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Bernard and Jewel Bellush Papers

Call Number

WAG.030

Dates

1947-2002, inclusive
; 1960-1990, bulk

Creator

Bellush, Jewel, 1924-
Bellush, Bernard, 1917-
Bellush, Bernard, 1917- (Role: Donor)

Extent

21 Linear Feet In 19 record cartons and four manuscript boxes

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

Jewel and Bernard Bellush are historians and political activists, who taught for many years at the City College of New York. In the late 1970s, at the request of Council executive director Victor Gotbaum, they became engaged in a collaborative project to write a history of AFSCME, District Council 37, the umbrella group for local unions representing many categories of public employees in the city of New York. The Bellushes' book, Union Power and New York: Victor Gotbaum and District Council 37 was published in 1984. The first part of the collection consists of correspondence, background files, interviews, flyers, notes and drafts for the book. The second part of the collection is comprised of files on Americans for Democratic Action, the Socialist Party, the New York Labor History Association and many other organizations in which Bernard Bellush was active or took an interest. It also includes topical files on many political and sociological issues, and files of personal and biographical material.

Historical/Biographical Note

Jewel Lubin Bellush, a native of Brooklyn, was born on May 20, 1924. She attended new York City public schools, including Samuel J. Tilden High School. After a brief stay at City College, she went to the University of Wisconsin at Madison, majoring in American history and graduating in 1946. In February 1946 she entered the graduate program in American history at Columbia University, where she met her future husband, Bernard Bellush. She earned a masters degree, with a thesis on "Women and Abolition," and a Ph.D., with a dissertation on Herbert H. Lehman.

After graduate school she taught at City College (evening session) and was later appointed to a tenured position at Hunter College, in the Political Science Department. She was also a Fulbright Professor at the University of Haifa in Israel. She wrote, or collaborated with others on, a number of studies of political parties and urban planning. A lifelong community activist, she continued her lecturing and political involvement after retirement.

Bernard Bellush was born in New York City on November 15, 1917 and reared in the Bronx. He also attended the public schools of New York City and graduated from City College in 1941. He served in the army from 1942 to 1945, taking part in the landing on Omaha Beach. After the War he earned a master's degree in history at Columbia University, with a thesis on Eugene V. Debs, and a Ph.D., with a dissertation on Franklin D. Roosevelt as governor of New York.

Bernard Bellush taught American history at Hunter College and then received a tenured appointment at City College, where he served as first Chairman of the Faculty Senate. He also served as a Fulbright Professor at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. He published several books in American history. His civic activism is reflected in his having served as a National Board member of the American Veterans Committee; a city, state and national Board member of Americans for Democratic Action; a member of the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security; and a Board member and President of the New York Labor History Association. He died on December 30, 2011.

The Bellushes were married in June of 1947. It was a "mixed marriage," as Bernie was a stalwart of the Socialist Party and Jewel came from a Communist Party background. Political acquaintances were inclined to believe that the union would be short-lived, but a harmonious and productive partnership spanning more than sixty years ensued. The most significant concrete evidence of this collaboration is their jointly written book, Union Power and New York, a history of AFSCME District Council 37. Research materials, interviews and drafts associated with that project make up the first six series of this collection. After serving for a year as a staff member in the Education Department of District 37 in the late 1970s, Bernie Bellush returned to teaching. At this point he was asked by DC 37 Executive Director Victor Gotbaum to write a history of the District Council. The project quickly grew to such proportions that Bernie enlisted the help of Jewel; the couple soon retired from teaching and devoted themselves intensively to completing the manuscript, which was finally published in 1984.

District Council 37 was chartered by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in November 1944. At that time its membership was limited to small numbers in the NYC departments of Hospitals, Parks, Finance and Health. Its first goals were to increase membership and to engage management in serious collective bargaining talks. Between 1950 55, city employees gained Social Security coverage, Workmen's Compensation benefits and improved pension and health benefits. In July 1954, Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. signed an interim order recognizing city workers' rights to organize and at the same time setting up joint labor relations committees. A demonstration at City Hall in 1955 prompted Parks Commissioner Robert Moses to accede to a representation election in his department, which AFSCME won overwhelmingly.

The AFL CIO merger in 1955 brought many changes to the District Council. The AFL's AFSCME eventually merged with the CIO's Government and Civil Employees union. By 1957, the Government and Civic Employees New York Joint Board had been dissolved and its locals affiliated with DC 37. Among the locals thus acquired were Welfare Workers, Local 371; School Lunch Local 372; Quasi Public School Local 374 and the Civil Service Technical Guild, Local 375.

