MG-449. HARRY SEYLER PAPERS, 1946-1980.
Born in York, Pennsylvania, Harry E. Seyler was a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly from 1948 to 1962. Following service in the army during World War II, he was elected to the state house of representatives in 1948. In 1954, he assumed George Leader’s vacant seat in the state senate, remaining in that position until 1962. He was appointed a delegate to the White House Conference on Education in 1956, and he was delegate to the Democratic National Convention the same year. Following his legislative career, he was employed in the Philadelphia branch of the Office of Economic Opportunity. He was also a member of the American Civil Liberties Union. The collection consists primarily of newspaper clippings, reference files, and correspondence relating to his political activities.
American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania File, 1963-1965. Contains correspondence and newspaper and other printed articles about the efforts of the ACLU to eliminate discrimination. One case documented by the collection involved the ACLU’s pursuance of federal protection for the Baker family, African Americans in Folcroft, Delaware County, whose home was "bombarded with rocks, paint and dead rats" in 1963. Other African American issues referenced in the papers include: Lincoln University, Fisk University, discrimination in public schools, the Commission on Industrial Race Relations, Robert and John Kennedy, and the Council for a Pennsylvania Fair Employment Practices Commission, for the 1950s and 1960s.