenured faculty and staff were fired and the reputation of the University was severely damaged. The oath was negated, and the terminated employees reinstated, by order of the California Supreme Court in 1952.

The documents include correspondence, administrative directives, minutes, newsletters, and committee reports representing the debates, positions, and activities of the Regents, administration, faculty and staff, students and alumni, and as well as many individuals and groups beyond the University. Some materials, such as “closed session” minutes of Regents’ meetings, have not been publicly available until now. Supplemental materials on the website include a timeline, bibliography, and links to additional resources for study and research. The website was funded in part by a gift from UC President Emeritus David P. Gardner.