May Mandelbaum Edel Papers
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Historical/Biographical Note
May Mandelbaum Edel was an anthropologist who carried out field work in Africa and was an educator of high school students. May's husband, Abraham Edel, was an American philosopher and ethicist with whom she collaborated on some publications.
Scope and Contents
The documents in the collection include clippings, correspondence, notes, flyers, pamphlets and speeches. Some of the documents concern Edel's professional work as an anthropologist, but the majority of the materials concern her work as a peace activist and as a member of the Teacher's Union, particularly in cases of academic freedom at Brooklyn College. Some of the documents also have to do with the work of May's husband, Abraham Edel, and include materials on anti-semitism at the City College of New York, the Rapp-Courdet Committee, and public statements by Morris Schappes on academic freedom. A later donation includes 3 letters from 1957 between May Edel and Charles Greene on academic freedom vs. an anti-communism ruling in the Great Neck Adult School. Overall the documents span from 1929 to the 1950s. An additional donation contains two articles relating to childhood education written in 1938 and 1944.
Subjects
Organizations
People
Topics
Donors
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by May Mandelbaum Edel were transferred to New York University in 2005 by Deborah Edel. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Deborah Edel in 2005; additional materials were donated by Edel in 2006, 2008, and 2013. The accession numbers associated with this collection are 2005.028 and 2013.036.
