Pamphlet marking the first anniversary of the XV International Brigade’s contribution to the Spanish Civil War, ca. 1938. BANC MSS 71/105 z, carton 4, folder 37. Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Bay Area Post Records, 1928-1995. The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley.
The online exhibit Golden Bears in Spain: UC Berkeley’s Heroes in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) highlights the bravery of Robert Hale Merriman and sixteen other UC Berkeley students who travelled to Spain to fight in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) on the side of the democratically elected government. They fought against fascism, and specifically a rebel army, the Nacionales (Nationalists), led by General Francisco Franco. Men and women from 48 states joined close to 40,000 volunteers from around the world, foreshadowing the larger conflicts of World War II and revealing the global struggle between democracy and totalitarianism. Draws primarily from original material held in the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Bay Area Post Records, 1928-1995 collection in The Bancroft Library.
Approximately 2,800 volunteers from the U.S., many idealist leftists with little or no military experience, responded to the Republic’s cause. They would come to be known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, although in reality they joined the XV International Brigade, where they served in the Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Mackenzie-Papineau Battalions, Nearly half were Jewish and ninety of its members were African American. Among those were Robert Hale Merriman, a graduate student in economics, and his wife Marion who left UC Berkeley in January 1935 to do research in the Soviet Union before joining the war in Spain. Others from Cal who volunteered included the poet Ramón (Ray) Durem and Wade Rollins who later became a distinguished professor at the UC Davis School of Agriculture.
Photograph of the XVth International Brigade leadership at General Gal’s headquarters at Morata de Tajuña (Villa Fuentes de Venta), May 1937. Left to right: Allan Johnson, Vladimir Copic, unknown soldier (possibly the Cuban José Bridon, 24th Battalion), Harry Haywood, Marion Merriman, Col. Hans Klaus, Bob Merriman, and Bill Lawrence (Lazarre).
The launch of the exhibit coincides with a 3-day series of events on or near the UC Berkeley campus beginning on Thursday, November 5. The unveiling of the Robert H. Merriman Memorial Plaque is set for Friday, Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. on the Doe Memorial Library Terrace. A private reception will follow from 3–5 p.m. in Morrison Library. Other events, some requiring advanced registration, are listed on the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives’ website. Sponsored by the Department of Spanish & Portuguese with generous community and cross-campus support, the plaque was gifted to Berkeley by the University of Barcelona and was installed in June 2026 near Doe and Bancroft libraries and symbolically close to the Memorial Glade which honors UC Berkeley faculty, staff, and students who lost their lives in World War II. The Delegation of the Government of Catalonia and to the U.S. and Canada covered the shipping costs. The plaque recognizes the legacy of Merriman and the other Americans who volunteered, but also the academic and cultural collaboration between the two universities.
A short list of works consulted for this exhibition:
Bermack, Richard. The Front Lines of Social Change : Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Foreword by Peter N. Carroll. Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 2005.
Carroll, Peter N. The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade : Americans in the Spanish Civil War. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994.
Hochschild, Adam. Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 . Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016.
Merriman, Marion, and Warren Lerude. American Commander in Spain: Robert Hale Merriman and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. 2nd ed. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2020.
Vicki DeArmon (publisher) and Julia Park Tracey (executive editor) started Sibylline Press in 2023, after knowing one another for more than 40 years. Each with dozens of years of publishing experience, they started the press with the goal of providing space for women over 50 to publish.[1] In only a few years, they have released more than 100 titles, including novels, memoirs, mysteries, and more. While predominately producing fiction, the house also releases occasional works on business, including advice on publishing, writing, and the art of storytelling. The idea throughout is that these mature women have knowledge to impart as well as their tales to tell.[2]
Part of that sheer volume of output is related to Sibylline’s imprint Sibylline Digital First, which has a “Pub Date Friday.” Under that imprint, the press puts out a new title each week (on Friday) across mystery, romance, fiction, and memoir. Here, readers will see series such as “Lady Hay Investigates Mystery” or the romantic “Veil of Time.”[3]
Based in Santa Rosa, California, WTAW Press has provided access to beautiful prose and poetry since 2016. The 501(c)(3) non-profit came out of a reading series called “Why There Are Words” (WTAW), started in Sausalito in 2010 by Peg Alford Pursell. While starting with prose, in 2013 the series extended to poetry and continued with monthly meetings for another seven years.[1] WTAW continues to host author readings and to provide online workshops, and community support for developing literary communities. Yet, what Pursell and their collaborators now focus on is the press, which they announced in 2015.
