Junius Irving Scales Papers, 1940-1987

Has Online Content

Some materials from this collection are available online.
Show only online content

Summary

Creator:
Scales, Junius Irving.
Abstract:

Junius Irving Scales (1920-2002), native of Greensboro, N.C., and graduate of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, was Communist Party chair for North and South Carolina, 1948-1956.

Personal and political papers of Junius Scales, including Communist party Papers, a small amount of material about the Progressive Party (1948), personal correspondence, the proceedings of Scales's 1958 trial under the Smith Act, drafts of his two books, and other personal papers.

Extent:
1000 items (7.5 linear feet)
Language:
Materials in English
Library Catalog Link:
View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:

Junius Scales, a native of Greensboro, N.C., and graduate of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, was the chair of the Communist Party of North Carolina and South Carolina from 1948 to 1956. He was the first individual imprisoned under the Smith Act for membership in the Communist Party and suspected plotting to overthrow the United States government. He served fourteen months before his sentence was commuted by President John F. Kennedy. A play was written in 1976 about his trial.

Scope and content:

This collection contains personal and political papers of Junius Scales, including Communist party propaganda, personal correspondence, the proceedings of his trial, drafts of his two books, and other personal papers.

Acquisition information:

Received from Junius I. Scales of Pine Bush, N.Y., in July 1997 (Acc. 97085); Wendy Wallis Stewart in 2014 (Acc. 102052); and Lynn Roundtree on behalf of the Estate of Professor Raymond Adams in October 2022 (Acc. 20221116.2).

Processing information:

Processed by: Adera Scheinker, August 1997

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Jodi Berkowitz, May 2019; Davia Webb and Laura Smith, October 2023

Sensitive materials statement:

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Access and use

Restrictions to access:

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to use:

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

No usage restrictions.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], in the Junius Irving Scales Papers #4879, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of this collection:
Louis Round Wilson Library
200 South Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Contact:
(919) 962-3765
wilsonlibrary@unc.edu