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This collection documents the public and private lives of Victor L. Berger (1860-1929), America’s first Socialist Congressman, and his wife, Meta Schlichting Berger. Victor Berger was convicted under the Espionage Act. While indicted, Berger was twice elected to Congress and twice denied his seat. Eventually, the Supreme Court overturned his conviction and he returned for three more terms, proposing radical reforms such as the elimination of the Senate and the creation of unemployment insurance. The manuscripts reproduced in this collection, covering primarily 1895 to 1929, provide resources for study in the fields of labor, reform, politics, socialism, foreign affairs, civil liberties, pacifism, labor, and women's history.