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New York University Department of History Oral History Class Collection

Call Number

OH.033

Dates

1984-1999, inclusive
; 1991-1995, bulk

Creator

New York University. Department of History
Henry Street Settlement (New York, N.Y.)
Lower East Side Tenement Museum
Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring
Bernhardt, Debra E. (Role: Donor)

Extent

10.25 Linear Feet in 1 record carton, 5 media boxes, 3 half manuscript boxes, 1 flat box, and 10 card catalog drawers
1.25 Linear Feet in 1 record carton and 2 half manuscript boxes
2 videocassettes (vhs)
5 videocassettes (hi8)
239 sound discs (cd)
7 videodiscs (dvd)
203 audiocassettes

Language of Materials

Materials are in English, with four interviews in Spanish.

Abstract

The New York University (NYU) Department of History Oral History Class Collection contains over 180 sound and video interviews conducted by graduate students from the NYU Department of History in 1984, between 1991 and 1995, in 1999, and by volunteers from the Workmen's Circle in Manhattan, New York in 1993. The majority of the narrators lived in the Lower East Side (LES) neighborhood of Manhattan, New York. Other narrators include residents of the East Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan; members of the Three Arrows Cooperative Society in Putnam Valley, New York; veterans of the Vietnam War; and jazz musicians in New York City between 1940 and 1960. The narrators reflect the changing ethnic composition of different neighborhoods in New York City, and include Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe; immigrants from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Central America; and migrants from the southern United States and Puerto Rico. Topics covered by the interviews include life in tenements in the LES, life in public and cooperative housing in the LES, family life, ethnic identities, intercultural and interracial relations in New York City, education, religion, paid and unpaid work, immigration and migration experiences, religious and social activities in East Harlem, Asian American activism, socialist and anarchist organizations, political activism, anti-war movements, community gardens in New York City, and experiences of women in higher education through the 1970s and 1990s. In addition to the interviews, the collection includes transcripts (full and partial) of interviews, notes on and indexes of interviews, field notes taken by interviewers, and preliminary questionnaires completed by narrators. Some files include articles and ephemera created by the narrators or are related to the topics they discussed in the interviews.

Historical Note

The interviews in the New York University Department of History Oral History Class Collection were conducted by graduate students in oral history classes taught by Rachel Bernstein in 1984, between 1991 and 1995, in 1999, and volunteers from the Workmen's Circle in Manhattan, who were trained by Bernstein in two day-long seminars in 1993. The majority of the interviews were conducted as part of the Lower East Side Oral History Project between 1991 and 1994.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in four series, with the first series containing materials created by the oral history classes that participated in the Lower East Side Oral History Project. The remaining series contain materials created by a single oral history class.

The series are as follows:

Series I. Lower East Side Oral History Project Interviews, 1991-1994 Series II. 1995 Oral History Class Interviews, 1995 Series III. 1984 Oral History Class Interview, 1984 Series IV. 1999 Oral History Class Interviews, 1999

Scope and Contents

The New York University (NYU) Department of History Oral History Class Collection contains over 180 sound and video interviews conducted by graduate students from the NYU Department of History between 1991 and 1995, and by volunteers from the Workmen's Circle in Manhattan, New York in 1993. The majority of the narrators lived in the Lower East Side (LES) neighborhood of Manhattan, New York. Other narrators lived in the East Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan or were members of the Asian American political movements or the Three Arrows Cooperative Society in Putnam Valley, New York. The narrators reflect the changing ethnic composition of different neighborhoods in New York City, and include Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe; immigrants from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Central America; and migrants from the southern United States and Puerto Rico. Topics covered by the interviews include life in tenements in the LES, life in public and cooperative housing in the LES, family life, ethnic identities, intercultural and interracial relations in New York City, education, religion, paid and unpaid work, immigration and migration experiences, religious and social activities in East Harlem, Asian American activism, socialist and anarchist organizations, and political activism. In addition to the interviews, the collection includes transcripts (full and partial) of interviews, notes on and indexes of interviews, field notes taken by interviewers, and preliminary questionnaires completed by narrators. Some files include articles and ephemera created by the narrators or are related to the topics they discussed in the interviews.

Conditions Governing Access

The majority of the interviews in this collection are open for research without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives are maintained by New York University, with the exception of the following interviews: Herbert Abrons, Pauline Arrinberg, Joe Balfiour, Samuel Balter, Samuel Baron, Ana Barrera, Genya Borut, Nellie and Jim Dick, Rev. Norman Eddy, Estelle Friedman, Mike Friedman, Karla Garcia, Sylvia Gruen, David Herman, Michael Katz, Selma Katz, Israel Kugler, Moe Kurtman, Joe Landres, Minn Matsuda, Arlene Miller, Mitch Miller, Mercedes Ortez, Roberto Ortiz-Arroyo, Gloria Quinones, Mike Rivera, Luis Romero, Elizabeth Rosen, Jesus Ruiz, Judith Saperstein, Samuel Schneeweiss, John and George Skeens, Mollie Stiker, Garry Torres and Luis R, Elba Valentin, Rose Varon, and Jack Weiss. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from repository. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; New York University Department of History Oral History Class Collection; OH 033; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The interviews conducted between 1991 and 1993 were donated by Rachel Bernstein in 1993; additional interviews were deposited with the library as classes were completed. The accession numbers related to these gifts are 1950.077 and 2014.143.

Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures

Access to some audiovisual materials in this collection is available through digitized access copies. Researchers may view an item's original container, but the media themselves are not available for playback because of preservation concerns. Materials that have already been digitized are noted in the collection's finding aid and can be requested in our reading room.

Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact [Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596] with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.

Related Materials

The Henry Street Settlement records (sw0058) at the University of Minnesota's Social Welfare History Archives contains unique interviews from the Lower East Side Oral History Project.

Existence and Location of Copies

Many of the interviews in this collection can also be found in Series 8 of the Henry Street Settlement records (sw0058) at the University of Minnesota's Social Welfare History Archives, and at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

Collection processed by

Megan O'Shea, Samantha Houck, Manon Gray, and Maria Mejia

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-01-18 13:53:35 -0500.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Finding aid written in English

Processing Information

The initial phase of planning for processing of this collection assumed that the entire collection was related to the Lower East Side Oral History Project. Once processing work started on the collection, it was determined that roughly one quarter of the interviews did not relate to the Lower East Side. The decision was made to keep the collection together based on the fact that the interviews were conducted by members of the oral history classes taught by Rachel Bernstein and that they would be arranged with the Lower East Side Oral History Project interviews in one series and interviews conducted by other oral history classes arranged in their own discrete series.

30 interviews in the collection were described using existing transcripts. The remaining interviews were described after listening to at least 45 minutes of audio per interview; this included the first 20 minutes of each interview, as well as an additional 10-25 minutes throughout the recording.

The 30 interviews in Series IV were added to the collection in May 2017 but were not described at the interview level.

In 2021, narrative description was edited to more accurately describe the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Researchers can access previous versions of the finding aid in our GitHub repository at https://github.com/NYULibraries/findingaids_eads/commits/master/tamwag/oh_033.xml.

Revisions to this Guide

January 2021: Edited by Amy C. Vo to change legacy description about the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II
January 2024: Edited by Rachel Mahre to state that audio materials have been digitized and are accessible to patrons

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