In 1958, Mayor Wagner signed Executive Order 49 giving collective bargaining rights to employee organizations representing a majority of the employees in a bargaining unit. At about that time, a series of strikes in cultural institutions resulted in union recognition for employees at Youth House, the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, the Bronx Zoo and the Coney Island Aquarium. A strike of Local 983, the Motor Vehicle Operators, resulted in the first welfare fund for non uniformed city employees, and the Council expanded its operations to service the fund. Local 372, School Lunch Employees, won bargaining rights for over 6,000 employees in 1963 and added another 6,000 in 1965. The Civil Service Technical Guild negotiated its first contract in 1963on behalf of its 5,000 engineers and architects. By 1967, the City of New York set up an Office of Collective Bargaining; in that year DC 37 reached a membership of 50,000. The first citywide contract was negotiated in 1968. Membership had grown to about 125,000 by the end of the twentieth century.

In 1964, Jerry Wurf, Executive Director of DC 37 since 1947, was elected President of AFSCME. Calogeri Taibi became the Council's new Executive Director, but served only briefly. He was succeeded by Victor Gotbaum, who retired in 1986 after a period of dynamic growth followed by historic challenges for municipal labor during the City's fiscal crisis of the mid-1970s. Stanley Hill, a former president of the Social Service Employees Union (AFSCME, Local 371) and Director of the Council's Clerical and Administrative Division, followed Gotbaum as Executive Director. In 2002, after a period of turmoil in the Council, Lillian Roberts, who had served as Assistant to Gotbaum, helped to organize 20,000 hospital workers, and left the Council to become New York State Commissioner of Labor, returned to take on the position of Executive Director.

Sources:

Bernard and Jewel Bellush, Union Power and New York: Victor Gotbaum and District Council 37 (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1984).

Arrangement

Series V is arranged alphabetically; other series retain the original order of the material as donated.

The files are grouped into seven series:

Missing Title

  1. I, Early History-General Files, 1952-1981
  2. II, Political Action, 1963-1981
  3. III, Hospital Division and Education Department, 1956-1982
  4. IV, New York City Fiscal Crisis, 1961-1981
  5. V, Interview and AFSCME Local Files, 1948-1984
  6. VI, Chapter Drafts, undated
  7. VII, Unprocessed Political and General Files, 1947-2002.

Scope and Content Note

The first six series, I, Early History-General Files, 1952-1981; II, Political Action, 1963-1981; III, Hospital Division and Education Department, 1956-1982; IV, New York City Fiscal Crisis, 1961-1981; V, Interview and AFSCME Local Files, 1948-1984; and VI, Chapter Drafts, undated, consists of files assembled by the Bellushes during their work on Union Power. The files contain correspondence, background files, interview transcripts, flyers, notes and drafts for the book.

Series VII, Unprocessed Political and General Files, 1947-2002, is comprised of files on Americans for Democratic Action, the Socialist Party, the New York Labor History Association and many other organizations in which Bernard Bellush was active or took an interest. It also includes topical files on many political and sociological issues, files on notable individuals in politics and labor, and files of personal and biographical material.

NOTE: This collection is stored offsite and advance notice is required for use.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Bernard and Jewel Bellush were transferred to New York University in 2002 by Bernard Bellush. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu, (212) 998-2630.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date; Bernard and Jewel Bellush Papers; WAG 030; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Bernard Bellush, 1984. The accession number associated with this gift is 1984.013. An additional donation was made in 2002.

Custodial History

The initial donation of research files of Jewel and Bernard Bellush to the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives was made in the fall of 1984. The materials in this portion of the collection were compiled by Jewel and Bernard Bellush during the writing of their published study, Union Power and New York: Victor Gotbaum and District Council 37 (Praeger, 1984). Many of these files contain copies of materials housed in District Council 37 offices and storage facilities, to which the Bellushes were given access. Some sensitive materials were removed by the Bellushes prior to transferring the collection to NYU. The accession number associated with these materials is 1984.013.

A second donation of material, consisting of more general files of political, personal and research materials, was made by Bernard Bellush in 2002.

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, (212) 998-2630 with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.

Collection processed by

Steven Chin, 1986, and Gail Malmgreen and Kristan Catalani, 2007

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-11-28 16:58:37 -0500.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is in English

Revisions to this Guide

November 2023: Updated by Anna Bjornsson McCormick to reflect the rehousing of materials

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from Bellush.doc

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