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Sam Reiss Negatives

Call Number

PHOTOS.021

Dates

1946-1975, inclusive
; 1950-1969, bulk

Creator

Reiss, Sam
Reiss, Helen (Role: Donor)
Reiss, Jessie (Role: Donor)

Extent

145.37 Linear Feet In 227 card boxes, 27 legal manuscript boxes, and 10 records cartons.

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

The Sam Reiss Photographic Negatives Collection is notable for its size (more than 120,000 black and white images in formats including 35mm, 120mm, 3x5, and 4x5) and breadth of coverage of 20th century labor unions and labor union-affiliated organizations (hundreds of unions, locals, and labor organizations), as well as the length of time it covers—the nearly 30 years between 1946 to 1975. It documents the face of organized labor in the New York City metropolitan area: mainly its institutionalized forms and quotidian administrative activities, but it also captures its broader community, and occasionally its historic moments, such as the such as the 1955 merger convention of the AFL-CIO. Prominent among Reiss' clients, and particularly well-represented in the Collection are images he shot for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America; Transport Workers Union; the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers—Local 3; United Federation of Teachers; and the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Workers Union. The Collection also includes formal and informal portraits of local and national union leaders and personalities, including George Meany and Walter Reuther, Cesar Chavez, Michael Quill, Bessie Hillman, A. Philip Randolph, David Dubinsky, Eleanor Roosevelt, United Nations Secretary General U Thant, Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, Senators John F. Kennedy, Hubert H. Humphrey, and Edward Kennedy, New York Representative Bella Abzug, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, and Presidents Harry Truman, John Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson.

Historical/Biographical Note

Samuel Reiss was among the most prominent and prolific photographers of the labor movement in New York City from the late 1940s until his death in 1975. During the three decades that Reiss earned a living with his camera, he documented a changing work force in a changing city, building a reputation as "Labor's photographer." Week by week, throughout his career, Reiss made photographs that document New York's labor movement during its most active, influential, and progressive years.

Born in New York City in 1910, Reiss was the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants.

He grew up in the city, where his father worked as a tailor. Like many children of New Yorkers who worked in the garment industry, Reiss hoped to escape having to make a living in an economic sector beleaguered by difficult working conditions and low pay. After graduating from Manhattan's Stuyvesant High School in 1929, Reiss enrolled at New York University as a pre-dental major, intending to join the ranks of professionals by becoming a dentist. At the University he attended only night classes to allow him to work a garment-industry job during the day. By January of 1933, after four years, Reiss had managed to accrue two years of college credits. It was then that his father suffered a stroke that left him disabled; Reiss dropped out of school to help support his family and found full-time employment as a shipping clerk at a clothing factory in the men's garment district.

In 1936, Reiss enrolled in evening photography classes at the Brooklyn Museum's Art School, where he remembered that his first instructor was Tom O'Scheckel, a pictorialist photographer who had served as president of the Pictorial Photographers of America. Using a simple wooden box camera, Reiss began photographing during his lunch hour; he photographed co-workers as well as other laborers on the streets of New York City. In 1938 he wed Helen Handwerger; two daughters, Jessie and Harriet, were born to them.

During World War II, Reiss found work as a machinist, but when his shop struck in 1946, he used the enforced hiatus to take the opportunity to attempt to earn his living with photography. He started by shooting baby pictures, weddings, and bar mitvah celebrations, but did not meet with success until he started to specialize as a press photographer for labor union publications. He received his first labor news assignment in 1947, when he was hired to shoot some photographs for the RWDSU Record,the newspaper of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Workers Union. Throughout his nearly thirty-year career, the RWDSU, as well as the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, the Transport Workers Union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the International Ladies Garment Workers Union remained among Reiss' major clients, employing him regularly to document the activities of their organizations, although he also shot for dozens of other labor unions and locals.

In addition to his labor union and other organizational clients, Reiss continued to do private commercial photography. However, it is worth noting that the subjects of many of these photographs were labor figures and their families; Reiss was frequently a union official's choice of photographer for photographing personal family events such as weddings and birthdays, or children's portraits.

Reiss continued to work until only a few months before his death from cancer in December 1975. That same year, a retrospective exhibit of his work was mounted by his daughter, Jessie, and displayed at the gallery of the labor union, District Council 37.

