Sheila Tabakoff, Papers, 1970

MAY 4 COLLECTION -- Box 59

INVENTORY

Prepared by Scott L. Bills, August 15, 1980; Updated July 2004

1 record storage box, 1cubic foot, 12th floor

Professor Sheila Tabakoff donated her materials to the Kent State University Archives on March 19, 1980.

Professor Tabakoff was an instructor in the School of Art at Kent State University in May of 1970. After the shootings of May 4, the University was closed by court injunction, and it remained closed for the duration of the spring quarter. Special arrangements were subsequently made in each academic department for students to complete coursework. In the case of the Art Department, mimeographed letters were sent to students' home addresses offering them alternate ways either to receive partial credit or withdraw from the course. In large part, this collection consists of the student responses to the forms that she sent out in the weeks following the shootings.

Professor Tabakoff sent not only academic information but also included informational items and her own commentary on the Kent State situation. She wrote, "It is my personal hope that you will use this period to reexamine your beliefs and aspirations, and to question the direction and policies of your university and your country." She urged her students to contact groups of other Kent State students which had gathered at Oberlin College and Case Western Reserve. When the University would eventually reopen, she hoped it would be as a "vanguard of modern education."

Folder one contains, for the most part, intrauniversity memos and mailings; folder two contains the forms and letters which Professor Tabakoff sent out to her students. The student responses have been arranged alphabetically. Responses not including full names have been placed together in folder fourteen. Several items, including a May 1970 issue of the Cleveland underground newspaper Burning River and a poster by the Cambridge Strike Committee, were oversized. They can be located in the horizontal file (hf).

This collection will be of value to researchers examining student and faculty attitudes in the period following May 4, 1970. Students returning their forms often wrote notes concerning the shootings and their feelings on the closing of the University. Interesting as well are materials in folder eighteen which indicate faculty sentiments within the School of Art. Individual items of interest are the Kent State Faculty Resolution of May 5, 1970 (folder nineteen); the May 18 and May 22 issues of the Kent Strike Paper (folder twenty-seven); and informational leaflets from Kent students at Oberlin College (folder twenty-one).

Professor Tabakoff has kindly donated to the Kent State University Archives whatever property and literary rights that she possesses in this collection.

Folder -- Contents

1 -- Correspondence, general: May 11, 1970-May 27, 1970

2 -- Correspondence, Tabakoff to students: May 12, 1970-May 27, 1970. NOTE: Includes Tabakoff commentary on Kent State situation

3 -- Correspondence, students: A-C

4 -- Correspondence, students: D-F

5 -- Correspondence, students: G

6 -- Correspondence, students: H

7 -- Correspondence, students: J-L

8 -- Correspondence, students: M-N

9 -- Correspondence, students: O-Q

10 -- Correspondence, students: R

11 -- Correspondence, students: S

12 -- Correspondence, students: T-V

13 -- Correspondence, students: W-Z

14 -- Correspondence, students: unidentified

15 -- Correspondence, students: unmatched envelopes

16 -- Class rosters for Art Survey 180 and Art History 111, [RESTRICTED]

17 -- Subject file, School of Art Faculty. NOTE: Includes faculty letter to Robert White, May 11, 1970; and faculty letter to students, May 13, 1970

18 -- Agenda, American Association of University Professors, Kent State Chapter, Executive Committee meeting: May 28, 1970

19 -- Resolution, Kent State Faculty: May 5, 1970

20 -- Monthly Calendar, Kent State University: June 1970

21 -- Leaflets, Kent State University community in Exile: May 1970. NOTE: Includes the "Oberlin Proposals"

22 -- Leaflets/Flyers, miscellaneous

23 -- Newsletters, Official Bulletin (Kent State University): May 13, 1970; May 20, 1970

24 -- Newsletter, For Your Information (Kent State University): May 17, 1970

25 -- Newsletters, National Strike Information Center: May 7, 1970; May 11, 1970; May 12, 1970. NOTE: The May 12 issue was oversized and has been placed in a horizontal file (hf)

26 -- Newspaper, Burning River: May 13-May 27, 1970 (hf)

27 -- Newspapers, Kent Strike Paper: May 18, 1970; May 22, 1970

28 -- Newspaper clippings

29 -- Miscellaneous items: undated

30 -- Poster: "The Struggle Has Just Begun ...," Cambridge Student Strike Committee: [summer?] 1970 (shelved in map case)