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Locating Materials in the Tamiment Library
OverviewBobCat, NYU's library catalog, contains records for all of the Tamiment Library’s CATALOGED materials. Researchers will find item-level records for books, serials, and pamphlets and collection-level records for archival materials, oral history collections, microfilm sets, non-print materials. For fully processed and cataloged collections, follow the links in the BobCat records to access finding aids for the collections. Please note that not all of the library's collections have been processed and cataloged to date. Follow the search strategies below and consult library reference staff for information on uncataloged materials. Archival CollectionsDescription: The Tamiment Library holds rich collections relating to labor and social history, the history of the Left, the place of workers in American society, the evolution of labor law, women's history, and immigrant history, among other topics. Search Strategy - All fully processed and cataloged archival collections have collection-level records in BobCat that link to electronic finding aids that describe the contents of the collections in detail. Finding Aids - Finding aids (also known as guides) describe in detail the scope and contents of archival collections, usually have a box and folder list of contents, explain any use restrictions, give provenance information, and place the collection in context with a historical note. Un-Cataloged Collections - Unpublished guides and inventories for many uncataloged collections may be consulted at the Library. Browse the list of Tamiment and Wagner archival collections to see if the library holds an uncataloged archival collection on your topic. Then consult a collection summary, inventory, container list, or other unpublished guide to the collection, where available. You may also consult NYU Libraries' Information Bulletin 16 on the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives for information on the library's archival holdings. Using Archives - Researchers must obtain a Tamiment Library reader's card before using archival materials. To get one, fill out a registration form at the Tamiment Library Reference Desk and present a photo ID. Then, after using finding aids to determine the boxes and folders of a collection that contain relevant information for your topic, submit an archival request form at the Reference Desk to request materials. BooksThe Tamiment Library has a non-circulating collection of more than 50,000 books focusing on the history of labor, politics, political thought, literature and the arts. To locate books in the collection, search BobCat under author, title, or subject. It is possible to limit search results to the library's holdings by selecting the Tamiment Library from the list of specific Bobst Library locations immediately after logging in to the catalog. Nonprint CollectionsDescription: The nonprint collections of the Tamiment Library consist of posters, broadsides, photographs, film, videotapes, cartoons, drawings, prints, political buttons, and other ephemera that provide a rich visual record of the history of labor and radical politics. Much of this visual material doesn't just supplement information in manuscript collections and papers -- it can also provide evidence that is not available in written sources. Finding Aids - Researchers should consult the Tamiment Library's website to see a list of finding aids describing processed non print collections. See the sections on Photograph and Non-Print Collections and ALBA Audio Visual Collections. Researchers may request materials from the processed nonprint collections in person any time the library is open. Digitized Images - At present only one of the guides allows direct online viewing of actual images in a collection, the Fifteenth International Brigade Photographic Unit Photograph Collection (ALBA Photo 011). Unpublished Finding Aids - Certain nonprint collections have unique finding aids available in the library. For example, a guide to the political buttons collection in the Tamiment Library is available to onsite researchers. It contains photocopies of the entire collection, divided by subjects and organizations. Researchers wishing to view original buttons instead of their photocopy surrogates must make an appointment with the Nonprint Curator. All 512 drawings in the Laura Gray Cartoons collection (Graphics 13) have been copied and researchers may browse through the copies arranged in binders. Un-Processed Collections - Many additional non print materials reside in un-processed collections in Tamiment for which only an internal database, a printed draft guide, an inventory, or no guide at all may exist. These collections may be open for research by appointment. To learn if any unprocessed non print collections contain materials relevant to your research please contact Tamiment's Curator of Nonprint Collections. The Curator can also provide researchers with the proper forms of citation for non print materials (which are as necessary for non print primary sources as for text documents) in the Tamiment Library's collections. While most materials are available for research, not all may be published, due to copyright considerations. Cataloged Collections - To find CATALOGED non print collections, select the Tamiment Library from the list of specific Bobst locations in BobCat and then do a search by author, subject or "all above." If an electronic finding aid is available, click on the URL to access it directly from the MARC record. You may also browse the BobCat records for non print collections by doing a Phrase search in the