Research

Scope and Content Note

This series consists of investigation files of non-criminal activity generated by the New York State Police Special Services Unit (known before 1970 as the Criminal and Subversives Section) as it examined organizations and individuals with supposed subversive or radical connections. The files document the entire lifespan of the unit, ca. 1940-1975, and contain police investigation reports, related correspondence and intra-agency communications, index cards summarizing known affiliations or previous investigations of individuals or groups, and background material such as periodical clippings, brochures, pamphlets, flyers, and photographs pertinent to each case. Often, case numbers are written on individual documents in the upper margin.

A large portion of investigation files are focused on political and social radicalism. In the 1940s-1950s, the records document investigations into left-wing/Communist organizations, including the Communist Party, Youth Workers Liberation League (YWLL), American Labor Party, and International Workers Order (I.W.O.), and, to a limited extent, right-wing groups as well. In addition, the files include probes into colleges and universities to identify individuals affiliated with the Communist Party during this period, most notably at Cornell University and Syracuse University. There are also multiple files of the Joint Legislative Committee on Charitable and Philanthropic Agencies and Organizations, which studied whether certain organizations-notably the Civil Rights Congress-were applying charitable contributions to support Communist activities.

Records from the 1960s-1970s cover investigations of individuals and organizations associated with the "New Left." The files contain detailed information on peace councils and other pacifist organizations across New York State; on individuals attending anti-war demonstrations during the Vietnam War; on social activist and community action groups; and on Black Nationalist organizations like the Black Panthers, Black Liberation Army, Republic of Africa, and Nation of Islam. This portion of the series also contains files on many prominent state and national politicians, intellectuals, and public figures of the time, including Rockwell Kent, Angela Davis, Richard Nixon, Jonathan Bingham, Eugene McCarthy, and George Wallace.