Holdings Liberal Arts and Sciences Classics Department Revilo P. Oliver Papers Finding Aid Holdings Liberal Arts and Sciences Classics Department Revilo P. Oliver Papers Finding Aid Title: Revilo P. Oliver Papers
ID: 15/6/27
Extent: 5.0 cubic feet
Arrangement:
Series 1: Incomplete, alphabetical run of Oliver correspondence files, 1949-1991
The series contains one incomplete run of correspondence, including some financial statements, newsletters, articles, organizational propaganda materials, and pamphlets. The series is arranged alphabetically.
For some correspondents or organizations, Oliver kept several folders. If that was the case, he numbered them sequentially on the top right (e.g. folder 1 and 2). However, there are numerous folders numbered (1) where we apparently/possibly miss subsequent folders. In the finding aid, these numbers are listed in parentheses next to the name.
Series 2: Revilo Oliver or Keith Whited's copy of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler (Hurst and Blackett Ltd. first published March 21, 1939; reset for this edition April 1942), 384 pages
Series 2 contains an unexpurgated edition of Mein Kampf (1942) by Adolf Hitler with annotations by either Revilo Oliver or Keith Whited; provenance unclear. This Mein Kampf edition was part of the Keith Whited donation which contained Whited and Oliver papers and records. Front cover has separated from book.
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, unexpurgated edition (soft cover), two volumes in one, 384 pages. First volume: A Retrospect; second volume: The National Socialist Movement. Publisher: Hurst and Blackett Ltd. (publishers since 1812), London, New York, Melbourne. Translated by James Murphy, Abbots Langley, February 1939. First published March 21, 1939; reset for this edition April 1942.
See George Orwell’s review of the Hurst and Blackett Ltd. edition. George Orwell, “Review of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler,” New English Weekly, March 21, 1940, reprinted in Military Review, January-February 2016, https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/military-review/Archives/English/MilitaryReview_20160228_art020.pdf(accessed April 21, 2026).
Copy has no bookplate. It contains annotations in red felt tip marker pen. Annotations consist of underlined passages and mostly read ‘note’ or ‘special note.’
Comparing Oliver and Whited’s handwritings to the annotations, it’s unclear who has made them.
1. The case for Whited provenance:
•Oliver put his bookplate into many of his books.
•Oliver owned many rare and expensive editions and might have been more likely to obtain a hardcover and expensive edition of Mein Kampf given his political proclivities and esteem for Hitler’s work.
•Oliver’s annotations in books and other materials are usually lowercase.
•Oliver usually wrote longer and more substantive annotations.
•Felt tip pens were just becoming more prevalent in the 1950s and Oliver used them at least by the early 1960s. It is much more probable, that Oliver would have read Mein Kampf earlier than the popular use of felt tip pens.
•Twenty-six years younger, Whited would have been more likely to have read a soft cover edition of Mein Kampf and to have used simple annotations.
•Keith Whited’s handwriting, e.g. the way he wrote capital A’s and U’s, resembles the book’s annotation.
2. The case for Oliver provenance:
•Oliver also owned numerous softcover books.
•Oliver did not bookplate all his books.
•Oliver used red felt tip pens at least by the early 1960s.
•Oliver sometimes capitalized annotations and the way he wrote A’s, N’s, or T’s, for instance, resemble the book’s annotation.
Date Acquired: 09/17/2017. More info below under Accruals.
Subjects: Faculty Papers, Holocaust Denial, Ku Klux Klan, National Socialism
DRAFT FINDING AID FOR A FEW BOXES OF REVILO OLIVER'S PAPERS (as of April 2026)
Oliver Revilo’s papers at the U of I archives consist of 106.8 cubic feet and were appraised and transferred from his dilapidated house in 2017 (the house had been empty since 1995) and from the house of his assistant Keith Whited after Whited’s death in December 2023. Saved materials mostly consist of Oliver’s involvement in right radical organizations and causes in the US and abroad and include newspapers, newsletters, paraphernalia, audio recordings, photographs, correspondence, print, and reports. Oliver’s papers also contain his and his wife’s family papers as well as a few of his scholarly records and publications.
Papers from the two houses were in a mess: intermingled and in no particular order, wet, moldy, and infested. During appraisal the archivist had to pull out items one at a time to see if they could be saved physically and were of historical significance.
The complete processing of Revilo Oliver’s papers will require a large grant and a dedicated, highly experienced archivist historian who specializes in right radical, National Socialist, Ku Klux Klan, eugenics, Holocaust denial, White Aryan, and other historical movements or theories and can read a few of the European languages.
In the meantime, the U of I archives is only able to provide access to 5 boxes. These contain one incomplete, alphabetical run of Oliver correspondence files (1949-1991) that had survived and was found in Keith Whited’s house as well as Oliver or Whited's copy of Mein Kampf.
This collection is organized into two series. Series 1: Incomplete, alphabetical run of Oliver correspondence files, 1949-1991, arranged alphabetically; Series 2: Revilo Oliver or Keith Whited’s copy of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler (Hurst and Blackett Ltd. first published March 21, 1939; reset for this edition April 1942), 384 pages: Series 2 contains an unexpurgated edition of Mein Kampf (1942) by Adolf Hitler with annotations by either Revilo Oliver or Keith Whited; provenance unclear. This Mein Kampf edition was part of the Keith Whited donation which contained Whited and Oliver papers and records. Front cover has separated from book.
URL: https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/uasfa/1506027.pdf
PDF finding aid for Revilo P. Oliver Papers (15/6/27)
Submit request (Aeon)
Email us about these papers
Print this information