Call number index. Search on "Photographs" to see BobCat records for photo collections, "graphics" to see the records for poster and cartoon collections, and "buttons" for the Button Collection. Using Non-Print Collections - Researchers must obtain a Tamiment Library card before using non print materials. To get one, fill out a registration form at the Reference Desk and present a photo ID. Then, request materials using an archival request form. Oral History CollectionsDescription: The Tamiment Library holds nearly 60 collections containing hundreds of interviews with labor leaders, rank-and-file workers, and political activists; audiotapes of speeches, concerts, conferences, memorial meetings, union meetings and other public and private events; and commercial recordings such as radio broadcasts. Researchers may browse an alphabetical list of Oral History Collections on the Tamiment Library's website. Search Strategy - Because not all of the oral history collections have been processed and cataloged at the same level of detail, to find interviews and collections researchers may have to do one or more of the following: search BobCat; browse the list of oral history collections online; consult the index to oral history collections available in the Library; consult the unpublished finding aids in the library or electronic finding aids on the library's website, depending on the research topic. Specific Interviews - To see if the library holds an oral history interview with a specific person or a recording of a particular event, researchers should consult the unpublished index to the oral history collections available in the Library. The index lists all interviews in the processed collections by interviewee or event, identifies the collection that contains the interview, gives the date the interview was conducted, indicates whether a transcript or index is available, and notes whether the interviewee has signed a release form to allow duplication of the interview tape or transcript. After finding an interview in the index, consult the finding aid for the collection if additional information is needed, and request the tape(s) and transcript(s) on an archival request form. Specific Collections - Many researchers seek oral histories on a particular subject or from a particular collection rather than by a specific individual. Browse a list of all of the Oral History Collections on the library's website. For descriptions of the cataloged collections, consult BobCat; for descriptions of processed but uncataloged collections, consult unpublished finding aids available in the library; consult electronic finding aids for three processed collections. Cataloged Collections - Twenty-three Oral History collections in the library's holdings have been cataloged at the collection-level in BobCat. To browse records for the cataloged oral history collections online, do a Phrase search in BobCat in the Call Number index under "Oral Histories." Link to electronic finding aids from the BobCat records for three fully processed and cataloged collections, New Yorkers at Work (OH-01), Oral History of the American Left (Series 1) (OH-02.1), and the Frederic Ewen Audiotape and Videotape collection (OH-52). Processed Collections - While the majority of the collections have not yet been cataloged in BobCat, most of them have been processed and are accessible to researchers. Consult the unpublished finding aids in the library that list the interviews that comprise each collection. Or browse through the printed Oral History index available at the Tamiment Library's reference desk to locate specific interviews in the 60 collections. Transcripts and Indexes - Many of the oral history interviews have been indexed, summarized and/or transcribed. Consult collection finding aids to see if these are available for specific interviews. Accessing Oral Histories - The vast majority of the oral history interviews in the collections are fully accessible to researchers. However, please be aware that donor restrictions govern the use of particular interviews and access to them may be limited. Request oral history interviews on archival request forms in the Tamiment Library. Researchers may listen to oral history interviews in the Avery Fisher Center on the second floor of Bobst Library. PamphletsThe Tamiment Library's collections include thousands of pamphlets in print and on microform. The pamphlets are arranged in either distinct thematic collections or in the general pamphlet collection. See the descriptions below. Abraham Lincoln Brigade Pamphlet Collection. This collection consists of 335 pamphlets on various topics related to the Spanish Civil War and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. These ALBA pamphlets have been cataloged at the item level in BobCat, and may be found with an author, title, or subject search. Researchers may also browse a list of pamphlets in shelf order by doing a call number search in BobCat. Call numbers for the ALBA pamphlets begin with "PAMALBA." Radical Pamphlets in American Collections. Part 1: Anarchist Pamphlets, 1830-1985 (microfiche). Nearly 2,000 pamphlets from the Labadie Collection, University of Michigan, and 360 pamphlets from the Anarchism Collection in Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division. Tamiment Call #: Microfiche 83. A Handlist of Titles is available in the Tamiment Library's reference collection, shelved at HN 90 .R3 R33. Radical Pamphlet Literature (microfilm). The collection of 8,762 pamphlets was assembled by the Rand School of Social Science, now New York University's Tamiment Library. The greater portion of the material appeared between 1900 and 1945. The focus of