Paul Burns Photographs
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Abstract
Paul Burns ([1906?]-1996) was a writer, teacher, and Writers Union activist. In 1937, Burns went to Spain as a volunteer and rose to the rank of Company Commander. The images in this collection were accrued by Burns in the course of his work as a Commander in Spain. The collection contains group photographs and portraits of members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Spanish soldiers and scouts and other international volunteers including Cubans and Yugoslavs.
Historical/Biographical Note
Paul Burns ([1906?]-1996) was a writer, teacher, and Writers Union activist. Boston-born of Irish parentage, he worked his way through college and graduated from Middlebury College with an MA in Sociology. In 1937 he enlisted in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to fight against Franco's rebel forces in Spain. Burns was a sergeant in command of the Irish section and later became second in command of the infantry, Lincoln Battalion. He was active on the Jarama front and participated in two of the major campaigns of the war; the Battle of Madrid and the offensive at Brunete from July to August 1937. He was wounded twice—first, when shot in the arms and legs in Jarama on February 23, 1937 and again, in Brunete, when he was wounded by machine-gun fire. He left the International Brigades with a final rank of lieutenant.
Burns returned to the United States in October 1937 and was subsequently elected national commander of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. He wrote for the Daily Worker, Sunday, and Story Magazine. After settling in Chicago, he became associate editor of the Daily Record, working in his spare time on a book of stories about the Irish battalion of the Lincoln Brigade. He was also a correspondent for the United Nations. Burns died in 1996. He was 90 years old.
Arrangement
Series I, arranged by original inventory. Series II, arranged alphabetically by subject.
The photographic prints contain 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 184:1:1:1.
The files are grouped into 2 series:
Missing Title
- I, Photographers inventory
- II, Subject Files
Scope and Content Note
The Paul Burns Photograph Collection includes 76 black and white photographs of varying sizes: 62 5.5 x 4 inch prints, six 8 x 10 inch prints, five 5 x 7 inch prints, one 4.5 x 3.5 inch print, one 4 x 3 inch print, and one 3.25 x 2.25 inch print. There is also one black and white negative that matches print number 184:1:1:27. The negative is contained in folder 27.
The bulk of the Paul Burns Photograph Collection consists of photographs Burns gathered during the course of his work as a commander in the International Brigades. The collection contains group photographs and portraits of members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Spanish soldiers and scouts and other international volunteers including Cubans and Yugoslavs.
When the collection was donated to ALBA, Burns provided a numbered inventory with captions, which corresponded to 63 prints. These photographs can be found in Series I. The remaining 13 prints are arranged by subject.
Among the individuals pictured are Jack Bjoze, Harry Fisher, Oliver Law, Steve Nelson, Douglas Roach, Jack Shirai, and Vladimir Copi'c.
Series I:The 63 prints in the series are arranged according to Burns' original numbering scheme. Burns provided typed captions, which are filed with the prints in each folder. Includes black and white photographs taken in Spain during the Civil War. In the captions, Burns' original writing and syntax have been preserved. In a few cases the spelling of names has been corrected. Approximately three-quarters are group shots of volunteers-primarily American-but also Cubans, Germans (Thaelmann Brigade), Greeks, Irish, Scots, Welsh, and Yugoslavs. Of particular interest are the photos pertaining to the Tom Mooney Machine Gun Company and the Saklatvala Battalion. Tom Mooney was a trade unionist who, in 1937, was serving a life sentence in Alcatraz. The Saklatvala Battalion was the first British unit, which included Welsh, Scots, and Irish volunteers. It was named after Shapurji Saklatvala, a native of India and one of the first members of the Communist Party to become a British MP. The remainder include prints of daily life (cooking, washing, etc.), wall newspapers (public bulletin boards for the troops), a front-line barbershop, a court-martial proceeding, a concert behind enemy lines, and a grave of a member of the Saklatvala Battalion.
Series II:The 13 prints are arranged alphabetically by topic. Includes black and white group shots (identified and unidentified) taken in Spain during the Civil War, a portrait of Douglas Roach and John Perrone in Spain, a veterans' march in the United States [New York City?], and enlargements/copy prints. Burns most likely created the copy prints in this series. Some of these prints have Burns' original notations.
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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 Paul Burns Photograph Collection was donated to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, formerly housed at Brandeis University, by Paul Burns in 1984. The collection came to New York University in January 2001 as part of the original acquisition of ALBA collections.
