Guide to the A. I. (Abraham Isaac) Shiplacoff Papers and Photographs TAM.102
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
10th Floor
New York, NY 10012
(212) 998-2630
tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Collection processed by Barbara Hawes, 1981 and Edmund Ryder, 1999
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on May 07, 2018
Description is in English. using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Descriptive Summary
| Creator: | Shiplacoff, A. I. (Abraham Isaac), 1877-1936 |
|---|---|
| Source - dnr: | Shiplacoff, Lydia Greene |
| Source - dnr: | Shiplacoff, David |
| Title: | Abraham I. Shiplacoff Papers and Photographs |
| Dates [inclusive]: | 1895-1962 |
| Dates [bulk]: | 1915-1934 |
| Abstract: | Abraham I. Shiplacoff (1877-1934) was born in Russia in 1877 and came to the United States in 1891. In 1914, he became secretary-treasurer of the United Hebrew Trades. Politically active in the Socialist Party, he was the first elected Socialist Assemblyman from New York City in 1915 (serving three terms) and led the Socialist delegation in the Legislature opposing intervention in World War I. He was also involved with the International Pocketbook Workers Union, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, the Socialist Party and the National Labor Committee for Palestine. The collection includes materials pertaining to these affiliations, including: correspondence with Samuel Gompers that documents the conflict between the American Federation of Labor and the United Hebrew Trades. |
| Quantity: | 4.75 Linear Feet in five manuscript boxes and two oversize flat boxes. |
| Language: | Materials are in English, Yiddish, Hebrew, and Spanish. |
| Call Phrase: | TAM.102 |
Historical/Biographical Note
Abraham I. Shiplacoff (1877-1934), sometimes called the Jewish Eugene V. Debs, was born in Chernigov, Russia on December 13, 1877. He came to the United States with his parents at the age of 13 in 1891. For several years he worked long hours in a garment shop and studied at night. During this period he married Henrietta (Yetta) Zwickel, and they eventually had three children, Frederick Engels Shiplacoff, William Morris Shiplacoff, and Lydia Shiplacoff Greene. Beginning in 1905 he taught school at P.S. 84, Brooklyn, served as a clerk in the customs service, was briefly labor editor of the Jewish Daily Forward. In 1914 he became secretary-treasurer of the United Hebrew Trades. Politically active in the Socialist Party, he was elected as the first Socialist Assemblyman from New York City in 1915, re-elected in 1916 and 1917, and led the Socialist delegation in the Legislature in a campaign of strong opposition to World War I. He also supported the dissemination of birth control information, curbs on police power and other controversial causes.
When, as a street-corner orator, he denounced U.S. military intervention in Russia shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution, he was indicted under the wartime Espionage Act; the indictment was later quashed. He was elected to the Board of Aldermen from Brooklyn in 1920, managed the mayoral campaign of Norman Thomas in 1925, chaired the Sacco-Vanzetti Liberation Committee in 1927, and became a vigorous participant in Socialist battles with the Communist Party. During the twenties and early thirties he served as general manager of the Joint Board of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and the International Pocketbook Workers Union. He had a longstanding interest in Palestine and Zionism, and became national chairmen of the National Labor Committee for Palestine in 1933. He was actively involved in many Jewish philanthropic and cultural organizations, and served as executive director of the Deborah Sanitarium, Browns Mills, NJ. After a long struggle with kidney disease, he died in Israel-Zion Hospital in Brooklyn on February 7, 1934.
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists of correspondence; printed materials including typescripts of articles, pamphlets and leaflets (some from elections), handwritten speeches, essays, and notes, course outlines, New York State Assembly documents, a New York State Assembly clippings scrapbook; family papers, biographical notes, obituaries, and condolence letters; and ephemera, memorabilia, and photographs.
Materials document Abraham I. Shiplacoff's personal and family life, and professional and political life as Secretary-Treasurer for the United Hebrew Trades in 1914, Socialist Assemblyman from New York City representing Brownsville, Brooklyn for three terms beginning in 1915, and his affiliations with the International Pocketbook Workers Union, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Socialist Party of America, and National Labor Committee for Palestine, among other political, labor and cultural groups and causes.
Correspondence includes exchanges with notable New York City labor and Progressive-era figures, including a long exchange with Samuel Gompers in 1915, as the representative of several dissident garment workers unions, that give a detailed account of the disputes between the local bodies and the United Hebrew Trades. Photographs document Shiplacoff's professional and political life and include notable labor and Socialist figures.
