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Liberation News Service Photographs

Call Number

PHOTOS.022

Dates

1965-1981, inclusive
; 1970-1979, bulk

Creator

Liberation News Service (New York, N.Y.)
Pierce, Jennifer (Role: Donor)

Extent

7.5 Linear Feet in 15 manuscript boxes.

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

The Liberation News Service (LNS) (1967-1981), a left-wing news agency, offered its subscribers, mostly college and underground newspapers, news packets, including photographs, twice a week. Journalists and photographers from the United States and around the world supplied the LNS with stories and images documenting the progressive movements and counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s. Half the collection covers the United States, with emphasis on anti-war (Vietnam) protest, the civil rights and women's liberation movements, and youth culture. International coverage focuses on national liberation movements, with emphasis on Vietnam and China.

Historical Note

The Liberation News Service was established by Marshall Bloom and Raymond Mungo in 1967, after they had been fired from the staff of the U.S. Student Press Association (located in Washington, DC), for their radical political views. In 1968 the LNS moved to New York City, and absorbed the Student Communications Network (founded by the University Christian Movement). The LNS had several hundred subscribers, most college, underground and progressive community newspapers, to which it supplied twice-weekly packets containing current news, features, opinion pieces, poetry, photographs, cartoons and artwork that documented the progressive movements and counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s. The LNS print shop made its facilities available to other left-wing organizations. The LNS went out of business in 1981.

Sources:

Young, Allen, "Liberation News Service," Encyclopedia of the American Left(Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992), 422-424.

Arrangement

Missing Title

  1. I, International
  2. II, United States

Folders are arranged alphabetically by region and country within Series I, and alphabetically by subject within Series II.

The files are grouped into 2 series:

Scope and Content Note

The collection of about 7,200 8x10 black and white glossy photographs consists of images of both national and international political and social events, issues, and organizations. They were shot by more than 300 freelance photographers or photographers for other news agencies, many from outside the United States, including more than two dozen Vietnamese photographers.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

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 Labor Archives is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce all materials from this collection.

Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Miriam Bosker Caravella were transferred to New York University in 2004 by Miriam Bosker Caravella. Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Judith Ezekiel were transferred to New York University in 2005 by Judith Ezekiel. Permission to publish or reproduce these materials in this collection must be secured from Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu.

Copyright to photographs taken by Miriam Bosker Caravella, credit stamp "Miriam Bosker" was transferred to NYU in 2004. Likewise, copyright to photos taken by Judith Ezekiel, credit stamp "Judith Ezekiel", were transferred to NYU in 2005. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library.

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 Jennifer Pierce in 1986. The accession number associated with this gift is 1950.176.

Related Material

Liberation News Service Records (Temple University Library Contemporary Culture Collection. Philadelphia, PA); Marshall Bloom Alternative Press Collection, Amherst College Library, Massachusetts (collection includes copies of approximately 25,000 alternative "underground" newspapers, most originally compiled by LNS as record copies from its subscribers); finding aid available at: Marshall Bloom Alternative Press Collection.

Other Finding Aids note

Additional information can be found in the Appendix, LNS Photographers, available in the repository. This consists of lists of those credited—drawn from the credit stamps or inscriptions on the backs of the photographs themselves. From these lists, researchers can locate photographs in the collection that are credited to individual photographers, news or photograph agencies.

Collection processed by

Mary Allison Farley, 1988, Erika Gottfried, 2003. This finding aid was revised by Adrien Hilton, June 2012. Edited by Bonnie Gordon to reflect rehousing of photographs in collection, May 2014.

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:35:32 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is in English.

Processing Information note

Photographs in this collection were rehoused by preservation staff in Spring 2014.

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from NP22-LNS-FINAL Final Draft.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