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Research Guide to Communist Party USA Collections in the Tamiment Library
2006 Acquisition of CPUSA Collections 2006 Acquisition of CPUSA MaterialsIn 2006, the Communist Party of the United States donated its archives and the Library of the Reference Center for Marxist Studies to the Tamiment Library in order to make its history accessible to students, scholars, and activists. Scope and Content Note
Scope and Content NoteThe Archive of the Communist Party, USA (ca. 438 linear feet) and the Library of the Reference Center for Marxist Studies (25,000 volumes) form one of the most important collections in the United States documenting the history of communism, socialism, Marxist theory and practice, the cultural left, and the history of the varied movements that have struggled for progressive social change in America. The collection is an extremely rich resource for the study of the international Communist movement with particular emphasis on the European, Soviet, and Latin American parties. It documents the work of the leadership, its relationship to the Soviet Union, as well as Communist contributions to the civil rights and labor movements. Most of the Communist Party's records from the 1920-1936 years were shipped to the Soviet Union during the 1940s and these are now available on microfilm through IDC publishers thanks to a 1990s initiative by the Library of Congress. The Tamiment collection contains many of the founding documents that were not shipped to the Soviet Union including records documenting the formation of the Communist movement in America at three conventions in 1919 and 1920, the merger between the Workers Party and the foreign language federations, early programs, and constitutions, and documents describing affiliation with the Comintern. There are also some files from the 1920s and 1930s that remained in the offices of the Communist Party. It appears that most of these records were retained for litigation that was taking place at the time. These include letters of Robert Minor and prison correspondence of many Party leaders who were jailed in the late 1920s or early 1930s. The major portion of the collection is from the post-World War II years. It documents the Party's turn to the Left in the 1940s when Earl Browder was replaced as General Secretary. The archive has some very rich documentation from the Cold War and McCarthy periods including papers of long-time General Secretary Gus Hall and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (notably her correspondence with the legendary Joe Hill). There are also smaller collections from African American leaders (Ben Davis, Henry Winston, Paul Robeson, Angela Davis, Charlene Mitchell, William Patterson, James Jackson, and James Ford) describing civil rights activities from the 1930s through the 1980s. Photographs, letters, and songbooks from Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and the Weavers illustrate the role that political folk music played on the American Left. Archival Collectionca. 1900-2000 (bulk 1960-1990). ca. 438 linear ft. Series within the archival collection include: Rose Baron (International Labor Defense, National Prisoners Relief Director), Letters Received, 1917-1945; Biographical Files on Communist Activists and Leaders; Phil Bart Clipping Files; Central Control Commission Records on Microfilm, ca. 1929 - ca. 1953; Chile Solidarity Collection; Lester Cole Correspondence; Daily World Clipping Files; Eugene Dennis Prison Letters; W.E.B. Du Bois' A Soliloquy on Viewing my Life from the Last Decade of its First Century (typescript) and Publishing Correspondence; General Subject Files: Organizations, Individuals, Topics; Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Joe Hill Case Papers; Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Papers (miscellaneous); James W. Ford Papers; Middle East Clipping Files; Robert Minor Papers; Joseph North News Clippings from the Worker and the Daily World; William L. (William Lorenzo) Patterson Papers, 1951-1967; Paul Robeson Clippings and Printed Ephemera; Progressive Activists and Organizations Subject Files; Charles E. (Emil) Ruthenberg Letters from Rachele Ragozin; Jim West Seventy Years of Communist Activism: Memoirs; and Henry Winston Prison Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers. For information on the archival materials in the CPUSA collection, please contact Tamiment Archivist Peter Filardo, at peter.filardo@nyu.edu. BooksThe Reference Center for Marxist Studies Library includes thousands of books which will be cataloged and added to the Tamiment Library's collections. Until that work is done, researchers may consult a 36-drawer card catalog in the library's reading room that lists the books in the collection by author and, to a limited extent, by subject. As the volumes are cataloged, records will appear in BobCat. SerialsThe serials collection includes complete runs of the New Masses, The Liberator, Communist International, Political Affairs, Labor Defender, Labor Herald, Young Worker, Harlem Quarterly, The Crusader, and Freedomways. Spanish language materials include publications from Cuba, works of Jose Marti, Alberto Moreau, Jesus Colon, and newspapers, pamphlets, and periodicals documenting the full spectrum of progressive politics in the Caribbean region, central and South America. The serials are currently being cataloged and added to the Tamiment Library's holdings. Researchers