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Joshua B. Freeman Research Files on the Transport Workers Union of America

Call Number

WAG.326

Dates

1940s-1996, undated, inclusive
; 1940-1952, bulk

Creator

Freeman, Joshua Benjamin
Freeman, Joshua Benjamin (Role: Donor)
United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation

Extent

2.5 Linear Feet
in 1 record carton, 1 manuscript box, 1 half manuscript box, and 1 oversize flat box

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Abstract

Joshua B. Freeman is a historian whose research focuses on U.S. labor history and the U.S. in the twentieth century. The collection is primarily records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation pertaining to the Transport Workers Union of America and its subunits during the 1940s, obtained by Freeman under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in the 1980s. The FBI investigation files document TWU operations and members; more broadly, the collection documents coordinated federal surveillance of organized labor and leftist social movements.

Biographical Note

Joshua B. Freeman is a historian whose research focuses on U.S. labor history and the U.S. in the twentieth century. Freeman obtained a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1970 and went on to earn a master's degree in 1976 and a Ph.D. in 1983, both from Rutgers University. He is the author of In Transit: The Transport Workers Union in New York City, 1933-1966, which details the formation and development of the TWU, with particular emphasis on the role of Communists and veterans of the Irish Republican Army. He also wrote Working-Class New York: Life and Labor Since World War II and co-authored Who Built America? Working People and the Nation's Economy, Politics, Culture, and Society Vol. II. In 1987 he was appointed an assistant professor at Columbia University, and became an associate professor in 1991. Freeman is currently a professor at Queens College, City University of New York. He serves on the editorial board of the journal International Labor and Working-Class History and is a consulting editor for the New Labor Forum.

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

The collection is primarily records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation pertaining to the Transport Workers Union of America and its subunits during the 1940s, obtained by Joshua B. Freeman under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in the 1980s. The collection also includes several pieces of correspondence written to Freeman from the Department of Justice regarding his FOIA request.

The collection also contains a banner that was hung above the speakers' podium in the Low Library rotunda at Columbia University during "The Fight for America's Future: A Teach-In with the Labor Movement," held October 3-4, 1996 at Columbia University. The transcript of the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg vs. United States and papers related to the Citizen's Committee for the Metropolitan Music School also make up part of the collection.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Joshua B. Freeman were transferred to New York University in 2012 by Joshua B. Freeman. 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; Joshua B. Freeman Research Files on the Transport Workers Union of America; WAG 326; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Joshua B. Freeman in April 2012. The accession numbers associated with this gift are 2012.042 and 2012.045. Freeman donated an accretion in October 2023; the accession number associated with this gift is 2024.014.

Custodial History

The majority of this collection consists of declassified investigative records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. These were obtained by Freeman through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Related Archival Materials

For more information about the Transport Workers Union of America, researchers may wish to consult the following collections located at this repository:

Transport Workers Union of America, Local 100: Joseph Gayol Files (WAG 085)
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 100: Naomi Allen Files (WAG 295)
Transport Workers Union of America, Local 100: Sarah Goldstein Interviews Oral History Collection (OH 047)
Transport Workers Union of America Oral History Collection (OH 011)
Transport Workers Union of America Photographs (PHOTOS 032)
Transport Workers Union of America Printed Ephemera Collection (PE 022)
Transport Workers Union of America Records (WAG 235)
Transport Workers Union of America: Records of Locals (WAG 234)

Collection processed by

Rachel Schimke

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-02-09 11:42:29 -0500.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description written in English

Processing Information

This collection is unprocessed. Materials remain in their original order. In February 2024 an accretion of declassified FBI records was incorporated into the collection as Boxes 3-4.

Revisions to this Guide

February 2024: Record updated by Rachel Searcy to reflect 2024 accretion and create inventory of original donation

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