Selligman Family Papers
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Abstract
Joseph Selligman, Jr. (1916-1937) served as a solider in the British division of the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. He died in early 1937 after receiving a head wound in the battle of Jarama. Following his death, his family collected documents relating to the Spanish Civil War and the circumstances surrounding his death. This collection contains a large volume of correspondence, including letters between Joseph Selligman Jr. and his family from 1933-1936 and letters among family members regarding the circumstances of his death. The collection also contains copies of Selligman's academic and personal writings from Swarthmore College.
Historical/Biographical Note
Joseph Selligman Jr. was born on December 25, 1916 in Louisville Kentucky to Esther and Joseph Selligman. He was the second of three children; his elder sister Augusta was born in 1913, and his younger sister Lucy was born in 1920. His mother, the former Esther Rosenberg, taught kindergarten before her marriage to Joseph Selligman Sr. in 1909. His father worked as a lawyer in partnership with his brother Alfred and was also prominent in local politics.
Joseph Selligman Jr. attended Louisville Male High School for three and a half years, graduating early in 1933. He then enrolled in Swarthmore College, a Quaker school in Pennsylvania, at the age of 16 in the fall of 1933. At Swarthmore Selligman wrote for the school's literary magazine and later became the editor and served on the debate team. In the summer of 1935 Selligman also participated in a Quaker Peace Caravan in Iowa, which promoted peace and non-violent resistance along with other Swarthmore students. In October of his senior year Selligman applied to Harvard for graduate work in philosophy, but in mid-December he left Swarthmore without his parents' knowledge and traveled to Europe to join the International Brigades fighting in the Spanish Civil War.
In an attempt to convince him to return Selligman's father sent his law partner, Joseph Everhart, to Paris, where he had last been heard from. By the time Everhart arrived, however, Selligman had already left for Spain. In Europe, Selligman initially tried to enlist under his own name but was rejected because he was only nineteen years old. He instead enlisted in a British battalion under the name Frank Neary, who was a young Irishman who sold his enlistment papers to Selligman after changing his mind about going to war.
Selligman entered Spain sometime in late December or early January. By mid-February he was fighting with a British battalion of the International Brigade along the Jarama River. At the battle of Jarama he suffered a head wound and was evacuated to a hospital near Madrid where he died two weeks later. His family believes he was the first American casualty of the Spanish Civil War.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in a single series which is housed in four boxes. Much of the correspondence has been placed in folders either thematically or by author. For the most part, folders have not been arranged systematically, rather they have been arranged as much as possible in relation to thier order within thier original boxes. Several newspapers are housed separately in an oversized flat box.
Scope and Contents
This collection contains materials related to Joseph Sellingman, Jr. and his participation in the Spanish Civil War as a solider in the International Brigades. It is comprised of materials created by Selligman before he joined the war as well as many documents relating to his death in Spain in 1937. Documents in this collection include: college notebooks, essays, personal writings and poetry, publications from Swarthmore College, memorabilia, family correspondence, pamphlets, clippings, personal items, photographs, and foreign newspapers.
It also contains a large amount of correspondence relating the events surrounding his departure to Spain and his death. The collection also contains personal correspondence with important figures of the time such as the British Communist leader Harry Pollitt and the American journalist Martha Gellhorn and various members of the American diplomatic corps.
Subjects
Donors
Access Restrictions
Materials are open to researchers. Please contact the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives for more information and to schedule an appointment, tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu or 212-998-2630.
Use Restrictions
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Lucy McDarimid, the donor of this collection, were transferred to New York University in 2013. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. For more information, contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu or 212-998-2630.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Selligman Family Papers; ALBA 269; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Lucy McDiarmid sent a donation of family papers related to her brother's, Joseph Selligman, involvement in the Spanish Civil War in 2013. The accession numbers associated with this gift are 2013.017 and 2013.023. An additional gift containing letters of condolences and correspondence from Joseph Selligman Jr. was donated in 2014. The accession number associated with this gift is 2014.001.
Appraisal
Several newspapers and clippings regarding the Spanish Civil War have been removed from this collection. The large majority of those clippings came from the Louisville Times and the Louisville Courier-Journal after the death of Joseph Selligman Jr. in 1937. Also removed from this collection were several empty envelopes that did not have corresponding letters, otherwise letters and the envelopes they came in were preserved.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Most items have been kept in their original boxes, and any loose items have been incorporated into one of the four boxes. Much of the correspondence came without any organization and was rehoused into folders and grouped based on content or author. When original grouping existed it was retained.