Sources:

Bildersee, Barnett. "The Camera Eye: Snapping the man in the street." New York STAR Picture News, Sunday, September 12, 1948, p. m14.Course completion (for Commercial Photography-1/24/1947, and Portraiture-June 13, 1947) certificates from Brooklyn Museum Art School, for Sam Reiss, Sam Reiss Collection, Wagner # 301.Gene Thornton, "Photography View," New York Times, Sunday, January 25, 1976.Going Out Guide…Labor Log. New York Times, Tuesday, December 16, 1975.Klein, H.L. "Focus on 27 years of labor history: LI'ers photos on display." Long Island Press, Sunday, December 7, 1975.Labor Press Photographer Sam Reiss Dies. AFL-CIO News, Saturday, January 3, 1976.Pollack, Michael. "Sam Reiss Dead at 65; Labor Press Photographer." Textile Labor, March 1976, p. 11.Reiss Photos Donated. New York Labor Heritage, Volume 1, No. 4, Summer 1980.Rich, Rona. "Sam Reiss Knew His Labor." The Village Voice, December 15, 1975, p. 130.Rich, Rona. Photocopy of unedited, unpublished manuscript of "Sam Reiss Knew His Labor" article, Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.Sam Reiss: Labor Photographer. Labor Press Council of Metropolitan New York. Press release, n.d.Transcript of audiotaped interview with Sam Reiss, Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

Arrangement

The Demonstrations/Rallies/Parades and Miscellaneous Events series are arranged in chronological order. The remaining series are arranged alphabetically by client (that is, the name of the organization or individual that engaged the photographer to cover a particular event) and then chronologically within clients. The Unions series is further sub-divided by district councils, and then locals following their parent bodies. The Labor Organizations series encompasses umbrella labor bodies, such as the national and New York State AFL-CIOs, New York City Central Labor Council, Jewish Labor Committee, multiple union industry-related groups such as the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council, as well as labor union-related or –founded organizations such as the League for Industrial Democracy or the United Housing Foundation. The Other Clients series includes a sample of non-labor union clients that has been included to illustrate the range of Reiss' work and concerns.

Organized into 8 series:

Missing Title

  1. I, Unions
  2. II, Labor Organizations
  3. III, Demonstrations/Rallies/Parades
  4. IV, Miscellaneous Events
  5. V, Personalities/Portraits
  6. VI, Political Parties and Organizations
  7. VII, Other Clients
  8. VIII, Worksite

Scope and Content Note

The Sam Reiss Photographic Negatives Collection is comprised of 121,040 overwhelmingly black and white photographic negatives shot from 1946 to 1975. Photographic formats include 4" x 5", 120 and 35mm. There are also a few 8" x 10" and 5" x 7" negatives. Photographs that Reiss made from the late 1940s through the 1950s are usually in 4" x 5" format, while 1960s images include 120mm, and late 1960s and 1970s images are mostly in 35mm.

The collection is particularly rich in its documentation of the face of organized of labor: its institutionalized forms, its quotidian administrative activities, its community, and its celebration of steady achievements during this period to promote the quality of working-class life at home and in the workplace.

The collection is also notable both for its breadth of its coverage and the length of time it covers. Reiss photographed a wide cross-section of New York-based labor unions and labor union-affiliated organizations, including internationals and numerous locals and district councils of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America; the Association of Federal, State, City, and Municipal Employees; Communication Workers of America; Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union; New York City Central Labor Council, Local 1199, Hospital Workers; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; International Brotherhood of Teamsters; International Union of Electrical Workers; International Ladies Garment Workers Union; Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Workers Union; Service Employees International Union; Transport Workers Union of America, and the United Furniture Workers. The files for a number of these unions are so extensive that they virtually constitute organizational collections within the larger collection. These heavily-represented unions include the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America; Transport Workers Union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers-Local 3, the United Federation of Teachers, and the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Workers Union. Furthermore, the fact that many of these organizations remained clients of Reiss more or less continuously during the entire thirty-plus year span of his career enabled him to document not only the histories of the specific unions for which he shot, but the vicissitudes of the broader labor movement during this period, especially in the New York City metropolitan area.

Most numerous in the collection are images of official labor union events covered by the labor press, such as contract signings, press conferences, award ceremonies, union elections, meetings; voter registration, health care services and initiatives such as blood drives, contract votes, installments and retirements of union officers, and annual and bi-annual conventions. This includes photographs of union leaders and staff, as well as many images of the day-to-day activities of union life such as demonstrations, passing out leaflets, and union-related field trips or travel and union-sponsored education classes and programs. The collection documents many improvements in housing and health care that were made for the working class during the most active and progressive years of the labor movement, including numerous photographs of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union's Penn South Cooperative Housing development, as well as Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Worker's extensive compound known as Electchester, complete with housing, a shopping center, and an athletic club. There are also images of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Unity House summer resort in the Pennsylvania Poconos Mountains, as well as a wealth of images of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers' Sidney Hillman Health Center.