the collection is the pamphlets and leaflets issued by the Socialist Labor Party, Socialist Party, League for Industrial Democracy and the Communist Party, but there are also many pamphlets issued by anarchist groups, Trotskyists and labor organizations. Pamphlets are arranged alphabetically by author in a numbered sequence on 89 reels of microfilm and accompanied by a published guide. Approximately 2,000 of the pamphlets in the collection have been cataloged in BobCat and may be found by an author, title, or subject search. Researchers should consult the published guide to find uncatataloged pamphlets in the collection. Microfilm Call #s: Film R-1743 to Film R-1831. Microfilm Guide Call #: Tam Ref HN 90 .R3 T323. Reference Center for Marxist Studies Pamphlet Collection.. This collection consists of 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 - Communist Party activities in the 1910s and 1920s, the Spanish Civil War, labor, peace, civil rights movements, and the struggle against McCarthyism. These pamphlets have not been cataloged at the item level in BobCat, but they are accessible by subject headings assigned by the Reference Center library. Consult the online list of subject headings. Tamiment Library Pamphlets Collection. In addition to the pamphlets included in the microfilm and microfiche sets mentioned above, the Tamiment Library holds a large collection of pamphlets, both cataloged and uncataloged. Cataloged pamphlets may be found in BobCat by an author, title, or subject search. Researchers may also brows a list of pamphlets in shelf list order, by doing a call number search in BobCat. Call numbers for Tamiment Library Pamphlets begin with PAM. To browse holdings, start at "PAM 1" in the call number field. Uncataloged pamphlets are currently being processed. Many of them are arranged by author in the library's vertical file collection. Researchers may consult an unpublished guide to the vertical file collection available at the reference desk in the Tamiment Library to see if an author is represented in the collection and then request the file with a call slip. Twentieth Century Political Pamphlets (microfiche). A collection of approximately 4,000 political pamphlets from the collections of Cornell University, New York University's Tamiment Library, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and the State University of New York at Albany. Accompanied by a guide listing pamphlets alphabetically by author. No subject indexing. Microfiche Collection Call #: Microfiche 82. Microfiche Guide Call #: Tam Ref Z 691 .T97 1994. Researchers may also wish to consult The American Left, 1955-1970: A National Union Catalog of Pamphlets Published in the United States and Canada / edited and compiled by Ned Kehde. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1976. 515 p. This reference source contains 4,018 library catalog style entries (including subject headings) with abbreviations indicating the libraries holding the items, arranged alphabetically, with an index. Coverage of both the New and Old Left. Call #: Z7165.U5 K43 Reference SourcesDescription: The reference collection in the library's reading room includes dictionaries, directories, encyclopedias, periodical guides and indexes, microfilm guides, bibliographies, microfilm reel guides, and biographical sources to support research in radical politics and labor history. These materials are cataloged in BobCat and are designated by the location "TAM REF" in the catalog record. The collection is browsable and researchers are encouraged to consult these highly useful sources for background information before delving into archival collections. In addition to these print sources the Tamiment Library has several periodical indexes in card catalog format. Please see the separate one-page listing of Periodical Indexes in the Tamiment Library for summary details. Vertical FilesThe Tamiment Library’s collection of vertical files consists of some 1 million pamphlets, leaflets, flyers, manifestoes, reports, serials and other internal documents from a wide variety of labor and left organizations. Vertical files in the collection are arranged in the following series: Approximately 4,200 vertical files from the OF (Organizational Files) series (roughly 30% of the collection) have been cataloged in BobCat to date. Search Cataloged VFs - To find CATALOGED vertical files on a specific subject,
Browse Cataloged VFs - To browse CATALOGED vertical file titles online, do a Phrase search in BobCat in the Title index on the phrase "Publications relating to A." The letter "A" will put you at the beginning of the alphabet. Uncataloged VFs - To find vertical files that have not yet been cataloged in BobCat, consult the unpublished guide to the collection available at the Tamiment Library Reference Desk. The guide contains a list of vertical files arranged in a single alphabet of people, organizations, and subjects. As the vertical file collection is processed in preparation for cataloging, the printed list is updated and basic details are entered in a database. The Trade Union Files have been fully processed and a comprehensive list of the files arranged by organization is available online in a PDF document. Trade Union Files (pdf) - Browse the list of TFs or search for specific trade unions by holding the Control key on your keyboard and pressing the letter F (for find) and then typing in your search term. Accessing VFs - To request vertical files, submit one call slip per file to staff at the Tamiment Library Reference Desk. Like the rest of the collections, these materials do not circulate. Updated 4/08/08 |
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