| Repository: | Western Reserve Historical Society |
| Creator: | Sandberg, William Carl |
| Title: | William Carl Sandberg Papers |
| Dates: | 1931-1976 |
| Extent: | 0.20 linear feet (1 container) |
| Abstract: | William Carl Sandberg (1894-1978) was a businessman, political activist, and Cleveland, Ohio, social gadfly during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. He was a union organizer, led the Ohio Hunger March in 1931, and ran for Congress on the Communist Party ticket in the 1930s. In 1961 he wrote a play, Rotten Righteousness, which he later adapted into a screenplay. Over the years he wrote countless letters to public officials and local newspapers concerning political and social matters, ranging from U.S. involvement in southeast Asia to Legionnaires' disease. The collection consists of correspondence, personal documents and identification cards, clippings, his funeral eulogy, and the scripts of Sandberg's play and screenplay. Included in the correspondence are copies of letters from notable figures such as Carl Sandburg, Maxwell Bodenheim and John Glenn. The collection is useful to the study of Cleveland and Ohio politics, political agitation during the 1930s, and the U.S. Communist Party. |
| MS Number | MS 4298 |
| Location: | closed stacks |
| Language: | The records are in English |
William Carl Sandberg (1894-1978) was born in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, the fifth of nine children born to Scandinavian parents. Orphaned at age 11, he worked at various odd jobs and attended college for two years in Manitoba. In 1916, Sandberg joined the Machinists Union Local 64 in Minneapolis and served for a time as an Industrial Workers of the World organizer. For his union activities he was blacklisted as a machinist and took up the trade of steamfitter. An outspoken critic of American involvement in World War I, he declared himself a conscientious objector and served four years of a 20-year sentence at Leavenworth, Kansas, federal prison. After his release in 1921, he served for a time as a Communist Party organizer in Saskatchewan. Sandberg eventually moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he purchased a home and established a heating business, both of which were lost during the Great Depression. He then became a union organizer and came to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1931, serving as a spokesman for Ohio's homeless and unemployed. He led the Cincinnati-Cleveland Division of the Ohio Hunger March in 1931. During the remainder of the 1930s, Sandberg ran for the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate on the Communist Party ticket. In 1943, after splitting with the party over Stalin's occupation of the Baltic states, he joined the Democratic Party and was narrowly defeated by Jack Russell for the Ward 16 Cleveland City Council seat. Sandberg operated a heating business on East 93rd Street in Cleveland and lived behind the business with his wife, Glendora, and their three children. He continued to be a political activist and social gadfly during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, writing countless letters to public officials and local newspapers, concerning matters ranging from U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia to Legionnaires' Disease. In l96l Sandberg wrote a play, Rotten Righteousness, which he later adapted into a screenplay and attempted to sell to Hollywood. In his later years he competed in various chess tournaments, and was considered to be the "Chess Champion" of Cleveland's Southeast area. He died in Cleveland in 1978, at the age of 84.
The William Carl Sandberg Papers, 1931-1976 and undated, consist of correspondence, personal documents and identification cards, clippings, his funeral eulogy, and the scripts of Sandberg's play and screenplay. Included in the correspondence are copies of letters from notable figures such as Carl Sandburg, Maxwell Bodenheim and John Glenn. All letters are photocopies.
The papers are useful to those interested in the history of Cleveland and Ohio politics, political agitation during the 1930s, and the United States Communist Party.
None.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4298 William Carl Sandberg Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Kathleen Geathers, 1979.
Processed by Art DeMatteo in 1988.
William Carl Sandberg Papers 1931-1976 undated |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Biographical newspaper clippings, obituary from Plain Dealer, funeral eulogy, personal documents and identification cards, and miscellaneous newspaper clippings 1931-1954 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Correspondence and letters to the editor 1932-1976 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Script of play, Rotten Righteousness 1961 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Script of Distorted Righteousness, Sandberg's screen adaptation of his play undated | |||||||||