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Connie Kopelov and Phyllis Siegel Marriage Equality Papers

Call Number

TAM.654

Date

2011-2012, inclusive

Creator

Kopelov, Connie
Siegel, Phyllis (Role: Donor)

Extent

0.25 Linear Feet in one manuscript box

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Abstract

Connie Kopelov (1926- ), a pioneer in both labor and women's education and history, held positions in various labor and labor-related organizations including the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, later the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, the Workers Defense League and the New York Labor History Association. In 2011, she and her partner, Phyllis Siegel (1934- ), became the first same sex couple to be legally married in New York City's Borough of Manhattan. The collection consists of documents and newspaper clippings related to their marriage and wedding.

Historical/Biographical Note

In 2011, Connie Kopelov and Phyllis Siegel the first same sex couple to be legally married in New York City's Borough of Manhattan.

Phyllis Siegel (1934-) was born August 9, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Queens Village and Great Neck, New York, on Long Island. She attended Adelphi College and Queens College, and graduated from Rutgers University in 1971, with an undergraduate degree in English literature, and worked in the bookkeeping and accounting fields. In 1986, Siegel joined SAGE (Services & Advocacy for GLBT [Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transsexual] Elders) and served on its committees and on its board for more than 20 years. It was through her activities in SAGE that she met Connie Kopelov, who was also an active member of the organization.

Connie Kopelov (1926-) was born April 14, 1926 in the small industrial town of Kokomo, Indiana, to Russian Jewish immigrant parents. After graduating from Northwestern University in 1947 with a BA in political science, Kopelov worked for the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, a citizens' educational organization led by Adlai Stevenson and Louise Leonard Wright, whose mission was to encourage internationalism. In 1955, Kopelov left Chicago for New York City, where her political activism and involvement in the labor movement would develop quickly.

Kopelov worked briefly for Morris Novick, who was then working as a media consultant for the Frank Edwards Radio News Program sponsored by the American Federation of Labor. She next worked, until 1957, as Executive Director of the New York City Freedom Agenda Program. The Freedom Agenda forums, which originated with the League of Women Voters, were initiated to explore civil liberties issues in the aftermath of McCarthyism and in particular to generate discussion on the Bill of Rights. In the next phase of her career Kopelov began a long period of dedication to labor education. From 1957 to 1962 she served as Education Representative for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. In 1962, she became the Associate National Education Director for the Amalgamated (later the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union). Kopelov conducted resident leadership institutes and legislative conferences for rank-and-file ACTWU members in various regions of the country. She also wrote legislative and environmental policy newsletters for the union. In 1967, Kopelov took a yearlong leave of absence to accept a Senior Fulbright Fellowship to do research on workers education in Britain. From 1977 to 1979, she served as Director of Education for the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees (Local 1199). She planned numerous staff development seminars and conferences, and conducted teacher-training programs for Local 1199 throughout the Northeast.

In addition to her labor education work, Kopelov has been a strong feminist voice for working women's issues and women's history. In 1972, Kopelov participated in the New York Trade Union Women's Seminar, a series of seminars for staff and rank-and-file unionists originated by Barbara Wertheimer under Cornell University's New York City labor program. The conference coincided with national discussions on women and labor that led to the formation of Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW). CLUW's mission was to address the specific problems facing women in labor and to offer educational, organizational, communication, and political/legislative components on a national level. Kopelov served on the CLUW National Planning Committee, and, in 1975, she was elected Vice-President of the newly chartered New York City Chapter of CLUW. Along with chairing several committees, Kopelov contributed a host of articles and speeches on women's history topics to CLUW journals, newsletters, and conferences. In 1974, Kopelov chronicled the formation of CLUW in her thesis, "Trade Union Women and Women's Rights," for which she earned a Master's Degree from Goddard College. Kopelov further affirmed her commitment to women's history when she participated as a CLUW representative in the 1979 Institute on Women's History at Sarah Lawrence College. At this conference, the idea for a national Women's History Month took form. In 1981, Kopelov again represented CLUW in the Women's Funding Coalition, envisioned as a "United Way" to fund women's organizations through payroll deductions.

In March 1982, Kopelov joined the staff of the Workers Defense League, an advocacy organization for workers' rights founded in 1936. She directed a number of projects including a Speakers Bureau to disseminate labor history on college campuses, a pioneering unemployment insurance advocacy training course, and an employee rights-on-the-job project. Kopelov designed curricula to train speakers, stewards and organizers and prepared resource materials for participants in job training, immigrant, and adult education programs. Kopelov's later projects include editing the annual Labor History Month calendar of the New York Labor History Association, conducting walking tours of women's labor history in New York City, and contributing articles on women in labor history to a wide range of publications. She was an adjunct lecturer on labor history at Cornell University and New York University.

She has been the recipient of a number of awards and honors, including NYC-NOW's Susan B. Anthony Award and the John Commerford Labor Education Awatrd of the New York Labor History Association.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by folder.

Scope and Content Note

This collection contains materials related to the marriage of Connie Kopelov and Phyllis Siegel, the first same sex couple to be legally married in New York City's Borough of Manhattan. The collection contains their marriage certificate, clippings from various news sources on the event, correspondence, photographs, and a disassembled scrapbook of cards, congratulating the couple of their marriage. It also includes materials about their participation, as grand marshalls, in the annual New York City Pride March (gay pride march) that was held in June 2012.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Phyllis Siegel, the creator of this collection, were relinquished and transferred to the public domain in 2014 by Phyllis Siegel. These materials are governed by a Creative Commons CC0 license, which permits publication and reproduction of materials accompanied by full attribution. See, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; Connie Kopelov and Phyllis Siegel Marriage Equality Papers; TAM 654; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Phyllis Siegel in 2014; additional materials were donated in 2015. The accession numbers associated with this collection are 2014.164 and 2015.002.

Related Archival Materials

Materials related to Kopelov's work with women's labor education and union organizing can be found in the Connie Kopelov Papers (WAG 064).

Collection processed by

Nicole Greenhouse

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:40:35 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is written in: English, Latin script.

Processing Information

The collection was rehoused and placed in archival folders.

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

Container

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012