WTAW concentrates on what they understand as “exceptional, enduring literary books” with the goal to “enrich the literary landscape.”[2] Toward that end, they have open, anonymous submissions for novels, chapbooks (including under the imprint of the Alcover Chapbook Series), as well as mixed-genre. Within their (around) five books a year, they publish one or more books a year under their “Betty” imprint. That imprint focuses on authors who self-identify as women, opening up space for authors under the imprint to collaborate with one another and publish as a cohort.
Readers can find more about WTAW’s books through their webpage or Instagram account.
Books
Genanne Walsh, Eggs in Purgatory, with Peg Alford Pursell (WTAW Press, 2023).
[1] Evan Karp, “Why There Are Words Thriving after 3 Years,” SFGate, January 9, 2013, https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/why-there-are-words-thriving-after-3-years-4180675.php;“About,” Why There Are Words, accessed October 19, 2026, http://www.whytherearewords.com/about/.
Founded in 2020 in San Francisco, Sley House is a small publishing house focused on genre fiction. They separate their material into southern gothic and horror; science fiction; weird fiction; as well as young adult and middle grade. Alongside stand-alone novels, the house publishes a yearly anthology of shorter mixed-genre fiction. Currently, Jeremy Billingsley, one of the founding members, oversees the operation as Editor-in-Chief.
In addition to their literary output, Sley House also puts out a podcast on Spotify. You can check out more information on their Sley House Presents page.
Readers can find more about Sley House’s publications through their webpage or through their Instagram account.
Sylvère Lotringer (Wikipedia link) and others at Columbia University in New York City founded Semiotext(e) in 1974 as an anarchic project. The early life of the publisher stemmed from gatherings/conferences of French semioticians. The resulting periodical issues appearing sporadically into the 1990s introduced a wild series of provocations.[1] In the 1980s, Lotringer started the Semiotext(e)’s Foreign Agents book imprint with the intention of introducing French theorists to an English-speaking audience as well as to expose incendiary ideas to that reading public. In 1990, Lotringer and co-editor and writer Chris Kraus started the Native Agents series, focused primarily on U.S. women writers.
In 2001, Lotringer and Kraus took the press to Los Angeles when they moved to the Pacific coast. Revitalizing the press, the editors started a collaboration with MIT Press for distribution, publishing Hatred of Capitalism to mark the occasion. The two also brought on Hedi El Kholti first as art director/managing editor and then as a lead co-editor. Working together, they’ve continued with the Native Agents series and become one of the major publishers for “New Narrative” literature, which emerged in the 1970s in San Francisco partly as an expression of the tensions between Gay Liberation, the Avant-Garde, and the New Left.[3]
The press, still co-edited by Krau and El Kholti, continues to publish 10+ books a year. Their book titles are available on their website and for purchase through MIT Press. Their release announcements and excerpts can be found on their Instagram page.
[1] David L. Ulin, “Appreciation: Sylvère Lotringer Made Book Publishing Safe for Dangerous Ideas,” Books, Los Angeles Times, November 18, 2021, Access through UC Berkeley’s catalog.
[3] Rob Halpern, “Realism and Utopia: Sex, Writing, and Activism in New Narrative,” Journal of Narrative Theory 41, no. 1 (2011): 82–124, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/443765.
Eileen A. Fradenburg Joy and Nicola Masciandaro, two medievalists, founded punctum books in 2011 in Brooklyn, New York. The two wanted to provide a space for experiments with form and para-academic writing, as well as mash-ups of different genres of art and academic thought. In 2012, Masciandaro decided to focus on other things, leaving the press. In 2015, Vincent W. J. van Gerven Oei (an art curator and book designer, among other skills) joined as co-director and brought their own press, Uitgeverij, into the fold.[1]
Now in Santa Barbara, California, with an imprint line reading “Earth, Milky Way,” the press has an impressive list of hundreds of publications explore the idea of literature, medieval studies, Nubian studies (including Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies), as well as space, gender, and the body.
Alongside pushing the boundaries of academia and art, the press’ co-directors and Advisory Boards have also emphasized the importance of open access scholarship and art. In particular, they emphasize the right to read but also distribute and create derivative works. For them, this has meant contributing to developing Open Access (OA) models in collaboration with institutions like UCSB. They also publish all of their books as Open Access, making them fully available through their website and popular spaces like Project MUSE and JSTOR as PDFs you can read on your preferred e-reader (e.g., your phone).[2]
You can find–and access–punctum books’ entire catalog through their website and through multiple library portals. You can also get news about new publications through their Instagram page and other social media platforms.