Arrangement
The papers are organized in four series. Series I, III, and IV are arranged alphabetically,
and Series II is arranged chronologically. The series arrangement of the records is
as follows:
I. Biographical and Family Papers, 1895-1946
II. Correspondence, 1904-1934
III. Subject Files, 1915-1935
IV: Photographs, Artwork, and Ephemera
Access Points
Subject Names
- Vladeck, B. (Baruch), 1886-1938
- Gompers, Samuel, 1850-1924.
- Shiplacoff, Lydia Greene
- Shiplacoff, David
Document Type
- Photographs.
- Tintypes (prints)
- Lecture notes.
- Pamphlets.
- Memorabilia.
Subject Organizations
- American Federation of Labor
- Rand School of Social Science
- National Committee for Labor Palestine
- Socialist Party (U.S.)
- International Pocketbook Workers Union
- Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
- United Hebrew Trades
- New York (State). Legislature. Assembly
Subject Topics
- Labor unions -- United States.
- Jewish socialists -- United States.
- World War, 1914-1918 -- Public opinion.
Subject Places
- New York (N.Y.)
Administrative Information
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives has no information about copyright ownership for this collection and is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from it. Materials in this collection, which were created in 1895-1962, are expected to enter the public domain in 2083.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; Abraham I. Shiplacoff Papers and Photographs; TAM 102;
box number; folder number;
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Due to the fragility of the original, researchers must use the electronic copy of a New State Assembly clippings scrapbook in Box 6.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Lydia Shiplacoff Greene, daughter of A. I. Shiplacoff, in 1981; an additional accession was donated in 2007 by A. I. Shiplacoff's grandson, David Shiplacoff. The accession numbers associated with these gifts are 1981.002 and 1981.004.
Processing Information
Photographs, artwork and ephemera were separated from this collection during processing and were established as a separate collection, the Abraham Shiplacoff Photograph Collection (PHOTOS 141). In 2013, the photograph, artwork and ephemera collection was reincorporated into the Abraham I. Shiplacoff Papers (TAM 102).
Container List
Series I: Biographical and Family Papers., 1895-1946
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| Container 1 | Container 2 | Title | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Box: 1 | Folder : 1 | Biographical: General |
undated , 1931-1934 | |
| Box: 1 | Folder : 2 | Biographical Notes (compiled by Elizabeth Memel and Lydia S. Greene) |
undated | |
| Box: 1 | Folder : 3 | Condolence Letters and Cards |
1934 | |
| Box: 1 | Folder : 4 | Condolence Telegrams |
1934 | |
| Box: 1 | Folder : 5 | Family Correspondence |
undated | |
| Box: 1 | Folder : 6 | Family Correspondence |
1895-1946 | |
| Box: 1 | Folder : 7 | Funeral/Unveiling |
1934-1935 | |
| Box: 1 | Folder : 8 | Illness: Letters |
1933-1934 | |
| Box: 1 | Folder : 9 | Medical Records |
1932-1934 | |
| Box: 1 | Folder : 10 | Memorial Meetings |
1936 | |
| Box: 2 | Folder : 1 | Obituaries |
1934 | |
| Box: 2 | Folder : 2 | Planting Trees in Palestine |
1936 | |
| Box: 2 | Folder : 3 | Poems, Misc. |
undated | |
| Box: 2 | Folder : 4 | Shiplacoff Playground |
1938 | |
| Box: 2 | Folder : 5 | Travel Mementos |
1929-1930 | |
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Series II: Correspondence, 1904-1934
Scope and Content NoteSeries consists of professional and political correspondence. Among the notable correspondents are Helen Keller, Samuel Gompers, John M. Work, Rose Schneiderman, Morris Hillquit, Algernon Lee, Abraham Cahan, B. C. Vladeck, Joseph Schlossberg and many other socialist and labor activists. The long exchange of letters with Samuel Gompers in 1915 give a detailed account of the disputes between the local bodies and the United Hebrew Trades, as the representative of several dissident garment workers unions. |
