MORRIS KAPLAN:
An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
Part or all of this collection is restricted.
For
details, please see restrictions.
OVERVIEW
| Creator: | Kaplan, Morris, 1869-1959, creator. | |
| Title: | Morris Kaplan and family papers. | |
| Dates: | 1924-1966. | |
| Abstract: | Reminiscences, correspondence, and newspaper clippings documenting the life of a Jewish storekeeper and socialist activist from Bemidji, Minnesota. | |
| Quantity: | 0.3 cubic feet (1 box). | |
| Location: | P22: See Detailed Description for shelf location |
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Morris Kaplan was born in 1869 in Kalvive, Lithuania and immigrated with his parents and his brother Abraham to the United States in 1864. The familty settled first in San Francisco and thence to New York City, where Kaplan grew up in the slums of the Lower East Side. Kaplan moved to Boston in 1896, where he became active in Socialism and attended organizing convention (1899) of the American Socialist Party. He and his family moved to Chicago, operating a discount general store, until his first wife, May, died in childbirth. His family returned to the East Coast and Kaplan moved to Duluth, where he became active in organizing grocery cooperatives. After the Duluth cooperative movement lost its momentum, Kaplan and his wife moved to Bemidji where they opened a discount grocery store, expanding it into the Kaplan Glass Block building in 1916. He continued to operate the store until his death in 1959.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
Reminiscences (200 pages, ca.1966) by Kaplan and his daughter, Mildred Kaplan Light, of his boyhood in Lithuania; emigration to the United States in 1874; life and business ventures in New York City, Boston, and elsewhere; activities (early 1900s) in organizing socialist groups and cooperative grocery stores in northern Minnesota and in assisting striking iron miners there (1907); and establishment and operation of Kaplan's Glass Block, a wholesale general store in Bemidji, Minnesota.
Also included are correspondence and clippings on his activities in the Socialist party, his campaign for the United States Senate (1934), and the controversy (1935) over his refusal to adhere to the minimum prices on food established by the National Recovery Administration. There are fragments of Kaplan's writings on socialist theory, personal philosophy, Jews in America, and Bemidji civic affairs.
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Availability:
The collection is open for research use.
Use Restrictions:
Literary rights reserved on reminiscences. Contact the reference staff for more information.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Morris Kaplan and Family Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples
Accession Information:
Accession number: 10,357
Processing Information:
Processed by: Dennis Meissner, November 2001
Catalog ID number: 990017197320104294
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
| Box | |||||||||||
| P22 | 1 | Correspondence and related papers, undated, 1924-1963. 4 folders. | |||||||||
| Includes letters, and fragments of reminiscences and other writings by Kaplan, much of it undated. There is information on Kaplan's dispute with the National Recovery Administration over its price control policies (1935). Notable letter writers include Edith (Mrs. Woodrow) Wilson (a printed acknowledgement), Norman Thomas, Floyd B. Olson, Anna Dickie Oleson, Harold Hagen, Henrik Shipstead, Mark Sullivan, and Father Edward Flanagan. | |||||||||||
| Newspaper clippings, undated and 1926-1964. 2 folders. | |||||||||||
| The clippings contain information on Kaplan's activities in the Socialist Party, his campaign for a U.S. Senate seat in 1934, his problems with the NRA, and related political matters. | |||||||||||
| Mildred Kaplan Light, "Recollections of a Small Town Merchant," undated. 4 folders. | |||||||||||
| The reminiscences, apparently begun by Kaplan and finished by his daughter Mildred, discuss his early boyhood in Lithuania, the family's immigration and subsequent life in San Francisco and New York City, life in New York's East Side, Kaplan's work as a messenger, and several early business ventures. They relate his move to Boston and the beginnings of his Socialist involvement, and his subsequent moves to Chicago, Duluth, and Bemidji. The recollections go on to relate his organizing efforts for the party in northern Minnesota, the 1907 strikes by iron miners, and his efforts to organize commissaries to feed striking miners. They also discuss Kaplan's Glass Block, the general store he operated for the rest of his life, as well as his family, family activities and events, and his views on politics and religion. The typescript is accompanied by a black-and-white undated studio portrait of Kaplan. | |||||||||||
CATALOG HEADINGS
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:
- Communism.
- Consumer cooperatives -- Minnesota.
- Food prices -- Law and legislation -- United States.
- World War, 1914-1918.
- Jews -- United States.
- Strikes and lockouts -- Minnesota.
- Iron miners -- Minnesota.
- Religion.
- Socialism.
- Depression -- 1929 -- United States.
- Persons:
- Flanagan, Edward Joseph, 1886-1948.
- Light, Mildred Kaplan.
- Olson, Floyd Bjornstjerne, 1891-1936.
- Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945.
- Sullivan, Mark, 1874-1952.
- Thomas, Norman, 1884-1968.
- Wilson, Edith Bolling Galt, 1872-1961.
- Organizations:
- Kaplan's Glass Block (Bemidji, Minn.).
- United States. National Recovery Administration.
- United States. Congress -- Elections.
- Places:
- Bemidji (Minn.).
- Lithuania -- Emigration and immigration.
- United States -- Emigration and immigration.
- United States -- Politics and government -- 20th century.
- Occupations:
- Businessmen
- Types of Materials:
- Photographs.
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