Register today: Libraries Symposium Examines Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Spy Case
Archives and Accountability: Revisiting Justice in the Rosenberg Case
Thursday, Apirl 16, from 12-6:30 pm
Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground
Free Registration
Seventy-two years ago, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed by the United States government on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage. For decades, without full access to records, many historians, legal scholars, citizens, and especially the Rosenbergs’ children and family, have believed the trial to be a miscarriage of justice. In 2024, archival documents released through a Freedom of Information Act request confirmed that “due to ill health, she [Ethel Rosenberg] did not engage in the work itself.” This revelation has supported the family’s belief that Ethel Rosenberg was not a spy, further suggesting that the case was more about persecuting dissent.
To coincide with the donation of these newly released NSA documents to the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center’s Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Collection, Boston University Libraries, in partnership with the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies, the Boston University School of Law Library and the Rosenberg Fund for Children, will host Archives and Accountability: Revisiting Justice in the Rosenberg Case at the Howard Thurman Center (808 Commonwealth Ave) from 12:00-6:30pm this Thursday, April 16.
This symposium on Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and their espionage trial explores their case through their archives in the Boston University Libraries. The event will include a screening of the documentary Heir to an Execution with a discussion featuring the Rosenbergs’ family members, filmmaker Ivy Meeropol and Robert and Michael Meeropol. Following the screening, a moderated panel with Cold War historian Clay Risen, best-selling biographer Anne Sebba and FOIA attorney J. Wells Dixon will explore how this significant archival donation shapes, challenges, or confirms public perceptions of the Rosenberg trial.
Together, we will explore how access to information and archival materials can shape–and reshape–our understanding of history.
Register for the symposium here to join any portion.
Read more about the case in BU Today.