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| Container 1 | Container 2 | Title | Date | |
| Box: 2 | Folder : 6 | Correspondence |
undated | |
| Box: 2 | Folder : 7 | Correspondence |
1904-1916 | |
| Box: 2 | Folder : 8 | Correspondence |
1917 | |
| Box: 2 | Folder : 9 | Correspondence |
1918-1927 | |
| Box: 2 | Folder : 10 | Correspondence |
1928-1934 | |
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Series III: Subject Files, 1915-1962
Scope and Content NoteSeries includes printed material relating to the many political, labor and cultural causes Shiplacoff espoused, New York State Assembly documents and typescripts of articles, as well as manuscript speeches, lecture notes and course outlines in Yiddish and English. An original and a digital copy of a clippings scrapbook (January-April 1918) owned by the Shiplacoff family includes clippings from the Albany, Rochester and Buffalo press, as well as New York City material. |
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| Container 1 | Container 2 | Title | Date | |
| Box: 3 | Folder : 1 | Aidline-Trommer, Elbert (Lazarus) |
1915-1922 | |
| Box: 3 | Folder : 2 | Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) |
1920 | |
| Box: 3 | Folder : 3 | Biltmore Conference |
1928 | |
| Box: 3 | Folder : 4 | Brownsville Cooperative Bakery |
undated | |
| Box: 3 | Folder : 5 | Course on the U.S. for Non-Americans: Outline and Notes |
undated | |
| Box: 3 | Folder : 6 | Critiques of A.S. |
1923 | |
| Box: 3 | Folder : 7 | Deborah Sanatorium |
undated | |
| Box: 3 | Folder : 8 | Election Campaign |
1922 | |
| Box: 3 | Folder : 9 | Engagement Diary (mostly notes on union business) |
1928 | |
| Box: 3 | Folder : 10 | Engagement Diary |
1930 | |
| Box: 3 | Folder : 11 | Furriers Reorganization Committee (Checks) |
1927 | |
| Box: 3 | Folder : 12 | Hillquit-Darrow Debate |
1926 | |
| Box: 3 | Folder : 13 | International Pocketbook Workers Union |
1926-1931 | |
| Box: 3 | Folder : 14 | Jewish Regeneration in Palestine (A.I.S.) |
undated | |
| Box: 4 | Folder : 1 | Labor Zionism (Pamphlets) |
1916-1930 | |
| Box: 4 | Folder : 2 | Manuscript, "The Visit" (Yiddish) |
undated | |
| Box: 4 | Folder : 3 | National Labor Committee for Palestine |
undated , 1931 | |
| Box: 4 | Folder : 4 | New York State Assembly [see also Box 6] |
undated , 1916-1918 | |
| Box: 4 | Folder : 5 | New York State Assembly: Acts |
1916 , 1917 | |
| Box: 4 | Folder : 6 | New York State Assembly: Transcripts |
1916-1918 | |
| Box: 4 | Folder : 7 | New York State Police |
undated | |
| Box: 4 | Folder : 8 | Pamphlets and Leaflets (including Election Materials) |
1915-1925 | |
| Box: 4 | Folder : 9 | Pennsylvania State Police |
1915-1917 | |
| Box: 4 | Folder : 10 | Political & Labor Memorabilia (including Membership Cards) |
1915-1930 | |
| Box: 4 | Folder : 11 | Poughkeepsie Meetings |
1923 | |
| Box: 4 | Folder : 12 | Retail Clerks Union: Arbitration Case |
1930 | |
| Box: 4 | Folder : 13 | Sacco and Vanzetti |
1927 | |
| Box: 4 | Folder : 14 | Socialist Party |
1930 , 1962 | |
| Box: 4 | Folder : 15 | Socialist Party and Russia |
undated | |
| Box: 4 | Folder : 16 | Socialist Party: Factionalism |
undated | |
| Box: 5 | Folder : 1 | Speeches, Essays and Notes (English) I. |
undated | |
| Box: 5 | Folder : 2 | Speeches, Essays and Notes (English) II. |
undated | |
| Box: 5 | Folder : 3 | Speeches, Essays and Notes (Yiddish) |
undated | |
| Box: 5 | Folder : 4 | Speeches, Notes: Palestine |
1931 | |
| Box: 5 | Folder : 5 | Student Papers |
undated | |
| Box: 5 | Folder : 6 | Teaching Materials, Notes I. |
undated | |
| Box: 5 | Folder : 7 | Teaching Materials, Notes II. |
undated | |
| Box: 5 | Folder : 8 | Travel Memorabilia |
1930 | |
