History of the Collection
In the spring of 1983 the Oberlin College Library acquired a collection of 786 items which had been among the papers of a former investigator for the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Mr. Michael A. Ondreyco.
The bulk of the collection consists of pamphlets published by the Communist Party of the United States of America's New Century Publishers, Workers Library Publishers, and International Publishers.
A substantial number of the U.S. government documents (mainly hearings and reports of the House Committee on Un-American Activities) are also included along with numerous pamphlets from the Communist Party of Great Britain and several other sources. The collection sheds light on the information collecting activities of one government official active during a dramatic period of recent U.S. history and brings together a large amount of material useful to the study of the communist movement in the United States.
A small number of additional pamphlets relating to the communist, socialist, and labor movements in the U.S. have been added to the Special Collections holdings over the years. While these have not been mixed in with Mr. Ondreyco's original collection for the convenience of staff and patrons, entries for these items may appear with a common collection identification while searching for Leftist literature. In 2003, Michael Ondreyco's daughters deposited an additional small collection of their father's vital records, including employment history, organizational memberships, clippings, and his autobiographical history.