Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Moving Images Collection
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Abstract
The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Moving Images Collection contains film and video documenting organized labor and leftist movements in the United States from the 1930s-1970s, as well as recordings of Tamiment Library events in the 1980s-1990s. A majority of the collection is comprised of Transport Workers Union of America films and video reproductions, including elements and trims from documentary films and television programs, as well as recordings of conferences, press releases, mass meetings, negotiations, demonstrations, campaign speeches, and parades. This collection also includes programs and event recordings produced and distributed by several other labor and leftist organizations, including the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations Committee on Political Education (AFL-CIO COPE), the Jewish Labor Committee, the Socialist Party of the United States of America, the Communications Workers of America, the Seafarers International Union, and the United Steelworkers of America; works by filmmakers Louis W. Kellman and John Albok; documentaries from the mid-twentieth century about racial prejudice and political organizing; and video recordings of Tamiment Library events such as book receptions, conferences, memorials, and campus dedication ceremonies.
Historical Note
The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Moving Images Collection contains film and video documenting organized labor and leftist movements in the United States from the 1930s-1970s, as well as recordings of Tamiment Library events in the 1980s-1990s.
The majority of the collection is film and video recordings that document the Transport Workers Union of America's activities between 1930-1970. The Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) was founded in New York City in 1934 by subway workers. Michael J. Quill (1905-1966), a Kerry native and subway ticket clerk, led early organizing efforts for the TWU and became its first president. It soon became the bargaining agent for all New York City bus and subway systems, and branched out to form locals across the country. By the early 1950s, the Union's membership had grown to over 100,000, in both public and privately-owned transit lines. By the 1960s, TWU locals were also established among railroad, airlines, and utility workers and taxi drivers. From its early days, the TWU made use of radio, film, and television to communicate with its members as well as the general public. Most of the Union's programs were made by professional filmmakers and producers, including Paul Miner, Tom Costigan, and Leo Seltzer.
This collection also contains works by several other labor and leftist organizations. The Jewish Labor Committee, an umbrella group of Jewish or Jewish-led trade unions and fraternal organizations, was founded in New York City in 1934. Its primary purposes were to organize anti-Nazi and anti-fascist activity and to provide assistance to European Jews and others persecuted by these movements. During World War II, it maintained close ties with European resistance movements and was able to effect the rescue of hundreds of labor and socialist activists and their families. After the War, it assisted and resettled survivors and helped to reunite families, and became active in civil rights and labor rights campaigns in the United States and human rights work world wide.
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 60 unions and representing more than 12 million workers. It was formed in 1955 when AFL and CIO merged. The federation's Committee on Political Education (COPE) was established shortly after the merger in 1955, itself a combination of the CIO's Political Action Committee and AFL's Labor League for Political Education. COPE activities have included political research, grassroots voter mobilization efforts, candidate endorsements, and advocacy for issues affecting workers' rights. COPE is now decentralized and local chapters are active across the country.
This collection also includes works by individual filmmakers who documented labor and leftist history in the United States. John Albok (1894-1982) was a still photographer and filmmaker known for his depiction of New York City street life from the Depression through the 1960s, as well as trade-union and leftwing political protest and culture during this same period. Louis W. Kellman's film Tales From Tamiment depicts Camp Tamiment, a summer resort for socialists near Bushkill, Pennsylvania, that opened in 1921. Initially tied to the Rand School of Social Science, it also later became home to the Tamiment Playhouse.
Sources:
Albok, John. John Albok: For the Children. Dallas, Texas: Photographic Archives Gallery, 1995.
Huberman, Leo. The Great Bus Strike.New York: Modern Age Books, 1941.
Freeman, Joshua. In Transit (New York, Oxford University Press, 1989).
John Albok, 1894-1982: Through the Eye of the Needle. Budapest: Hungarian Multicultural Center, Inc., 1998.
LoMonaco, Martha. Every Week, a Broadway Revue: The Tamiment Playhouse, 1921-1960.New York: Greenwood Press, 1992.
Malmgreen, Gail. "Labor and the Holocaust: The Jewish Labor Committee and the Anti-Nazi Struggle." Labor's Heritage, Vol. 3, no. 4 (October 1991).
Quill, Shirley. Mike Quill Himself: A Memoir. Greenwich, CT: Devin-Adair Publishers, 1985.
University of Maryland Libraries. "Committee on Political Education." Curated by Laura Cleary and Amber Kohl. https://exhibitions.lib.umd.edu/get-out-the-vote/cope. Accessed December 7, 2023.
Whittemore, L. H. The Man Who Ran the Subways: The Story of Mike Quill.New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968.
Arrangement
This collection is organized into three series, one of which is further arranged in two sub-series:
Series I. Transport Workers Union of America Films;
Sub-Series I.A. Films;
Sub-Series I.B. Video Reproductions;
Series II. Films on Organized Labor and the Political Left;
Series III: Tamiment Library Event Recordings.
Each series is arranged chronologically except for Sub-Series I.B., which is arranged alphabetically.
Scope and Contents
The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Moving Images Collection contains film and video documenting organized labor and leftist movements in the United States, as well as recordings of Tamiment Library events in the 1980s-1990s.
