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Archives at Cornell

Sarah Elbert papers

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 2914

Scope and content

"The Streets Belong to the People", 16 mm. film, videotapes (different versions) and unedited footage of movie film made in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention, August 1968. Also, articles, notes, clippings, leaflets, radical newspapers' tape recordings, movie film and documents related to the production of the film. Includes film, recorded interviews, and records related to the Democratic National Convention; the National Farm Workers and Cesar Chavez; the Starr King Divinity School; members of a Cambridge, Massachusetts commune; an S.D.S. meeting, study class, and rally; a meeting of Ithaca Housing; and the March 1967 confrontation at Willard Straight Hall (Cornell University) over draft card burning. Includes interviews with Jeff Jones, Paul Krassner, Robert Traill Spence Lowell, Jr., Rennie Davis, David Whitley Dellinger, Dick Gregory, Vic Bell, Allen Ginsberg, Ralph David Abernathy, Norman Mailer, Tom Hayden, David Burak, Bruce Dancis, Daniel Berrigan, Jerry Brown, and Eugene McCarthy. Also, Elbert's manuscript notes and correspondence concerning publication of Louisa May Alcott's previously unpublished novella Diana and Persis and Alcott's Work: A Story of Experience.

Scope and content

Self-interview by Sarah Diamant Elbert about the Chicago Seven Conspiracy trial. The film The Streets Belong to the People was entered as evidence for the defense at the trial by Judge Julius Hoffman on December 9, 1969. Sarah Diamant was cross-examined about the film and her purposes in Chicago at the Democratic National Conventioin. When she returned to Ithaca, Oral History Program Director Gould P. Colman asked her to tape record an account of of her testimony at the trial "before memory was sapped by time and corrupted by feedback and other new experience," December 15, 1969 (33 pages).

Dates

  • 1968-1976.

Creator

Language of Materials

Collection material in English

Conditions Governing Access

Box 6 closed until processed.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Sarah Elbert (Cornell University Class of 1965) initiated "The Streets Belong to the People" as a part of her study of student radicalism and counterculture. The film crew consisted of herself, Ralph Diamant (filmmaker), James Sheldon (Students for a Democratic Society member), Phyllis Black (Chicago student), Michael Wright (Chicago student and S.D.S. member), Phyllis Cutter, and Susan Schultze.

Extent

5 cubic feet. (5 cubic feet. 6 reels movie film, 6 VHS cassettes, 32 CDs, 4 DVDs, 55 tape recordings.,)

Abstract

Papers of Sarah Elbert (Cornell University Class of 1965), who initiated "The Streets Belong to the People" as a part of her study of student radicalism and counterculture.

NOTES

Includes collection #2964, New Left and underground periodicals. Mainly having belonged to Ralph and Sarah Diamant

Videocassette provided by Marcelle Pecot of out-takes of "The Streets Belong to the People" (V-208).

Videocassette "Chicago 1968" (V-238) also includes scenes from "The Streets Belong to the People."

DVD copied from Reels F-159, F-160, F161 and F162.

Physical Description

Film, videotapes, audiotapes, cd, articles, notes, clippings, and leaflets.

General

Contact Information:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections 2B Carl A. Kroch Library Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 (607) 255-3530 Fax: (607) 255-9524 rareref@cornell.edu http://rmc.library.cornell.edu
EAD encoding:
Martin Heggestad, April 2004
Date modified:
Marcie Farwell, September 2015
Status
Completed
Date
April 2004
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Revision Statements

  • 12/07/2018: This resource was modified by the ArchivesSpace Preprocessor developed by the Harvard Library (https://github.com/harvard-library/archivesspace-preprocessor)
  • 2007-05-29: converted from EAD 1.0 to EAD 2002

Repository Details

Part of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Repository

Contact:
2B Carl A. Kroch Library
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853
607-255-3530
607-255-9524 (Fax)