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United Federation of Teachers Photographs

Call Number

PHOTOS.019

Dates

1928-1998, inclusive
; 1970-1979, bulk

Creator

United Federation of Teachers (Role: Donor)

Extent

33.3 Linear Feet in 29 record cartons, 1 manuscript box, and 1 flat box

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Abstract

The United Federation of Teachers (American Federation of Teachers, Local 2) represents public school teachers and associated personnel in New York City. The Collection consists of 33,500 black and white photographs that span the years 1928 to 1987, but are concentrated in the 1970s, documenting the UFT and its activities, chapters and members, and New York City schools and students. Also well-represented are images of the activities and member organizations of New York State United Teachers, as well as New York schools and students outside of New York City. A small, but significant number of images concern two predecessor unions, the Teachers' Union of the City of New York and the Teachers' Guild.

Historical Note

The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) was formed in March 1960. The UFT immediately began its campaign to gain collective bargaining rights and won a promise from the New York City School Board of a collective bargaining election in the 1960-1961 school year. When the Board failed to honor its pledge, a one-day work stoppage and broad support from other unions forced the issue. The election, in which the National Education Association (NEA) and the Teachers' Union stood in opposition to the UFT, was held in December 1961; the UFT won. Teachers swelled the ranks of the new union, and soon specialized chapters were created to accommodate other categories of school employees (for example, laboratory technicians, school secretaries, psychologists, guidance counselors, and para-professionals) who became part of the UFT. When UFT's president, Charles Cogen, was elected president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), in 1964, he was succeeded by Albert Shanker, who served as president of the UFT from 1964 until 1986. Albert Shanker's tenure coincided with some of the most challenging times for New York City schools, in an era characterized by rapidly changing demographics, racial conflict, demands from parents and community-based groups, overcrowded and dilapidated buildings, teacher shortages and citywide fiscal crises.

By the mid-1960s the UFT had more than 50,000 members and was the largest local union in the AFL-CIO. The union responded to changing conditions in the schools by backing the More Effective Schools program, aimed at improving teaching methods in underachieving schools, and other innovative programs. But by September 1967, when contract negotiations with the Board of Education broke down, the teachers were driven to strike to achieve an increase in wages and benefits. In the wake of the strike the union was fined and Shanker sentenced to fifteen days in prison for violation of the state's Taylor Law, banning strikes by public employees. Earlier in the year the city had agreed to implement a school decentralization plan in exchange for increased state funding. The plan, which created three experimental school districts in East Harlem, the Lower East Side of Manhattan and Ocean Hill-Brownsville in Brooklyn, was greeted with enthusiasm by African-American and Latino parents who hoped for a greater voice in their children's education. The UFT, on the other hand, feared that community control of schools would undermine teachers' hard-won rights and weaken the union's bargaining power. Bitter conflict ensued, resulting first in a walk-out of 350 teachers in Ocean Hill-Brownsville and, in September 1968, a citywide teachers strike. Albert Shanker was again sentenced to jail for leading the strike. An uneasy settlement, involving a state-appointed trustee in Ocean Hill-Brownsville and reinstatement of displaced teachers, left a legacy of distrust between the union and some community activists and scarred race relations in the city for many years.

In 1972 Shanker was a central figure in negotiating the merger of the AFT and the National Education Association (NEA) in New York State. The resulting organization, New York State United Teachers, brought more than 100,000 upstate teachers into the labor movement and was a rare example of close and amicable cooperation between the two major national organizations representing teachers. In 1974 Shanker was elected president of the American Federation of Teachers. Retaining his position as UFT president for some years, he went on to play a key role in re-establishing the city's fiscal stability after the fiscal crisis of the mid-1970s. He was succeeded as president of the UFT by Sandra Feldman in 1986, and died after a long struggle with cancer in 1997.

