Ruth Koenig Freedom Summer Collection
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of some original but primarily photocopies of materials that document the Civil Rights Movement and Freedom Summer in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Included are Ruth Koenig’s journals from 1964 and 1966, photographs, correspondence, subject files, and printed materials.
Dates
- 1964-1994
Creator
- Koenig, Ruth, 1941- (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Available for research use by the serious student and scholar.
Conditions Governing Access
Noncirculating; available for research.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection may be protected from unauthorized copying by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code).
Biographical / Historical
“I have a basic belief in serving others –my neighbors…
[who] are not merely those who live in close proximity to me.”
-Ruth Koenig, 1964
Ruth Koenig, occasionally known as “Ruthie,” was born in 1941 in Scotia, New York. She is the daughter of Mr. Reinhold Koenig and Mrs. Alfreda Koenig. Reinhold was a foreman and shop steward for American Locomotive Company [ALCO] and Alfreda worked in the home, volunteered at their church, and later worked as a waitress. Both parents lived in Europe during World War I; Ruth's father lived in Germany and her mother in Poland. Ruth had two brothers, an older brother named Ronald and a younger brother named Glenn who died at the age of four.
Ruth is a graduate of Scotia-Glenville High School. In 1963, she received her undergraduate degree in physical education and health from Cortland State in Cortland, New York. In 1963, at the age of 22 she moved to Shelton, Washington, where she was a physical education and health teacher at a junior high school.
The 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, in which four young African-American girls were killed, heavily influenced Ruth. She had been accepted to participate in a church-sponsored project in an impoverished area of Los Angeles during the summer of 1964. Instead, after seeing a brochure provided by her minister, Bruce Clements, in Schenectady, New York, she decided to work with volunteers in the South during the Mississippi Summer Project.
After a brief training period in Memphis, Ruth arrived in Holly Springs, Mississippi, to begin her Freedom Summer activities. Early planning had volunteers boarding with African-American families but because of the possibility of violence other arrangements were made when possible. In Holly Springs the young men stayed in the Freedom House across from Rust College, an African-American Methodist college, and the girls were housed in Rust College dormitories. Ruth, Kathy Dahl, Harriet Tanzman, along with three African-American students, Aldine, Clare, and Ernestine, were roommates on the third floor of Rust Hall. Ruth said, “This was a safer arrangement for us and it wouldn’t jeopardize the Negro families after we were gone.”
Ruth’s primary focus during her stay in Holly Springs was working with the Freedom School and Community Center at 100 and 110 Rust Avenue. Specifically she taught recreational games and anatomy systems, worked with teen’s for a citizenship class, spoke with a women’s group, conducted research for a health survey, ran errands, and typed reports. Ruth was part of a staff of 37 volunteers at the Holly Springs project.
On August 1, 1964, Ruth left Mississippi to continue her teaching job in Washington. Ruth later returned to Mississippi in 1966 to renew old acquaintances and participate in Holly Springs civil rights activities.
In order to continue her education, Ruth moved to Eugene, Oregon, in 1966 and received her graduate degree in English and Education from the University of Oregon in 1969. After graduate school, Ruth taught for seven years at Monroe Junior High in Eugene, Oregon.
Ruth was married in 1972 to Peter Moulton and co-parented Peter’s two sons. They divorced in 1977 and did not have children of their own. In 1979 Ruth adopted an eleven-year-old girl from India, named Sharma.
Throughout her career, Ruth has worked on behalf of human rights, environmental concerns, and peace issues. She has been active in numerous foreign relief efforts including: Viet Nam, Central American relief activities since the Contra War of the 1980s, involvement in the Sanctuary Movement, and four trips to Nicaragua. On one trip to Nicaragua she assisted in rebuilding a village that had been destroyed by a hurricane. A trip to South Africa in 1987 resulted in numerous speaking engagements and participation in South African solidarity groups.
Her career has also included service as community education coordinator and environmental program coordinator for the City of Eugene, Oregon. Ruth became coordinator of community education in 1974 at Lincoln School, a school in the community’s lower income area, which served many types of individuals including elderly, single parents, and minorities. After budget cuts in community education in 1994 Koenig became coordinator of Eugene’s Stream Team working with volunteer labor of approximately four to five thousand people for water-quality improvement projects.
Materials Ruth gathered in 1964 and 1966 while in Holly Springs survived a fire when her house burned in 1985. Many of these items, although showing signs of smoke damage, are now housed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Ruth currently resides in Eugene, Oregon.
Extent
.45 Cubic Feet
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
For the researchers convenience the collection has been divided into five series:
Series I: Photographs hold fifteen computer scans of photographs taken in Holly Springs during Freedom Summer 1964 and 1966. One photo is of Ruth demonstrating in a picket line and others are of Freedom Summer volunteers and Freedom School students.
Series II: Diaries consist of photocopies of Ruth’s diaries and notes from her experiences during Freedom Summer 1964 and another diary from her brief 1966 Holly Springs visit. Typescripts for the diaries are also included.
Series III: Correspondence comprises letters sent to, and written by, Ruth Koenig from June 9, 1964 to July 28, 1989. Of special interest is a letter personally delivered to the White House on June 9, 1964. Many letters are to Ruth after she left the Holly Springs project and contain information about the status of the project.
