Historical/Biographical Note
Actors' Equity Association (AEA, "Equity"), the premiere theatrical performers' labor union in the United States, was founded in New York City in 1913 as the first of the American actors' unions. In July 1919, the American Federation of Labor (later to be the AFL-CIO) granted a charter to Equity as an autonomous branch of the newly-formed Associated Actors and Artists of America. One month later, Equity called the first actors' strike in the history of the American theater.
Today Equity's jurisdiction covers both actors and stage managers in the professional theater. It is governed by a council of delegates elected by its membership. Its headquarters are in New York City; it also maintains branches in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Orlando, Florida.
Sources:
For further historical information on the Actors’ Equity Association and to review the scope and contents of its records, see Guide to Records of the Actors’ Equity Association (Wagner 11). See also About Equity -- A Handbook (New York: Actors’ Equity Association), and the Actors’ Equity Association website: http://www.actorsequity.org/home.html.
Return to topScope and Content Note
The collection contains approximately 110 black and white photographs (and one negative), ranging in size from 3x5 to 8x10 inches; it encompasses a miscellany that includes images of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) offices, AEA meetings, actors and actresses, and theaters. Other than a 1919 production photograph of Brandon Tynan performing in “Equity” (a play created to memorialize and celebrate the organization’s first strike), very little early AEA history is referenced. Most of the images of theaters were evidently shot to document bad working conditions, so many of them show stage-door entrances littered with garbage and interiors with crumbling walls and defective plumbing, rather than glamorous facades. Notable images include a picket line by the Oriental Actors Guild in 1968, and Equity members, circa the early 1960s, gathered at the AEA New York City office’s “Equity Lounge” to look for work and avail themselves of other member services. Only a few of the individual actors and actresses identified (in portraits or in production photographs) are prominent. They include: Ethel Barrymore; Ralph Bellamy; Jeanette Conner; John Cornell; William H. Crane; Butho Davenport; Paul Dullzell; Frank Gillmore; Alan Howland; Harrison Hoy; Colin Keith; George Pierce; Elaine Klaw Roesen; Blythe Sherwood; Marguerite Sylva; Cyril Vane.
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Arrangement |
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| Files are arranged by topic within series, except for Series III (People) and IV (Theaters), which are arranged alphabetically by name. | ||
| This collection is organized into five series: | ||
| I. Actors’ Equity Association | ||
| II. Events | ||
| III. People | ||
| IV. Theaters | ||
| V. Miscellaneous. | ||
Related Material at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Actors’ Equity Association Records (Wagner 11).
Return to topSeparated Material
There is no information about materials that are associated by provenance to the described materials that have been physically separated or removed.
Return to topRestrictions
Access Restrictions
Open for research without restrictions.
Use Restrictions
Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the:
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 998-2630
Fax: (212) 995-4225
E-mail: gail.malmgreen@nyu.edu
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Administrative Information
Provenance
Apparently separated from the Actors’ Equity Association Records (Wagner 11).
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); The Actors’ Equity Association Photographs; Photographs 049; box number; folder number;
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
, New York University Libraries.
Container List
[The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.]
Return to the Top of Page| Series II: Events |
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| Box | Folder | Title | Date |
| 1 | 16 | Paul Robeson Awards Ceremony-- 1974 | 1974 |
| 1 | 17 | Lillian Russell Memorial Service | undated |
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