New York Metro Area Postal Union Photographs
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Abstract
This collection contains the photographs of the New York Metro Area Postal Union, the New York City local branch of the American Postal Workers Union. The collection contains circa 2500 images of individuals, events, strikes, committee meetings, and other proceedings that document the history of the local, the bulk are from the 1950s to 1980.
Historical/Biographical Note
The New York Metro Area Postal Union (American Postal Workers Union, Local 10) represents clerks, motor vehicle staff, maintenance workers and mail-handlers in the greater New York City area. (Some mail-handlers, however, are represented by other unions.) By the 1980s the union enrolled more than 25,000 members. The local originated as Local 10 of the National Federation of Post Office Clerks. Officers and most of the members of this local seceded in 1958 to become the Postal Union of Manhattan-Bronx Clerks (which in 1960 changed its name to the Manhattan-Bronx Postal Union), with the aim of uniting many postal craft workers into one industrial union. The union became part of the newly-created American Postal Workers Union in 1971, after taking a leading role in the hard-fought national strike of postal workers in 1970. Under the presidencies of Moe Biller and Josie MacMillan from the 1958 through the 1980s, the local union won significant gains for its members. Both the membership and the leadership became more diverse as post office jobs opened up to minorities and women as a result of civil rights initiatives in the 1960s. In 1973 the union changed its name to the New York Metro Area Postal Union, the new name reflecting the inclusion of the New York Bulk and Foreign Mail Center and the North Jersey Facility in the local's bargaining unit.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into twenty-eight series.
Series I: Individuals
Series II: Group Portraits with Union Officials
Series III: Congressional Visits
Series IV: Meetings
Series V: Stewards
Series VI: Group Portraits of Union Officials at Events
Series VII: House/Senate Members Visit the Union
Series VIII: Membership Meetings
Series IX: Delegates
Series X: Installation of Officers
Series XI: Conventions/Conferences
Series XII: Boards/Committees/Councils
Series XIII: Women's Auxiliary
Series XIV: Demonstrations/Rallies
Series XV: Signs/Billboards
Series XVI: Elections
Series XVII: Contracts
Series XVIII: Dinners/Parties
Series XIX: Award Ceremonies
Series XX: Classes/Seminars
Series XXI: Workplaces
Series XXII: Union Office Staff
Series XXIII: The Union Mail
Series XXIV: Sports/Recreation
Subseries A: Baseball
Subseries B: Softball
Subseries C: Basketball
Subseries D: Bowling
Subseries E: Chess
Subseries F: Handball
Subseries G: Miscellaneous
Series XXV: National Federation of Postal Clerks, Local 10 (New York)
Series XXVI: Miscellaneous
Series XXVII: Addendum
Series XXVIII: Negatives
Scope and Content Note
This collection of approximately 2500 photographs (many are copy prints for the Union's publication, The Union Mail) documents the concerns of the New York Metro Area Postal Union's membership over a twenty-five year period (1955-1981). Images of rallies and demonstrations show the issues around which the union organized and the changing language for those demands. Of special interest are the shots of the union's delegation leaving for the 1963 March on Washington. In addition, the collection also includes photoprints of individuals, bargaining sessions, and national conventions. There are some images of union-sponsored social groups, such as the chess club and bowling team. The union's lobbying is reflected in images of local and national union leadership with various politicians including John F. Kennedy, Robert F. ("Bobby") Kennedy, Kenneth Keating, and Congressman John Lindsay. The collection also contains a significant number of negatives.
The original folder titles for the photographs as received from the union have largely been retained, but the information in them, and on the backs of many of the photographs as well, is not always accurate.
Subjects
Organizations
Genres
People
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Use Restrictions
Copyright (and related rights to publicity and privacy) to materials in this collection, created by the New York Metro Area Postal Union, was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; New York Metro Area Postal Union Photographs; PHOTOS.011; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
donated by Moe Biller on behalf of the New York Metro Area Postal Union in 1980 and separated from the New York Metro Area Postal Union Records (WAG 103). The accession numbers related to this collection are 1970.020 and NPA.1996.003.
About this Guide
Processing Information note
The collection was loosely organized and documented when it was received. In 1999, the collection was arranged into series and subseries. In 2013, material was physically rearranged to reflect the intellectual arrangement in the finding aid. Series 27 and 28 have not been arranged or described.