The collection also includes photographs of many of the intimate milestone moments of a particular union's life: men and women collecting their first precious vacation paychecks (won for them through union contracts), awarding of pensions to widows, awarding gifts to retirees, Christmas parties, dances, testimonials, and achievement award banquets. Nevertheless, the bulk of the collection's images of individuals feature union officials rather than rank and file members. The collection features many group portraits of union officers including shop stewards, and executive and joint executive boards. There are also formal and informal portraits of national union leaders that include Jacob Potofsky, A. Philip Randolph, David Dubinsky, Harry Van Arsdale, Michael Quill, James Hoffa, Peter Brennan, Matthew Guinan, George Meany, Walter Reuther, Cesar Chavez, and Bessie Hillman, as well as images of local, national, and international politicians and personalities, including United Nations Secretary General U Thant, Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, Presidents Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson; Vice President Hubert Humphrey; Senators John F. Kennedy, Hubert H. Humphrey, Edward Kennedy, and George McGovern; Representative Bella Abzug; New York Governors Nelson Rockefeller and Averell Harriman; New York City Mayors Fiorello LaGuardia and Robert F. Wagner; Eleanor Roosevelt, and television news journalist Edward R. Murrow, as well as numerous ceremonial images featuring well-known public figures such as Mrs. George Meany sewing union labels on garments, and Eleanor Roosevelt and President John F. Kennedy attending the inaugural ceremony of the ILGWU's Penn South Cooperative Housing. Significant moments in labor history documented include images of George Meany and Walter Reuther jointly slamming down a gavel at the 1955 AFL-CIO convention, symbolizing their confirmation of the merger of the two labor federations. Other noteworthy events documented in the collection include New York City labor day parades, union members picketing Woolworth Department stores to protest discriminatory hiring practices, the New York City Transport Workers Union bus strike of 1953, the contentious New York City teacher's strike of 1968, the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike, Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral, the labor movement's support for the United Farm Worker's grape and lettuce boycotts, and numerous political election campaign rallies. Also of interest are photographs documenting the activities of progressive, labor-related institutions such as New York City's Rand School of Social Science and the Harlem Labor Center.

Although it includes some shots of civil rights demonstrations, as well as some documenting bad working and living conditions, the bulk of the collection documents organizational, rather than social history. Similarly, although it includes some striking workplace images, most images of workers in the collection show them participating in meetings or activities organized by their labor unions or organizations, rather than on the job. And few, if any, of the collection's images are in the "social-documentary style" associated with the work of Lewis Hine and the photographers of the Workers Film and Photo League. Instead, Reiss' work is characterized by what one critic has described as his "clean, sharply focused press photographer's style." The sheer size and breadth of the collection does more than illuminate the history of the unions that engaged Reiss to photograph for them; at the same time it documents the work and life of the photographer himself, day in and day out.

The collection also includes a small representative sample of the images Reiss shot for non-union clients. Notable among these are posed shots from Manhanttan's Moskowitz and Lupowitz restaurant which feature celebrities of the 1940s and 1950s from the worlds of Broadway, Hollywood, music, and the arts, including Charlie Chaplin, John Garfield, Phil Silvers, George Burns, Groucho and Chico Marx, Adolph Green, Bert Parks, Jackie Cooper, Molly Picon, Maurice Schwarz, Elia Kazan, Billy Rose, Sam Goldwyn, Sam Levenson, Clifford Odets, Artie Shaw, Gertrude Berg, and Rube Goldberg. Also represented among these non-union clients are Sachs Department Store (these images are not of the store itself, but have to do with social, educational, and activities of Sachs' employees-probably provided by management), American Veterans Committee, the Warshauer Home (evidently a retirement home), Jewish Consumptive Relief Association (which includes the City of Hope and Deborah Hospital and Sanitarium in its purview), and the Boys Clubs.

Each series is comprised of "shoots." A shoot is a group of photographic images shot by the photographer of one event--usually, but not always, on the same day. Each shoot has a unique identifying number (selected individual images within shoots have also been assigned individual numbers). The container list for this finding aid includes a complete list of shoot-level descriptions for all the images in the Collection; in the container list, shoot numbers are listed in the column for "item." Shoot descriptions include Reiss's original captions, as well as clarifications, corrections, identifications, and additional visual details provided by the processing archivists. These additions are enclosed within square brackets, so that they may be distinguished from the original caption information. The total number of negatives in a given shoot is also indicated in brackets following each shoot description in the container list: [Total negs: #]

About one-fifth of the collection has been microfilmed (R-7850), and that portion must be viewed in this format; original negatives not microfilmed may also be viewed by researchers.

