American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland Records
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Scope and Contents
This collection documents the history and work of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maryland between 1919 and 2019. It includes organizational records and histories of the nonprofit relating to the board, director, chapter files, and committees in addition to files regarding civil rights, litigation, and programs the organization has been involved in or worked on over the years. Notably, the collection includes the Thompson v. HUD files, and other files and reports relating to issues such as housing, discrimination, abortion, education, and others. This collection is mainly textual and includes case files, correspondence, reports, publications, clippings, and programs.
Dates
- Creation: 1919-2019
Creator
- Maryland Branch, American Civil Liberties Union (Organization)
Language of Materials
Materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
To the extent that they own copyright, the donor has assigned the copyright of this collection to the University Foundation. However, copyright for some items in this collection are held by their respective creators.
Historical Note
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maryland was founded March 8, 1931 and (as of 2020) has approximately 42,000 members in Maryland. It is a nonprofit involved in litigation, legal services, public education, and advocacy regarding civil rights issues in the state. The Maryland ACLU was the 10th state ACLU affiliate created. The National ACLU was founded in 1920 and has over 2 million members. The Maryland ACLU currently has offices in Baltimore and Takoma Park, Maryland. The ACLU of Maryland supports the freedom of information and informed public discourse on matters of public interest. The nonprofit has been involved in civil rights issues and litigation such as housing segregation and economic mobility, abortion, education, voting rights and elections, freedom of speech and censorship, separation of church and state, civil disobedience, employment discrimination, racial discrimination, sex discrimination, the criminal and legal justice system, and others.
Information for this historical note was collected from the ACLU of Maryland website: https://www.aclu-md.org/en
Extent
175.96 Linear Feet (222 containers)
Abstract
This collection documents the history and work of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland between 1919 and 2019 and includes case files, correspondence, reports, publications, clippings, and programs. Notably the collection contains materials related to the nonprofit’s work regarding discrimination, housing, education, employment, gender, and other issues in Maryland.
Arrangement
Collection is organized in 11 series.
- Series 1: Organization and History
- Series 2: Governing Boards
- Series 3: Thompson v. HUD
- Series 4: Executive Director
- Series 5: Committees
- Series 6: Financial
- Series 7: Publications
- Series 8: Chapters
- Series 9: Subject Files
- Series 10: Court Cases
- Series 11: Legislative Files
Custodial History
The collection was donated to the University of Baltimore by John Roemer, former ACLU Executive Director, on November 19, 1981. There have been additional accessions of records from the organization since that time, including 100 linear feet of additional Thompson v. HUD records in May 2016, and 13 linear feet of organizational records in October 2019.
Appraisal
In order to provide access to records, sensitive information including privileged information and personal identifying information was redacted from Accession A002-02, described as subseries 3D: Thompson v. HUD Addition, by ACLU of MD staff members and volunteers between August 2018 and February 2020.
Accessing Digital Copies
Digital versions of items in this collection are available online. Locate records by using the "Print" button above, or browse records in “Collection Organization." Records with associated digital objects are identified with a red Digital Object icon.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Special Collections and Archives staff prior to 2016.
Series 3D was added to the collection in 2016 and is being described at the folder level by Samantha Hildwein and Barbara Wilkins in 2022-2023.
Accession A0002-03 was added to the collection in 2019 and is currently described within Series 4 at the box level only.
- Title
- Finding aid for the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland Records
- Author
- Finding aid created by Special Collections and Archives staff. Revised by Laura Bell (2019-2021). Revised by Aiden Faust (2011, 2016, 2023).
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2011: Descriptive fields added
- 2014-2016: Finding aid prepared from legacy finding aid and added to database
- 2016: Accession A002-02 added to collection
- 2019: Series 12 was added to the collection with box list
- April 2020: Historical note updated, Accession 02 described as subseries, and other descriptive notes added
- August 2021: Accession 4 was added to the extent
Repository Details
Part of the Baltimore Studies Archives Repository
H. Mebane Turner Learning Commons, Room 104
1415 Maryland Avenue
Baltimore Maryland 21201 USA
410-837-4253
specialcollections@ubalt.edu