The ACLU censorship files (18.06 linear feet) contain materials which reflect the ACLU's involvement and interest in guaranteeing that freedom of speech and the press are not abridged. The ACLU fought hard against Post Office censorship, pressure groups, and government to protect the rights of artists, nudists, movie makers, homosexuals, and others to express their views, ideas, and images in books, magazines, and movies. These files are the documentation of that struggle.

The Freedom of Movement subseries (8.82 linear feet) contains materials relating to issues of immigration, naturalization, travel within and outside the United States, and deportation. Individual cases, general policy, and legal questions are addressed.

This subseries (5.04 linear feet) contains various legal, administrative, and correspondence files relating to the ACLU's involvement in the protection of union and employee rights. The records also contain newspaper clippings and reprints of ACLU-published documents relating to labor unions and business practices.

The Loyalty and Security subseries (24.36 linear feet) documents the ACLU's monitoring of and fight against due process abuses that resulted from perceived national security threats during the Cold War. It is arranged chronologically by year and then divided by the headings: miscellaneous, cases, Congressional investigating committees (excluding HUAC), Federal Loyalty Program, Fifth Amendment, House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), legislation, military security, private industry, and sedition and subversion. The files contain correspondence, memoranda, manuscripts, reports, legal documents, and printed materials.

The Mass Communications subject files (17.22 linear feet) reflect the ACLU's concern with equality of access to and fairness in use of all forms of mass communications--from newspapers and radio in the 1940s to digital communications in the 1980s. The files consist of correspondence with various ACLU staff members, printed materials, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) documents, background information on mass communications cases of interest to the ACLU, radio and TV scripts, speeches, legislation, ACLU policy statements, newspaper clippings, reports, and memoranda.

The Military Rights subseries (4.62 linear feet) is comprised of materials relating to the draft, conscientious objection to war, military service, and the United States' participation in wars. The files relating to the Vietnam War are most extensive for the years 1966 to 1970.

This subseries (11.76 linear feet) consists of correspondence, newspaper clippings, and press releases regarding various bills and acts that interested the ACLU. The material is organized chronologically by year, under federal or state legislature headings, and is then arranged alphabetically with folder titles describing the issue, or bill in question.

This subseries (0.84 linear feet) documents the ACLU's opposition to the U.S. government relocation of Japanese-Americans living in the western United States to internment camps in the name of national security during World War II. Most Japanese-Americans lost their homes, possessions and in some cases their citizenship. This subseries consists almost entirely of correspondence and court papers documenting individual cases. Issues of concern include citizenship rights, property and land laws, deportations, renunciation cases, education and racism. Please consult the ACLU finding aid, 1917-1950 ("The Baldwin Years") to locate earlier ACLU materials pertaining to the Japanese-American internment.

The Mental Health subseries (4.2 linear feet) contains files related to the legal rights of the mentally ill, general mental health issues, and the treatment of patients in mental hospitals. The bulk of the collection is comprised of individual case materials in which patients corresponded with ACLU staff seeking help in obtaining their release from mental hospitals. The ACLU legal staff evaluated cases to determine if any patients suffered civil liberties violations.

The Right to Privacy subseries (2.1 linear feet) contains correspondence, briefs, reports, printed material, and clippings. The headings reflect the issues these documents address: alcohol, data collection, drugs, medical rights, sexual privacy, and smoking. The ACLU fought for the right of doctors to hold a medical license regardless of political views, the relaxation of restrictions on marijuana, against government and private sector invasion of privacy through data collection, and against sanctions on private consensual sexual activity between adults. The miscellaneous heading contains many files on water fluoridation. For materials on reproductive freedom, consult the Women's Rights subseries.

The Wiretapping and Surveillance subseries (1.26 linear feet) contains materials on the use of wiretapping and surveillance techniques on individuals by the police, government agencies, and private employers. The files contain correspondence, printed materials, court documents, legislation, and memoranda. Consult the Police Practices subseries under the Due Process heading for collateral information.

The Civil Rights subseries (11.76 linear feet) contains legal, administrative, and correspondence files relating to the ACLU's involvement in the protection of individual liberties. The subseries is organized chronologically with various headings for each year (though not all headings appear in every year) and contains newspaper clippings, correspondence, memoranda, and background papers. While the bulk of materials deals with the rights of African-Americans, several files contain material related to the liberties of Jews, Mexican-Americans, aliens, and the disabled.

Correspondence, court documents, newspaper clippings, and reports related to elections and voting rights comprise the materials in this subseries (2.1 linear feet). Such issues as the required number of signatures for a new party to be recognized; the rights of minority parties (such as the Progressive Party, Socialist Party or Christian Nationalist Party) to partake in the election process; discussions of the laws concerning United States citizens and foreign elections; and election laws in general are detailed. One topic covered in great detail is reapportionment: there are many discussions of legislation related to the Supreme Court's ruling ( Baker v. Carr) requiring state legislatures to apportion their representation on the basis of population.

The International Civil Liberties subseries (19 linear feet) contains press releases, correspondence with officials like General Douglas MacArthur, and reports on censorship, labor laws and U.S. policy. Much of this material attests to Roger Baldwin's personal interest in international civil liberties during this period.

This subseries consists of a variety of material gathered together by the ACLU as "miscellaneous" and of material placed under that heading by the processors of this project. It includes correspondence, memoranda, manuscripts, press releases, clippings, articles, legal documents, and bail bonds and is arranged chronologically. It includes materials on presidential elections from 1948 to 1964 and on election and campaign reform including statements and testimony by members of the ACLU and also questionnaires of candidate's views on civil liberties issues; information on municipal and state ordinances as well as a book of cancelled bail bonds from 1927-1931, showing the grassroots legal efforts of the ACLU to defend the rights of those associated with unpopular organizations; yearly compilations of "Descriptive Summaries of ACLU Case Actions Taken in Defense of Civil Liberties" (1946-1953); "Reference Books" compiled by the staff of the ACLU (1921-1946) containing memoranda of law and summary reports related to various civil liberties issues; information on films and television programs about civil liberties, such as "Inherit the Wind" and a television program on Sacco and Vanzetti; and manuscripts relating to civil liberties topics written by staffers of the ACLU and also by those outside the organization and submitted to the ACLU for approval or editorial comment. There are also a few files containing correspondence from the 1940s and 1950s which was at that time considered "confidential" and a "Survey of Communist-Oriented Organizations and Publications" compiled at the request of Roger Baldwin in 1946.