Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Jim Campbell fonds
General material designation
- Multiple media
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title is based on the content of the fonds.
Level of description
Fonds
Reference code
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
1968 - 2007 (Creation)
- Creator
- Campbell, Jim, 1949-2007
Physical description area
Physical description
4.3 m of textual records and other materials
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Jim Campbell was an anarchist and publisher, primarily devoted to prison activism. Campbell was born on November 20, 1949 in Shelburn, Ontario, and grew up on the family farm near Orangeville. In the 1960s Campbell studied mathematics at the University of Waterloo before becoming active in various projects and issues such as food- and housing-cooperatives. In the late 1970s Campbell helped establish one of several hippie communes "Dragonfly farm" in the Bancroft, Ontario, which still operates; he left the commune in 1981. Campbell supported his activist activities through his work as a City of Toronto municipal worker.
Campbell was a significant figure through his involvement in the formation of the Bulldozer collective in Toronto in 1980 and the creation of the Bulldozer/Prison News Service (PNS) newsletter, which began publishing the same year. Bulldozer/PNS was modeled on the anarchist journal Open Road, which began in 1976 in Vancouver, and for which Campbell worked in 1977 and where he became more involved in activist oriented politics and prison issues. Regarding Bulldozer/PNS Campbell stated that "We never wrote long essays telling prisoners what they should think. Rather we tried to provide a forum in which prisoners, individually and collectively, could articulate and develop their politics."
Through Bulldozer collective activities Campbell contributed to raising awareness regarding the treatment of indigenous peoples, the Black Panther movement, violence against women and pornography, and to the activities of the Direct Action group. To bring attention to environmental degradation and the military-industrial complex, Direct Action (also known as the "Squamish Five," and the "Vancouver Five") bombed a BC Hydro substation on Vancouver Island in May 1982, and a Litton Industries factory in Toronto in October 1982; Litton Industries produced components for American cruise missiles. Bulldozer collective support the distribution of Direct Action support leaflets, and as a result the office of Bulldozer was raided by police in 1983. After a hiatus in publishing, Campbell continued to assist in the publication of the prison newsletter the Marionette, which then became Prison News Service.
Campbell continued to be engaged in the changing anarchist movement in Canada until his death September 17, 2007 in Maynooth Ontario, at age 57. He worked with Dr. Allan Antliff on Only A Beginning: An Anarchist Anthology, contributing pieces "Bulldozer/PNS" and "Racism." Campbell is survived by his partner Julie Thiers.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The fonds consists of correspondence from Jim Campbell to Malcolm Archibald (1976-1981). Also includes an Easter 1976 b&w photograph of Malcolm Archibald, Patricia Hughes and Jim Campbell; a copy of Bulldozer newsletter; and an unpublished article by Stu Vickars for Kick It Over (2007). Also includes a CD-R copy of an interview with Jim Campbell from the 1990s re the Ontario "Dragonfly Commune" from the 1970s-1980s. The fonds includes materials relating to prisons and prisoners' rights, and also consists of audio cassettes, correspondence, newspaper clippings, posters, publications, sketches, video cassettes, and an extensive collection of newsletters. Newsletter titles include Akwesasne Notes - Mohawk Nation, Black Panther: Black Community News Service, Crossroad, The Insurgent: Newsletter of the Committee to Fight Repression, No more cages: Women's Prison Newsletter.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Gift of Julie Thiers, 2011.
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Select items from the personal collection of Jim Campbell have been digitized and are available through UVic Digital Collections.
Restrictions on access
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Finding aid available with file level control.
Generated finding aid
Associated materials
Accruals
General note
Part of the Anarchist Archive.
General note
Publications in boxes 7 to 11 were removed to be catalogued. (February 2025)
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Control area
Description record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules or conventions
Status
Revised
Level of detail
Partial
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Created by JF, July 17, 2020.
Language of description
- English