You can also click on the link within the shoot record itself in the container list below. Those shoots in which some (or occasionally all) negatives have been microfilmed are indicated in the Container List by: Microfilm. Researchers wishing to know if a complete shoot has been microfilmed can compare the number of images in a given shoot with the number of images from that shoot they find microfilmed.

The number of organizations and clients included in the Collection is so numerous that the following table of contents has been compiled, to provide a convenient overview (in contrast to the detailed, shoot-level descriptions in the Container List) of Collection contents:

COLLECTION TABLE OF CONTENTS

SERIES: UNIONS

Actors' Equity Association; date: 1968 - 1975; # of negs: 155
AFSCME; date: 1950s -1976; # of negs: 1762
AFSCME, District 5; date: 1950s; # of negs: 13
AFSCME, District 37; date: 1960 - 1975; # of negs: 993
AFSCME, District 50; date: 1959 - 1972; # of negs: 262
AFSCME, Local 1; date: 1970
AFSCME, Local 3; date: 1959; # of negs: 1
AFSCME, Local 82; date: 1970; # of negs: 3
AFSCME, Local 322; date: 1960; # of negs: 4
AFSCME, Local 371; date: 1958 - 1960; # of negs: 34
AFSCME, Local 372; date: 1960 - 1974; # of negs: 89
AFSCME, Local 375; date: 1957 - 1969; # of negs: 66
AFSCME, Local 410; date: 1957; # of negs: 4
AFSCME, Local 420; date: 1958 - 1960; # of negs: 56
AFSCME, Local 924; date: 1958 - 1965; # of negs: 29
AFSCME, Local 983; date: 1959; # of negs: 4
AFSCME, Local 1331; date: 1958 - 1960; # of negs: 7
AFSCME, Local 1407; date: 1959; # of negs: 2
AFSCME, Local 1412; date: 1967; # of negs: 53
AFSCME, Local 1502; date: 1958; # of negs: 2
AFSCME, Local 1505; date: 1959 - 1960; # of negs: 11
AFSCME, Local 1508; date: 1960; # of negs: 2
AFSCME, Local 1733; date: 1968; # of negs: 2
AFSCME, Local 14112; date: 1967; # of negs: 12
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America; date: 1933 - 1977; # of negs: 19752
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 1; date: 1956 - 1957; # of negs: 5
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 4; date: 1950 - 1970s; # of negs: 118
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 10; date: 1958 - 1973; # of negs: 109
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 25; date: 1949 - 1970; # of negs: 95
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 54; date: 1951; # of negs: 166
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 55; date: 1954 - 1959; # of negs: 51
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 62; date: 1967; # of negs: 6
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 63; date: 1952 - 1962; # of negs: 18
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 88; date: 1965; # of negs: 5
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 126; date: 1951 - 1963; # of negs: 142
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 130; date: 1954; # of negs: 31
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 158; date: 1949 - 1969; # of negs: 57
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 162; date: 1954 - 1967; # of negs: 25
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 169; date: 1949 - 1975; # of negs: 352
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 173; date: undated; # of negs: 5
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 178; date: 1951 - 1954; # of negs: 62
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 237; date: 1950; # of negs: 12
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 239; date: 1950 - 1972; # of negs: 387
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 279; date: 1954 - 1972; # of negs: 49
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 324; date: 1949 - 1951; # of negs: 32
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 327; date: 1953; # of negs: 6
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 331; date: 1953 - 1968; # of negs: 21
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 332; date: 1951 - 1962; # of negs: 64
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 333; date: 1953 - 1963; # of negs: 27
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 340; date: 1950 - 1974; # of negs: 670
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 340A; date: 1962 - 1967; # of negs: 27
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 390; date: 1968; # of negs: 6
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 400; date: 1950 - 1958; # of negs: 20
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local 1862; date: 1969; # of negs: 6
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America - Laundry Workers; date: 1948 - 1975; # of negs: 4652
Amalgamated Meatcutters and Retail Food Store Employees; date: 1951 - 1960; # of negs: 10
American Federation of Musicians; date: 1968 - 1975; # of negs: 108
American Federation of Musicians, Local 802; date: 1954 - 1975; # of negs: 3912
American Federation of Teachers; date: 1968 - 1972; # of negs: 93
American Federation of Teachers, Local 2092; date: 1971; # of negs: 26
American Federation of Teachers--Professional Staff Congress; date: 1972 - 1974; # of negs: 454
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists; date: 1961; # of negs: 4
Bakery, Confectionery and Tobacco Workers International Union, Local 50; date: 1956 - 1962; # of negs: 103
Bakery, Confectionery and Tobacco Workers International Union, Local 150; date: 1974; # of negs: 31
Building Service Employees International Union, Local 32E; date: 1949; # of negs: 8
Building Trades Union; date: 1963 - 1974; # of negs: 412
Chefs, Cooks, Pastry Cooks and Assistants Union, Local 89; date: 1953 - 1957; # of negs: 14
Communications Workers of America; date: 1958 - 1975; # of negs: 658
Communications Workers of America, Local 1109; date: 1973; # of negs: 8
Fur, Leather, and Machine Workers Union; date: 1970; # of negs: 65
Glaziers; date: 1960 - 1962; # of negs: 26
Glaziers, Local 1087; date: 1957; # of negs: 11
Government and Civic Employees Organizing Committee; date: 1950 - 1957; # of negs: 262
Health and Human Service Employees Union; date: 1962; # of negs: 8
Health and Human Service Employees Union, Local 1199; date: 1958 - 1975 1987
Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union; date: 1956 - 1961; # of negs: 40
Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union, Local 1; date: 1960; # of negs: 19
Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union, Local 6; date: 1960; # of negs: 7
Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union, Local 16; date: 1953; # of negs: 3
Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union - Bartenders; date: 1964 - 1965; # of negs: 7
Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union - Bartenders, Local 488; date: 1967; # of negs: 4
Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union - Dining Room Employees, Local 1; date: 1952 - 1957; # of negs: 57
Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union - Waiters; date: 1950 - 1973; # of negs: 845
Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union - Waiters, Local 1; date: 1960; # of negs: 15
Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union - Waiters, Local 16; date: 1953 - 1954; # of negs: 49
Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union - Waiters, Local 89; date: undated; # of negs: 2
Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union - Waiters, Local 144; date: 1963 - 1967; # of negs: 9
Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union - Waiters, Local 219; date: 1950s -1954; # of negs: 4
Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union - Waiters, Local 325; date: 1964; # of negs: 23
Insurance Workers International Union; date: 1968; # of negs: 100
International Association of Machinists; date: 1950s -1974; # of negs: 133
International Association of Machinists, District 15; date: 1950s; # of negs: 7
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; date: 1950s - 1975; # of negs: 2251
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 3; date: 1953- 1975 13824
International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades
International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades; date: 1956 - 1973 1165
International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, District 9; date: 1960 - 1970; # of negs: 25
International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, Local 51; date: 1959; # of negs: 4
International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, Local 261; date: 1959; # of negs: 4
International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, Local 806; date: 1959; # of negs: 19
International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, Local 886; date: 1957; # of negs: 8
International Brotherhood of Teamsters; date: 1972 - 1974; # of negs: 130
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 202; date: 1953; # of negs: 4
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 237; date: 1972; # of negs: 10
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 363; date: 1970; # of negs: 26
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 807; date: 1956 - 1962; # of negs: 55
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 810; date: 1955 - 1976; # of negs: 1042
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 815; date: 1968 - 1970; # of negs: 48
International Brotherhood of Teamsters - Milk Drivers' Union; date: 1957; # of negs: 5
International Brotherhood of Teamsters - Milk Drivers' Union, Local 584; date: 1956 - 1962; # of negs: 308
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union; date: 1950 - 1975; # of negs: 363
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, Local 10; date: 1971 - 1972; # of negs: 169
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, Local 23; date: 1950s -1962; # of negs: 59
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, Local 32; date: 1961; # of negs: 16
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, Local 35; date: 1961 - 1965; # of negs: 16
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, Local 62; date: 1953 - 1974; # of negs: 140
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, Local 66; date: 1973 - 1975; # of negs: 25
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, Local 89; date: 1962; # of negs: 6
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, Local 98; date: 1965; # of negs: 11
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, Local 99; date: 1961 - 1974; # of negs: 589
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, Local 105; date: 1961 - 1974; # of negs: 59
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, Local 117; date: 1962; # of negs: 21
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, Local 132; date: 1957 - 1973; # of negs: 123
International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, Local 155; date: 1952 - 1975; # of negs: 117
International Longshoremen's Association; date: 1959; # of negs: 8
International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, and Machine Workers; date: 1955 -1974; # of negs: 871
International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, and Machine Workers, District 3; date: 1962 - 1971; # of negs: 53
International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, and Machine Workers, District 4; date: 1957 - 1960s; # of negs: 69
International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, and Machine Workers, Local 408; date: 1957; # of negs: 4
International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, and Machine Workers, Local 422; date: 1960; # of negs: 5
International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, and Machine Workers, Local 430; date: 1956; # of negs: 6
International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, and Machine Workers, Local 431; date: 1972; # of negs: 6
International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, and Machine Workers, Local 439; date: 1962; # of negs: 8
International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, and Machine Workers, Local 459; date: 1961 - 1973; # of negs: 14
International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, and Machine Workers, Local 463; date: 1957 - 1974; # of negs: 506
International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, and Machine Workers, Local 475; date: 1956; # of negs: 4
International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, and Machine Workers, Local 485; date: 1958 - 1973; # of negs: 89
Ironworkers; date: 1969 - 1976; # of negs: 679
Ironworkers, Local 3; date: 1973; # of negs: 72
Ironworkers, Local 40; date: 1969 - 1974; # of negs: 869
Journeymen Tailors; date: 1952; # of negs: 2
Leather Goods, Plastics, and Novelty Workers; date: 1958 - 1973; # of negs: 145
Leather Goods, Plastics, and Novelty Workers, Local 111; date: 1956 - 1962; # of negs: 54
Leather Goods, Plastics, and Novelty Workers, Local 121; date: 1950s; # of negs: 1
Luggage Workers Union; date: 1961 - 1965; # of negs: 116
National Maritime Union; date: 1953 - 1962; # of negs: 271
Nursing Home and Service Employees Union, Local 1115; date: 1957 - 1975; # of negs: 190
Optical Workers; date: 1959; # of negs: 4
Pocketbook Workers Union; date: 1957 - 1958; # of negs: 66
Retail Clerks International Association; date: 1949 - 1961; # of negs: 24
Retail Clerks International Association, Local 888; date: 1960 - 1971; # of negs: 763
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union; date: 1940 - 1975; # of negs: 2029
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 1-S; date: 1955 - 1975; # of negs: 2521
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 2; date: 1948; # of negs: 2
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 3; date: 1955 - 1960; # of negs: 37
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 10; date: 1973; # of negs: 27
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 13; date: 1976; # of negs: 13
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 29; date: undated; # of negs: 5
