The Emma Goldman Papers
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Goldman/
Created and maintained by the Emma Goldman Papers Project
Reviewed May 2005

Reviewed by Diane C. Vecchio

        Emma Goldman (1869-1940), Russian emigrant and activist, was one of the most famous anarchists of her day.  An advocate for labor unions and women’s equality, Goldman worked diligently throughout her life lecturing, writing, and challenging American politics in her journal, Mother Earth.

        Now, students and researchers can access a website containing letters, essays, speeches, government files and newspaper clippings related to Emma Goldman’s life.  The Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE, under the direction of Candace Falk and offered through the University of California digital library, includes biographical and bibliographical essays by scholars who have collected, organized and edited thousands of documents by and about Goldman.

        Rich primary sources include selections from Goldman’s writings: Anarchism and Other Essays (1910), My Disillusionment in Russia (1923), and Living My Life (1931). Letters and telegrams scanned from the originals come to life as readers view correspondence exchanged between Goldman, Theodore Dreiser and Upton Sinclair, among others.

        Related Links and resources are particularly helpful and are organized under topics such as “Social Politics and Labor Activism,” and “Women’s Studies/Feminist Theory.”

        Other Goldman-related sites are also cross referenced, along with newsletters related to the website.

        Teachers will find the site especially helpful as it provides a curriculum for Middle and High School Students to examine issues related to immigration, freedom of speech, women’s rights and anti-militarism.  In addition, the site includes selections from a traveling exhibition for the public which includes documents and historical photographs. 

        The Emma Goldman Papers Project is a valuable resource for anyone studying female activism, radical politics and the labor movement.

Dr. Diane Vecchio holds a Ph.D. from Syracuse University and specializes in American social history, the
history of European women, Immigration and Women's Studies. Among her most recent publications is
Merchants, Midwives, and Laboring Women: Italian Migrants in Urban America, a volume in the Statue of
Liberty, Ellis Island Centennial Series edited by Jon Gjerde and Vicki Ruiz (University of Illinois Press, 2005).
Dr. Vecchio is currently an Associate Professor of History at Furman University.