George Marion Photographs
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Abstract
George Marion (1905-1955) was a journalist, author, and Communist Party activist. In 1936, Marion went to Spain to cover the Spanish Civil War for the Daily Workerand the New Masses. The images in this collection were accrued by Marion in the course of his work as a journalist in Spain. The collection contains group photographs and portraits of members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Republican military leaders, Communist Party leaders, military vehicles, political demonstrations/rallies, Spanish munitions workers, and street scenes.
Historical/Biographical Note
George Marion was a journalist, author, and Communist Party activist. For further biographical information on George Marion and to review the scope and contents of his manuscript collection see the George Marion Papers, ALBA 45.
Marion accrued the images in this collection during his tenure as a correspondent for the Daily Workerand the New Masses. The majority of the images were procured by Marion from the photographic bureau, Photo Mayo, Madrid. Two photographs are credited to D. Kraman. The images in the Marion Photograph Collection were separated from Marion's manuscript materials in the course of processing.
Arrangement
Folders arranged alphabetically by topic in the Prints and Negatives series.
The files are grouped into 2 series:
Missing Title
- I: Prints
- II: Negatives
Scope and Content Note
The George Marion Photograph Collection includes 145 black and white photographs of varying sizes including: 3 x 4.5 inches, 3.5 x 4.75 inches, 6.5 x 4.5 inches, 6.75 x 4.5 inches and 9.5 x 3.25 inches. The twenty negatives are two sizes. Sixteen negatives are 2.5 x 2.5 inches and four negatives are 4 x 5 inches. The negatives are stored separately from the prints, in Box 2.
Series I: The 145 black and white prints are arranged alphabetically by topic and most are photographs taken in Spain during the Civil War. Approximately three-fourths are attributed to the photographic bureau, Photo Mayo, Madrid. One-half of the images are portraits and one-half are photos of soldiers in combat and at rest. The collection includes vivid combat images in addition to portraits of Abraham Lincoln Brigade volunteers, Republican military leaders including General Jose Miaja, Communist Party leaders including Raphael Alberti, José Diaz, Enrique Lister Forjan, Carlos Contreras (alias of Vittorio Vidali), and Rafael Herche, military and transport vehicles, political demonstrations/rallies, Spanish munitions workers, and street scenes. Three of the transport vehicles bear the inscription "U.H.P." which stands for Unión de Hermanos Proletarios (United Proletarian Brothers), a slogan first used during the Asturian miners' uprising of October 1934. All of the photographs except two were taken in Spain. Of the two photographs taken outside of Spain, one is a group photo onboard the transport ship Ile de France and the other is a photographic postcard depicting the Fuenta de Quijote in Chapultepec, Mexico.
Series II: Negatives arranged alphabetically by topic. The twenty negatives are contained in a separate box from the photographs. Nineteen of the negatives have matching prints. The negative that does not match any prints is a portrait of an unidentified seated male.
The photographic prints are identified by four numbers separated by colons. The first number refers to the collection number, the second to the box number, the third to the folder number, and the fourth to the individual print. For example, the first print in this collection is labeled 45:1:1:1. Negatives are numbered in the same fashion and if there is a matching print, the print number is listed below the negative number.
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Access Restrictions
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.
Use Restrictions
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.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; Collection name; Collection number; box number; folder number;
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.
Provenance
The Marion Photograph Collection was donated to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, formerly housed at Brandeis University, by Elizabeth Craney Marion, George Marion's second wife, in 1983. The collection came to New York University in January 2001 as part of the original acquisition of ALBA collections.
