This series provides access to information on academic freedom cases from roughly 1925 when the Academic Freedom committee came into existence until 1950. There is a small amount of general material prior to 1925. Clippings are generally arranged by state, but there are a few subject files as well. Of special note are the many volumes of clippings on the Scopes trial found under Tennessee. Subjects found under this series are Bible reading laws, anti-evolution laws, loyalty oaths, conscientious objectors, flag burning, bans on lectures, bans on unions, flag salute cases, discrimination, compulsory military training, textbook censorship, Communists in the schools, dismissals of teachers and students and individual cases of various college and university professors.

Most of this series is arranged by state, although there are a number of subjects as well including censorship of books, comics, magazines, motion pictures, newsstands, the mails, the press, radio, theater, and war correspondents. See also the States Clippings series (Series 7) for clippings on censorship, especially in the period prior to 1933.

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.