Related Collections
The collections below include international collections that relate to the development of anarchism in Canada and Canadian collections with materials relevant to anarchism.
Augustin Hamon Collection
Augustin Hamon (1862–1945) was a French social-anarchist who edited the anarchist magazine L’Humanité nouvelle from 1897 to 1904. Hamon is most well known for his 50 year correspondence with George Bernard Shaw after their meeting at a Fabian Society conference in 1894 and was the French translator of Shaw’s works beginning in 1904. He wrote several works of social psychology and anarchist theory.
The collection includes two series of correspondences, personal materials, estate materials, a series of posters, reviews, articles, and personal papers.
The Augustin Hamon Collection is part of the L.W. Conolly Theatre Archives housed in the Archival and Special Collections of the McLaughlin Library at the University of Guelph.
Bibliothèque DIRA
La Bibliothèque DIRA or the DIRA (Documentation, Information, References and Archives) Library is an anarchist library in Montral, Québec that has operated since 2005 on the third floor of the Association des Espèces d’Espaces Libres et Imaginaires (AEELI) building that houses L’Insoumise anarchist bookstore and the feminist and queer self-managed social space Les Révoltes.
The DIRA Library has a collection of 2000 books in English and French, and the Archive Centre collects material on individuals and organizations within the anarchist movement in Québec.
The archive catalogues are accessible here.
Canadian Labour Unions Digital Collection
The Canadian Labour Unions Digital Collection consists of websites and other digital material posted by public sector unions, private section unions, and labour federations from across Canada. Documents include anarchist topics and anarchist events, or are relevant to anarchism and labour struggle in Canada.
The Canadian Labour Unions Digital Collection is maintained by the University of Toronto Libraries and Archives.
Doukhobor Collection
The Doukhobors are a Christian ethnoreligious group from Russia who relocated to Western Canada at the turn of the 20th century. They were staunch pacifists and rejected secular government and organized religion, which placed them in conflict with the Russian Empire. In response to the Doukhobors destroying weapons, refusing conscription, and registering with the government, state Cossacks assaulted and dispersed their villages. Anarchists Leo Tolstoy and Peter Kropotkin helped raise funds and emigrate the Doukhobors to the Canadian praries, where they continued to practice militant pacifism against the Canadian government through nudist protest and arson.
The collection includes correspondence, books, periodicals, photographs, and ephemera relating to and resulting from the settlement of the Doukhobors in Western Canada.
The Doukhobor Collection is located in Special Collections and Rare Books at Simon Fraser University Library and the digitized Doukhobor Collection is accessible through the SFU Digitzied Collections.
Douglas Fetherling Papers
Douglas “George” Fetherling (b. 1949) is a Canadian poet, journalist, and novelist. Fetherling wrote a biography of George Woodcock, The Gentle Anarchist: A Life of George Woodock (1998).
The collection includes Fetherling’s research material for his book on George Woodcock, typescripts and print appearances by Woodcock, material on Woodcock, and articles about anarchism.
The Douglas Fetherling Papers are located in the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library, University of Toronto.
Emma Goldman papers, 1909–1941
Emma Goldman (1869–1940) was an important anarchist in the development of European and North American anarchism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In the 1920s, Goldman secured a British passport and traveled to Toronto, Canada where she would live on-and-off until her death in Toronto in 1940.
The collection consists of over 300 letters and various papers written primarily by Emma Goldman related to prominent anarchists like Alexander Berkman, Eugene Debs, and Harry Kelly. A majority of the letters are in correspondence with Thomas H. Keell, the editor of the anarchist periodically Freedom in London, which includes discussions of organizing work in Canada.
The Emma Goldman Papers are located in the Duke University Libraries.
Emma Goldman / Virginia Hersch papers, 1930-1934
Virginia (1896–1978) and Lee Hersch (1896–1956) met and befriended anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman in Paris during the interwar period. Virginia was a novelist of at least five books and Lee was a painter who exhibited in the United States and France. Goldman (1869–1940) was an anarchist
The papers include correspondence from Goldman and Berkman to the Hersches in the 1930s, books by anarchists, a pamphlet, and clippings.
Emma Goldman / Virginia Hersch papers, 1930-1934 are located in the Special Collections Research Center at the University of Michigan Library.
Eva Langbord Emma Goldman Papers, 1934–5
Eva Langbord (1910–1999) was a Canadian actress and CBC executive. Eva Langbord was the daughter of two Toronto anarchists who prominent anarchist Emma Goldman (1869–1940) visited often. Langbord and Goldman began a life-long friendship. Upon Goldman’s death, her possessions were given to the Langbord family.
The collection includes material related to Eva Langbord’s friendship with Emma Goldman, including correspondence and miscellanea.
