OSCAR F. HAWKINS:

Oscar Ferdinand Hawkins, son of Ole M. and Malena (Elofsen) Hawkinson, was born near Grove City, Minnesota, in 1872. The family name was changed to Hawkins in 1881. From 1905 to 1943 he taught school in Minnesota and California. He served as a teacher and/or principal in Stephen, Shevlin, Hines, Akeley, Pequot Lakes, Beardsley, Forest Lake, Eden Prairie, Brookfield, and Caledonia, Minnesota. From 1914 to 1919 he taught in Westwood, California. In 1909 he married Amanda Catherine Broberg, daughter of John Johanson (1831-1885) and Catharina Andersdotter (1832-1889) Broberg. She was born August 24, 1874 in Minnesota. They had one son, Donald Vincent Hawkins (1911-2007). Amanda died January 16, 1919 in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

On June 1, 1920, he married Madge A. Ytrehus, daughter of Knute and Aletha (Sande) Ytrehus. She was born February 10, 1882 in Norway. Hawkins and his wife became active in the Farmer-Labor Party. He joined the Socialist Party in 1933, but became less active after 1936, when control of the Minnesota Socialist Party fell into the hands of Trotsky supporters. The Hawkins continued to be active in the Second Ward (Minneapolis) Farmer-Labor Club. In 1934 Hawkins ran unsuccessfully for clerk of the Supreme Court on the Farmer-Labor ticket. Madge Hawkins was president of the Hennepin County Farmer-Labor Women's Federation in 1937.

Oscar Hawkins died in Minneapolis September 12, 1964. Madge Hawkins continued to be active in political circles until her death in Minneapolis on March 29, 1980 at the age of 98 years.

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The papers include family correspondence, especially in the period before 1920. Letters are written by Hawkins to his family and letters by his brothers and sisters, Frank, Esther, Wendell, Ruth, Adelia, and Edward. Edward's letters document his service with Company I, 13th Minnesota Regiment in the Philippines in 1899. Other letters contain data on family activities, school teaching, and Hawkins' views on religion, especially spiritualism, politics, and current events.

Political materials include minutes of meetings, constitutions, and similar papers relating to the Farmer-Labor Party; campaign literature for candidates of the Republican, Democratic, Farmer-Labor, Socialist, Communist and Progressive parties; newspaper clippings containing Hawkins' letters to editors, temperance literature, and leaflets; World War II pamphlets; booklets, and other printed materials published by peace organizations, civil rights groups, and civil liberties organizations. Topics covered include peace, the alleged loss of civil liberties and civil rights caused by government loyalty programs; the activities of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy; the imprisonment of leaders of the American Communist Party; the Internal Security Act (McCarron Act), and similar actions. These matters relate to the Cold War policies of the United States government and its postwar relations with the Soviet Union and other Communist countries.

There is political campaign literature for the 1937 Minneapolis mayor's race, the 1938 Minnesota gubernatorial campaign, the 1944 presidential election, the 1948 presidential campaign of Henry A. Wallace, and the 1952 presidential campaign of Vincent Hallinan. There is also political literature pertaining to Orville L. Freeman, Hubert H. Humphrey, and James M. Youngdale.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Oscar F. Hawkins and family papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 9681; 9949; 10,649; 11,353; 14,155; 17,208

Processing Information:

Catalog ID number: 990017300320104294

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Civil defense -- United States.

Civil rights -- United States.

Cooperative societies.

Disarmament.

Education -- California.

Education -- Minnesota.

Elections.

Internal security -- United States.

Korean War, 1950-1953.

Loyalty oaths -- United States.

Neutrality.

Pacifism.

Religion.

Spanish-American War, 1898.

Temperance.

World War, 1939-1945.

Persons:

Alexander, John G. (John Grant), 1893-1971, author.

Aptheker, Herbert, 1915-2003, author.

Ball, Joseph H. (Joseph Hurst), 1905-1993, author.

Barbour, David S., author.

Benson, Elmer A. (Elmer Austin), 1895-1985, author.

Blatnik, John A., 1911-1991, author.

Bowman, Edward C., 1865-1944, author.

Browder, Earl, 1891-1973, author.

Dennis, Eugene, 1905-1961, author.

Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963, author.

Eisler, Gerhart, author.

Flynn, Elizabeth Gurley, author.

Freeman, Orville L.

Gallagher, William James, 1875-1946, author.

Hallinan, Vincent.

Hawkins family.

Hawkins, Frank, 1866-1953, author.

Hawkins, Madge, 1882-1980, author.

Hawkins, Ruth, author.

Haycraft, Kenneth C. (Kenneth Clair), 1907-

Humphrey, Hubert H. (Hubert Horatio), 1911-1978, author.

Judd, Walter H., 1898-1994, author.

Kefauver, Estes, 1903-1963, author.

Lamont, Corliss, 1902-1995, author.

Le Sueur, Marian, 1877-1954.

Lundeen, Ernest, 1878-1940, author.

MacKinnon, George E., 1906-1995, author.

McCarthy, Eugene J., 1916-2005, author.

McCarthy, Joseph, 1908-1957.

Nearing, Scott, 1883-1983, author.

Olson, Floyd Björnstjerne, 1891-1936.

Rosenberg, Ethel, 1915-1953 -- Trials, litigation, etc.

Rosenberg, Julius, 1918-1953 -- Trials, litigation, etc.

Russell, Maud, author.

Senior, Clarence Ollson, 1903-1974, author.

Shipstead, Henrik, 1881-1960, author.

Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953, author.

Stassen, Harold E. (Harold Edward), 1907-2001.

Strong, Anna Louise, 1885-1970, author.

Thomas, Norman, 1884-1968, author.

Thye, Edward John, 1896-1969, author.

Wallace, Henry A. (Henry Agard), 1888-1965, author.

Wier, Roy William, 1888-1963, author.

Youngdale, James M.

Organizations:

American Peace Mobilization.

Civil Rights Congress (U.S.)

Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy.

Communist Party of the United States of America.

Congress of Industrial Organizations (U.S.). Political Action Committee.

Democratic Party (U.S.)

Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.

Everybody's Committee to Outlaw War.

Farmer-Labor Party (Minn.)

Independent Voters of Minnesota.

Medical Bureau to Aid Spanish Democracy.

Methodist Federation for Social Action (U.S.)

Minneapolis Union Education Center.

Minnesota Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born.

Minnesota United Nations Committee.

National Council of American-Soviet Friendship (U.S.)

National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee (U.S.)

Non-Partisan Labor Defense.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

People's Lobby.

Progressive Party (U.S. : 1948)

Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )

Russian War Relief, Inc.

Saturday Lunch Club (Minneapolis, Minn.).

United Nations.

United States. Army. Minnesota Infantry Regiment, 13th (1898-1899).

Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

Workers' Defense League.

Places:

Minneapolis (Minn.)

United States -- Foreign relations.

United States -- Politics and government.

Document Types:

Diaries.

Photographs.

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