may search BobCat to identify cataloged serials in the collections. See also descriptions of additional CPUSA-related serials in the Tamiment Library, below. PamphletsThe Reference Center library contains more than 10,000 pamphlets - nearly every pamphlet published by the Communist Party, USA as well as those published by the European and Latin American parties. The pamphlets cover over 800 classified subject areas including Communist Party activities in the 1910s and 1920s, the Spanish Civil War, labor, peace, civil rights movements, and the struggle against McCarthyism. See the list of subject headings under which the pamphlets were arranged by the Reference Center library. Please note that the subject list is uncorrected and the subject headings do not follow authorities established by the Library of Congress. See also descriptions of additional CPUSA-related pamphlets in the Tamiment Library, below. Oral History CollectionsThe archive contains a large oral history collection with interviews recorded by both Party leaders and rank-and-file members. Among the oral histories are interviews with W.Z. Foster, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Eugene Dennis. These collections have not yet been processed. They will be made available for research as they are preserved and processed. Non-Print CollectionsIn addition to the above, materials in the CPUSA archives also include photographs, films, videos, original cartoons, and political buttons. While these are not open for research at present, they will be made available as they are preserved and processed. The film collection includes both American and Soviet made motion pictures. The most notable film in the collection is the only complete surviving print of "The Passaic Textile Strike" (1926) produced by International Workers Aid. This film has long been considered a landmark in social documentary filmmaking. The ca. 500,000-image Daily Worker photo morgue depicts labor, civil rights, peace, and political struggles from 1917 through the 1990s. It graphically captures nearly 75 years of world-wide Communist activities and illustrates the Party's relationship to a wide variety of international social movements. Similarly, the collection of Communist films and newsreels from the United States, Eastern European, the Soviet Union, and Asia contains footage that is available nowhere else in the America. Card CatalogsLibrarians at the Reference Center for Marxist Studies maintained several card catalogs in which they indexed dozens of periodicals including the Daily Worker, I.F. Stone's Weekly, New Masses, and Labor Monthly. These card catalogs and the others summarized below were transferred to the Tamiment Library along with the archival materials, books and serials in the CPUSA acquisition.
Additional Card Catalogs In addition to the card catalogs described above, there are several other card indexes from the CPUSA available in the Tamiment Library. The scope of coverage in these indexes is not yet known. To use the following, please inquire at the reference desk.
CPUSA: Ninety Years of HistoryCPUSA: Ninety Years of History, a Tamiment Library exhibit curated by Peter M. Filardo and Michael Nash, is now available on Flickr. Other CPUSA Materials in the Tamiment Library
Archival Collections
Archival CollectionsIn addition to the archival materials, books, serials, pamphlets, oral histories, and nonprint materials included in the 2006 donation described above, the Tamiment Library's holdings include a number of other important collections of personal papers and organizational records that document the activities of the Communist Party of the United States, its leaders, cadre, rank and file activists, and fellow travelers (including figures from labor and electoral politics, education, the arts and publishing). Notable archival collections include: New York City Councilman Peter V. Cacchione, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, artist Hugo Gellert, Labor Research Association, National Council on American Soviet Friendship, autobiographical manuscripts by Party leaders rank and file activists. List of CPUSA Archival Collections Files of the CPUSA in the Comintern Archives, 1919-1943The Tamiment Library holds a copy of the Library of Congress's collection, "Files of the Communist Party of the USA in the Comintern Archives, 1919-1943" on 326 reels of microfilm. The files contain the original incoming mail, carbons of outgoing correspondence, reports from regional and local organizers, and internal memoranda produced by officials and offices of the national headquarters. Also included are documents created or gathered in Moscow by CPUSA representatives to the Comintern. The call number for the microfilm collection in the Tamiment Library is Film R-7548. The temporary register for the collection is available in print in the Tamiment Library's reading room, and also as a pdf online broom IDC Publishers. Researchers may also use an online search form to find documents in the microfilm collection, available at: http://www.idcpublishers.info/cpusa/ Comintern ArchivesThe Comintern archives collection comprises the thousands of documents of the seven congresses of the Comintern and the thirteen plenums of the Executive Committee of the Comintern (ECCI), together with materials from the associated preparatory and working commissions. They include transcripts and minutes of meetings, with individual presentations and general