Series IV: Topical Subject Files contain a variety of materials such as: Freedom Summer reports, minutes, documents, songs, writings, and a political cartoon. There is also an inventory of original materials donated to the Smithsonian Institution by Ruth in 1992.
Series V: Printed Materials includes flyers, brochures, newspaper clippings, and magazine clippings. A photocopy of a Fannie Lou Hamer for Congress flyer and several published articles written by Ruth are in this series.
Provenance
Materials in this collection were donated by Ruth Koenig in 2001.
Sources
Contents of the Collection
Koenig, Ruth, e-mail interview, July 15, 2003.
Dahl, Kathleen, PhD., phone interview, 2003.
Dahl (Kathleen) Freedom Summer Collection M357
Rubin, Larry. An Oral History with Larry Rubin. vol. 11.
Hattiesburg: The University of Southern Mississippi. November 11, 1995.
Internet Sources
Photograph Log
3 1/2 x 3 1/2 B & W 1964
Computer scan of a photograph of the 110 Rust Avenue Freedom Center in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Unidentified children are on the porch.
Photo 2 Children Playing Ping-Pong at 110 Rust Avenue Freedom Center
3 1/2 x 3 1/2 B & W 1964
Computer scan of a photograph of the 110 Rust Avenue Freedom Center. Unidentified children are on the porch playing Ping-Pong. Photograph number M357-10 in the Dahl (Kathleen) Freedom Summer Collection is a original of this copy.
Photo 3 Wayne Yancey, Kathleen Dahl, Charlie Scales, and Carl Young at 100 Rust Avenue Freedom House in Holly Springs, Mississippi.
3 1/2 x 3 1/2 B & W 1964
Computer scan of a photograph of, left to right, Wayne Yancey, Kathleen Dahl, Charlie Seals, and Carl Young in front of the Freedom House at 110 Rust Avenue in Holly Springs, Mississippi.
Photo 4 Unidentified Student, Charlie Scales, and Wayne Yancey at 100 Rust Avenue Freedom House.
3 1/2 x 3 1/2 B & W 1964
Photo 5 Computer scan of a photograph showing, left to right, unidentified student, Charlie Seals and Wayne Yancey at 100 Rust Avenue Freedom House. Freedom School Students
3 1/2 x 3 1/2 B & W 1964
Computer scan of a photograph of Freedom School students. In the back, James is far right and Charlie is far left.
Photo 6 Ruth Koenig with Picket Sign
3 1/2 x 3 1/2 Color 1966
Computer scan of a photograph of Ruth with a picket sign that reads “Don’t Spend Money: Until They Hire You.”
Photo 7 Freedom School Students
3 1/2 x 3 1/2 B & W 1964
Computer scan of a photograph of children. On the front row, second from left, is Charlie and then James. Mary is center back.
Photo 8 Freedom Summer Students and Pam Parker
3 1/2 x 3 1/2 B & W 1964
Computer scan of a photograph of Freedom Summer students and Pam Parker. Delois Polk is second from right and Pam Parker is at the far right.
Photo 9 Two Boys on Bikes in Front of 110 Rust Avenue Freedom Center
4 5/8 x 6 1/2 B & W 1964
Computer scan of a photograph of two boys on bikes in front of the 110 Rust Avenue Freedom Center.
Photo 10 Charlie Sitting at Base of a Tree
3 1/2 x 3 1/2 B & W 1964
Computer scan of a photograph of Charlie sitting at the base of a tree.
Photo 11 Charlie Sitting at Base of a Tree
3 1/2 x 3 1/2 B & W 1964
Computer scan of a photograph of Charlie sitting at the base of a tree.
Photo 12 Bettina, Mary, and Barbara Walker
3 1/2 x 3 1/2 B & W 1964
Computer scan of a photograph showing left to right on the front porch of possibly the Freedom Center is Bettina, an young freedom school student named Mary, and Barbara Walker.
Photo 13 Boy [Possibly James]
3 1/2 x 3 1/2 B & W 1964
Computer scan of a photograph of possibly James.
Photo 14 Wayne Yancey, Charlie Seals, Ruth Koenig, and Unidentified Woman
3 1/2 x 3 1/2 B & W 1964
Computer scan of a photograph of, left to right, Wayne Yancey, Charlie Seals, Ruth Koenig, and an unidentified woman. Photograph number M357-11 in the Dahl (Kathleen) Freedom Summer Collection is a original of this copy.
Photo 15 Unidentified Man, Ruth Koenig, and Betty White on Porch of 100 Rust Avenue Freedom House
3 1/2 x 3 1/2 B & W 1964
Computer scan of a photograph of, left to right, unidentified man, Ruth Koenig, and Betty White on Porch of 100 Rust Avenue Freedom House.
- Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.). Subject Source: TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms
- Diaries. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Financial documents. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Fliers (Ephemera). Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Letter. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Mississippi Freedom Project. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Newsletters. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Photographs. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Records (Documents). Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Ruth Koenig Freedom Summer Collection
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Historical Manuscripts and Photographs Repository
118 College Drive - 5148
Hattiesburg MS 39406-0001
601.266.4345
