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Robert Reed: Northwest Volunteers Research Project Photographs

Call Number

ALBA.PHOTO.005

Date

ca. 1937-1991, inclusive

Creator

Reed, Robert, 1914-2005

Extent

0.25 Linear Feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English .

Historical/Biographical Note

Robert Reed (1914-2005) was an Abraham Lincoln Brigade veteran, born in Rodney, Texas, who spent much of his later life in the Seattle area. He served in the U.S Army during World War II, and after the War was a Communist Party activist in Detroit. He eventually earned a Masters degree in Social Work at the University of Washington, following which he directed a service center for residents of a low-income housing community.

Beginning in the late 1970s, Reed decided, along with fellow veteran Oiva Halonen (1912-1981), to undertake a history of Spanish Civil War volunteers with some association to the Pacific Northwest (specifically from the states of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington). They wished to obtain biographical information on volunteers who either lived in the region before they went to Spain, or who settled there at a later point in their lives. Halonen died in 1981 but Reed continued with this project until its completion in 1994.

In the process of obtaining biographical, photographic, and other research material on these individual veterans, Reed was in regular contact with ALBA archivist Victor Berch at Brandeis University, and received research assistance from several others, particularly University of Washington historian Joan Ullman, student assistant Jeremy Egolf, and Linn Shapiro, who obtained important material from the National Archives. Ultimately, documentary material was collected on over 100 volunteers with a definite presence in the Pacific Northwest at some point in their lives, along with a list of 19 other volunteers whose connections were less clear. Reed completed his research at the beginning of 1994, and made a few additions and corrections in 1995, whereupon he deposited these materials in both the Abraham Lincoln Brigade archives and the University of Washington archives.

For additional information on many of the the Pacific Northwest volunteers pictured in this collection, see the biographical files in the Robert Reed Northwest Volunteers Research Project Records (ALBA 82).

Arrangement

The collection is organized in one series: I. Northwest Volunteers Research Project Photographs, ca. 1937-1991.

Files are arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Contents

The collection contains 27 black and white prints of different sizes. Twenty-two are copy prints, most with identifying labels affixed, presumably by Robert Reed. The labels include caption information, not always complete or clear, information as to the donor, and a number assigned by Reed. There are also 5 original Spanish Civil War-era prints; some of these have caption information written on the backs, but they do not have labels or Reed numbers. The collection has been arranged alphabetically by first-mentioned name, original owner's name, or keyword, as appropriate. Groups of photos associated with one donor (and thus with one original owner, usually a volunteer or a volunteer's widow) have been filed together. Many of the photographs are undated, but most images date from the Spanish Civil War period.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open to researchers. Please contact the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives for more information and to schedule an appointment, tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu or 212-998-2630.

Conditions Governing Use

Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA), were transferred to New York University in November 2000 by the ALBA Board of Governors. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. For more information, contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu or 212-998-2630.

Provenance

Copies of the Robert Reed Northwest Volunteers Research Project Records and Photographs were donated to both the University of Washington and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives by Robert Reed in 1995. The collection came to New York University in January 2001 as part of the original acquisition of ALBA collections, formerly housed at Brandeis University.

Related Archival Material

Robert Reed: Northwest Volunteers Research Project Records (ALBA 82)

Collection processed by

Gail Malmgreen

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:40:25 -0400.
Language: English

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012