discussions and debate, materials presented by the leadership and those arising from the floor, and a wealth of other documents. Series 1 contains 1st-4th congresses of Comintern and their indexes. The indexes to the congresses are found on the following fiche: fiche 1 (1st congress), fiche 30 (2nd congress), fiche 240-242 (3rd congress), and fiche 860-862 (4th congress). Series 2 contains Plenums 1-XIII and their indexes. The call number for the microfiche collection is Microfiche 84. CPUSA Convention ProceedingsProceedings of CPUSA Conventions are available in two separate collections in the Tamiment Library: 1) Files of the CPUSA in the Comintern Archives, 1919-1943. This is a collection of 326 reels of microfilm shelved at Film R-7548. A temporary register for the collection (microfilm reel guide) is available in the Tamiment Library's reference collection and as a PDF online from IDC Publishers. Researchers may also use an online search form to find documents in the microfilm collection, available at: http://www.idcpublishers.info/cpusa/ 2) The Earl Browder Papers, 1891-1975, contain an incomplete set of proceedings, 1921-1972. The collection is on 36 reels of microfilm shelved at Film R-7070. A printed microfilm reel guide, shelved in the Tamiment Library's reference collection at Z6616.B8295 E75, accompanies the collection. BooksSearch BobCat, NYU's library catalog, to locate books on communism in the Tamiment Library's collections. Search under author, title, or subject, then choose Tamiment from the list of Libraries to see just our holdings. SerialsThe Tamiment Library's collections include more than 600 serials titles cataloged in BobCat with the general subject heading "communism" as well as additional titles that have not yet been cataloged. These holdings include nearly complete runs of most Communist Party publications including The Daily Worker, Political Affairs, Party Builder, Party Affairs, Party Organizer, The Communist, People's Daily World, New World Review, and World Marxist Review along with journals and union newspapers of most of the Communist led unions in the United States, including the Transit Workers Express (Transport Workers Union of America), Fur and Leather Worker, U.E. News, Packinghouse Worker, and Retail Wholesale Employee (UAW, District Council 65), and many more. To find cataloged serials, search BobCat under the title of the publication or search by subject. Then read the "Library Has" statement to determine which issues are in the collection. Sometimes there will be more than one holdings statement. If a title is available in print and in microfilm, for instance, there will be two holdings statements and two call numbers. When a title is available in both formats, researchers are given the microfilm. Because not all of the library's serials holdings have been cataloged to date, please ask at the reference desk for serials that do not appear in BobCat. PamphletsCommunist Pamphlets. Radical Pamphlets in American Collections. Part 2 (microfiche) Communist Party of Great Britain Pamphlets, 1920-1991 (microfilm) House Un-American Activities Committee Pamphlets Collection. Radical Pamphlets in American Collections. Part 3 (microfiche) The Radical Pamphlet Literature Collection, 1817-1970(bulk 1900-1945), consists of 8,672 pamphlets, including many which relate to communism. The collection is available on 89 reels of microfilm in the Tamiment Library shelved at Film R-1743 - Film R-1831. Consult the accompanying published guide (shelved in the reference collection at HN90.R3 T323) for a list of pamphlets by author. The Twentieth Century Political Pamphlets Collection, includes political pamphlets selected from five libraries in New York State, including the Tamiment Library. The collection consists of pamphlets published from 1790 to the 1970s (but mostly during the 20th century) on 4,300 fiches, shelved at Microfiche 82. A published guide available in the Tamiment Library's reference collection (shelved at Z 691 .T97 1994) lists the pamphlets by author. Although the guide does not provide subject access to the collection, there are a number of pamphlets relating to communism in the set. Thousands of other pamphlets in the Tamiment Library's collections are currently being cataloged at the item level in BobCat. To find them, search by author, title, or subject, or browse by call number beginning with PAM 1. Vertical FilesThe Tamiment Library’s collection of vertical files consists of some 1 million leaflets, flyers, manifestoes, reports, serials and other documents from a wide variety of labor and left organizations, many of which relate to communism. Approximately 4,200 vertical files, roughly 30% of the collection, have been cataloged in BobCat. Each vertical file has been assigned a title that begins with the words "Publications relating to." To find cataloged vertical files on communism, There are four other series of vertical files accessible via electronic finding aids. These are the Individuals, Subjects, Trade Union and Abraham Lincoln Brigade Vertical Files series. See the Vertical Files Research Guide for more information. Communist History at the Tamiment LibrarySee the article by Michael Nash, Director of the Tamiment Library, Communist History at the Tamiment Library in American Communist History, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2004, for additional information on the library's holdings.
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