The Library received an unsolicited donation from Mr. Charles Philips of Fullerton, California. This material comprised the life’s work of his late wife, Evelyn Philips. Mrs. Philips was a housewife of the early 1960s, raising children at home in the conservative Orange County, California area. The material included in the donation and the personal markings and notations from Mrs. Philips reflect an industrious and dedicated life of long and hard-fought efforts to encourage conservative causes. Mrs. Philips represents some of the earliest supporters of Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan and the emergence of a vibrant conservative movement in the Republican Party.
Her donated material includes all of the burgeoning conservative groups and causes from the end of World War II until the present day. It ranges from the John Birch Society to the newly established Young Americans for Freedom. The material touches on many continuing themes – the creeping socialization of America and its subsequent loss of liberty, the superiority of the capitalist system, action against the introduction of sex education in schools, and the need to retain American Christian values. But the overriding concern in the material is the deadly earnest fight against communism and the communist threat of world domination.
Collection Description
The Evelyn Philips Anti-Communist Ephemera Collection (1.2 l.ft.; Box 1-3)
The material consists of books, magazines, newsletters, newspaper articles, magazine articles, notes, pamphlets, broadsheets and other ephemera. The majority of the books have been incorporated within our book collection in the research room. Mrs. Philips had an automatic standing order with the Conservative Book Club and also has early examples of publications from Regnery and Devon Adair and other conservative publishers. See our book catalog for these items or browse through the research room shelves. The remainder of the material has been incorporated within this collection of ephemera. The material does not contain much direct Reagan material such as any 1966 or 1970 gubernatorial campaign handouts or Reagan written material.
This material was not put into any series. The material is organized as follows: first are authored pamphlets/articles filed in alphabetical order by author/title. Second are items representing conservative advocacy groups filed in alphabetical order by the name of the group. These begin with “The 1976 Committee” in Box 2 and continue until “Young Americans for Freedom” in Box 3. Third are magazine articles, photocopies of newspaper articles from 1963-1995, and government reprints and publications.
This material is located in our Research Room - check with the Research Room attendant for access to this material.
Last Updated: 02/27/2021 12:28AM