[1] Vincent W. J. van Gerven Oei and Eileen A. Fradenburg Jo, “Scenes: Punctum Books: An Interview with Vincent W. J. van Gerven Oei and Eileen A. Fradenburg Joy,” American Book Review 45, no. 2 (2024): 168–73.
Morgan Koo is a senior at UC Berkeley double majoring in History and Ancient Greek and Roman Studies. While her main interests lie in late Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity, Morgan also enjoys the sociocultural aspects of the Ancient Mediterranean such as ancient seafaring & communication.
Life in the 21st century has unparalleled luxuries which ease the pain and inconvenience of distance. Improved technology allows for instantaneous communication with loved ones and relatively quick travel over large distances. Homer’s Odyssey, which has recently experienced a renewed relevance, reminds modern readers of the difficulties of being away from home. For ancient peoples, seafaring was often dangerous—even without the interference of angry deities determined to thwart their homecoming. There was the constant threat of unpredictable and harsh weather patterns, encounters with pirates, and arrival in foreign lands with potentially hostile inhabitants. Much like Odysseus’ frequent invocations of the gods during harsh storms and disembarkation in strange, new lands, a second century C.E. soldier’s letter written on papyrus thanks Lord Serapis, a syncretic Greco-Egyptian deity, for having saved him from danger out at sea (“I thank Lord Serapis that when I was in danger at sea he saved me straight away,” εὐχαριστῶ τῷ κυρίῳ Σεράπιδι ὅτι μου κινδυνεύσαντος εἰς θάλασσαν ἔσωσε εὐθέως: BGU II 423, lines 6-8). However, another letter on papyrus (P.Tebt. II 583) which found its way back home to Tebtunis, a village in Egypt, reveals another pain caused by the uncertainty of distance.
(P.Tebt. II 583)
Sometime after 217 C.E., Aurelius Polion, a soldier in the Roman army’s Second Adriutrix Legion, wrote back home to his family in Tebtunis (full text here). The central concern of the letter is his family’s silence despite his own devotion to them. Accusatory superlatives and juxtapositions pervade the beginning portion of the letter to express his incessant concern for his family in contrast to their complete absence:
Superlative/Juxtapositional Language in Aurelius Polion’s Letter
Aurelius Polion:
prays for family’s health day and night (ν̣υκτ̣ὸς̣ κ̣α̣ὶ̣ [ἡ]μ̣[έρα]ς̣, line 5)
always (πάντοτε) makes worship to all (πᾶ̣σ̣ι) the gods for them (line 5-6)
writes his letters at all times (πάντοτε) and does not stop (οὐκ ἀναπάω̣μαι (= ἀναπαύομαι)) bearing them within his soul (line 6-8)
even while away in Pannonia, he continued to send letters often (π̣ο̣λλάκεις (= πολλάκις), line 12)
His Family:
do not hold him in their mind (κατὰ νοῦ (= νοῦν) με οὐχ (= οὐκ) ἔχεται (= ἔχετε), line 7)
never (οὐ[δ]έ̣ποτέ̣) wrote to him about themselves (line 10)
never (οὐδέποτε) reply to his letters (line 13)
consider Polion as a stranger (ὡς ξένον, line 15-16)
The troubled soldier illustrates the stark difference between his undying care and their apparent silence. Without any word back from home, the sense of estrangement appears particularly palpable.
While Polion complains about the injustice of his family’s silence, the letter also carries an underlying anxiety:
“… And I am worried about you because, although you received letters from me often, never do you write back to me in order that I might know how you are …” (lines 11-13).
The soldier subsequently reveals that he had previously sent six other letters (line 20). Being far from home, the uncertainty of his family’s well-being torments his mind. The soldier was left isolated without any comfort by reply. One could imagine the questions pervading the soldier’s conscience: Was his family intentionally ignoring him? Did something cause them to be unable to write? Were they alive and well? In any case, the uncomfortable silence roused the soldier to threaten his family with a return home:
do not hold me in your mind, I will take a leave of absence from
the consular officer, and I will go towards you in order that you might know
me to be your brother …” (lines 20-23).
While framed as a trip to re-establish his role in the family, the urgency and drastic action suggest a need for assurance of his family’s presence and well-being.
Among the most puzzling portions of the letter are lines 17-19, where the soldier reveals his involuntary participation in the army:
But I regretted that … I departed from you.” (lines 17-19).
