Skip to main content Skip to main navigation

Dissent Magazine Records

Call Number

TAM.642

Date

1952-2013, inclusive

Creator

Dissent (New York, N.Y.)
Leonard, Sarah (Role: Donor)

Extent

8 Linear Feet in 8 record cartons
1 websites in 1 archived website.

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Abstract

Dissent is a quarterly magazine that provides political commentary from intellectuals on the political left. This collection is largely comprised of Dissent's editorial board and administrative records, which contain documentation of editorial decisions from the 1950s to the early 2000s, including correspondence among editorial board members and minutes from board meetings. The collection also contains the personal papers of Emanuel Geltman, who was one of Dissent's founding members. Other materials in this collection include indices of Dissent issues in the 1990s, pamphlets, and scrapbooks documenting the development of the magazine, photographs, and audio visual recordings of special events.

Historical Note

Dissent is a quarterly magazine of political and social criticism. Founded in 1954 by Irving Howe, Emanuel Geltman, and Stanley Plastrik, Dissent has published articles critiquing the political ideologies of the left and right for over 60 years. Informed by democratic socialist ideology and intellectuals on the political left, Dissent's founders positioned the magazine in contrast to the liberalism of the West and communism of the East. Although Dissent identifies itself with the democratic socialism of its founders, its editors and contributors represent a broad spectrum of political outlooks. Since its formation, it has published articles by a number of prominent intellectuals including Hannah Arendt, Norman Mailer, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Ellen Willis, Richard Wright, George Packer, as well as many others.

Irving Howe served as Dissent's first editor from 1954 until his death in 1993. Following Howe's death, Mitchell Cohen and Michael Walzer served as co-editors of the magazine until 2013. The current editor of Dissent magazine is historian Michael Kazin.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into nine series by subject and creator as follows: Series I. Editorial Board; Series II. Administrative Files; Series III. Emanuel Geltman Papers; Series IV. Indices; Series V. Pamphlets; Series VI. Special Events and Memorabilia; Series VII. Photographs; Series VIII. Multimedia; Series IX. Archived Website.

Scope and Content Note

This collection contains the records of Dissent magazine, a quarterly publication that offers political and social commentary from intellectuals on the political left. A large portion of Dissent's records relate to editorial board decisions and administrative procedures. The collection also contains several indices of Dissent issues in the 1990s, pamphlets, and scrapbooks documenting the development of the magazine.

The collection's editorial board records contain correspondence and meeting minutes from the 1950s to the early 2000s, as well as materials relating to the formation of the magazine's non-profit organization the Foundation for the Study of Independent Social Ideas (FSISI) in 1980. It also contains several records relating to the founding of Dissent in 1954, including the magazines' original business license and documentation of their first bank account. Administrative files largely relate to the day-to-day activities of the magazine, including the creation of Dissent's website and archive. Several files relating to the creation of the Dissent archive contain correspondence documenting the magazine's attempt to compile documentation related to founding member and longtime editor Irving Howe. Several of these files contain photocopies of Howe's correspondence with Dissent writers.

This collection also contains a series of papers from Dissent editorial board member Emanuel Geltman. These papers largely relate to Geltman's political activity prior to his involvement with Dissent.

Other materials contained in this collection include video recordings on of conferences and lectures and promotional materials related to special events.

The collection also consists of the Dissent's archived website which contains direct links to articles from current issues and back issues, a blog, online articles, videos, and topical issues. The website was first captured in 2007.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions. Archived websites are open to researchers without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

This collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Preferred Citation

Citations for paper and audiovisual materials should be formatted as follows: Identification of item, date; Dissent Magazine Records; TAM 642; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

Location of Materials

Materials are located at the Tamiment Library.; 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

Materials donated by Sarah Leonard on behalf of Dissent Magazine in 2014. The accession number associated with this gift is 2014.004.

Custodial History

The Emanuel Geltman Papers were donated to the Foundation for the Study of Independent Social Ideas/Dissent in 2008. These materials were donated to the Tamiment Library in 2014 as part of Dissent's records.

The archived website was migrated from the California Digital Library's Web Archiving Service to the Internet Archive's Archive-It Service in November 2015. The link to California Digital Library was removed in October 2017. Websites are selected by curators and captured through the use of Archive-It. Archive-It uses web crawling technology to capture websites at a scheduled time and displays only an archived copy, from the resulting WARC file, of the website.

Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures

Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.

Appraisal

Three boxes containing subscription materials, permissions, and other documents containing sensitive personal information have been separated from this collection.

Correspondence and materials related to the donation of Henry M. Patcher's papers to SUNY Albany, which includes a copy of the deed of gift were also separated from this collection for confidentiality reasons.

Microfilmed copies of Dissent, 1990-2010 were removed from this collection due to existing duplicate issues in Tamiment's collections.

Collection processed by

Heather Mulliner

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:39:50 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Materials are in English

Processing Information

Materials have been broken into series by subject or by creator. A number of materials including the subscriptions, permissions, and other documents containing sensitive personal information have been separated from this collection.

In 2014, the archived website was added as a series. New York University Libraries follows professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity of the content.

In 2019, folders were labeled and numbered.

Revisions to this Guide

June 2019: Updated by Makoroba Sow for compliance with DACS and ACM Required Elements for Archival Description

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