| Box: 5 | Folder : 9 | United Hebrew Trades, AFL |
undated | |
| Box: 5 | Folder : 10 | Virovka (ms. story) |
undated | |
| Box: 5 | Folder : 11 | What Do You Think about Coal? (A.I.S.) |
undated | |
| Box: 5 | Folder : 12 | Women in the Various Branches of the Jewish Labor Movement (ms., Yiddish, A.I.S.) |
undated | |
| Box: 5 | Folder : 13 | Young Circle League |
1935 | |
| Box: 5 | Folder : 14 | Zionism/Palestine |
1928-1931 | |
| Box: 6 | Folder : 1 | OVERSIZE: Clippings Scrapbook re: New York State Assembly. Incluldes material from
the Albany Journal, Knickerbocker Press, New York Times, New York Post, Volke Zeitung,
Rochester Times, and other local Rochester and Buffalo newspapers. |
Jan 1918-Apr 1918 | |
| Box: 6 | Folder : 2 | Digital copy of scrapbook in 6:1. Researchers should use the digital copy, if possible. |
undated | |
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Series IV: Photographs, Artwork, and Ephemera
Scope and Content NoteThe series consists of over one hundred black-and-white photographs of various sizes, two pieces of artwork including a drawing and silhouette of Abraham I. Shiplacoff, and a small amount of ephemera including tickets to Shiplacoff Day celebrations in the late-1930s, part of a 1915 New York State Assembly election poster picturing Shiplacoff, and a handmade card with poem to celebrate his 1915 election to the Assembly. Photographs of Shiplacoff's political activities include group portraits from conventions, possibly Socialist, with B.C. Vladek, Alex Kahn, and Jacob Panken; a group of Socialist Assemblymen from 1918; and a Socialist delegation in Washington including Morris Hillquit, Panken, Jim Maurer, I.I. Hourwich, and Daniel Hoan. Other photographs include Shiplacoff with students as teacher at P.S. 84 in Brownsville, Brooklyn; in office as Labor Editor of the Jewish Daily Forward; at desk at New York State Assembly; as Deputy Collector of the Port at the Customs House; and studio portraits of Shiplacoff from different periods of his life. Approximately fifty photographs document a circa 1931 to trip to Palestine with a delegation on behalf of the National Labor Committee for Palestine. |
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| Container 1 | Container 2 | Title | Date | |
| Box: 7 | Folder : 1 | Artwork |
undated | |
| Box: 7 | Folder : 2 | Clipping [In Hebrew and English] |
undated | |
| Box: MSOS005 | Folder : 1 | Ephemera: Certificate of Election, City of New York |
1919 | |
| Box: 7 | Folder : 3 | Ephemera (Miscellaneous) [Includes Tickets for Shiplacoff Day Celebration; Funereal
Thank Yous; Poster for Election to Assembly, 1st Term; Portrait of Eugene Debs, Certifcate
for Planting Trees in Palestine] |
1915, 1936-1939, undated | |
| Box: 7 | Folder : 4 | Family Photographs |
circa 1896, 1900, undated | |
| Box: 7 | Folder : 5 | Handmade Card ["To ... At the Celebration of Mr. Shiplacoff's Election to the Assembly
Brownsville Labor Lyceum, Thanksgiving Night, 1915. By ..."] |
Nov 25, 1915 | |
| Box: 7 | Folder : 6 | Photographs (Miscellaneous) [Includes Shiplacoff as Labor Editor of Forward; Teacher at P.S. 84; Gravestone] |
circa 1902, circa 1926, undated | |
| Box: 7 | Folder : 7 | Political Life Photographs [Includes Alex Kahn, B.C. Vladeck, Jacob Panken; Socialist
Delegation at Washington with Hilquit, Panken, et. al.; Group of Socialist Assemblymen] |
Jan 1918, undated | |
| Box: 7 | Folder : 8 | Portraits [Includes Studio Portraits; Tintype; In the Assembly Chamber; As Deputy
Collector of the Port in the Customs House; In front of Sign for Jewish People's Relief
Committee] |
1915, undated | |
| Box: 7 | Folder : 9 | Postcard [In Spanish] |
Dec 7, 1925 | |
| Box: 7 | Folder : 10 | Trip to Palestine Photographs |
circa 1931 | |
| Box: Shared Tamiment 017 | Folder : 9 | Group photograph, #269 Dearborn Street, Chicago |
undated | |
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