Namesake of Fresno State’s Madden Library showed no remorse for pro-Nazi racism, report says
The task force responsible for reviewing the name of the Henry Madden Library at Fresno State released its preliminary report Monday and is seeking community feedback through two public forums on Zoom, the university announced in a news release.
The 71-page report stopped short of calling for a specific name change but detailed Madden’s disturbing statements and history and called for upcoming community engagement sessions to discuss changing the library’s name.
The report says that Madden expressed antisemitic and pro-Nazi views before and after World War II, never apologized or showed remorse for those views or for victims of the Holocaust, and made racist remarks against Jews and other ethnicities, among other findings.
The task force – compromised of Fresno State researchers and scholars and 12 history majors who helped during the research – evaluated more than 100,000 letters, documents, and archives found in 53 boxes that Madden donated to the school, knowing the documents “contained antisemitic and racist statements.”
The group also reviewed third-party sources and talked with living faculty and staff who knew Madden.
Charged with offering opportunities for open and informed discussion with the campus community and broader Fresno community, the two public presentations to garner feedback are:
Monday, from 1 to 2 p.m
Friday, April 22 from noon to 1 p.m.
Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval created the task force in November after the university learned of Madden’s antisemitic views and Nazi sympathies.
As a man who admired Adolf Hitler, Madden wrote about a “violent and uncontrollable phobia” against Jews who must go, Fresno State Professor Bradley Hart described in his 2018 book, “Hitler’s American Friends.”
Madden’s writings have been in a special collection of the library since being donated after his 1982 death. The collection remained sealed until late 2007.
The library was renamed after him in 1981 in honor of a $5.2 million addition to the library.
The California State University Board of Trustees who approved it being renamed in the 1980s must approve a decision to rename or contextualize it.
The task force’s report and the community’s feedback will guide Jiménez-Sandoval’s decision.
When he first formed the task force last year, he said Madden’s views were more than allegations.
“They are reflections of his beliefs as captured in his own words and in documents he curated and donated to the Library before his passing,” he said.
This story was originally published April 18, 2022 at 1:16 PM.