The fragmented papyrus leaves much to the imagination. Under what circumstances did Aurelius Polion join the army? Was he forced by Roman officials? By his own family? Does this involuntary service have any relation to his anxiety regarding the family’s well-being or his inability to reach them?
Because Aurelius Polion’s letter was found in Tebtunis, we can ascertain that his letter did indeed arrive home. Letters from his family, in the most ideal circumstance, may have struggled to reach Polion. It was much easier for letters to be sent to a home—which is not subject to constant movement like an army. Thanks to the scholarship of István Kovács, we are able to approximate the letter’s date and locate the Legio II Adiutrix, the army legion that Polion joined. In lines 21-22 of the letter, Aurelius Polion mentions a consular officer from whom he plans to request a leave of absence. Pannonia had been under rule of praetorian governorship until 214 C.E. and was then under the authority of a consular officer. Thus, the letter must be written after 214 C.E. In line 12, Polion locates himself in Pannonia. Caracalla led the Legio II Adiutrix in a campaign against the Parthians between 214 and 217 C.E.; accordingly, the letter’s dating is extended to follow after 217 C.E.
The Greek historian Herodian recorded that Caracalla entered the Egyptian city of Alexandria around 215 C.E. to recruit additional soldiers for his phalanx against the Parthians. It is possible that Polion joined the army on this occasion. Additionally, both Cassius Dio’s Roman History and Herodian’s History of the Roman Empire document Caracalla’s massacre of Alexandrian men around 215 C.E. Such a violent event could be cause for concern. Unfortunately, this letter alone cannot give us clear answers.
What can be known is that communication with loved ones over long distances was often difficult. The sense of alienation could foster a natural anxiety. Stationed in Eastern Europe, Aurelius Polion was separated from his family by a vast sea in both the literal and metaphorical sense. In a manner much similar to this soldier’s, our temporal distance shrouds our ability to understand the reality of his circumstance. We cannot do much but wonder whether a letter was finally sent back to Polion or whether he made his journey home. And, if he did, what he may have found upon arrival.
Bibliography
Adamson, Grant. “A Letter from a Soldier in Pannonia,” BASP 49, 2012, pp. 79-94.
Herodianus. Roman History (History of the Empire from the Time of Marcus).* Livius: https://www.livius.org/sources/content/herodian-s-roman-history/ *see esp. 4.8-9.
Kovács, István. “Brief eines Legionärs aus Pannonien (P. Tebt. 2.583) Philologische und Gattungsanalyse,” Byzanz und das Abendland III. Studia Byzantino-Occidentalia, 2015, pp. 257-281.
Mócsy, András. Pannonia and Upper Moesia: A History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire. Sheppard Frere, transl. Routledge, 1974.
Michael Miller founded Moon Tide Press in 2006. Located in Whittier, CA, Miller turned the press into a Southern California institution for poetry. The press provided space for many unpublished writers, including poet Eric Morago in a 2007 anthology. Over the following years, Morago (along with many others) would publish more with Moon Tide Press and work closely with Miller. In 2016, Morago took over the press when Miller decided it was time to move on to other things.[1] Under Morago’s leadership, Moon Tide has continued publishing two to four collections or anthologies a year alongside arranging readings and community events.
Moon Tide focuses on poetry, encompasses a range of life-moments and emotions. Individual volumes reflect on the horror of life; on remembering friends; of the process of aging.
In 2024, they also picked up the poetry magazine Spillways’ compilation and release. Readers can find information about those activities on Moon Tide Press’ webpage or social media accounts, including their Instagram page.
David Starkey founded Gunpowder Press in 2013 in Santa Barbara with a focus on California poetry. With the first two volumes, Starkey reached out to Chryss Yost to assist with the books’ layout and cover design. Today, with almost 50 volumes, the Starkey and Yost continue to helm the press. Their beautifully designed output showcases individually authored and compilation anthologies.
For their 30th-year anniversary, the Santa Barbara Independent recognized the press among Santa Barbara’s local heroes [1]. The same year, Starkey and Yost started the Anacapa Review. The review seeks to place established and new poets side-by-side, demonstrating the established and continued vibrancy of Santa Barbara’s literary scene.
Readers can find out more about the press’ titles and readings through their website or Instagram page.
At UC Berkeley
Mary Ann McFadden, Rosa Mundi, California Poets (2026).
Readers can find out more about the press’ titles and readings through their 
