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Edward S. Goldstein: Jewish Labor Committee Research Files

Call Number

WAG.232

Date

1933-1985, inclusive

Creator

Goldstein, Edward Samuel
Jewish Labor Committee (U.S.) (Role: Donor)

Extent

5.25 Linear Feet (6 boxes)

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

Edward Samuel Goldstein (1944- ) taught U.S. history in the Boston area and later went on to a career in the telecommunications industry. In the mid-1970s he began research toward a dissertation at Brandeis University on the history of the Jewish Labor Committee (U.S.). He secured the cooperation of the Jewish Labor Committee and its then-executive director, Emanuel Muravchik, and was given access to the organization's files. The dissertation was never finished, but Goldstein completed a considerable amount of research, and composed several draft chapters. This collection is comprised of notes, drafts, original documents, correspondence, photocopies accumulated by Goldstein in the course of his work on this project, as well as other material dealing with his interests in twentieth-century American Jewish history. NOTE: This collection is housed offsite and advance notice is required for use.

Historical/Biographical Note

Edward Samuel Goldstein (1944- ) of Newton, MA earned degrees from Hebrew College, Harvard University, New York University and the University of Michigan. In the mid-1970s he embarked on research toward a Ph.D. degree at Brandeis University; his intention was to write a dissertation on the history of the Jewish Labor Committee, 1934-1967, under the direction of Professors Ben Halpern and Marshall Sklare. The project employed the methodology of sociological historiography exemplified by the work of Professor Halpern and Israeli historian Jacob Katz. Goldstein described the dissertation as "an analytic history of the Jewish Labor Committee, involving questions of social and ideological change amongst Jews and policymaking in the American labor movement." While pursuing his Ph.D., he taught at Clark University and Anna Maria College.

Goldstein secured the cooperation of the Jewish Labor Committee and its then Executive Director, Emanuel Muravchik, and was given access to extensive files of records stored at the JLC office in New York City. He made photocopies of many items and acquired original documents which were duplicates. In addition, he accumulated a considerable amount of research material and notes derived from other sources, both archival and printed. These materials, along with related correspondence, several draft chapters and a paper presented at the 1978 meeting of the American Jewish Studies Association, comprise the bulk of this collection.

The official records of the Jewish Labor Committee were donated to the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives in 1985. By this time, some of the documents consulted and copied by Goldstein in earlier years had been lost. Thus, his collection fills important gaps in JLC history, and further enriches the Library's holdings on the subject by adding Goldstein's own writings and notes, as well as research materials from non-JLC sources.

Goldstein left academic pursuits in 1980, with the dissertation unfinished. He was employed for many years as an executive in the telecommunications industry, and in 2004 served as divisional vice-president in the Eastern United States for Charter Communications, a major national broadband and cable television provider. The JLC research material remained, undisturbed, in his possession until it was presented to the Jewish Labor Committee in 2002.

Arrangement

Series I and II are arranged alphabetically by topic within each series; the Clippings Scrapbook comprising Series III is arranged chronologically.

The files are grouped into 3 series:

Missing Title

  1. I: Edward Goldstein, Writings and Notes, c.1967-1980
  2. II: Subject Files, 1933-1985
  3. III: Oversized Item (Photocopied Scrapbook), 1942.

Scope and Content Note

Series I: Edward Goldstein: Writings and Notes, c.1967-1980, includes drafts of several chapters of Goldstein's dissertation-in-progress on the history of the Jewish Labor Committee; a Dissertation Plan, submitted to Brandeis University; a paper giving an overview of the dissertation topic, presented to the American Jewish Studies Association in 1978; and folders of notes relating to key themes, persons and events in JLC history.

Series II: Subject Files, 1933-1985, includes files of correspondence, notes, clippings, original documents and photocopies of documents relating to important aspects of JLC history, such as anti-Nazi activity, anti-Communism, aid to refugees and displaced person, work in the U.S. labor and civil rights movements, attitudes toward and work in Palestine and Israel, campaigns on behalf of Soviet Jewry, and relations with other Jewish communal organizations and labor organizations. In addition to material that clearly relates to Goldstein's research on the Jewish Labor Committee, this series also contains a few files of correspondence, clippings, periodicals and documents illustrating his broader interests in twentieth-century Jewish history, culture and politics.

Series III: Oversized Item (Photocopied Scrapbook), 1942. A photocopy of a large clippings scrapbook, compiled in the JLC office, covering the year 1942. Included are clippings from the English and Yiddish press pertaining to JLC activities and issues of interest to the Committee. This scrapbook is one of a series, the rest of which can be found in the Records of the Jewish Labor Committee (Wagner 25).

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

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by Edward Goldstein was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date; Collection name; Collection number; box number; folder number;
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by the Jewish Labor Committee, 2002. The accession number associated with this gift is 2002.015.

Custodial History

The files were sent by Edward S. Goldstein to the Jewish Labor Committee in 2002, and donated by the Committee to the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, NYU in the same year.

Related Material at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

Papers of Julius Bernstein. Wagner 116.

Records of the Jewish Labor Committee (U.S.). Wagner 025.

Records of the Jewish Labor Committee (U.S.), Part II, Holocaust Era Files. Wagner 025.

Papers of Jacob Pat. Wagner 127.

Papers of Isaiah Minkoff. Wagner 086.

Collection processed by

Karl Dunkel and Gail Malmgreen, 2004

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:36:06 -0400.
Language: Description is in English.

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from Goldstein f-a.wpd

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