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In the early 1950s folk singer Pete Seeger and the staff of folk song magazine Sing Out! gave Minnesota writer, actress, feminist, and political activist Meridel Le Sueur a reel-to-reel tape recorder, and for more than thirty years she recorded nearly 400 hours of men and women singing, socializing, arguing, discussing politics, reciting poetry, and relating stories about their lives and experiences.

The Meridel Le Sueur Papers contain 189 tape reels and audiocassettes of interviews, discussions, music, and poetry. We are pleased to announce that we have digitized 18 of these recordings and that they may be directly accessed by researchers as 30 MP3 audio files via links in the collection inventory.

Digitized recordings include a program about agricultural unions and agricultural strikes, interviews with Mexican farm workers, and a discussion about the Migrant Farm Workers Association. Yank Levine tells stories of people he deals with as a scrap collector, and of a day Meridel spent with him as he worked.

On the same recording Beatrice tells a story about a psychopathic decorator. Lou Gilbert tells stories about being blacklisted as an actor. Ken Tilsen discusses his experiences as a lawyer for American Indians who occupied Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in a 1973 standoff with Federal authorities.

Meridel talks with Tom McGrath, who was an instructor at Los Angeles State College until he was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee. McGrath, also a poet, reads many of his poems. One recording includes an interview with Martin Mackie and his wife in which Meridel asks them about their life on the Iron Range. They discuss many aspects of Iron Range culture, and the struggles of Iron Range workers.

In other recordings Le Sueur talks about derogatory terms used to describe American Indians. A Mexican-American man is interviewed, who talks about discrimination, wealth disparity, educational discrimination, and poor working conditions. An African-American woman is interviewed and describes the work experience of Blacks, including difficult times endured during the Great Depression. This woman speaks about racism in Minnesota, slavery, sharecropping, her parents, and the difficult lives of slaves.

In addition to the recordings Le Sueur's papers also include correspondence; radical, socialist, and labor publications; literary journals; published and unpublished manuscripts; clippings; and photographs documenting Le Sueur's life as a writer, journalist, actress, feminist, and political activist. The Meridel Le Sueur Papers, particularly the audio recordings, offer a unique and interesting perspective on labor and social justice issues, the struggles of ordinary people, and the human condition in Minnesota from a perspective not often seen.