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 65; date: 1967 - 1972; # of negs: 262
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 108; date: 1960; # of negs: 1
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 147; date: 1954 - 1974; # of negs: 150
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 260; date: 1953 - 1960; # of negs: 25
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 287; date: 1952 - 1961; # of negs: 70
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 301; date: 1960; # of negs: 1
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 305; date: 1955 - 1961; # of negs: 18
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 323; date: 1958 - 1959; # of negs: 6
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 338; date: 1948 - 1975; # of negs: 6076
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 371; date: 1954; # of negs: 8
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 377; date: 1952 - 1960; # of negs: 62
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 670; date: 1956 - 1970; # of negs: 40
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 721; date: 1956 - 1971; # of negs: 109
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 780; date: 1962 - 1973; # of negs: 53
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 906; date: 1953 - 1969; # of negs: 149
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 923; date: 1949 - 1961; # of negs: 105
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 1102; date: 1954; # of negs: 5
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 1125; date: 1950 - 1973; # of negs: 209
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 1199; date: 1954 - 1958; # of negs: 63
Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 1268; date: 1953 - 1960; # of negs: 46
Seafarers' International Union
Seafarers' International Union; date: 1970; # of negs: 20
Service Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union; date: 1962 - 1972; # of negs: 57
Service Employees International Union, Local 6; date: 1962 - 1962; # of negs: 21
Service Employees International Union, Local 11; date: 1957; # of negs: 14
Service Employees International Union, Local 32B; date: undated-; # of negs: 38
Service Employees International Union, Local 144; date: 1960; # of negs: 11
Service Employees International Union, Local 377; date: 1948 - 1959; # of negs: 88
Street Workers Union
Street Workers Union, District 4; date: 1967; # of negs: 28
Teachers Union of the City of New York
Teachers Union of the City of New York; date: 1948; # of negs: 21
Textile Workers Union of America
Textile Workers Union of America; date: 1950 - 1975; # of negs: 1645
Textile Workers Union of America, Local 140; date: undated; # of negs: 1
Transport Workers Union of America
Transport Workers Union of America; date: 1951- 1976; # of negs: 15442
Transport Workers Union of America; date: 1969; # of negs: 12
Transport Workers Union of America, District 65; date: 1953; # of negs: 2
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 3; date: 1959 - 1961; # of negs: 8
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 100; date: 1954 - 1974; # of negs: 380
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 101; date: 1949 - 1973; # of negs: 917
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 144; date: 1960s; # of negs: 51
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 234; date: 1973; # of negs: 1
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 240; date: 1971; # of negs: 6
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 241; date: 1974; # of negs: 15
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 250A; date: 1970s; # of negs: 5
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 252; date: 1953 - 1955; # of negs: 7
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 501; date: 1954 - 1956; # of negs: 13
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 501-527; date: 1962; # of negs: 5
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 504; date: 1957 - 1970; # of negs: 47
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 527; date: 1960; # of negs: 4
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 550; date: 1970 - 1973; # of negs: 57
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 551; date: 1974 - 1975; # of negs: 36
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 552; date: 1971 - 1975; # of negs: 88
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 827; date: 1961; # of negs: 4
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 1400; date: 1968 - 1973; # of negs: 49
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 1460; date: 1971; # of negs: 13
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 2001; date: 1955 - 1960; # of negs: 32
Transport Workers Union of America - Taxi Drivers
Transport Workers Union of America - Taxi Drivers; date: 1950 - 1965; # of negs: 50
Transport Workers Union of America - Taxi Drivers, Local 826; date: 1956 - 1960; # of negs: 85
United Automobile Workers of America
United Automobile Workers of America, District 65; date: 1950 - 1965; # of negs: 400
United Farm Workers
United Farm Workers; date: 1969 - 1972; # of negs: 312
United Federation of College Teachers
United Federation of College Teachers; date: 1968; # of negs: 27
United Federation of Teachers
United Federation of Teachers; date: 1960 - 1977; # of negs: 6519
United Federation of Teachers, District 2; date: 1971 - 1973; # of negs: 75
United Federation of Teachers, District 8; date: 1972; # of negs: 24
United Federation of Teachers, District 11; date: 1972; # of negs: 100
United Federation of Teachers, District 14; date: 1973; # of negs: 34
United Federation of Teachers, District 23; date: 1973; # of negs: 32
United Federation of Teachers, District 25; date: 1972; # of negs: 6
United Federation of Teachers, District 29; date: 1971; # of negs: 21
United Federation of Teachers, Local 2; date: 1970s; # of negs: 6
United Federation of Teachers, Local 3; date: 1974; # of negs: 53
United Food and Commercial Workers
United Food and Commercial Workers; date: 1970; # of negs: 8
United Furniture Workers of America
United Furniture Workers of America; date: 1953 - 1975; # of negs: 411
United Furniture Workers of America, Local 76; date: 1953 - 1971; # of negs: 211
United Furniture Workers of America, Local 76-76B; date: 1958; # of negs: 3
United Furniture Workers of America, Local 76B; date: 1950s -1974; # of negs: 624
United Furniture Workers of America, Local 76B-92; date: 1970 - 1972; # of negs: 16
United Furniture Workers of America, Local 92; date: 1960; # of negs: 32
United Furniture Workers of America, Local 140; date: 1962 - 1975; # of negs: 335
United Garment Workers of America
United Garment Workers of America; date: undated; # of negs: 4
United Steelworkers
United Steelworkers; date: 1952; # of negs: 9
Utility Workers
Utility Workers; date: 1959 - 1962; # of negs: 134
Utility Workers, Local 1-2; date: 1957 - 1960; # of negs: 6

