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Lea Lerner Camp Wo-Chi-Ca Graphics and Photographs

Call Number

GRAPHICS.016

Date

circa 1940-1950, undated, inclusive

Creator

Camp Wo-Chi-Ca (N.J.)
Lerner, Lea (Role: Donor)

Extent

0.25 Linear Feet in 1 oversize folder

Language of Materials

Materials are in English

Abstract

Lea Lerner was a music teacher at Camp Wo-Chi-Ca for several years after World War II. Camp Wo-Chi-Ca (which stood for Workers Children's Camp) was a children's summer camp in New Jersey. The camp, which was founded in 1934 and ran through the early 1950s, was mainly organized by the International Workers Order (I.W.O.) and was affiliated with the Communist Party, USA. The collection contains a variety of graphic and photographic materials, most of which relate to Camp Wo-Chi-Ca.

Historical/Biographical Note

Lea Lerner was a music teacher at Camp Wo-Chi-Ca for several years after World War II. Camp Wo-Chi-Ca (which stood for Workers Children's Camp) was a children's summer camp in New Jersey. The camp, which was founded in 1934 and ran through the early 1950s, was mainly organized by the International Workers Order (I.W.O.) and was affiliated with the Communist Party, USA.

During the 1950s, Lerner and her family provided a safe house for underground activists Gil Green and Henry Winston.

Arrangement

This collection has not been arranged by an archivist. The materials are arranged in the order in which they were received from the donor.

Scope and Content Note

The collection contains a variety of graphic and photographic materials, most of which relate to Camp Wo-Chi-Ca. Ten silk-screened images on construction paper, which appear to be part of a book on a gentleman nicknamed "Mendy," were produced at Camp-Wo-Chi-Ca. There are also two photographs, one of Vaino Hill, a caretaker at Wo-Chi-Ca, and the other of a memorial plaque or grave marker for two men who died in the Spanish Civil War, Ralph Wardlaw and Wilfred Mendelson (possibly the "Mendy" referenced in the silk-screen images). There is also a black-and-white print (possibly a woodblock) depicting two men drawing a plow, as well as a watercolor portrait attributed to "J. Calazzi."

Donors

Lerner, Lea

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by Lea Lerner and Camp Wo-Chi-Ca, was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date; Lea Lerner Camp Wo-Chi-Ca Graphics and Photographs; GRAPHICS 016; Box number; Folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Lea Lerner, circa 1994. The accession numbers associated with this collection are 1950.262 and 1950.273.

Separated Materials

In 1994, some materials from the original donation were separated to other collections or were deaccessioned. Framed copies of reproductions of Spanish Civil War watercolors were deaccessioned and offered for sale at a Tamiment Library book sale. Twelve phonograph records from August 1947 Camp Wo-Chi-Ca events were separated to the "Tamiment Library sound collection," a possible reference to the Miscellaneous Historic Sound Collection (OH 035). Clothing possibly worn by Henry Winston as a disguise while traveling underground in 1954 or 1955 was separated to the General Tamiment and Wagner Ephemera and Artifacts Collection (EPHEMERA 001). Papers were also separated, possibly to the "Camp Wo-Chi-Ca" folder in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives Vertical Files: Subjects (ALBA VF 1).

Related Archival Materials at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

Researchers interested in Camp Wo-Chi-Ca may wish to consult the William Golden Camp Wo-Chi-Ca Photographs (PHOTOS 156), the Camp Wo-Chi-Ca Records (TAM 206), and the Ernest Rymer Jewish Peoples Fraternal Order (I.W.O.) Photographs (PHOTOS 245).

Collection processed by

Rachel Schimke, 2013 (incorporating description by Erika Gottfried, 1994)

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:43:59 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Finding aid is in English

Processing Information

Materials have been rehoused in archival folders. Acid free paper was interleaved to separate graphic materials from the photographs.

Upon acquisition, Lea Lerner's donation of photographs and graphic materials was established as two separate collections, the Lea Lerner (Camp Wo-Chi-Ca) Photographs (PHOTOS 173) and the Lea Lerner (Camp Wo-Chi-Ca) Graphics (GRAPHICS 016). In 2013, the photographs collection was incorporated into the graphics collection, forming the Lea Lerner Camp Wo-Chi-Ca Graphics and Photographs (GRAPHICS 016).

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