Rare Books & Manuscripts

Born in Terre Haute, Eugene Victor Debs became a prominent labor leader, visionary, activist, and Socialist politician.  He ran for President of the United States five times, the last campaign occurring while being imprisoned in Atlanta Federal Penitentiary for sedition while protesting against the draft and American involvement in World War I.   In this campaign he won the highest number of votes for a candidate of the Socialist Party.

• Special Collections holds personal material once belonging to Eugene V. Debs and his family, including correspondence, photographs, memorabilia and manuscripts.  This includes material from his time as secretary of the local Brotherhood of  Locomotive Firemen, his presidential campaigns, and his trials and imprisonment.
• We also hold materials written or edited by Debs professionally.  This not only includes books and pamphlets published under his name, but also speeches he composed, articles he wrote for alternative newspapers and journals, and newspapers and journals he edited.
• We have collected materials written by contemporaries of Debs, published and unpublished, which discuss Debs, those around him, the labor movement, the Socialist Party, and the United State political culture.
• In addition to these primary materials, we also have developed holdings of secondary materials relating to Debs, labor movements, and Socialism from contemporary to modern scholars, including scholars connected to Indiana State University as well as the Eugene V. Debs foundation.
• All of these materials can be found in various formats, from print to microfilm to digital.   Assistance can be provided for scholars of this particular area of interest.

Special Collections provides multiple avenues for the exploration of these collections.  Not all of them can be reached through the main library database or the Shadows of the Wabash collection of digital resources.  We are constantly working to expand your means of gaining access.  For this collection:

• Under the Books, Journals and More tab on the library homepage. You can include the term "Debs" in your searches of the main database.
• Under the Books, Journals and More tab on the library homepage, select Advanced Search.  You can limit searches to ‘Special Collections,’ which will allow you to find materials in our department.  You can add the term "Debs" in your search parameters which will narrow it down even more.
• We have indexes of microfilm that you can consult.
• Special Collections staff can be contacted through e-mail, phone, or LibChat to assist with research and make appointments to use the collection.

Ready to see this collection for yourself? You can come to visit us on the 3rd floor of the library, call us at 237-2610,

or e-mail us at Special-Collections@indstate.edu.