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Jessie Taft Smith Papers

Call Number

TAM.676

Date

circa 1929-2007, inclusive

Creator

Smith, Jessie Taft (Role: Donor)
LaTour, Jane (Role: Donor)

Extent

8.75 Linear Feet in 6 record cartons, 3 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize flat box, and 3 small boxes

Language of Materials

Majority of materials are in English, with some materials in Russian and Yiddish.

Abstract

Jessie Taft Smith (1914- ) is an activist and organizer based in New York City. She was a member of the Communist Party of the United States' (CPUSA) pioneer movement, and during her youth she helped organize in laundries and participated in garment strikes. This collection consists of materials created and collected by Smith documenting her family, personal life, union organizing, involvement with the CPUSA, and advocacy for tenants rights in New York City in the late 20th century, with her involvement with the Park Terrace Tenants Association particularly prominent. Housing issues such as landlord relations, rent increases, physical condition of apartments, repairs and habitality are addressed. The collection includes artifacts, correspondence, memoranda, flyers, handbooks, pamphlets, magazines, and audio cassettes.

Historical/Biographical Note

Jessie Taft Smith (1914- ) is an activist and organizer based in New York City. She was a member of the Communist Party of the United States' (CPUSA) pioneer movement, and during her youth she helped organize in laundries and participated in garment strikes. Smith worked at Harlem Hospital for about ten years until 1977; was a long-standing member of District Council 37; and is heavily involved in tenant, community, and civil rights organizing. She has been particularly involved in the Park Terrace Tenants Association and the MA-RK (Marble Hill, Riverdale, Kingsbridge) Committee for Civil Rights.

Arrangement

This collection has not been arranged by an archivist. The materials are arranged in the order in which they were received from the donor.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of materials created and collected by Jessie Taft Smith documenting her family, personal life, union organizing, involvement with the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA), and advocacy for tenants rights in New York City in the late 20th century, with her involvement with the Park Terrace Tenants Association particularly prominent. Housing issues such as landlord relations, rent increases, physical condition of apartments, repairs and habitality are addressed. The collection includes artifacts, correspondence, memoranda, flyers, handbooks, pamphlets, magazines, and audio cassettes.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restriction.

Conditions Governing Use

Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Jesse Taft Smith were transferred to New York University in x2016xx by Jane Latour. 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.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; Jessie Taft Smith Papers; TAM 676; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Jane La Tour in June of 2015 additional materials were donated by Jesse Taft Smith, date unknown. The accession numbers associated with these gifts are 2015.056 and 2018.067.

Custodial History

At the request of Jane La Tour, two collections of materials concerning Morris Eli Taft, Jessie Taft Smith's father, were deaccessioned from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives at Cornell University in June of 2015 and constituted the family papers that were included with the donation to the Tamiment Library. The collections had been identified at the Kheel Center as the Morris Eli Taft Papers (#5178m) and the Morris Eli Taft Memorabilia (#5178 MB).

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.

Separated Materials

Books received as part of the donation have been separated from the collection and transferred to the library's print collection.

Collection processed by

Rachel Searcy

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:41:17 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: English

Processing Information

At the time of accessioning, materials were moved into archival housing, a preliminary box list was created, and a collection-level finding aid was created to describe these materials. No physical processing or arrangement was performed at this time.

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