The UFT had its origins in the Teachers' Union (TU) of New York City, and the Teachers' Guild. The Teachers' Union was organized in 1916 and chartered as Local 5 of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). A growing political struggle within its ranks between a left wing dominated by Communist Party members and their sympathizers, and a more moderate group consisting of socialists, liberals and less ideologically inclined teachers resulted in a split in 1935, when its president, a moderate, withdrew with a majority of the membership to found the Teachers Guild. In 1941 the AFT revoked the Teachers' Union's charter. Over a number of years the TU was weakened by McCarthy-era persecution and the increasingly successful organizing efforts of the rival Teachers Guild (and later the United Federation of Teachers). It went out of existence in 1964.

The Teachers Guild, born in 1941, when it won recognition by the American Federation of Teachers, addressed the problems of a fragmented workforce, divided into small teachers' organizations representing a multitude of ethnic and religious groups, geographical areas and distinct school levels (elementary, junior high school and high school), and began the long struggle for collective bargaining rights in the New York City school system. A job action initiated by militant leaders of the High School Teachers Association (HSTA) in 1959, gave the Guild an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to building solidarity among all categories of teachers. David Selden, then the Guild's only full-time organizer (and later president of the American Federation of Teachers), enlisted the help of younger Guild Board members such as junior high-school teachers George Altomare and Albert Shanker. After month-long picket lines at schools across the city, substantial gains were won by the high-school teachers, and bridges had been built which would eventually lead toward merger between the Guild and the HSTA. That merger was effected in March 1960, with Guild president Charles Cogen taking over as president of the newly-formed United Federation of Teachers.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in three series, Series I: New York Teacher Photograph Files, Series II: United Federation of Teachers General Photograph Files and Series III: Predecessor Unions. Series I and III are further arranged in subseries. Series I is divided into organizational and topical subseries, arranged alphabetically by district, local, or chapter names, except where otherwise noted; Series II is arranged alphabetically; and Series III is arranged chronologically within three subseries. The series and subseries arrangement are as follows: Series I: New York Teacher Photograph Files
Subseries I:A: United Federation of Teachers
Sub-subseries I:A:1: Administration and Services
Sub-subseries I:A:2: Officers and Official Business
Sub-subseries I:A:3: Committees
Sub-subseries I:A:4: Chapters
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:4a: Attendance Teachers
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:4b: Bilingual Teachers
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:4c: Coaches
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:4d: Elementary School
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:4e: Federation of Nurses/UFT
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:4f: Guidance Counselors
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:4g: Homebound Teachers
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:4h: Laboratory Specialists
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:4i: Paraprofessionals
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:4j: Psychologists and Social Workers
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:4k: School Secretaries
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:4l: Teachers Assigned
Sub-subseries I:A:5: School Districts
Sub-subseries I:A:6: Schools and Students
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:6a: Elementary Schools
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:6b: Intermediate and Junior High Schools