SERIES: LABOR ORGANIZATIONS

AAA; date: 1970 - 1975; # of negs: 305
AFL; date: 1953 - 1956; # of negs: 94
AFL-CIO; date: 1955 - 1975; # of negs: 2544
African American Labor Council; date: 1969 - 1973; # of negs: 68
Black Trade Unionists; date: 1968 - 1973; # of negs: 62
CIO; date: 1951 - 1958; # of negs: 808
CIO - New York City; date: 1957; # of negs: 4
City CIO; date: 1958; # of negs: 24
Histadrut; date: 1957 - 1974; # of negs: 208
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions; date: 1952 - 1955; # of negs: 143
Italian American Labor Council; date: 1961; # of negs: 6
Jewish Labor Committee; date: 1956 - 1973; # of negs: 173
Labor Commission; date: 1960; # of negs: 5
Labor Rehab; date: 1969; # of negs: 1
League for Industrial Democracy; date: 1970 - 1975; # of negs: 91
New York City Central Labor Council; date: 1956 - 1975; # of negs: 951
New York City Central Labor Council - Community Services; date: 1958 - 1961; # of negs: 44
Committee
New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council; date: 1958 - 1962; # of negs: 53
New York State Employees Brotherhood Committee; date: 1960s
Safety Trade; date: 1962 - 1965; # of negs: 9
Union Industries Information Center; date: 1950s; # of negs: 3
Union Label and Service Trades Council; date: 1972; # of negs: 152
Union Label Trades; date: 1956 - 1961; # of negs: 18
United Housing Foundation; date: 1955 - 1974; # of negs: 1385
Workmen's Circle; date: 1960 - 1965; # of negs: 8