Series I. Transport Workers Union of America Films (1930-1977) includes original films and video transfers of the Transport Workers Union of America's activities between 1930 and 1970, which make up a majority of the collection. These films include prints, elements, and trims from the films United We are Invincible (1941), Our Case for the Forty-Hour Work Week (1950), Memorial Tribute to Mr. CIO – Allan S. Haywood (1953), Twenty-Nine Days to Victory (1953), Years of Challenge (1961), and The Best is Yet to Come (1967). Other Transport Workers Union films contain footage of conferences, press releases, mass meetings, negotiations, demonstrations, campaign speeches, and parades. Materials in this series focus mostly on the activities of Local 100 (New York City bus and subway workers), Local 101 (Brooklyn Union Gas utility workers), and Local 234 (Philadelphia transit workers). TWU figures frequently represented in these materials include Union President Michael Quill, Union President Matthew Guinan, Union Vice President Frank Sheehan, CIO Director Allan Haywood, and Local 100 President Ellis Van Riper. Former New York City Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. is also depicted giving campaign speeches to the Union.
Series II. Films on Organized Labor and the Political Left (1925-2005) includes programs and event recordings produced and distributed by labor and leftist organizations, mainly on the topics of socialism, communism, civil rights, and labor organizing. Organizations represented in this series include the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations Committee on Political Education (AFL-CIO COPE), the Jewish Labor Committee, the Socialist Party, the United Auto Workers, the Communications Workers of America, the Seafarers International Union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, the United Steelworkers Union, the American Postal Workers Union, United Voice, and United Financial Employees. This series also includes works by individual filmmakers, such as Louis W. Kellman's Tales From Tamiment about Camp Tamiment, John Albok's footage of New York City during the Great Depression, and recordings of New York City parades in the early twentieth century. Together with the TWU materials in Series I., these films provide insight into the history of labor and leftist movements in the U.S., as well as a candid portrayal of New York City life during the 1930s-1960s.
Series III. Tamiment Library Event Recordings (1979-2003) contains videos of events organized by Tamiment Library, which celebrated figures and explored topics related to the film subjects in Series I. and II. These events include receptions for written publications by authors including Ron Jacobs, Zellig Harris, Paul LeBlanc, Frank Lovell, Scott McLemee, Alan Wald, JoAnn Wypijewski, and Jeremy Brecher; symposiums and discussions on the topics of poverty during the Clinton administration, being openly gay at work, academic labor, Trotskyism in the United States, and the Spanish Civil War, among others; and memorials for Phil Foner, Frank Lovell, Myra Tanner Weiss, and Cedric Belfrage. This series also includes flyers for the recorded events, and one poster for "Between Classes: A Conference on Academic Labor."
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by the Transport Workers Union of America, the creator of materials in Series I of this collection, were transferred to New York University in 1991. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collecion which were originally created by the TWU must be secured from the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives.
Because of the assembled nature of this collection, copyright status varies across the collection. Copyright is assumed to be held by the original creator of individual items in the collection; these items are expected to pass into the public domain 120 years after their creation. The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from this collection.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Moving Images Collection; FILMS 001; box number; folder number or item identifier; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This is an assembled collection, and the provenance of the materials is varied. Materials were obtained through purchases, donations, arrangements with labor unions and other organizations, exchanges with other libraries, and internal transfers. Some materials were found in the repository, and may not have associated provenance documentation or accession records.
A majority of the materials in this collection were donated to the Tamiment Library by the Transport Workers Union of America in 1985. The accession number associated with this gift is 1950.223.
Film works by John Albok were donated by Ilona Albok Vitarius in 1993.
The film "Thirty-Fourth Anniversary Celebration for La Parola" was found in the repository and added to the collection. The accession number associated with this film is 2015.034.
The film May Day in New York City was donated by Jonathan Ned Katz in 2018. The accession number associated with this gift is 2018.090.
The film What's Happening in Harlem? was donated by Richard Frank.
The remaining materials were donated by various organizations and individual donors or separated from various Tamiment Library manuscript collections. The accession numbers associated with these materials are 2018.045, 2018.047, 2018.053, NPA.1993.024, NPA.1999.023, NPA.2000.055, NPA.2000.240, NPA.2000.343, NPA.2003.086, NPA 2004.013, NPA.2005.024, NPA.2005.180, NPA.2005.182, NPA.20015.195, NPA.2005.202, NPA.2005.204, NPA.2005.205, NPA.2005.206, NPA.2005.209, NPA.2005.212, NPA.2005.213, NPA.2005.216, and NPA.2006.099.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
Access to some audiovisual materials in this collection is available through digitized access copies. Researchers may view an item's original container, but the media themselves are not available for playback because of preservation concerns. Materials that have already been digitized are noted in the collection's finding aid and can be requested in our reading room.
Some 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.
Born-Digital Access Policies and Procedures
Advance notice is required for the use of computer records. Original physical digital media is restricted.
An access terminal for born-digital materials in the collection is available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only. Researchers may view an item's original container and/or carrier, but the physical carriers themselves are not available for use because of preservation concerns.
Appraisal
In 2023, 105 access DVDs were discarded as they were duplicatave of both videotapes and films in the collection. 12 VHS tapes and 17 DVDs were found to be commercial content and transferred to the Avery Fisher Center. Four U-matic tapes were transferred to the Deep Dish TV Records, MSS.312.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Processing decisions made prior to 2017 have not been recorded.
In Fall 2023, this collection was arranged and described by an archivist. All audiovisual materials were assigned identifiers. Record titles and descriptive notes were adapted from item labels and legacy descriptions, including a Transport Workers Union film database and finding aid content written by Erika Gottfried, Mary Allison Farley, Katie Kirwan, and Robert Eberwein.
In November 2023, the Media Preservation Unit vacuumed two films to remove particulates and sent ten films to a vendor for mold treatment.
During processing, 8 DVD-Rs were were forensically imaged, analyzed, and described. New York University Libraries follow professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the content.