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:6c: High Schools
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:6d: Colleges and Universities
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:6e: Specialized Schools
Sub-sub-subseries I:A:6f: Miscellaneous
Sub-subseries I:A:7: Contracts and Negotiations
Sub-subseries I:A:8: Elections and Voting
Sub-subseries I:A:9: Strikes and Lockouts
Sub-subseries I:A:10: Programs
Sub-subseries I:A:11: Conferences
Sub-subseries I:A:12: Publicity
Sub-subseries I:A:13: Visitors
Sub-subseries I:A:14: Miscellaneous
Subseries I:B: New York State United Teachers (NYSUT)
Sub-subseries I:B:1: Administration and Services
Sub-subseries I:B:2: Officers and Official Business
Sub-subseries I:B:3: Committees
Sub-subseries I:B:4: Locals and Teacher Associations
Sub-subseries I:B:5: Election Districts
Sub-subseries I:B:6: Representative Assemblies
Sub-subseries I:B:7: School Districts
Sub-subseries I:B:8: Schools and Students
Sub-sub-subseries I:B:8a: Elementary Schools
Sub-sub-subseries I:B:8b: Intermediate and Junior High Schools
Sub-sub-subseries I:B:8c: High Schools
Sub-sub-subseries I:B:8d: Colleges and Universities
Sub-sub-subseries I:B:8e: Specialized Schools
Sub-sub-subseries I:B:8f: Miscellaneous
Sub-subseries I:B:9: Contracts and Negotiations
Sub-subseries I:B:10: Conferences
Sub-subseries I:B:11: Publicity
Sub-subseries I:B:12: Miscellaneous
Subseries I:C: American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
Sub-subseries I:C:1: Conventions
Sub-subseries I:C:2: Locals
Sub-subseries I:C:3: Miscellaneous
Subseries I:D: Other Teacher Unions
Sub-subseries I:D:1: Federation of Catholic Teachers
Sub-subseries I:D:2: Lay Faculty Association
Sub-subseries I:D:3: National Education Association (NEA)
Sub-subseries I:D:4: New York State Federation of Teachers
Sub-subseries I:D:5: New York Educators Association (NYEA)
Sub-subseries I:D:6: State University Federation of Teachers (SUFT)
Sub-subseries I:D:7: Teachers Guild
Sub-subseries I:D:8: United Teachers of New York (UTNY)
Sub-subseries I:D:9: United University Professions (UUP)
Sub-subseries I:D:10: Miscellaneous
Subseries I:E: Other Unions
Subseries I:F: Other Labor Organizations
Sub-subseries I:F:1: AFL-CIO
Sub-subseries I:F:2: Association of Orthodox Jewish Teachers
Sub-subseries I:F:3: Black Trade Unionists
Sub-subseries I:F:4: Coalition of Labor Union Women
Sub-subseries I:F:5: Department for Professional Employees
Sub-subseries I:F:6: Frontlash
Sub-subseries I:F:7: Hispanic Labor Committee
Sub-subseries I:F:8: Histadrut
Sub-subseries I:F:9: Industrial Union Department
Sub-subseries I:F:10: International Labor Press Association
Sub-subseries I:F:11: Italian-American Labor Council
Sub-subseries I:F:12: Jewish Labor Committee
Sub-subseries I:F:13: Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
Sub-subseries I:F:14: League for Industrial Democracy
Sub-subseries I:F:15: Municipal Labor Council
Sub-subseries I:F:16: New York City Central Labor Council
Sub-subseries I:F:17: North Country Labor Council
Sub-subseries I:F:18: Public Employees Conference
Sub-subseries I:F:19: Union Label
Sub-subseries I:F:20: Miscellaneous
Subseries I:G: Other Organizations
Subseries I:H: Non-UFT Strikes
Subseries I:I: Individuals
Subseries I:J: Legislative and Government
Subseries I:K: Political
Sub-subseries I:K:1: New York City
Sub-subseries I:K:2: New York State
Sub-subseries I:K:3: Miscellaneous
Subseries I:L: Demonstrations/Rallies/Parades
Sub-subseries I:L:1: New York City
Sub-subseries I:L:2: New York State
Sub-subseries I:L:3: Miscellaneous
Subseries I:M: Schools/Students/Teachers
Sub-subseries I:M:1: Schools and Students
Sub-subseries I:M:2: Teachers
Subseries I:N: Retired Teachers
Subseries I:O: Parents
Subseries I:P: Special Education
Subseries I:Q: Training, Certification, and Workshops
Subseries I:R: Ceremonies
Subseries I:S: Dedicated Days/Weeks/Celebrations
Subseries I:T: Published New York Teacher Photographs
Subseries I:U: Miscellaneous
Series II: United Federation of Teachers General Photograph Files
Series III: Predecessor Unions
Subseries III:A: Teachers' Union Auxiliary
Subseries III:B: Teachers' Union
Subseries III:C: Teachers' Guild

