Miriam Bogorad Gittelson Papers and Photographs
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Abstract
Miriam Bogorad Gittelson (1916 – 2006), a life-long political activist, joined the Communist Party's Young Pioneers as a child and worked for left-wing and labor organizations such as the American Youth Congress, the Young Communist League, Camp Kinderland, and the Greater New York City CIO in the 1930s and 1940s. She also pursued a lifelong interest in music, playing several instruments, singing in a Yiddish choral society, and editing, with singer-songwriter Earl Robinson, a songbook of American ballads and American and international folk-songs. The contents of this collection are largely sheet music, songsheets and scores, published and unpublished song books accumulated by Gittelson. The bulk of the materials were created or published between the early 1930s through the 1940s. The political point of view represented in them ranges from strongly left-wing--including support for the Communist Party of the United States--to more liberal mainstream positions supporting labor unions and international cooperation. The collection also contains photographs, including an album with snapshots of delegates attending the Second World Youth Congress in August 1938.
Historical/Biographical Note
Miriam Bogorad Gittelson (1916 – 2006) lived in Passaic, New Jersey as a child and moved to New York City as a teenager. A political activist from childhood, she joined Young Pioneers (a children's Communist Party organization); as a young adult she was employed by leftwing and progressive organizations. After stints in a garment shop and at a Woolworth five-and-dime store in the early 1930s, she worked as the administrative secretary for the American Youth Congress from 1935-1938. Next, she had worked as Activities Director for the Young Communist League. In 1941 she married Lester Gittelson, an American veteran of the Spanish Civil War, who had served in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. In the summer of 1943 Gittelson served as activities director and social activities director at Camp Kinderland (which she had attended as a child). From 1943-1947 she worked as administrative assistant and then director of cultural activities for the Greater New York City CIO. From 1951-1963, she worked as an executive secretary/personal assistant for the president of the Ideal Toy Company, where her responsibilities included helping to promote a short-lived mass-produced African American play doll, and working with nonprofit and charitable organizations. From the company president's executive secretary she rose to become its imports director. After her retirement from Ideal she worked as an imports consultant, and continued her involvement with progressive organizations, among them, Camp Kinderland, on whose board she served. Gittelson also pursued a serious interest in music, particularly folk music—she played piano and accordion and belonged to a Yiddish choral society. She also edited, with singer-songwriter Earl Robinson and others, a songbook,Songs for America -- American ballads, folk-songs, marching songs, songs of other lands, which was published in 1939 by the Workers Library Publishers (a publishing house of the Communist Party of the United States).
Arrangement
No original order was evident when these materials were received. Materials were therefore grouped in folders with titles assigned by the processing archivist and the folders were then arranged in alphabetical order by folder title.
Scope and Content Note
This collection is largely made up of sheet music, songsheets and scores, published and unpublished song books. The bulk of the materials were created or published between the early 1930s through the 1940s, with the political point of view represented in them ranging from strongly leftwing--including support for the Communist Party of the United States--to more liberal mainstream positions supporting labor unions and international cooperation. The progressive political concerns (including occasional political realignments), cultural interests (such as folk music and popular culture), and the events of these times are reflected in the titles of songs, musical theater performances, and song books in the collection, such as "My Bolshevik Girl!," "Strike Me Red," "The Ballad of Tom Mooney," the Spanish Civil War's "No Pasaran," (the popular pro-union musical) "Pins and Needles," the anti-lynching lament "Strange Fruit," support for the German-Soviet Nonagression Pact of 1939-1941 in "The Yanks Are Not Coming," changing to support for the Soviet Union once it joined the allied side during World War II, in "Song of Stalingrad." Almost all the scores are without attribution; some appear to be original works, while others are arrangements or transcriptions of published songs. Also included are a folder of unpublished sheet music by Ray and Lida Auville, a folder of songs by "Lewis Alan" (the pseudonym for Abel Meeropol), numerous published songbooks and sheet music for individual songs, a folder containing a compilation of lyrics and a few sheets of music apparently compiled by Miriam Gittelson in connection with her work with the American Youth Congress (a number of the items in this folder are antiwar songs, probably from the period of the Nonagression Pact), an International Workers Order membership certificate for Miriam Gittleson's husband, Lester Lazarus Gittelson, and the text of "The Jewish Cultural Clubs and Societies in These Challenging Times," a radio talk by Sam Pevzner, broadcast on WBAI (New York City) in 1969. The collection also contains photographs, including an album of snapshots of international delegates attending the Second World Youth Congress (held in August of 1938, at Vassar College), a panoramic formal group shot of several hundred delegates to the same meeting, autographed on the back by many of them with the names of their countries written next to their signatures, and an undated photograph of Howard Fast, speaking from the podium at a public event with a portion of a banner in Yiddish seen in the background.
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People
Donors
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive 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 1925-1975, are expected to enter the public domain in 2095.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Miriam Bogorad Gittelson Papers and Photographs; TAM 323; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Miriam B. Gittelson in 2004. The accession numbers associated with this gift are 2005.017, 2005.018, and NPA.2004.084.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Photographs from this collection were established as a separate collection: Miriam Bogorad Gittelson: American Youth Congress Photographs (PHOTOS 192). In October 2013 this collection was reincorporated into the Miriam Bogorad Gittelson Papers (now re-named the Miriam Bogorad Gittelson Papers and Photographs). Selected fragile manuscript materials have been enclosed in mylar envelopes.