SERIES: DEMONSTRATIONS/RALLIES/PARADES

Demonstrations/Rallies/Parades; date: 1953 - 1972; # of negs: 475

SERIES: MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS

Miscellaneous Events; date: 1961-1967; # of negs: 38

SERIES: PERSONALITIES/PORTRAITS

Benjamin, Sidney; date: undated; # of negs: 2
Brennan, C; date: 1958; # of negs: 4
Burato,; date: undated; # of negs: 2
Douglas, Roger; date: 1956; # of negs: 4
Freeman, Johnny; date: undated; # of negs: 2
Hollander, [Louis]; date: 1950; # of negs: 4
Hollander, Louis; date: 1950; # of negs: 6
Kennedy,; date: undated; # of negs: 1
Kheel, Theodore; date: 1954; # of negs: 2
King, Coretta Scott; date: undated; # of negs: 42
King, Martin Luther, Jr.; date: 1959; # of negs: 1
Ostroff, Harold; date: 1958; # of negs: 2
Roosevelt, Eleanor; date: 1954; # of negs: 1

SERIES: POLITICAL PARTIES AND ORGANIZATIONS

Socialist Party; date: 1971; # of negs: 8

SERIES: OTHER CLIENTS

Allergy Foundation; date: 1963; # of negs: 3
American Veterans Committee; date: 1951; # of negs: 2
Boys Club; date: 1948 - 1973; # of negs: 1581
Boys Town; date: 1959 - 1963; # of negs: 36
Cabell; date: 1974; # of negs: 12
Columbia Association; date: 1970 - 1973; # of negs: 25
Congress of Senior Citizens; date: 1969; # of negs: 6
Consumer Assembly; date: 1968 - 1973; # of negs: 263
Ed Menagh; date: 1956; # of negs: 13
Jacobsen Family; date: 1967; # of negs: 3
Jerry Wurf; date: 1968; # of negs: 56
Jewish Consumptive Relief Association; date: 1972; # of negs: 43
Jews Committee on Russian Passover; date: 1968; # of negs: 7
Kutch; date: 1970; # of negs: 15
Mayfair; date: undated; # of negs: 4
Moskowitz and Lupowitz Restaurant; date: 1940s - 1952; # of negs: 114
NAACP; date: 1957; # of negs: 13
National Association of Housing Coops; date: 1966; # of negs: 86
Ralph Engelson; date: 1958; # of negs: 5
Sachs Department Store; date: undated; 1948; # of negs: 115
Severie; date: 1970; # of negs: 6
Urban League; date: undated; # of negs: 1
Warschauer; date: 1950s - 1962; # of negs: 1363
Warschauer Home; date: 1951 - 1952; # of negs: 38

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Use Restrictions

Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Sam Reiss were transferred to New York University in 2002 by Helen Reiss and in 2007 by Jessie Reiss. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; Sam Reiss Negatives; PHOTOS 021; 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

Helen Reiss sent a gift of her husband's photographs and negatives in 1980 and 1988. Negatives from these donations were created as the collection: Sam Reiss Negatives, PHOTOS 021. The accession number associated with these images is 1980.005. In 2005 several negatives related to unions including the Transport Workers Union and the Allied Educational Foundation were incorporated into the collection. The accession number associated with these images is NPA.2005.063. Tamiment received and additional donation of six boxes of Sam Reiss's prints and negatives from Jessie Reiss in 2007. The accession number associated with this gift is NPA.2007.033. Nine negatives found in repository were added to this colleciton in 2016. The accession number associated with these items is 2016.014.

Technical Requirements

This collection is partially microfilmed. Researchers must use microfilm where available, Film R-7850.

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

The Sam Reiss Photographs (PHOTO 021.001). Circa 1000 8 x 10 black and white prints--some of which, but by no means all, are from negatives in the Sam Reiss Photographic Negatives Collection--and a very small number of 3 x 5 color prints.

The Sam Reiss 1975 Retrospective Exhibit (PHOTOS 021.002). Contains circa 125 mounted black and white prints, and 140 slides created for and displayed at the 1975 exhibit.

The Sam Reiss Papers (WAG 262) consist of five daily diaries cum appointment books for the photographer for the years 1970 through 1973, and 1975. They appear to record almost exclusively photo assignments rather than any private or personal information.

Collection processed by

Maneesha Patel and Erika Gottfried, with the assistance of Emily Brewer-Yarnell, Stephina Fisher, Bridget Hartzler, Mieke Duffly, Benjamin Hatch, and Shelley Lightburn. Related archival materials note updated by Erika Gottfried in 2013.

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:34:03 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is in English

Revisions to this Guide

November 2019: Edited by Anna McCormick for compliance with DACS and ACM Required Elements for Archival Description.

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from REISS FINAL GUIDE.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