Amnesty International of the USA Inc. Rick Halperin Papers, 1987-1999, bulk 1989-1995
Summary Information
Abstract
At a Glance
- Call No.:
- HR#0001.16
- Bib ID:
- 10391811 View CLIO record
- Creator(s):
- Halperin, Rick
- Repository:
- Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Physical Description:
- 14.15 linear feet (13 record cartons, 2 document boxes, 1 half-sized document box)
- Language(s):
- English .
- Access:
- You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
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This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no access restrictions.
Description
Summary
This collection documents the work of Halperin and his colleagues on the AIUSA Board of Directors from 1989-1995. It contains material pertaining to AIUSA committees, planning, events, structure, and budget. Events include the Annual General Meeting, International Council meetings, the Death Penalty Campaign, and the Indigenous Peoples Campaign. Additionally, Halperin addressed other aspects of human rights violations during his time on the Board, including prisoners of conscience, survivors of torture, and the rights of women and gays. The bulk of the files contain meeting minutes, notes, financial statements, drafts, reports, resolutions, reviews, and correspondence. This collection also contains research materials pertaining to areas of human rights violations. It is comprised largely of publications by other human rights and international organizations, clippings, copies of US legislation, and Amnesty International reports. An extensive clippings file on the death penalty worldwide is also included.
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Series I: AIUSA Board of Directors Meeting Materials, 1989-1995
This series documents Halperin's activity on the AIUSA Board of Directors and as Chair of the Board. The files contain binder materials from every AIUSA Board of Directors meeting, including travel itineraries, meeting agendas, previous meeting minutes, financial statements, and Amnesty International related clippings. Any correspondence pertaining to Board meetings is also included, as are Halperin's notes. Major structural topics addressed at these meetings include the AIUSA budget, the student program, and committee reports. Major human rights issues addressed by the Board include prisoners of conscience, refugees, genocide, women prisoners, conscientious objectors, and capital punishment. Other files include material pertaining to the planning of the Annual General Meeting, the International Council Meeting, program reviews, and Board correspondence. Also included are reports written by AIUSA Board Member, Winston Nagan, after a series of meetings with officials in Washington D.C. Files are arranged chronologically by date of the Board meeting, barring a few files of supplemental material.
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Series II: Campaigns and Committees, 1989-1995
This series documents Halperin's involvement in the Children's Action Network Steering Committee, the Conscientious Objector Support Network, the Indigenous Peoples Campaign, and the Native American Rights Campaign. Files for the Indigenous Peoples Campaign, which addressed human rights abuses of indigenous peoples in the Americas, are particularly extensive. This series includes clippings, correspondence, directories of relevant organizations, United Nations publications, and Amnesty International publications and mailings.
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Series III: Death Penalty Clippings, 1987-1999
This series is an extensive collection of clippings on the death penalty worldwide. Halperin sent copies of these clippings to other AIUSA members on a regular basis. Articles in this series predominantly focus on specific United States death penalty cases and appeals, and related political cartoons are also included. Debates about the death penalty in the United States comprise another large portion of articles. Topics such as broadcast of executions, gas chamber vs. lethal injection, and seeking the death penalty for minors and the mentally ill are addressed. This series also contains articles about international forms of capital punishment. Events such as the execution of Ceausescu in Romania, the slaughter of children in Brazil, torture in Kenya, and the Pinochet regime in Chile are included. Files are arranged chronologically by month and year.
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This small series contains material related to work of the IEC and the twentieth and twenty-first ICM. Topics such as the nomination of delegates to IEC, strategic and financial planning, and priorities of ICM working groups are addressed. This series includes notes, correspondence, calendars, reports, and resolutions. A handwritten transcript of Halperin's speech welcoming delegates to the twenty-first ICM is also included.
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This small series contains a variety of material from Halperin's final years on the AIUSA Board of Directors. Files include correspondence and reports from the National Program Planning meeting and the Special Initiatives Fund as well as copies of numerous reports issued by various Amnesty International committees.
Arrangement
This collection has been arranged into five series.
- Series I: AIUSA Board of Directors Meeting Materials, 1989-1995
- Series II: Campaigns and Committees, 1989-1995
- Series III: Death Penalty Clippings, 1987-1999
- Series IV: International Council Meetings (ICM) and International Executive Committee (IEC), 1991-1993
- Series V: General, 1990-1995
Using the Collection
Restrictions on Access
Rbml Advance Appointment
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no access restrictions.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from Amnesty International of the USA, Inc.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); AIUSA Rick Halperin Papers, 1987-1999; Box and Folder; Center for Human Rights Documentation and Research, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Related Materials
See Center for Human Rights Documentation and Research (CHRDR) page for more information about all AIUSA collections: https://library.columbia.edu/libraries/chrdr/archive_collections/aiusa.html
Accruals
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Ownership and Custodial History
The papers were originally donated by Rick Halperin to the University of Colorado Boulder on November 10, 1995 as part of the AIUSA collection. In 2006 the AIUSA collection was transferred to RBML.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Source of acquisition--Rick Halperin. Method of acquisition--Deposit at University of Colorado Boulder; Date of acquisition--11/10/1995.
Source of acquisition--AIUSA. Method of acquisition--Deposit; Date of acquisition--2006.
About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Processing Information
The collection was processed by Harvey N. Gardiner, University of Colorado Boulder in November 1995. Additional processing in 2012 by Erin Lee Barsan, Pratt Institute '14. Finding aid written by Erin Lee Barsan in November, 2012.
Revision Description
2021-04-13 EAD document created by CCR.
Biographical / Historical
Rick Halperin is an expert on human rights issues and currently a professor of human rights at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Halperin served as Treasurer of AIUSA from 1984 to 1988, and from 1989-1995 as a member of the Board of Directors. From 1992-1993, he also served as Chair of the Board. During his time on the board, Halperin worked on various campaigns and committees, including the Death Penalty Campaign, Conscientious Objector Support Network, Children's Action Network Steering Committee, and the Indigenous Peoples Campaign. Since 1994, Halperin has served as Amnesty International's Texas coordinator for the abolition of the death penalty.
Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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