XVI. OVERSIZED ITEMS: LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRY FILES

The Robert J. Alexander Papers span the period 1890 to 1999, with the bulk dating from 1945 to 1991. They consist of approximately 215 cubic feet of material, comprised by 213 records center cartons, two newspaper boxes, and an oversized folder. About two-thirds of the material is in English, while about one-third is in Spanish and Portuguese, and a small amount is in French and German. The collection is divided into thirteen series, and consists of two types of material: documentation of Rutgers University Professor Robert J. Alexander's life and work, and research materials collected by him. Professor Alexander has retained files documenting labor, mining, housing and transportation in Latin America, communism and Trotkskyism throughout the world, and ethnic groups in the United States in his office. (See Appendix II). Correspondence files have been retained in his home. (See Appendix III). Access to these materials can be arranged through the repository. Professor Alexander's pamphlet and periodical collection is also held by Special Collections and University Archives.

Material documenting Professor Alexander's life and work comprises the series BIOGRAPHICAL FILES, PUBLISHED WORKS, PHOTOGRAPHS, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FILES, PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES FILES, and MANUSCRIPTS OF WRITINGS. The BIOGRAPHICAL FILES primarily consist of newspaper clippings about Professor Alexander's accomplishments, activities and travels; reviews of his books, a small amount of material about his family, and personal miscellany. His PUBLISHED WORKS include journal, magazine, newspaper and newsletter articles, pamphlets, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries–essentially items that fit into files, as opposed to Professor Alexander's books, which are catalogued individually in the Rutgers University Libraries. Newspaper clippings have been photocopied on to acid-free paper. These files reflect the full spectrum of Professor Alexander's scholarly interests. In addition, this group contains a small amount of material documenting Alexander's career at Rutgers University, where he was employed from 1947 to 1989, and served on a number of committees, particularly concerned with curriculum and academic freedom. This group also contains a small amount of material documenting Alexander's work outside the university, most notably for the International Institute for Labor Research, of which he was a board member. These files document the running of the organization and include correspondence from Institute president Norman Thomas, Costa Rican president José Figueres, and shadowy figure Sacha Volman. Both the RUTGERS UNIVERSITY and PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES FILES include Professor Alexander's copies of meeting minutes. Finally, this group includes typewritten manuscripts of Professor Alexander's books, often in several drafts. Although primarily published works, this series also includes unpublished materials such as his Ph.D. dissertation, autobiographical works and monographs.

The second group, Professor Alexander's collected research materials, which comprises about two-thirds of the collection, includes the series INTERVIEWS, CORRESPONDENCE WITH JAY LOVESTONE, SUBJECT FILES, LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRY FILES, COUNTRY FILES (NON-LATIN AMERICAN), RESEARCH FILES GENERATED BY OTHERS, and COLLECTED THESES, DISSERTATIONS AND UNPUBLISHED PAPERS. Professor Alexander collected a huge amount of material both for his own research and to share with others. Of particular interest is documentation of Latin America, Spain and international leftist movements, Professor Alexander's primary research interests. This group also includes, however, information on practically every country in the world and every subject under the sun.

Most important are the over 10,000 typescripts of interviews conducted by Professor Alexander. He interviewed Latin American political leaders, industrialists, military and religious leaders, union leaders and ordinary citizens, including many women, with a particular focus on left-wing politicians and labor leaders. These interviews provided the basis for Professor Alexander's research. The letters to Jay Lovestone complement the interviews, which also contain Professor Alexander's impressions of the countries he visited. When Jay Lovestone was head of the International Department of the American Federation of Labor during the 1950s, Professor Alexander sent him reports on the countries he visited, describing the economic and political situation and paying particular attention to communist activity in the trade unions. There are no letters from Jay Lovestone to Professor Alexander.

The LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRY FILES are also of great significance. These include practically all the countries and colonies of the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, including English and French as well as Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries. Types of material include newspaper clippings, press releases, publications, reports, unpublished papers, correspondence and broadsides. Like the interviews, they provided source material for Professor's Alexander's books. Primary subjects documented are agriculture, economics, education, labor relations, religion, military affairs, civil liberties, political parties and relations with the United States. This series contains many rare newsletters and broadsides including clandestine materials. Oversize material can be found in the newspaper boxes and oversize folder. The COUNTRY FILES (NON-LATIN AMERICAN) contain a similar type of material, but are generally of less interest. They primarily consist of clippings, and are not as in-depth, although material on left-wing movements and on the United States is more comprehensive.

The SUBJECT FILES again contain similar formats to those in the country files, but they are organized differently, and possibly date from an early period in Professor Alexander's career. They are organized by subject, rather than by country, although countries appear as sub-headings. The primary subjects documented are labor and socialism, but also included are agriculture, anarchism, commodities, industrialization, trade, investment, women's rights, and many others. This series includes material donated by M. Orans, which Professor Alexander interfiled into his own material. This material chiefly dates from the period 1914 to 1922 and documents international socialist movements. Particularly fragile clippings have been copied on to acid-free paper. Oversize material is again stored separately. The RESEARCH MATERIAL GENERATED BY OTHERS and COLLECTED THESES, DISSERTATIONS AND UNPUBLISHED PAPERS series contain essentially the same type of material which Professor Alexander collected in his other research files, but they have been segregated because of a difference in format. The research material consists of data submitted by two researchers on Brazil, while the theses and dissertations are comprised of bound material which could not be placed into folders.