Series I: Democratic National Conventions
This series is comprised of various materials relating to the 1960 and 1964 Democratic National Conventions.
Subseries I.1: 1960 Democratic National Convention, 1960, 1960, 1960
Held in Los Angeles, CA in July 1960, this subseries contains papers relating the convention. It includes, but is not limited to: programs, pamphlets, correspondence, speeches, and press releases. While much of the material pertains to the event itself, a sizable portion relates to potential political issues to highlight in the upcoming 1960 Democratic Party platform.
Subseries I.2: 1964 Democratic National Convention, 1964, 1964, 1964
Held in Atlantic City, NJ in August 1964, this subseries contains papers relating to the convention. Unlike I.1, however, I.2 is comprised primarily of publicity-related papers, especially press releases.
Box 1
1964 Democratic National Convention, (3 folders)
Series II: Campaigns, 1958-1964
A majority of the papers relating to the Democratic National Committee document Sheldon's work with various campaigns. Although he worked for additional campaigns not documented by this collection, this series contains materials concerning JFK's 1960 presidential campaign, RFK's 1964 senatorial campaign, Averell Harriman's 1958 campaign for New York State governor, and Robert Wagner's 1961 campaign for mayor of New York City.
Subseries II.1: JFK Presidential Campaign, 1960 August -November, 1960
The bulk of this subseries is constituted by press releases and speeches, many of which Sheldon wrote to explicitly address various ethnic groups such as Germans, Italians, Poles, and Chinese. In addition, the subseries also contains handwritten notes, correspondence, and pamphlets pertaining to JFK's presidential campaign between the months of August and November, 1960. Of all the campaigns documented by this collection, the material relating to JFK's is the most voluminous.
Subseries II.2: RFK Senatorial Campaign, 1964 September -November, 1964
Similar to II.1, II.2 is comprised mainly of press releases and speeches, but also features some handwritten notes and correspondence. In addition, the subseries contains a rather lengthy booklet entitled "The Myth of Keating's Liberalism," which refers to RFK's opponent, Senator Kenneth Barnard Keating. Serving as Senator of New York between 1959 and 1965, he ran for re-election against RFK in 1964. Considered a moderate Republican, the aforementioned booklet challenges his self-proclaimed liberalism, and was likely used by Sheldon for reference in drafting publicity statements on behalf of RFK's campaign.
Subseries II.3: Harriman campaign, 1958
Like II.1 and II.2, II.3 also contains speeches and press releases relating to Harriman's 1958 campaign; however, this subseries is comprised more heavily by campaign-related ephemera, mainly in the form of pamphlets. There is also some campaign material generated by Harriman's Republican opponents.
Box 3
Harriman campaign, 1958, (2 folders)
Subseries II.4: Wagner campaign, 1961
The least voluminous of the four documented campaigns, this subseries is comprised mostly of publicity-related material and some ephemera relating to Wagner's 1961 campaign.
Box 3
Wagner campaign, 1961, (1 folder)
Series III: Democratic National Committee-Nationalities Division, General files,, 1952-1960
While the majority of material pertaining to the Democratic National Committee is directly associated with conventions and campaigns, the collection also contains material related to the general business of the Nationalities Division between 1952 and 1961, the bulk of which spans between January and December 1958. This series is comprised mostly of publicity-related material, correspondence, handwritten notes, clippings, meeting agendas, and newsletters.
DNC General files
Box 4
1952-1957
Box 4
1958
Box 4
1959 January -October
Box 4
1959 November
Box 4
1959 November -December
Box 4
1960
Series IV: American Association of United Nations, 1956-1965
A considerable portion of the collection pertains to Sheldon's work with the American Association of the United Nations, and documents his activities within the organization between 1956 and 1965, with heavy emphasis on the years 1963 and 1964. This series is comprised of papers relating to the AAUN, most of which are correspondence, handwritten notes, meeting agendas, and membership lists. The series also features a booklet entitled "Manhattan Ethnic Group Distribution Statistics and Data," which is a detailed account of the ethnic demographics of Manhattan in 1960. While Sheldon may have consulted this booklet during JFK's campaign, it was found amongst his AAUN papers and has thus been included in this series.
AAUN
Box 5
1956-1957
Box 5
1958
Box 5
1959
Box 5
1960
Box 5
1961 January -March
Box 5
1961 April -December
Box 6
1962 January
Box 6
1962 February
Box 6
1962 March
Box 6
1962 April
Box 6
1962 May
Box 6
1962 May
Box 6
1962 June
Box 6
1962 July
Box 6
1962 August
Box 7
1962 September
Box 7
1962 October
Box 7
1962 November
Box 7
1962 November
Box 7
1962 December
Box 7
1963 January
Box 7
1963 February
Box 8
1963 March
Box 8
1963 April
Box 8
1963 May
Box 8
1963 June
Box 8
1963 July -August
Box 8
1963 September
Box 8
1963 October (2 folders)
Box 9
1963 November
Box 9
1963 December
Box 9
1964 January -April
Box 9
1964 May -December
Box 9
1965 January -August
Box 9
1965 September -December
Box 9
Membership Lists, 1962-1963
Series V: General files, 1948-1971
In addition to material relating directly to specific organizations, there is a very small series of general files which are unrelated and span between 1945 and 1971. It includes papers relating the Metropolitan Council on Fair Employment Practice, the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League, and a biographical letter written upon request to the president of Morris Brown College, among others.
Box 9
General files, 1948-1971, (1 folder)
Series VI: Scrapbooks, 1951-1970
The collection includes 5 bound scrapbooks and 20 loose pages containing clippings of Sheldon's twice-monthly column in the American Examiner between December 1951 and October 1970. It should be noted that that the newspaper was formally known as the American Hebrew until 1956, the year it was changed to the American Examiner; thus, the scrapbooks pertain to the same publication.
American Hebrew
American Examiner