William Sennett Photographs
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Abstract
As a youth, William Sennett was a member of the Young Communist League; he later became a paid functionary of the Communist Party, USA, and still later a successful corporate executive. A metalworker from Cicero, IL, Sennett served in the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War as political commissar of a transportation regiment -- Second Squad, Second Regiment de Tren. The collection contains non-combat images of an armored car crew, artillery crew, motorcycle corps, scouts, troops heading to the front, performing support activities and relaxing, bombed/shelled buildings, Spanish nurses and other civilians, Spanish street scenes and panoramas.
Historical/Biographical Note
William (Bill) Sennett (né Snesetsky or Snestzki) was raised in Chicago and participated in hunger marches, organizing in the South Side black community and other political activities as a Section Organizer for the Young Communist League. He was a metalworker, living in Cicero, IL, when he volunteered for service on the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War. He arrived in Spain in March 1937 and served in the International Brigades as political commissar of a transportation regimen -- Second Squad, Second Regiment de Tren. His brother, Maurice (or Morris), also served in Spain. Bill Sennett served in the army air force during World War II, and returned to Chicago after the War and became a paid functionary of the Communist Party. He broke with the Party after 1956, moved his family to California and eventually became a successful businessman as president of a multimillion-dollar trucking business headquartered in San Francisco. (For additional biographical information, see William Sennett: Communist Functionary and Corporate Executive, an oral history conducted by Marshall Windmiller, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1984. Copy at the Tamiment Library.)
Arrangement
Folders are arranged alphabetically by topic. The negatives 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 negative. For example, the first negative in this collection is numbered 199:1:1:1.
The files are grouped into one series:
Missing Title
- I, Negatives
Scope and Content Note
Series I. Negatives. The William Sennett Collection contains 88 negatives including non-combat images of an armored car crew, artillery crew, motorcycle corps, scouts, troops heading to the front, performing support activities and relaxing, bombed/shelled buildings, Spanish nurses and other civilians, Spanish street scenes and panoramas.
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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 William Sennett Photograph Collection was donated to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives by Corine Thornton in 1997. The collection came to New York University in January 2001 as part of the original acquisition of Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives collections, formerly housed at Brandeis University.