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Although the Labadie Collection contains 35,000 books and 8,000 periodicals (including nearly 800 currently received titles), it is justly famous for its ephemera. There are nearly 6,000 subject vertical files, consisting principally of brochures, leaflets, clippings, and reprints. Seven hundred posters illustrate aspects of protest, a number of which were used in 1995 for the online exhibit, Anarchist Images: Posters from the Labadie Collection. A like number of photographs may be found in the collection, for the most part consisting of portraits of people prominent in the anarchist movement. In 1999, under the auspices of the University of Michigan Digital Library Initiative, this rich collection of photographs was digitized and mounted on the web. They may be viewed via a link on the Labadie Collection's main page.
In addition, there are small numbers of cartoons, sheet music, buttons, bumper stickers, and armbands. As might be expected, the 115 manuscript collections are strongest in the correspondence and essays of anarchists but also include a growing body of material documenting postWorld War II social protest issues. The largest archive consists of the records of the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born. Much of the more fragile material has been microfilmed to facilitate its use by readers and to protect the originals. The collection also includes a few hundred records and tape recordings of speeches, debates, oral histories, and songs, as well as a growing body of videotapes and compact discs.
Cataloged monographs, serials, pamphlets, and archival collections may be found in the University Library's on-line catalog, Mirlyn. Uncataloged materials, including vertical files, individual manuscripts, sheet music, and visual materials will not be found in the on-line catalog. Local card indexes and databases have been compiled as keys, however. For some of the manuscripts assembled into collections, a useful published guide is Manuscripts in the Labadie Collection (1987).
Resources within the Labadie Collection are available to any interested user. Since the Labadie Collection forms part of the Special Collections Library at the University of Michigan, security regulations are in keeping with careful management. Materials must therefore be requested and used in the Reading Room on the seventh floor of the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library. Some books, positive microfilms, and photocopies of journal articles may be requested through Interlibrary Loan.
The Reading Room is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. during the week and from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Saturdays; during the academic vacations, weekday hours are usually restricted to the afternoon.