The Eva Lanbord Emma Goldman Papers are located in the Special Collections Research Center at the University of Michigan Library.
Federico Arcos Collection
Federico Arcos (1920–2015) was a Spanish-Canadian anarchist born in Barcelona who emigrated to Windsor, Ontario in 1952. Arcos donated the collection to the Biblioteca de Catalunya in 2010.
The collection encompasses the Federico Arcos Anarchism Collection, which includes 10,000 publications on anarchism, Personal Archives of documents and correspondence with international anarchists, and correspondences after his move to Windsor in 1952 until 2010.
The Federico Arcos Collection is located in the Biblioteca de Catalunya.
Federico Arcos Papers, 1931–2015
Federico Arcos (1920-2015) was a Spanish anarchist militant. After fleeing fascist Spain, Arcos resided in France and later in Ontario, Canada where he was a tool and dye maker and labour organizer in Windsor, Ontario. His papers reflect his international anarchist network and his connections with Detroit-area anarchists. In addition to his own personal papers, Arcos also preserved original and photocopied archives on the history of the Spanish Civil War and anarchism. Thus included in Arcos’ papers are CNT-AIT records and a set of original letters to and from Emma Goldman.
The papers comprise his correspondence, official papers, audiovisual materials, and photographs.
The Federico Arcos Papers are located in the Special Collections Research Center at the University of Michigan Library.
George Woodcock Fonds
George Woodcock (1912-1995) was a Canadian anarchist historian and writer. Woodcock became interested in anarchism while working as a clerk at the Great Western Railway and built relationships with contemporary anarchists like art historian Herbert Read. His anarchism inspired him to be a conscious objector during World War Two, and after the war he accepted a position in the English department at the University of British Columbia. While at UBC, Woodock wrote many books on anarchism and related subjects.
The George Woodcock fonds include correspondence, manuscripts, writings, subject files, tape recordings, notebooks, photographs, and personal diaries.
The George Woodcock Fonds are located in the Queen’s University Archive at Queen’s University.
Joseph A. Labadie Collection
Joseph A. Labadie (1870–1933) was a labour and anarchist organizer based in Detroit, Michigan. The collection has a breadth of materials relevant to North American anarchism, anti-colonialism, feminism, labour organizing, LGTBQ+ movements, pacifism, and the Spanish Civil War.
The Labadie Papers includes correspondence from many early 20th century anarchists including Emma Goldman, and the Labadie Photograph Collection contains portraits of Federico Arcos and Goldman.
The Joseph A. Labadie Collection is located in the Special Collections Research Center at the University of Michigan Library.
Occupy Vancouver Collection
Occupy Vancouver was a series of protests from 2011 to 2012 and part of the larger Occupy Canada movement and international Occupy Movement that was first called by the anticonsumerist magazine Adbusters.
The collection includes series of records related to the Occupy Vancouver Committees, records of court cases between the City of Vancouver and Occupy Vancouver protestors, photographs, participant notebooks, relevant publications and newspaper clippings, and ephemera.
The Occupy Vancouver Collection is located in Special Collections and Rare Books at Simon Fraser University Library.
Prison Free Press
Prison Free Press is a not-for-profit organization based in Toronto, Canada that publishes two free quarterly zines: Class Action News (2016–Present) and Women’s Prison Network (2015–Present).
Prison Free Press curates a list of prisoner publications and resources in Canada, including Cell Count (1995–2015) and Prisoner News Service Archive (1986–1996).
Toronto Zine Library and Archive
The Toronto Zine Library and Archive (TZL) is a physical library established in 2006 in Toronto, Ontario by a collective of zine readers, makers, and librarians.
The library and archive includes a variety of political zines relevant to the study of anarchism and related topics published in Canada.
The TZL catalogue can be accessed online.
The Talon Conspiracy Archive
The Talon Conspiracy is a digital archive of publications relating to earth and animal liberation. Actively updated between 2011–2020, The Talon Conspiracy preserves relevant publications from 1970s through the 2010s, and includes materials relating to Canadian anarchists and publications by David Barbarash.
Vancouver Punk Rock Collection
The Vancouver Punk Rock Collection hosts materials from the punk rock scene in Vancouver during the 1970s and 1980s. The collection is relevant to the study of counter-culture, politics and music, including anti-racist, anti-globalization, and environmentalist materials from bands including D.O.A., the Subhumans, and Young Canadians.
The collection contains approximately 1200 posters, 100 CDs/LPs/45s, periodicals, pictures, and ephemera related to the Vancouver Punk Rock scene.
The digitized Vancouver Punk Rock Collection is available online and held in the Special Collections and Rare Books at Simon Fraser University Library.