This small series includes clippings from 1947 and 1948 arranged chronologically by month. It includes materials normally found in the other clippings series.

This clippings series mirrors the types of materials found in the Federal Departments Correspondence series (Series 11). In general it covers due process matters arising from agencies of the federal government. One should also look at the General Material Clippings (Series 5) and Censorship Clippings (Series 2) series for other clippings involving federal departments of government. The clippings are generally arranged alphabetically by the appropriate government department.

This series covers a variety of subjects in which the ACLU had a general interest, but that were not directed associated with individual cases in the states. The chief focus of this series is on the labor movement (including strikes, injunctions, industrial espionage, labor violence and IWW cases, among them the San Diego free speech case from 1912), conscientious objection, civil rights (including Japanese-American internment, lynchings, Negroes and racial discrimination), patriotic organizations, press coverage of civil liberties issues, religious freedom and government intrusions on civil liberties (including aliens, raids, deportations and wiretapping). A small number of clippings relating to the organization of the ACLU itself are also included.

This series relates principally to federal legislation, although there are several volumes which include state and local legislation as well, especially relating to the espionage acts enacted in the period during and after World War I. The principal legislative issues are labor unions, censorship, immigration and naturalization, anti-lynching bills, espionage and sedition, and Congressional investigative committees. In general the terms used by the ACLU to describe the legislative matters have been retained. Thus one should survey the entire list for matters which may relate to the same subject.

The ACLU arranged most of its activities by state, and this series provides access to clippings relating to many of the issues with which it dealt over the years. One should also consult clippings for academic freedom, censorship and general material which also contain clippings related to individual states. For 1947 and 1948 only, clippings were arranged in chronological order. The states clippings files related to such topics as lynchings, strikes, criminal syndicalism, unions, blacklisting, police brutality, free speech and assembly, miscegenation, sterilization, discrimination, the Ku Klux Klan, prosecutions, arrests, police raids, interferences with meetings, official violence, deportations, fingerprinting, mob violence and handbill ordinances. There are many clippings relating to the celebrated Mooney-Billings bomb attack case in California, the 1926 Passaic Strike in New Jersey, Communist demonstrations in New York, and the Centralia murder case in Washington in 1920. Each volume's index outline provides much more detail about topics covered. The term "states" includes many United States territories or other near-by countries in which the United States had an interest (for instance Cuba and Nicaragua).

This series principally represents the work of the Academic Freedom committee and the staff who worked under its direction. One should also see records relating to the committee in the Organizational Matters series (Series 18). Records are for the most part arranged by state, although there are some other subjects. Frequent issues include evolution, yellow dog contracts for teachers, Bible reading in schools, compulsory military training in schools, loyalty oaths, Communist Party membership, flag saluting cases, textbook bans and release time in schools.