This collection contains the personal papers of Ralph Stone relating to his time as a professor of history at Sangamon State University. It includes newsletters, brochures, correspondence, notes, and other publications relating to activist and cooperative organizations, and notes, scholarly articles, correspondence, and reproductions of original sources relating to Stone’s research in labor history. It is divided into three series: Activist Groups and Publications, Cooperative Associations, and Labor Research.

Series I: Activist Groups and Publications, 1966-1988, contains material relating to student rights, black liberation, consumer rights, feminism, peace movements, and other civil rights organizations. It also includes Stone’s notes for ‘Who’s Who in Springfield,’ a guide to the power structures within the city in the early 1970s. Materials include notes, correspondence, brochures, newsletters, newspapers, and magazines. Arranged alphabetically.

Series II: Cooperative Associations, 1912-1979, contains correspondence, brochures, flyers, course notes, and related materials concerning a wide range of cooperative organizations, including those concerned with housing, food, books, and banking. Includes both local and non-local organizations. Arranged alphabetically.

Series III: Labor Research, 1898-1982, contains Stone’s research on labor movements and miners in Illinois, and particularly the Pana and Virden Mine Riots. It is divided into two subseries, Papers and Index Cards.

Series III, Sub-series A: Papers, 1898-1982 contains correspondence, notes, scholarly articles, and reproductions of original sources. Arranged alphabetically.

Series III, Sub-series B: Index Cards, circa 1975, contains index cards which Stone used to organize potential sources for research. Cards were organized by Stone into subjects and retain their original order.