Upton Sinclair and supporters (including son David?) protesting at censorship hearings for his novel Oil!: showing back side of sandwich boards protesting censorship
Upton Sinclair and supporters (including son David?) protesting at censorship hearings for his novel Oil!: showing back side of sandwich boards protesting censorship
Description:
"Pictured selling 150 promotional copies of a censored 'fig-leaf' version of his book Oil! on Tremont and Boylston Streets in Boston for $2 per copy. Large fig leaves were printed over Sinclair's text relating a sex scene in a motel, which Boston censors found objectionable. Fig-leaf sign the protester is wearing reads "Oil! Guaranteed 100% pure under Boston Law". Two years later, Sinclair would write a letter of support for an anti-censorship rally held in Boston in which he stated, "I would rather be banned in Boston than read anywhere else, because when you are banned in Boston, you are read everywhere else."
Requests to publish, redistribute, or replicate this material should be addressed to Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.
Contact host institution for more information.