Scope and Contents

The United Federation of Teachers Photographs contain roughly 38,800 black and white (mostly 8x10) prints and a small number of negatives documenting United Federation of Teachers (UFT) members, events, the work of teaching, and political activity of the union as well as other unions, dating from 1928 to 1988. Most of these photographs are from the photograph files of the New York Teacher, the newspaper of New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), and most date from the 1970s and 1980s. The largest single portion of the collection is devoted to individual officers and members of the UFT and of NYSUT, particularly Albert Shanker, UFT president from 1964 to 1986. Also documented are the activities and meetings of UFT chapters (including those for non-teacher school employees), NYSUT affiliates, and teachers associations; schools, students, and teachers (particularly in New York City); dinners, luncheons, award ceremonies, scholarship presentations, dedications, memorial services, and check presentations; as well as holidays and other dedicated days and weeks that mark the regular rhythm of organizational life and punctuate the school year. The collection also contains images depicting professional development via training and workshops, the American Federation of Teachers, other teacher unions, and the UFT/NYSUT's relationship to New York City and state politics and politicians. In addition, a small but significant portion of the collection reflects New York City's fiscal crisis of the 1970s and the rising consciousness of ethnic identity among students, teachers, and parents, as well as related episodes of conflict in the New York City school system, such as the Ocean Hill-Brownsville crisis. The collection also offers some visual documentation for two of the UFT's predecessor unions, the Teachers' Union and the Teachers' Guild.

While images shot by many different photographers may be seen throughout the collection, the work of Hans Weissenstein (aka Whitestone Studios), Sam Reiss, and Dan Miller is particularly well-represented. The basic unit of the collection, as described in the container list, is a shoot, e.g., a photograph or a group of photographs shot by one or more photographers of one event, usually, but not always, on the same day. The container list represents a complete list of these shoots, arranged into subseries and sub-subseries, which are arranged chronologically (with undated shoots following dated materials), unless otherwise noted. Each entry includes a date (usually of the event, but occasionally of the issue in which the image was published), if known, and a shoot description derived from the original caption information. The same shoot may be (and often is) shown in two different subseries when its subject content falls into more than one category.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Because of the assembled nature of this collection, copyright status varies across the collection. Copyright is assumed to be held by the original creator of individual items in the collection; these items are expected to pass into the public domain 120 years after their creation. Copyright (and related rights to publicity and privacy) to materials in this collection, created by the United Federation of Teachers, was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; United Federation of Teachers Photographs; PHOTOS 019; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

Location of Materials

Materials are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please request materials at least two business days prior to your research visit to coordinate access.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Photographs from the files of the New York Teacherwere donated to the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives by the United Federation of Teachers in 1987. The union made additional donations of photographs in later years, including, in 1992, photographs concerning the Teachers' Union (a predecessor of the UFT) collected by Mildred Grossman, a younger member of the Workers' Film and Photo League and a blacklisted New York City teacher. The photographs in this latter donation were shot by a number of different photographers, including Grossman herself. The accession numbers associated with this collection are 1987.003, NPA.2003.038, NPA.2004.087.

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

United Federation of Teachers Oral History Collection (OH.009)

United Federation of Teachers Photographs, Part II, Hans Weissenstein Negatives (PHOTOS.019.001)

United Federation of Teachers Records (WAG.022)

Collection processed by

Kevin Andreano, Erika Gottfried, Evan Daniel, Stephina Fisher, Rachel Yood, and Holly Halmo.

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:32:48 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is in English.

Processing Information

Decisions regarding arrangement, description, and physical interventions for this collection prior to 2020 are unknown. In 2020 the file inventory was edited to add main box numbers to simplify paging requests.

Select creator-supplied titles containing racist and ableist language were identified in this collection, but have been retained to convey important contextual information regarding time and place in which the documents and titles were created.

Revisions to this Guide

November 2020: Edited by Megan O'Shea to add main box numbers to the file inventory to simplify paging requests and for compliance with DACS and ACM Required Elements for Archival Description

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from UFT Photos Collection.doc

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